With less than two weeks until the 2012 BTCC season roars into action at Brands Hatch, are you feeling positive about the year ahead?
Quietly optimistic I think is the answer to that question. We had a good year last year but with a nightmare few races, we lost the chance of really fighting for the Championship come the final round. Bearing in mind this was our first season with the cars ourselves it wasn't too bad. We've learnt a lot since this time last year, both throughout the 2011 season and pre-season this year. Having said that, none of the other teams have been sat around doing nothing! Team Dynamics and Eurotech have made an early jump to the NGTC regs and have been testing for over a month now, so have ironed out a lot of new car issues. WSR have turbo charged their BMW so that will be quick now as well as looking after it's tyres. Triple 8 with get up and running in no time at all I'm sure and the other NGTC cars like Wrathall and Austin have had a year now to understand their cars so will have moved on too. I think it will be a great season for the spectator!
What will you and the team be aiming for over the duration of the season?
Simple, we aim to win the outright Championship. But, like I said there will be tough competition for everyone. Our best chance will be to get a good start in the first few rounds and hope that teams with new cars will still be getting to grips with them, but the way the parity system should work it should be close all year and balance itself out. As usual you would expect some weekends to favour one type of car and others, to favours others.
Did you always want to be involved in Motorsport - in particular the BTCC?
I always wanted to be in Motorsport, but if I'm honest I was never really into the BTCC (don't tell Alan Gow!). My Dad used to take me racing as a kid and was involved with it himself with Historics and helped my Uncle who actually drove and won in the BTCC (Phil Dowsett, who is my Mum's twin brother!). So I always wanted to be part of it. I did a school work experience at the Works FORD rally team when they were based in Essex and caught the bug. I then went to DPR for a college work placement in 1996 and got a full time job with the team for the next two seasons. We ran the McLaren F1's in the then BPR GT Championship, we had fantastic cars, got to travel to some great places like Japan, America and Le Mans, so as a young lad that was just brilliant. Then I was offered a job as WSR at the right time in 1998 so gave it ago. I was pleasantly surprised and have stayed in the Championship ever since! Though it's nice to travel, when you have a family it's really nice to be able to go home on a Sunday night!
Where do you see yourself and the team, motorsport wise in the next five years?
Still at Motorbase and doing what ever the team is doing then, hopefully. Hopefully still in the BTCC, hopefully with a manufacturer and hopefully with a few titles under our belts too! We've just embarked on a GT program which looks interesting so we'll see where that takes us. I would love to do LeMans again.
What is your favourite part of a race weekend?
I know it sounds negative but it's not, probably the end. Regardless of the result, you get a result. There's usually something positive and negative to take away from every race weekend. Going away with a positive has some pay back for the hard work that everyone has put in, as well as a negative which you can have some input in improving is what I enjoy. Monday's reflections are always interesting, that's probably the best time to be in the workshop!
And finally, could you describe a day in the life of a BTCC team manager?
A day in the life, interesting! Part of the job which is enjoyable, is that no two days are ever the same. During the winter it's a variety of sponsorship work, proposals and working out budgets to see what you can afford to do the following year and balancing all the options. Then testing and development prior to the season, and then the easiest bit is once the season gets under way. The race weekend for me is just making sure everyone is in the right place at the right time and that they are as informed as they can be about what's happening. This ranges from having a briefing with the drivers and engineers about what the cars are doing, and how we're going to improve them, followed by that being translated to and from the right areas with the data guys, mechanics and tyre technicians. Then working with everyone to make sure the work can be done in the time frame and everyone has what they need to achieve it. I'm kind of the go between for everyone. Whether it's a driver with a car problem, a mechanic who's forgotten their pass, down to what time breakfast is in the morning! It's 8am every race day morning, by the way! We always start the day with an 8am breakfast and briefing which is always light hearted as it's always hosted by the rather flamboyant David Bartrum!
You can follow the progress of Redstone Racing throughout the year on their Redstone Racing Twitter page.
No comments:
Post a Comment