Torque Developments and Hofmann’s set pace in GT Cup
Torque Developments International and Hofmann’s enjoyed a successful Class 2 debut outing in the prestigious ‘double header’ GT Cup meeting at Silverstone on the 10th October with their Lotus Europa racecar.
Seemingly underpowered against a 40 strong field dominated by Ferrari, Porsche, Aston Martin and Dodge Viper runners, testing on the Friday revealed that the Hoffman’s / TDi-plc Lotus Europa was capable of lapping within 5 seconds of the leading Viper, enabling the 400bhp 2.0-litre 4 cylinder turbocharged car to be promoted to Class 1, against the might of the giant 6 and 8-litre V12 and V10 engined machines.
But the Lotus Europa was to prove a worthy David against these Goliaths, as following set up improvements the Hoffman’s / TDi-plc car was capable of lapping just 2.0 seconds off the pace of the leading Viper.
Saturday Qualifying proved a fraught affair, as a soaking track meant wet tyres were a must for the Lotus Europa. Unfortunately Pirelli were unable to supply a suitable front tyre for the Lotus, forcing Chris Randall to qualify the car with ‘wets’ on the rear wheels and intermediates on the fronts.
This upset the previously superb chassis balance on the Europa, leading to a disappointing 12th place grid slot for both forthcoming races.
With nothing to loose from such a lowly grid slot Hofmann’s and TDi-plc decided to substitute the Europa’s front 16 inch wheels for 17 inch items, at the same time installing a set of wider rear 17 inch rims. A radical, last minute change, but as TDi’s Technical Director Sam Borgman said “We hate changing fundamental things like this during a race weekend but we decided we was “all in” time!”
Borgman’s & Randall calculated gamble paid off right from the start of race one, with Chris Randall scything through the field to finish the first lap in 7th place. Then, to the astonishment of many of the regular GT Cup runners, the Lotus Europa began picking the front running Class 1 cars off one by one, ending up in a spectacular 2nd place overall. Indeed when the chequered flag was waved, the Hofmann’s / TDi-plc Lotus Europa was lapping faster than the lead Dodge Viper on its way to a very solid podium finish.
Following the success in race one, race two was held in the afternoon, with mounting expectations for another high placing from the Hofmann’s / TDi-plc Lotus Europa racecar. GT Cup rules dictate the carrying of mandatory success ballast, so the Lotus would hit the grid for race two with a hefty 40 kilos handicap, equivalent to 5% of the total weight of the car. “We were worried from the outset that this extra weight might prove to be a problem, because the car was already marginal on cooling,” says TDi-plc’s Sam Borgman.
Unfortunately Borgman’s worries were well founded, because despite repeating his superb overtaking moves to progress through the field at race leading lap pace, the Europa’s water and oil temperatures hit the critical point, leading TDi’s Sam Borgman to suggest to the driver that we sensibly retire the car early, resulting in a DNF. “After the race we analyzed the data and as we suspected it was the elongated rpm ramps caused by the extra weight that lead to the cooling over load, which was a lesson learned the hard way,” he says.
Still, with a second place overall in the bag, plus the knowledge of pace setting lap times in the car – even with success ballast – the weekend was a massively successful event for Hofmann’s of Henley and TDi-plc. “It was proof that with clever engineering and the right group of people a £50,000 motorsport set-up can thrash a pit lane full of million pound GT Cup cars!” Borgman says.
As for 2010, it looks like Hofmann’s and TDi-plc’s Lotus Europa will be set fair to cause plenty more worries for the GT Cup’s regular runners.
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