Premier Deep Hole Drilling Limited - Premier support for the racing drill

Premier support for the racing drill

With several well-known race teams listed as customers, motorsport provides many technically challenging demands that the team at Premier Deep Hole Drilling always enjoys the thrill of meeting. This passion extends to the race track and this year marks the 10th anniversary of the company's sponsorship of the race team THR Motorsport.

From its 30,000 ft2 production facilities in St Albans, Premier Deep Hole Drilling provides precision engineering support for a multitude of race teams competing in various race categories. Managing director, Stuart Grant, explains: "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 2.0 litre engine, built by Neil Brown Engineering, it produces 315 bhp 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 exhibited a superbly balanced feel. Capable of top speeds of over 150 mph which, while not that 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. Derek Hale says: "2009 saw us enter a new series of races, specifically developed for the Super Touring Cars of the 1990's. 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."

Stuart Grant says: "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 per cent more torque, but weighs around 40 per cent 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."

Next 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.