After Maximilian Paul couldn’t breathe at the Lausitzring heat battle, Lamborghini adjusted the cockpit cooling: Where the fault lay and what the solution looks like
After the Lausitzring victory three weeks ago, Mirko Bortolotti was still completely exhausted because of the heat, but after his triumph at the Sachsenring, where the outside temperatures also almost reached the 30 degree mark, the DTM leader seemed much fresher. What was the reason?
“We changed a few things and were able to get a bit more air into the car at this race,” “That was very important and made my life easier.”
Because it wasn’t just Bortolotti who had ice cubes emptied over his head after the race at the Lausitzring, after he wanted to get out as quickly as possible. Grasser substitute Maximilian Paul even had to retire early in both races because he could no longer breathe in the Lamborghini cockpit and was close to collapse.
Before the update: cooling air was already leaking in the engine compartment
The problem was that before the update, the air was already leaking in the engine compartment and not reaching the cockpit to the driver. But what have the Italians changed in the two and a half weeks since 20 August to provide cooling air for the driver, who has to make do without air conditioning in the Huracan?
“We have improved the cooling of the cockpit with a little tuning of the design of the air ducts under the front bonnet,” “Now they go more directly to the cockpit. “
In fact, a component (see arrow in main photo) has been replaced to improve airflow. This is because the cooling air on the Huracan GT3 Evo2 is directed into the car via the two triangular openings to the left and right of the main central cooling air intake at the front.
Why the Lamborghini did not need to be re-homologated
This is done on both sides via a laminated carbon tunnel. The pot-like component, which used to be black and is now grey, serves as a connecting piece between the carbon tunnel and the hose through which the air then enters the cockpit.
The problem was that this component was too large in the earlier version, causing air to leak out at this point. However, the cooling air should actually come out to the left of the driver and directly above the centre console in the cockpit, making heat races more bearable.
It is interesting that the drivers react differently to the cooling: While Nürburgring sensation winner Paul suffered extremely from the cooling problem, Grasser regular driver Clemens Schmid put up with the heat better.
Why was it possible to modify the car despite existing homologation? The reason is that the modification only affected the air ducting in the interior of the Huracan GT3 Evo2. If a change had had to be made to the exterior as well, the vehicle would have had to be re-homologated.
