The WR binary systems, consisting of a WR star and an O or B star companion, are supposed to be the progenitors of the massive X-ray binaries. The missing link is generally accepted to be the SN explosion of the WR star which leaves a pulsar remnant. As most pulsars originate from single stars, observations of their proper motions indicate that they receive at their birth a “kick” velocity of about 100 km s−1. We assume this velocity to be due to the asymmetry of the SN explosion. This asymmetry, together with the loss of the SN shell and its impact on the OB star, may cause to disrupt the remaining system.

For the ten best known WR binaries we evaluated the survival probability P after an instantaneous SN explosion, leaving a 1.5 M⊙ collapsar with a random orientated kick velocity of 75 kms−1 (case a) and 150 kms−1 (case b) respectively. The influence of the impact is found to be marginal. The run-away velocity of the remaining system and of the disrupted OB star are comparable and of the same order of magnitude, but smaller than the initial orbital velocity of the OB companion; which decreases for increasing values of the initial orbital period. They are found to be independent of the kick velocity.