Airwaves BMW on the BTCC grid in 2010
Well, it’s been an interesting winter! On November 18th, we got a letter from Airwaves saying they were withdrawing – no other reason than a change of owner I think. It’s not something the Wrigley’s guys wanted to do. It meant we spent a lot of time during the winter trying to find a sponsor, which is very hard at the moment.
Then, we signed Rob, which was great. I’m sad to not have him with us, because Rob’s part of our history and I think it should have been a line-up with Rob and one of those two other guys in there again. That’s happened though, it’s done.
Now, after a long, hard March, we’ve got Steven Kane and Mat Jackson – and I couldn’t be happier. It’s a dream line-up. Whilst we were sorting out not having Rob, there was quite a bit of downtime, which has meant we haven’t tested. We went to Brands Hatch for the press day and that was really our first test. We don’t know the new tyre and we don’t know how the car starts off the line with the new first gear.
But after all that, it’s great to be here. We’ve got Airwaves on board, we’ve got Leyland Paints and we’ve got quite a few other people on the car. Without all of them, we wouldn’t be on the grid.
We’ve still got work to do; we’ve still got a lot of space to fill on the car, but I think if you’re to come in to touring car racing – which, for me is the best championship in the UK, if not in Europe – the British Touring Car Championship is the place to advertise your business and what better place to do it than with Motorbase and Kane and Jackson!
Getting Mat on board, who’s a proven BMW driver, is a really big thing for us. With the people that have come with him, The Money Shop, he’s a crucial part of the team and the way that we take the team forward. To get Steven back in the car as well is another good thing. It means we’ve got someone in the car that knows the team backwards. He’s been driving for me for five years in Carrera Cup, GTs and all sorts. We’ve always done very well with Steven Kane.
In 2008, when he came in before, we were learning the car and we were on the back foot with yet another sponsorship deal that didn’t wok out. Rob and Steven did a very good job on a limited budget. The last race in 2008, at Brands Hatch, was off the scale. It showed the potential of Steven Kane. Now I hope with Steven and Mat, we’ve got two drivers that can challenge and can show what the team can do with the car. These are very exciting times.
Mat Jackson on track at Brands Hatch media day
For me, RML have replaced Triple Eight – they’re a works team. Don’t underestimate Team Dynamics either – they’ve got Matt Neal back in the car – and he’s a very good test driver that can bring that car on in leaps and bounds. They’ve all been getting good test miles, too. West Surrey looks a somewhat more depleted line-up than they’re used to, but don’t bet against Turkington coming back at some point.
Then you’ve got the big mystery of NGTC engines in the Pinkney car and in the Jordan car. For me the biggest mystery of all is the gas cars – turbo gas powered cars could be very quick indeed, I think we’ve got a massive task on. I think the team’s in a very good position this year and I think we’ve got two very good drivers, so I’m extremely optimistic.
Ultimately, I want to win the British Touring Car Championship and I want to win the Porsche Carrera Cup all in the same season and really put us on the map. Realistically, though, the BTCC is going to be tougher than ever.
Tags: Airwaves BMW, BTCC 2010, David Bartrum, Motorbase Performance
