Le Mans Series participant JMW Motorsport looked to Zircotec to help reduce temperatures within its Ferrari 458 GTE race car. Zircotec's ThermoHold^® based exhaust coating has dramatically lowered engine compartment and cockpit temperatures within the Ferrari, as well as preventing damage to the surrounding bodywork.

"Regulations within the Le Mans Series specify the cockpit must be kept below 32°C during the races," says Zircotec's sales director Peter Whyman. "To meet this requirement teams have to use air conditioning systems, but these draw valuable power from the engine. By using our coating we lower engine compartment temperatures and minimise heat soak into the cockpit. By lowering temperatures in the Ferrari 458 GTE's cockpit, the car's power-consuming air conditioning system is operated far less frequently thereby increasing the car's performance whilst still keeping the driver and engine bay cool. It really is a win-win situation."

Renowned for its beautifully presented cars, JMW Motorsport searched for a long lasting solution that would prevent surrounding bodywork and paint from peeling or discoloration. "The collectors run very close to the chassis and bodywork," says Davey Nichols from Team JMW Motorsport. "By coating the manifolds we have eliminated all the damage to the painted components and can maintain the pristine finish."

The team is now working with Zircotec to look at other areas of the car where the effective management of heat could offer performance, reliability or durability gains. "Coating the composite fuel cell is something we could offer to protect it from heat and lower the fuel temperature inside," adds Whyman. "In addition our ZircoFlex^TM foil offers a lighter alternative flexible foil for cockpit bulkhead. Working together we aim to find other effective ways to manage heat and improve performance of the car and driver."

Read our associated Press Release>  

Zircotec has been named as a finalist in the Innovation of the Year category of the International Historic Motoring Awards. The award seeks to recognise innovative new products that are aimed at historic car enthusiasts or those working on the restoration or maintenance of historic vehicles. Zircotec has been selected following the launch of its new Liquid Black^TM exhaust coating earlier this year. Liquid Black^TM is a new enamel-like coating that offers a superb black gloss appearance coupled with significant levels of under-bonnet heat management. The coating simulates the original factory finish required by many classic car enthusiasts including the "vitreous enamel" finish applied to many Jaguar manifolds. More>

The awards ceremony is being held at the St Pancras Renaissance Hotel, London on Wednesday, 16th November, 2011. More>

Team Dynojet has been using Zircotec's TheromoHold^® based coating on the manifold, turbocharger and exhaust pipework of it's British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) car for most of the 2011 season. The coating has allowed the team to solve underbonnet heat issues; improve the cars performance and reliability; and help them deliver a string of podium finishes. The coating has delivered close to a 37% drop in underbonnet temperatures notably protecting the gearbox from the effects of heat. By solving the heat issues, the team has been able to focus on other areas of performance of the car, resulting in three podiums in the last two meetings.

Zircotec's coating was assessed on the engine dyno and also in the car with back to back comparisons showing that performance gains were also achieved. "On the dyno the coated exhaust gave an improvement in turbocharger response, as more energy was retained within the exhaust rather than radiated as heat," adds Faulkner. "In vehicle, a significant reduction in underbonnet temperatures was achieved with the Zircotec coated exhaust. This contributes to reduced air intake temperatures, releasing more power." New for 2011, the NGTC-spec Avensis uses a road-derived Toyota 2000 cc engine. Modifications by the engine developer X CTech R push output from 140bhp to around 300bhp, requiring careful packaging and heat management to increase reliability.

"The Toyota 3ZR engine is a lightweight, compact package which we have optimised to ensure delivery of the required performance and durability," says X CTech R technical director Mark Faulkner.  Crucial to this was the introduction mid way through the season of Zircotec's thermal barrier coating. "Our lightweight and very thin coating provides excellent thermal protection even in tight packaging spaces such as a touring car engine bay," adds Zircotec's sales director Peter Whyman.

With this specification of engine to be adopted by all BTCC runners in 2013, Zircotec is hopeful its coatings will become as widespread in touring cars as they are in Formula One, where nearly all the teams use its coatings technology to solve heat, reliability and performance issues.