In for the long haul

The passion extends to the race track and 2009 marked the 10th anniversary of the company's sponsorship of the race team THR Motorsport.
 
From its 30,000ft² production facilities in St Albans, Premier Deep Hole Drilling provides precision engineering support for a multitude of race teams competing in various race categories as managing director, Stuart Grant, reveals: “Components for the motorsport sector are technically challenging. They are often produced from materials that are difficult to machine, to very tight tolerances and within extremely demanding timeframes.”

THR Motorsport has been racing for 12 years, having competed in various saloon cars in both the Formula Saloons and the LMA Euro Saloon and Sports Car Championships. The car raced by the team is an ex-British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) Honda Accord, built in 1997 by Prodrive for Gabrielli Tarquini.

The cost of building this car then stood at over £400,000 and it was, in terms of both technology and performance, at the pinnacle of the World's Saloon Car racing. Equipped with a normally aspirated two litre engine, built by Neil Brown Engineering, it produces 315bhp and is coupled to a Hewland six speed sequential gearbox that has been deep hole drilled by Premier. All of this is mounted in a multi-point safety cage.

With the driver's seating position set back between the car's B pillars and lowered so the driver can just see over the steering wheel, the car exhibits a totally balanced feel. Capable of top speeds of over 150mph which, whilst not as fast in a straight line as the latest supercars from Ferrari, Aston Martin and even Bugatti with its renowned Veyron, its handling and cornering ability thanks to the high levels of mechanical grip produced would, over a lap, leave all of these supercars in its wake. And, it would still do so today some 12 years on.

The 2008 race season saw THR Motorsport and its driver, Derek Hale, finish third in class (out of 20 cars) and 11th overall in a field of 53 cars. “2009 saw us enter a new series of races, specifically developed for the Super Touring Cars of the 1990's,” he says. “We were racing against the likes of the Nissan Primera, the Ford Mondeo, Alfa's 156, and the Vauxhall Cavalier and Vectra. Unfortunately, we were blighted by mechanical woes and also got involved with other peoples' racing accidents, which saw us finish down the order.”

Mr Grant adds: “High precision parts such as camshafts, gearbox and drive train components, as well as suspension systems all have different machining requirements. For example, a drive shaft with a precision hole drilled through it can transmit up to 20% more torque, but weighs around 40% less because of the deep hole drilling process.” He continues: “Fortunately we have the knowledge and expertise as well as the equipment to support customers in this sector with many years experience on all these critical parts. And, the race teams benefit from superior parts that might just make the difference on the track.”

This year the race team will be entering the 2010 Super Touring Car Championships and also intends to race in the David Leslie Memorial races, which form part of the 2010 Silverstone Classic Weekend, with the event held on the famous Silverstone Grand Prix circuit.

“All of our sponsorship comes from companies involved in precision engineering and our racecar will again take pride of place on the Solutions stand at this year's Autosport International Show,” concludes Mr Hale.

Premier Deep Hole Drilling
www.premier-drilling.co.uk