Martyn Bell makes the step up to the BTCC in 2006 after nine seasons of racing in the Kumho BMW Championship. It is this past experience that means he is no stranger to the precision German machinery that he will drive this year, even if his recently acquired Schnitzer 320i is a cut above what he has been used to.

Bell and the Geoff Steel Racing team have tested ahead of the new season, but the Brands Hatch media launch was their first opportunity to run the car on a dry track.

“I think it’s been a big learning curve for us”, said Bell. “I’m a lot happier now than I was at the beginning, now we’ve got the car to work a bit at the back end. It’s been very twitchy with us. The times will come once we get confidence in the car.”

“If it’s snowing at Croft in July, you can put your money on me because I’ve certainly done some snow testing! We’re learning all the time with it, we’ve altered something in every session and I’m starting to get more comfortable with the car. We just need to get it to ride the curbs a bit more. We know where we’re slow, we know where we need to improve and so we’re going to have to work on it.”

Bell’s rear-wheel drive BMW was the quickest through the Brands Hatch speed traps, but finished up just 14th quickest at the end of the first official test session.

“It gives us a marker”, added Bell. “We know now that we need to find a second, a second and a half to be in the middle of the independents. It’s a good guideline for us and we can work on that.”

“You need confidence with the car so you can turn it in early or turn it in late...whatever you want to do.”

Bell struggled to get the car to respond as he would have liked through the last set of corners on the tight Brands Hatch Indy circuit, with the team identifying this part of the track as the source of much of the laptime defecit. Neither Brands nor the second circuit of the season are likely to be best suited to the powerful BMW, as Bell explains:

“I think this car will come into its own more, and I’ll come into my own more at Oulton Park and Thruxton and beyond, but let’s get these under our belt, and let’s do what we can. It’s pretty much about me getting used to the car. The car is strong enough…it feels strong enough, and it’s quick enough.”

“Let me find my feet, that’s what I say to people. Let me find my feet and then I shall be trying to give a good account of myself. I’m not one for telling you what I’m going to do, I’ll show you what I’ve done. We’re under no illusions, but watch this space because we’re going to try as hard as we can. We want the BMW to work.”

Asked about his ambitions for the season as a whole, Bell is clear what he wants to achieve: “Realistically, anywhere in the top ten will be a result. If I’ve got a single number next year, I’ll be in such good form, I will be thinking ‘mission accomplished’. But it’s consistency that gets championship results. If we’re consistent and we don’t barrel in and off and we keep out of trouble a bit, we should be all right. We know we’ve got some door handle rubbing to do, but I’m an ex-motocross rider...we used to do it with elbows.”

“It’s a learning year. Next year, with the S2000 rules coming in, we figure that we’ll be in good shape. Next year, when we’re all on the same level playing field, I think we want to start a lot stronger.”