BT Motorsport are pleased to announce an alignment with the Taranaki Rescue Helicopter Trust. Taranaki Rescue Helicopter Trust is a charitable trust which runs an invaluable air ambulance, and search & rescue service for the people of the Taranaki region. BT Motorsport are making this commitment to give back to a province that has provided us with a playground to enjoy the sport we are so passionate about. We are a strong supporter of the Trust for providing this service where minutes could be the difference between life or death across our wide geographically challenged region, that is not easily accesible by other emergency transport modes.
“Taranaki is a dynamic and diverse area with the region’s new brand defining Taranaki as ‘like no other’ reflecting this unique quality. This blend of natural beauty, attractions and activities offers something for everyone, all year round. But when accident or medical emergencies happen, the attractions of the province can become major hurdles for emergency services. The availability of a helicopter allows large areas of the Taranaki district (and beyond if necessary) to be reached without delay, facilitating rescue operations and ensuring the sick or injured get the right medical attention at the right time.”
www.trht.org.nz
We are kickstarting this association with a fundraising drive, with the help and support of our major component supplier Roger Clark Motorsport. RCM have kindly donated a scale model of their Time Attack winning car the ‘Gobstopper’ signed by proprietor and driver Olly Clark. Olly stormed to 3 consectuitve ‘Ten of the best’ wins between 2007 and 2009, plus two Time Attack Championships in 2008 and 2009 driving the ‘Gobstopper’, possibly the most extreme and exciting modified car ever built in the UK. Aptly named as it silenced all critics with its performance. With a limited edition of 1,000 units being produced this model will become timeless like the ‘Gobstopper’ itself.
The highest bidder on the signed model will also get the opportunity to join BT Motorsport in a hot laps session at Hampton Downs raceway on the 6th of April 2012 at the penultimate round of the NZ Time Attack series.
All proceeds from this fundraising initiative will go to the Taranaki Rescue Helicopter Trust.
On an ongoing basis a percentage of any sponsorship funds received by BT Motorsport will be donated to the Taranaki Rescue Helicopter Trust, as well as ongoing donations for future campaigns and activities.
You can join BT Motorsport in this fundraising campaign for this invaluable cause, by bidding on the auction HERE
You can also make donations direct to the Taranaki Rescue Helicopter Trust HERE
A last minute cancellation of an overseas business trip allowed BT Motorsport to contest the inaugural round of NZ Time Attack held at Pukekohe Park Raceway over the weekend. An entry was made the night before the event, the car loaded up and a 4.30am start in order to make the grid on Friday morning! Between the unavailability for the first round, and a clash with our Summer of Thunder tour for the final round we decided not to contest this series, however after some initial success at the first round we are reviewing and juggling commitments in order to contest the entire series!
The NZ Time Attack series is a new initiative being run in conjunction with the D1NZ National Drift Series, which has an almost cult like following of loyal supporters. BT Motorsport were pleased to see that both competitors and spectators alike were embracing the new series and curious of the new cars on the scene, a positive sign for the future of Time Attack racing in NZ, which is extremely popular worldwide.
It has been around 18 months since BT Motorsport has been to Pukekohe Motorsport Park, which is an extremely fast and bumpy circuit which favours the brave. During the Friday practice sessions we were able to re-familiarise ourselves with the track and adjust the setup of the new car to suit. We were relatively happy with the setup of the car, only wishing for some more power as we were around 100kw down on the next least powerful car!!! With around 70% of the track being straights this obviously wasn’t going to suit us too well at all!
Saturday dawned and the weather was overcast with a few dribbles of rain… we were hoping for poor weather which would have favoured our lower HP car. Unfortunately the weather cleared and the sun came out. Running in conjunction with drifters meant that the track was fairly dirty, with a lot of rubber being picked up on our tyres. We made the decision to bolt on our new set of tyres and give it a decent crack!
