The 2010 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship series roars back into action at Oulton Park, Cheshire this weekend and Thurrock based AmD Milltek Racing.com has taken full advantage of the five week break since the previous round at Brands Hatch.
The team’s Volkswagen Golf was forced to miss the final race at Brands after suffering damage towards the end of race 2, when the wet conditions caught out driver Shaun Hollamby. The Golf spun onto the grass at the fast Surtees corner, ripping off the front bumper and damaging the radiator which, in turn, caused the engine to overheat. “I should have come straight into the pits but I thought I could make the end of the race – a very big error which resulted in damage to the engine and gearbox”, admitted Hollamby.
With the car back at the team’s Lakeside workshop, the engine was stripped down to reveal the full extent of the damage. A new set of pistons would be needed and the engine was returned to Lehman in Liechtenstein for the work to be done. “We were very lucky”, said Hollamby, “it could have been much worse!”
More development has been carried out on the car in-house, with the rear suspension being completely re-designed to resolve a geometry issue found when going through the data and footage from Brands Hatch. The wiring loom, which caused problems at Rockingham earlier in the season, has been renewed and the steering column strengthened.
The team had to miss out on an official BTCC test at Rockingham last week, with the engine still away for repairs. “It’s a shame we couldn’t make it to Rockingham as we’ve made quite a few changes to the car which would have been nice to test but all is going to plan for Oulton Park, where we’re confident of a step forward”, said Hollamby.
Live coverage of Sunday’s three BTCC races at Oulton Park will be shown on ITV4.
Looking for more? Have a look below.
