David Bartrum on Motorbase success at Snetterton

Sun 20th July 2008 Motorbase Performance team principal David Bartrum saw both of his drivers finish inside the points in all three of the BTCC races at Snetterton last time out. It was the team’s most successful outing in the series since its debut in 2006, providing an indication of how much progress has been made with the pair of BMWs in just over half a season.

“I am delighted”, said Bartrum at the end of the Snetterton weekend. “For me this started in ’06. Of the team here today, there are probably three or four of us that are the team from last year. We made the conscious decision not to do Carrera Cup this year because I wanted to pick all my best guys. Once we got the BMWs, I just wanted my best team to work on the BMs.”

The late collapse of a major sponsorship deal ahead of the 2008 season meant that Motorbase’s preparations for the new season were far from ideal. However, Bartrum was not to be deterred and Kane and Collard were duly installed for the year. Progress in the early stages of the season was frustratingly hard to come by. In one of the most competitive BTCC seasons in recent memory, breaking in to the top ten is no mean feat.

“Obviously, you come in with a car that everyone expects great things of, they come from Schnitzer, which is a great team, probably THE team in BMWs. You do what you do and everyone expects them to go straight away like West Surrey’s and Mat Jackson’s, but those guys have had a year with the cars. They’re both a year down the road and we’ve had to learn quickly. I think we’ve probably learnt quicker than they did.”

Qualify in the middle of the pack in the BTCC and you’re vulnerable to being caught up in contact – something that Motorbase learnt in 2007. The first few races of 2008 brought more than their fair share of DNFs, but there were promising signs. Croft brought something of a change in fortunes, for Collard at least.

“We got to Croft, we turned the corner at Croft and we came away from there, determined to go testing to learn more about the car. We did that and just built up a momentum which we knew would carry through to Snetterton. To work at the front of the grid in touring cars, I’ve learnt, is much better for your budget, because you don’t get beaten up so much.

“I knew by mid-season we’d come good. This is great. For me, it’s great to get this result here, because this is where I had my first ever race, back in 1988. It’s the first place I ever raced a car at myself. To come here and do so well in touring cars, it’s just a great weekend for all the boys who have put so much hard work in.”

Two days of testing at Snetterton during the six-week summer break provided Motorbase with the opportunity to try out a range of settings that just do not get on the agenda at race weekends: “We found one thing, which was dealt with. It was just understanding the car. We needed to have two days away, which we had at the back end of June and we just had to go through a sequence of what the car does and what the car doesn’t do. We had to say ‘why doesn’t it do that?’ and ‘why does it do this?’, working through everything. By the end of the two days, we had a better understanding of the car.

“We went away and we analysed the data – the two engineers, Mark and Patrick have done a fantastic job. Patrick is a double Supercup winning engineer with Richard Westbrook - he worked with us in Carrera Cup last year and we had that much faith in him that we wanted him to come into touring cars. He brought Mark with him, who’s his number two engineer – a good, good analyst – he goes away and he looks at things that are beyond me, and we get answers, which is what we lacked last year. We lacked answers to questions. We’ve been plugging away on our own and for me, this is the start of the future.”

In Steven Kane and Rob Collard, Bartrum has ensured he has an experienced line-up. Collard is a former BTCC independents champion, while Kane has shown pace in a variety of different disciplines.

“Steven is a Motorbase trinket, said Bartrum. “He’s a great guy. In Rob we’ve obviously selected his teammate, and I wanted someone with good BTCC experience, and again we took a flyer on Rob because a lot of people said ‘oh you don’t want Rob Collard, he’s the one doing all the damage’, but you tell me what he’s done to anyone this year… He’s done nothing but drive good races. He’s had a bit of bad luck, but he’s driven good races, and it’s been a pleasure to come to my team and get two drivers that want to work with the team that are actually good guys that I like. It’s a rare thing that you’re half way through the season and you’re not getting pissed off with someone. They’ve both worked really hard and I think that Rob’s reputation from the past is unfounded and Steven’s reputation for the future is being built now.”

After Snetterton’s podium finish, hopes are high at Motorbase for the remainder of the season. Collard and Kane seem to have settled in, while the team appears to have turned a corner with the BMWs.

“Oulton Park, I can’t wait, enthused Bartrum. “I haven’t got to send the cars to the bodyshop, which is amazing. I’ve got to put a couple of bumpers on, but that’s touring cars. A bit of touch-up paint, a bit of polish; obviously back into the workshop, strip and rebuild and go to Oulton Park and carry on the good work!”