We managed to pull just on 2 seconds out of our practice times, down to a 1.06.185 which we were extremely happy with, and which was good enough for 2nd in class overall! With a bit more bravery we are confident that another second could be pulled out of this time… which we will try and find out this coming weekend when we return to Pukekohe for the 4th round of our Summer of Thunder tour!
After the semi successful first round of the season at Manfield Autocourse we thought we might get ahead of the game and do some testing at the next venue, Taupo Motorsport Park, unfortunately the test day wasn’t as successful as we would have liked!
We had changed the spring set up in the car to make it much harder which we had hoped would assist with the handling issues we had at the first round. Initial feeling was much better; however the car kept pouring oil out of the breathers which made it impossible to do more than a lap at race pace before oil would overflow onto the front tyres. Once back at the Dtech Motorsport workshop the oil problem became apparent… there was a cracked ringland on one of the pistons which was allowing oil to get past (and effecting performance, and a time bomb for further catastrophic damage!).
This lead to a frantic piston change in the few days before the second round of the series, with thanks to chief engineer and tuner Dave Heerdegen @ Dtech Motorsport and our mechanic Tim Robinson for the few late nights in turning the car around ready to make the grid come Saturday.
We were then able to use the race meeting as a further test session to develop the car, as it became apparent that the handling issues still weren’t fully resolved. We were able to compete and consistently finished mid pack in all races, except the first race which we had to DNF due to the windscreen fogging up. This was unfortunate and disappointing after all of the hard work during the off season to build the new car, but comes with the territory when the car is untested, and in its maiden season.
A few suspension and wheel alignment settings were altered in the 3 weeks before the third round @ Hampton Downs Motorsport Park which we were confident would resolve our handling issues. Unfortunately when we got to the track for testing it was apparent that the handling still wasn’t where we wanted it to be, and that we weren’t using all of the brilliant and consistent Kumho tyres.
A quick trip to nearby Auckland and we returned with an uprated 27mm Whiteline rear swaybar to replace the 24mm rear bar on the car. Unfortunately we ran out of time to complete any further testing however we were confident that this solution would work.
Fortunately our suspicions were correct and the new rear bar completely transformed the balance of the car, and the handling was now exactly where we wanted it to be! Unfortunately the joy of the team was short-lived as we came across another issue which was sapping us of valuable power! Data logs were showing inlet air temperatures reaching a peak of 76 degrees Celsius, which is significantly over the 35 – 45 degrees expected! This was pulling timing out of the motor, and robbing us of around 40kw or 17% of our meagre power! A few phone calls later, and more trips to Auckland and we had our hands on a standard intercooler as a temporary solution to the issues. Luckily this solution worked and was implemented for the last race, which we promptly won!!! We also managed to go only 0.6 seconds slower than the old car around the circuit in the final race, which is extremely promising of future potential given this car is significantly down on power at present. We were also taken by the consistency of the Kumho tyres, with most laps within 0.4 seconds of each other, even with traffic across the course of the weekend.
We are now quite excited about the future of this car, once we put a decent engine and cooling package into the car, and some wider wheels and Kumho rubber we are confident that lap times will tumble even further! It might not all happen this season, but it will certainly happen!
Surprisingly however with the consistency that we have been running we are 7th overall in the championship out of 27 competitors. This does bode well with another 4 rounds of the series to run and our worst round being dropped from the point’s total. We have set ourselves a goal of a top 6 finish and we are confident that we can achieve this result.
The next round is the ever popular Thunder In The Park meeting at Pukekohe Raceway on the first weekend of December. This is a very high speed track which doesn’t suit our lower power car, but we will certainly give it our all!
After a frantic lead up to the first round of the IRC Summer of Thunder Tour at Manfield Autocourse in Fielding, BT Motorsport had a successful weekend considering it was a brand new car, with all new components, no test time, and 6 months out of motorsport! Unfortunately everything was against us, but we did manage a podium finish in race two showing some positive signs for things to come!
