A blend of increased performance coupled with a period look has led Mike Jordan to specify Zircotec’s ThermoHold thermal barrier coating for its Austin A40 historic touring car. The ability to squeeze more performance from the 1293cc A Series engine and ensuring a more period look under the bonnet led Jordan to use Zircotec and follows the use on both the Ford GT40 he prepared and son Andrew’s BTCC MG6.

“Historic racing is very competitive and we are looking for every opportunity to get performance from the car,” said Mike Jordan. “The coating keeps heat levels down underbonnet and can offer a little bit extra performance. Every gain, especially when you only have 130bhp is worthwhile.”

Alongside the performance and surface temperature reductions of up to 33 percent, aesthetics also played a key role in Jordan’s selection. “When we built the car, we had a shiny stainless manifold that wasn’t really period,” adds Jordan. “Increasingly historic events want classic race cars to look as they did in period. Zircotec’s black ceramic coating looks right and is so much neater than wraps or exhaust bandages.”

Renowned for its high standards of preparation and with a string of successes, it’s unsurprising that the former British Touring Car racer’s outfit is already preparing more cars and planning to use Zircotec on the next car. “We’ve got a Lotus Cortina Touring Car coming next and we’ll be using Zircotec again on that.”