A shared drive for performance and reliability in motorsport
The collaboration between Zircotec and DSPS has been delivering high-performance components to top-flight motorsport manufacturers for more than a decade
“In motorsport, there’s nothing worse than a car stopping on track. It’s horrible for the team, its sponsors, and every supplier.” That’s the expert opinion of Perry Cohn, owner of DSPS – a leading manufacturer of turbo wastegates and other air control systems into top-flight motorsport. “Quality is everything because it drives performance and reliability.”
The shared belief that performance and reliability are non-negotiable on the race track and rally stages underpins the long-standing relationship between DSPS and Zircotec. Both companies work closely to solve critical heat management challenges for manufacturer customers competing in Formula One, the World Rally Championship and at the Le Mans 24 Hours. Their reputations depend on getting it right.
“We’ve been dealing with Zircotec for a number of years, firstly taking its high-performance ceramic coatings to provide thermal barrier protection, and then ZircoFlex SHIELD which we originally put on to a Hypercar where the packaging inside the engine bay was tight and heat was a big challenge,” Perry explains.
“Our relationship took off from there and, recognising the performance, quality, and fact the product can be shaped around ever more complicated shapes to meet packaging requirements, we now specify ZircoFlex SHIELD on the inconel castings of all the wastegates we supply into the top echelons of motorsport.”
The durability of DSPS’s products, married to ZircoFlex SHIELD technology – engineered to withstand operating temperatures of up to 1,000°C and to reduce surface temperatures by around 75% – is borne out on both the testing dyno and in competition.
For example, an unnamed Formula One team using Zircotec-protected DSPS components has logged an impressive 16,000 kilometres of running on its dyno without failure, while another Formula One engine manufacturer has run DSPS wastegates encapsulated in ZircoFlex SHIELD for more than 420 hours at 1000°C with no issues.
And when it comes to the Le Mans 24 Hours, arguably the most demanding race in the world, DSPS components have enabled teams and drivers to overcome that particular endurance challenge without a single problem as well.
Perry, who served for more than a decade as a designer with McLaren, Stewart Grand Prix, Jordan and BAR in Formula One before establishing Angle Consulting, a company that provides high-performance engineering solutions to motorsport customers, knows just how important product quality needs to be.
“It always comes back to the question: what price do you put on a car stopping?” he says. “That’s why we’re always pushing to produce the best professional wastegates, to build quality into our products, and to innovate.”
Integral to DSPS’s mission is its long-standing relationship with Zircotec and a shared drive to engineer and supply high-performance products that get results.
“I often get asked where innovation comes from? Is it from us or our supplier? For me, it’s a combination of both and that’s how I’d characterise our relationship with Zircotec,” Perry points out. “They are a valued partner and we talk regularly about our work.
“It’s not a question of sending a cardboard box to them and getting something back. It has to be a two-way street. To get a good result out of anything, you have to talk. That’s the only way you can make advances in motorsport.
“Also, with Zircotec, the service is excellent. Their understanding of what we need is first-class and you can never take that for granted in this industry. Most of the world doesn’t have a clue about how motorsport works or how fast things happen.
“Fundamentally, Zircotec says: ‘yes, we can do that’, and then they deliver. That’s what we love because it’s a service that underpins the quality of our products and, ultimately, the results our customers achieve in competition.”
To discover how Zircotec can support your motorsport programme or help to overcome your thermal challenges, contact Richard Carter (Head of Motorsport) at richard.carter@zircotec.com or telephone +44 (0) 1235 546050.
To speak to DSPS about its air control systems expertise and market-leading products, contact Perry Cohn at perry@dsps.technology or telephone +44 (0) 7272 875130.