AmD prepares for a new challenge

Thu 28th January 2010 'What is the point of doing something that someone has done already?' – the philosophy of AmD Technik as it embarks on a new adventure in the BTCC.

By Matt Salisbury

At a time when many of the rumours surrounded what established teams and drivers were planning for the 2010 BTCC season, the announcement that a new team planned to enter a Volkswagen Golf into the series came as something of a surprise.

AmD, specialists in tuning vehicles belonging to the Volkswagen/Audi Group (VAG), has spent recent years competing in the Dunlop Sportmaxx Cup – the production car-based series created in 2007 – and clinched the title last season thanks to Simon Shaw.

AmD chief Shaun Hollamby has also competed in the Sportmaxx Cup and has been a race winner in the Volkswagen Cup in the past, but the team will now take on its biggest challenge to date when it hits the track for the opening round of the season at Thruxton.

That challenge has increased with the decision to enter the BTCC with a car that – to British fans at least – is something of an unknown quantity, but Hollamby insists that that is part of the fun behind the programme.

"AmD are a Volkswagen/Audi Group tuning company so if we are going to go touring car racing, we have to do it in a VAG car," he said. "What is the point of going and doing something that someone has already done? When we saw the Golf, it ticked all the boxes of being something new and was something which ticked the VAG box. It’s also grabbed a lot of attention already!

"There are always concerns [about running a new car]. Until I actually do the first test in the car, I don't know how fast it will be and I am in the same boat as everyone else. But that is half the fun really. If we were just using a car that someone else had developed, then some of the fun for me would disappear. I am confident in the figures we have from when it has run and what it has raced against in other series’ that it will be competitive.

"It won’t be the fastest car out there, but it will definitely be in the mid-field."

The Golf has arrived in the UK from Estonia, where it competed in the Baltic Touring Car Championship, with AmD now starting work on improving the car for its BTCC bow.

A new aerodynamic package is being developed in conjunction with a team from the United Arab Emirates that already runs the Golf, while the car has been given a waiver to compete as three-door rather than five-door model.

"The car has raced in the Baltic Touring Car Championship for a couple of seasons although it didn't race last season," Hollamby continued. "It was built by the Volkswagen importer for Estonia and it is build to S2000 rules. There are certain waivers that have been put in place by TOCA to run it as a three-door model rather than a five-door model but apart from that, the car is built to the S2000 rules."

As Hollamby admits, the team doesn't expect the Golf to be fighting for victories over the course of the year, but points are a realistic option as the season goes on.

"I would think we are in the similar position to most privateers in that scoring a point in the BTCC equates to a win," he said. "If we can start off in the lower echelons of the mid-field – which is where I would expect to be - then we can move on from there.

"The beauty of touring cars is that you can have the odd result come your way on a busy weekend and that is what we are aiming for in the first year."