Torque Developments brings success at Brands Hatch 1000Km race

TDi technicians added team management and technical back up to the Hofmann’s Lotus Europa this weekend at the 1000km (9hrs) Brands hatch endurance event.

It was an interesting event with entries being accepted from right across the Lotus motorsport world, covering the following classes:

· Lotus Elise trophy spec cars (Production)

· Lotus cup Europe spec cars (2-11, Exige 260cup or Europa, GT4 Evora, NA Toyota Elise/Exige)

· Invitation class cars (NA Honda K20 powered Elise or Exige conforming to Lotus cup Europe chassis regs)

TDi reduced the power of Chris Randell’s Lotus Europa race car right the way down from 420bhp to 254bhp at the hubs and changed the wheels, tyres and ride heights enabling the Hoffman’s car to be eligible for the class (Max of 260bhp at the hubs, min weight of 875kg inc driver)

With the reduced output we were able to safely take advantage of very lean fuel mixtures which in turn enabled TDi / Hoffmans to run the entire 9hr race with just four pit stops! At the mid distance point we had been looking extremely strong but an unfortunate spin and a pit stop lengthening fuel rig failure dropped us down the order. The car was faultlessly reliable throughout the race and we finished with a hard fought 2^nd place, narrowly beaten to the win by a highly spec’ed “invitation class” Honda powered Exige.