What drives nonstop for 24 hours and comes across the finish line looking as beautiful as when it started? The Valspar Donkervoort D8 GT race car coated with Series 900, one of the most userfriendly, water-based coating systems on the market today. The car won first place in the Special Cars category in the 24 Hours of Dubai 2011 race.

Joop Donkervoort, chief engineer and owner of the small, family-run business that built the car, was in Dubai to see the exciting finish. “This is the second year we participated with Valspar as our coatings sponsor,” said Donkervoort. “While we slightly reengineered the car for this race, the one thing we didn’t change was the coating. The De Beer water-based coating is easy to apply and very high quality. This coating held up well under the extreme conditions of heat, sand and fierce competition.” Dutch-based Donkervoort has been in the car manufacturing business since the 1970s and has built a relationship with Valspar’s European office in the Netherlands. “Even though Valspar is a large company, they offer the personal service, dedication and commitment of a family business…from technical support to customer service,” he said.

The 24-hour race was choreographed to deliver a winning performance. The Audi engine delivered the power and speed, while three drivers rotated to stay fresh and alert. Denis Donkervoort, Joop’s son, was one of the drivers. The car delivered other winning performances: it spent the least time in the pit area out of 85 teams, and the team broke the record for the fastest pit stop of the season.

“Seeing the Valspar flag flown by the Donkervoort team welcoming their number one position at the checkered flag after 24 hours of endurance was a moment to remember...a very proud moment indeed,” said Rami Abiad, director of Valspar’s Middle East operations. The timing of the race coincided with the opening of Valspar’s office in Dubai, providing an opportunity to highlight Valspar’s expansion in the Middle East. “The Dubai race provided an excellent venue to interact and engage with some of our key regional customers,” said Theo Wemmers, EMEA general manager for Automotive. “Having access to the Valspar Donkervoort team further elevated the experience and impressed upon our customers how serious Valspar was focused on promoting our brand.”

Donkervoort D8 GT to participate in the 24H of Dubai for the second time

Valspar Donkervoort Racing  prepared for the 24 Hours of Dubai

LELYSTAD, 7 December 2010 –  While the snow is falling in Europe, the Valspar Donkervoort Racing team is preparing itself for a race in the heat and in between the sand. Last January, the Donkervoort D8 GT participated in the 24H of Dubai for the first time. This resulted in a fifth place in the GT4 category. These good results and the challenging race and track made Donkervoort decide to participate in the 24H of Dubai again this year. With the special 24H-edition of the D8 GT, famous Dutch driver Nick de Bruijn and GT4 drivers Stéphane Wintenberger (F) and Denis Donkervoort  (NL)  will race on January the 14^th and the 15^th at the ultra modern Dubai Autodrome.

D8 GT (4) 24H-edition

The most noteworthy thing about the D8 GT(4) 24H-edition is probably the adapted hybrid chassis/body with carbon fiber sandwich panels, combined with the existing tubular frame. It does not only make the car even lighter, but strongly increases the torsion stiffness and the safety of it. The new rear diffusor, which was updated in 2010, has further improved the aerodynamics underneath the car for extra down force. It has influenced the entire look of the rear of the car.

After showing its potential in the FIA GT4 races (vice-championship GT4 European Cup 2009), the D8 GT also proved itself very suitable for long distance racing during the 24H of Dubai 2010. The Donkervoort D8 GT even drove first place for a couple of hours! The new carbon fiber chassis/body resulted in such a perfect balance of the car that only one set of tires in three stints (of almost 2 hours per stint) was needed. Because of this, the pit stops can be executed extremely fast: an important saving of time in a race in which every second counts.

Drivers

The Valspar Donkervoort Racing team consists of three drivers for the 24H of Dubai 2010.  European go-kart champion and two time winner of the 24H of Dubai Nick de Bruijn will be added to the team for this race. Furthermore, the experienced GT4 drivers Denis Donkervoort and the Frenchman Stéphane Wintenberger, have already proved themselves during the last years 24-hour race in Dubai, will take place behind the steering wheel of the Donkervoort D8 GT.

Valspar Donkervoort Racing

Donkervoort will be supported during the 24H of Dubai 2011 by Premium Partner Valspar. This American manufacturing company of varnish and paint, with subsidiaries all over the world including The Netherlands and soon Dubai, facilitated among others the car body finish for the Donkervoort D8 GT.  This ‘green’ and furthermore ultra light body finish comes from the WaterBase product line and fits the ultra light Donkervoort D8 GT extremely well. This waterbased varnish is the “greenest” varnish Valspar has, that’s why both the varnish and the car are worthy of the “EarthSense” logo.

The competition will be fierce (with almost 90 competitors this year!), but with this combination of drivers, car, team and Valspar, Donkervoort will aim for a podium place!

The mixing ratio is 3:1 with the HS420 Hardeners Fast, Medium or Slow and the 8-414 can be processed with or without thinner. You can also choose between 2 spraying methods. For the 1.5-coat method, apply a thin closed coat and right after that a full coat, which will give you a high application speed because of the absence of the flash-off time. If you choose the 2-coat method, then apply a liquid coat and after app. 5 minutes a second full coat.

For the correct application, we refer you to the technical information sheets on the website of De Beer Refinish, www.de-beer.com. Early March 2010 you will receive the new ICRIS CD-ROM containing the technical information sheets of the HS420 Clear Coat 8-414 and the matrix for the hardeners and thinners.

 The set contains the following products and packaging sizes:

Packaging                                                     Articlecode

1L and 5L 8-414 HS420 Clear Coat                  8-414/1 and 8-414/5

1L 8-440 HS420 Hardener Fast                        8-440/1

1L 8-450 HS420 Hardener Medium                       8-450/1

1L 8-460 HS420 Hardener Slow                        8-460/1 (Available as from March 2010)

1L and 5L 1-141 Uni Thinner Fast               1-141/1 and 1-141/5

1L and 5L 1-151 Uni Thinner Standard            1-151/1 and 1-151/5

1L and 5L 1-161 Uni Thinner Slow              1-161/1 and 1-161/5

• Uni Putty lightweight         Articlenumber: 601013
• Glassfibre Putty                 Articlenumber: 604015
• Aluminium Putty                Articlenumber: 607019
• Spray Filler                        Articlenumber: 608010

The Valspar Uni Putty lightweight replaces the following De Beer Refinish putties:

• Putty Universal                Articlenumber: 1-900/1.5
• Putty Fine                         Articlenumber: 1-910/1.9
• Putty Standard                Articlenumber: 1-930/2
• Putty Soft                         Articlenumber: 1-960/2

This Valspar Uni Putty is a new money-saving lightweight putty. The product has been developed specifically for filling and smoothing out dents and irregularities, without the putty sagging. The Valspar Uni Putty is easy to sand, infrared compatible and adheres incredibly well to: steel, galvanised steel, aluminium and fibreglass reinforced plastics.

Aside from the introduction of the BeroMix 2000 Series mixing colour system, we offer a brochure, which can be ordered using article code 68-022, and a mixing colour card, using article code 61-0200.