We are pleased to announce the appointment of Techno-Plus Automobile as Zircotec's exclusive distributor for France. Based in Amiens, Techno-Plus has a long history of supplying all levels of motorsport within France, but also supplies product and services to a range of other sectors including performance cars and classics. Zircotec is looking forward to working with Techno-Plus to offer improved service to customers in France.

Techno-Plus will stock our ZircoFlex^® heatshield materials and will also supply our full range of thermal barrier coatings. 

Contact details are as follows:

         Techno-Plus Automobile

         39 Rue Montesquieu

         F-80080 Amiens

         France

         T: +33 (0)3 22 43 40 40

         F: +33 (0)3 22 43 79 83

         Web: www.techno-plus.eu

A technical partnership with the reigning British Drift champion and the FALKEN drift team will enable coatings specialist Zircotec to test and measure the performance of its coatings in the growing sport of drifting.  Initial results completed after engine mapping have already demonstrated the turbo spools up 200rpm quicker than the previous uncoated housing - suggesting both performance and reliability gains are possible. Falken’s extreme performance cars including a Nissan Skyline and 200SX, each boasting over 600bhp, will be used to demonstrate the benefits of Zircotec’s ultra high performance thermal barriers in an application that leads to unusually high underbonnet temperatures.  

“With drifting, the cars are travelling sideways leading to restricted airflow through the front of the car,” says Paul Cheshire, who both drives and prepares the Falken drift cars. “The turbos also close to the brake master cylinder leading to reliability issues. By coating both the turbo and manifolds we aim to improve performance, increase reliability as well become a rolling-real-world test bed for Zircotec.” 

After mapping the cars on the rolling road, the first tests suggest that throttle response is improved and lag reduced. “The coating immediately provides a 200rpm improvement in spool up time,” adds Cheshire. “This creates a worthy advantage during competition as we need the power to set up the drift.” On Cheshire's car, the coating contributed to a 60bhp power increase over last year's car. 

Zircotec plans to release further details of the testing as the year progresses and hopes that the partnership will raise awareness of the benefits in another stream of motorsport. “The benefits our coatings offer are applicable in so many formulae and sectors of the sport,” adds Zircotec’s sales director Peter Whyman. “We already supply coatings to all levels; from F1 teams right down to classic car enthusiasts doing regularity runs. Even though to date the car has only run on the rolling road, it seems that our coating will deliver benefits relevant to drifting and we look forward to acquiring further results to share.”

For further details read our full Press Release>

We will be present at the show with our authorised distributor Classic Car Parts Helden. Come and visit us in Hall 9.0 (Stand 226).

Our distributor we will be exhibiting its full product range of Zircotec products for classic car applications, including our exhaust coatings. We will also have samples of our ZircoFlex™ heat shield materials. We look forward to meeting you at the show.

Techno-Classica is the biggest indoor classic car show in Europe and is an annual pilgrimage for classic car enthusiasts from around the world. Further details of the show are available via the shows website.

 Zircotec is pleased to be associated with the Bloodhound SSC 1,000mph land speed record challenge. We have been selected as an exclusive supplier to the BLOODHOUND Project, a land speed record attempt hoping to achieve 1000mph. We are becoming increasingly involved and as the project moves forward we expect to work closely with the team’s engineers to help protect an array of materials including steel, aluminium, titanium and composites.

Key applications cited for Zircotec's products include protection of the composite body panels surrounding the titanium afterburner nozzle petals, which are normally exposed to airflow on a Typhoon fighter. The catalyst pack, at the end of the casing of the 18" Falcon Rocket that will be generating 27,500 lbs of thrust, is another area that generates significant heat In addition to these, the exhaust manifolds for the 650bhp MCT V12, which will be running at 10,500rpm for 22 seconds during the rocket firing cycle, are set to be coated using Zircotec’s plasma sprayed ceramics. “All these major heat sources generate a packaging and heat management challenge to the design team,” says Conor La Grue, supply chain manager for the BLOODHOUND Programme. “Zircotec products will be invaluable in the overall packaging solution to allow the management and control of heat within BLOODHOUND SSC.”

The picture oposite shows a sample of our Performance White^TM coating (applied to an F1 race manifold) on display at Autosport International alongside Bloodhound 1,000mph car.