During the week, he runs an accident repair centre in Ipswich, but his weekends, and probably a lot more, will be occupied by the BTCC for the next few months. Rick Kerry will contest the 2007 championship in a BMW 120d.

That’s ‘d’ for diesel. The 35-year-old will drive the first ever diesel powered car to grace the British Touring Car Championship, and what’s more, he has built the 1 Series from scratch.

“It’s taken a lot of hard work to get this far”, Kerry told BTCCPages.com. “There have been a lot of nights where we’ve been working until one o’clock in the morning. All the boys have been working to get the car ready and we now realistically think we’re going to be at Brands and we should be able to test the car a bit. Two weeks ago, that wasn’t a reality. We thought we might miss Brands and be at Rockingham. I think so many people are so determined to get us there, I think we will be there.”

Kerry has won the Kumho BMW championship for the past two seasons, but competing in the BTCC will be a huge step up for the father of three.

“It is very, very strange”, he said. “When I think about watching the BTCC as a youngster, watching it on TV and then to think that I’m racing in it. And in something a bit different, a bit catchy…it’s a bit unbelievable…very surreal.”

It’s an ambitious project, not only to develop a diesel race car for the BTCC, but to enter a car that has never been run before. With so many unknowns, it’s certainly going to be a steep learning curve.

“We’ve got a car that’s basically mechanically the same as the E90 world touring car, just with a smaller body, which BMW reckon should handle, possibly better than the E90. The unknown is that it’s diesel. The unknown is also me, because I’ve not raced at this level. But I’ve normally done pretty well in what I’ve raced before. I like the concept of racing, I like making it faster. I like the idea what you work on for the next time you race to make it a little bit faster. I think, realistically, if we’re not by the end of the season around the top ten, then I suppose I’ll be a bit disappointed. I also know it’ll be bloody hard work to get to that level.”

“If we can get it round reliably and not get too far behind then pack to start with, then I think we’ll try to reel them in as the season goes on. I think next year, we’ll surprise people even more.”

Kerry is in good company on the BTCC grid. There are plenty of new cars, new drivers and new team. That doesn’t make it any easier, but it does at least offer a bit of reassurance.

“The nice thing is I’m not the only person with a new car. There are a lot of people driving new cars, a lot of people getting used to their cars, so I don’t too much of a stranger. I feel that I’m in the same boat as a lot of other people.”