Gas-guzzling Chilton gears up for 2010

Mon 29th March 2010 Team Aon returns for a second year in the BTCC in 2010 and Tom Chilton is hoping that a switch to LPG power will transform his fortunes.

By Matt Lamprell

The Arena Motorsport Ford Focus squad struggled for pace for much of the 2009 season, before a sensational final meeting of the year at Brands Hatch almost brought glory – only for Tom Chilton to be pipped on the line by Jason Plato after leading the entire race.

"Last year was a bigger challenge than we thought it would be", said Chilton. "We did get the car good by the end of the year. This year though, I've never done so many different test days and done so much development work on the car. The team have really gone to town."

Chilton's test programme for 2010 started out in Spain and has seen him evaluating a turbo NGTC engine, running on LPG, up against a conventional petrol unit.

The team has eventually decided in favour of the LPG variant and Chilton and his teammate Tom Onslow-Cole will now head into the new BTCC season powered by gas.

Chilton continued: "It's been a hard struggle to start with. We've never run LPG turbo before. It's completely different, but what we're learning is that it's actually very similar to petrol. It's 80% liquid and only 20% gas.

"Unfortunately it does have less bang than petrol, but that's why we're allowed a turbo. It's fantastic to run. 12 million cars in the UK run on LPG, so it can't be that bad."

Aside from the alternative fuel, the other change at Team Aon for 2010 is that Chilton is joined by Onslow-Cole from the outset. Last year, Alan Morrison started the year in the second Focus, but Chilton spent much of the season alone, with Onslow-Cole making a couple of outings in the second half of the season.

Chilton's hope is that having a teammate will help the team move forwards: "I think it helps having two young drivers in the car and drivers that have experience in the car. There's a lot of people at the moment trying to come up to British Touring Cars, but we wanted someone who had a bit of experience and could help us develop the chassis."

"Tom's a good peddler. He's great to have on board and he actually brought us along Calor, which is one of our main sponsors. He's always been fast and he's consistent."

The two Toms will be hoping to be on the pace somewhat earlier than in 2009, but only time will tell if LPG power will propel them to victory.

Running LPG brings some additional logistical challenges – including managing the fuel supply.

"The only problem we've got at the moment is refuelling", said Chilton. "Everyone's a bit scared because they think it's more dangerous than petrol, but I can assure you it's not."