Saturday 13th March 2021 (COVID Rules Permitting)

Free Networking chat & coffee event with track-powertrain and RRR Engineering.

All Lotus owners welcome to attend for coffee, cake and engine chat. On hand will be the track-powertrain engine build team to offer a free engine health check for any four cylinder Elise, Exige or 2-Eleven (We can also discuss the V6 cars but the health checks take a lot longer on these cars).

Owners can book a slot to have their engine borescoped and a full compression and leak down analysis carried out – there will be no charge for this service on the day (The normal fe for this service is £75.00)

Various engines will be in display on the day both in build, part built and fully assembled and guests will be able to view them in the engine build room and also see a Lotus engine being run on the in house dyno.

Also available on the day will be the team from RRR Engineering and slots can be booked to power test your car on the RRR Hub Dyno and discuss ECU and electronics options.

This is event is to be confirmed early March subject to Covid rules in place at the time.

From 10am at the track-powertrain Engine Build Facility – Unit V2, Grovemere Court, Bicton Ind Est, Kimbolton, PE28 0EY

For further information or if you want to book as specific slot for your fee engine inspection please call Stephen on 07590 688 211 or e-mail us via info@track-group.com

 

 

track-club are heading to the USA for the inaugural Circuit of the Americas 24 Hour race – held just a few weeks after the US Grand Prix at the amazing GP facility in Austin, Texas the track-club team have prepared a freshly built Porsche 991 GT3 Cup into Endurance spec for the race.

 

The car started life as a standard 991 GT3 Cup in the famous Porsche Supercup series and was purchased from a  German team earlier this season.  After a couple of test days and track days to allow the drivers some familiarisation the car was stripped back to it’s shell and a full rebuild was undertaken.  The engine and gearbox have been rebuild by the factory and all other critical parts replaced or refreshed including the dampers, driveshafts and radiators.

Specialist watch supplier Chronext have sponsored the car (www.chronext.com) which has now been prepped for endurance racing with the additional of a light pack suitable for night driving, a driver drinks system and coolvest system to help them cope with the Texas heat and then the even hotter temperatures when the car heads to Dubai for another 24 hour race in January.  The Matt Reeves designed livery was then applied in house and the car heads to America from Southampton on 19th October

A Racelogic Video VBox HD, Autotel pit to car radio, rear view camera system and Bosch M4 ABS have all been added with all the additional electronics controlled through a bespoke PDM – power distribution module to avoid any interference with the Porsche factory electricals.

Team Principal Stephen Docherty said that the the team firmly believes in creating as good an environment in the car as possible – “drivers are in the car for up to two hours at a time, the temperatures in the cockpit in Barcelona last year reached over 50 degrees C and a race car at 4am in the pitch black can be an intimidating environment so whilst our primary focus is reliability, very close to this is helping the ‘reliability’ of the driver”.

The tema have prepared many different spring and endurance cars but this will be the first time out racing with a Porsche however they hope to add another car during the 2018 season which will run alongside existing commitments to the British GT championship and Lotus Elise and Lotus Cup club series.

COTA will be the teams tenth 24 hour race having competed in previous Dubai races as well as Barcelona 24 Hours, Paul Ricard and twice at the Silverstone 24 Hour race.

If you are interested in getting into Endurance racing drop the team a note via info@track-group.com

 

 

track-club drivers Adam Balon and Adam Mackay took a superb third place in the British GT Pro-Am GT4 Championship at the end of a somewhat trying season with the new McLaren 570S GT4.  The former Lotus Cup drivers were the only Pro-Am team to take two outright GT4 victories during the season including the Blue Ribband Silverstone 500 race and were it not for a car issue at Spa which repeated itself despite a factory recall at Donington the team would have been in the running for the overall and Pro-Am championship titles.

Mackay who won the 2016 Lotus Cup title with track-club and Balon who finished third in the same championship drover superbly all season after an opening round win that made the paddock sit up and notice the series newcomers.  This victory was proved no fluke at the Silverstone round where the three hour race saw the flawless execution of four driving stints and three tyre and refuelling pit stops by the team put them in position for the biggest victory of their careers.

Unfortunately an issue traced to the design of the 570S manifold put paid to what was looking like a promising weekend at Spa and despite a factory fix the problem re-occured at Donington robbing the two drivers of a second place finish in the race.

The team are now focusing on working with McLaren to help remedy the problem over the winter for another title attempt in 2018.

Following multiple championship titles it was always going to be difficult to maintain the momentum but 2015 saw track-club drivers take the runner up slot in the Overall Lotus Cup UK Supersport Championship (Ken Savage), the Lotus Cup UK Exige Cup (Alex Reed) and the Lotus Cup UK Production Championship (Stuart Ratcliff & Anthony Dunn).

The final round at Snetterton wasn’t without success however as it brought one of the most popular victories in the history of the series when Seth Walpole took not only his first podium but a first overall victory holding up multiple race winner Craig Denman to take a stunning win in the second Elise Trophy race.

Seth’s win was long overdue and his results have steadily improved since switching to a later spec Lotus Elise 111R.  There was literally a queue of drivers and crew waiting to congratulate one of the most popular drivers in the paddock as he brought the car back into the parc ferme.

The FIA World Rallycross Championship (World RX) will add a new name and new manufacturer to the World Championship: former WRC driver Gigi Galli and Kia Rio.  Both Galli and the all-new Kia Rio Supercar will compete at the upcoming World RX of Italy (16-18 October).  track-groups engine division has provided the horsepower!!

The successful rally driver from Livigno, who competed in last year’s World RX of Italy, has decided to take one step further in 2015 and compete in a new car.  Galli – who narrowly missed out on a spot in last year’s Italy RX final – has created his own RX team starting the project with a brand new Kia Rio Supercar, the first of its kind in RX.

track-group have built the bespoke engine for the car and provided technical and engine support for the project through their track-powertrain division which builds competition engines for a wide range of motorsport competitors worldwide.

Despite a relatively short lead time the team at track-powertrain designed and commissioned bespoke engine parts and assembled the engine to meet the teams tight schedule.

Less than 12 months after his first World RX experience, Galli is now ready for his new adventure thanks to the support of his Italian partners.  Giovanni Bernacchini, Galli’s co-driver from his rallying days, will join Galli as a key member of his new team.

“I am delighted to be back in World RX,” explained Galli, who competed in a total of 66 WRC events and scored two podiums. “My supporters have been pushing for this to happen and my endless passion for racing has made this happen.  I am especially excited about creating a brand new team and car plus I am excited to also have Giovanni [Bernacchini] by my side.  We will introduce ourselves at the Italian World RX round at Franciacorta next month.  Our aim is not to win, it would be foolish to think we could do that straightaway – we simply want to demonstrate how hard we have worked so far.”