We were plagued in qualifying with power steering issues, which meant we were well off the pace. Thankfully this was an easy fix of just changing the fluid. This allowed us the first race to actually get a feel for the car, and it’s potential. Unfortunately the median setup we had opted for was resulting in rather poor handling meaning we were still off the pace, which resulted in a median final placing in the first race!
This was a good opportunity for us to adjust the setup for the second race to see how the changes affected the cars handling, unfortunately the race ended up being in the wet which made it rather difficult to compare any changes we had made! Fortunately though given we were one of only a few 4WD cars in the field we were able to be competitive in this race despite the poor setup and managed a 3rd place outright.
For the 3rd and final race we took the suspension setup to the utmost extreme to try and get a real feel for the adjustment range and effect it would have on the car and its handling. The changes certainly improved the handling however further work was needed to make the car competitive and get back to where we were last season. Unfortunately our competition has quite a head start on us, and a lot of them are already 1.5 – 2.0 seconds a lap quicker than last year! The BT Motorsport team are going to work hard on improving the setup on the car to ensure we can be a contender for the championship this season, fortunately the championship allows for your worst round to be dropped from your total points tally.
The car is now back in the Dtech Motorsport workshop with another list of amendments to be made, before our first test session at Taupo Motorsport Park in a fortnight, giving us a further week before the second round of the season to make any further changes. We have already learnt a lot about the new car, and what changes we need to make to ensure it is competitive.
On a very positive note the car received exceptional attention and exposure thanks to the fantastic graphic scheme by Sign Fusion, with a number of comments received throughout the weekend. Further exposure opportunities are currently being pursued by the BT Motorsport team, and we will keep you all updated in this regard.
We’re pleased to report since our last update back in May that the new car is starting to progress well! There has been a lot going on behind the scenes with new components from across the world being ordered from our suppliers and partners. These parts are now starting to arrive thick and fast, and the remainder should arrive shortly. In the meantime Timo from Octane Automotive is continuing work on the roll cage and chassis preparation which should be completed within another 10 days.
The car will then be transported to Dtech Motorsport in Tauranga where the talented team will start work on a new loom, integrated fire extinguisher system, fabrication of new interior panels, and taking as much weight out of the car as they can. They will then install all of the new components, set up the new chassis and suspension, and tune the car based on the new setup.
We also have some exciting new bodywork changes to make to the car, which need to be fitted into this busy schedule somewhere as well before the new season kicks off on the 2nd and 3rd of October!
Our brilliant graphic/signage partner Carl at Sign Fusion is working on a new and improved visual scheme for the car as well, ensuring a new and fresh look.
We will continue to keep you updated with the build-up to the new season, and progress on the new project. We thank you for your continued support and look forward to the new (and hopefully more successful!) season.
Following on from our last update, it was decided after pulling the car apart after the ITM400 that it would be quicker and more economical to buy a new vehicle and transfer any salvageable components from the current car across to a new shell. On the back of this, and thanks to fellow competitor and all round good guy Kester Olivecrona @ Automotive Direct, in Fielding, BT Motorsport has purchased a 2002 Subaru Impreza WRX STi Spec C.
We will start work on this car in the near future, stripping and prepping it for a more extensive and lighter roll cage, and start transferring various components across from our previous Spec C, and accumulating new parts to ensure the vehicle will be ready for racing later on in 2011.
BT Motorsport were presented an opportunity to enter the Hamilton ITM400 through our association with GTRNZ, given the significant exposure available for sponsors we decided to enter despite any nervousness associated with the event, given Stephen the driver, has never competed in a street circuit event.
We arrived on Thursday afternoon to the heat and humidity of Hamilton, and proceeded to unload our gear and set up in the pre erected marquees, adjacent to fellow Taranaki drivers Dave Geraghty and Shaun Van Beers. Once set up we decided to walk the track, to get a feel for the circuit and to look out for any areas of concern ahead of testing the following day. This was an awesome experience as we followed around the Stone Brothers race team, and driver Shane Van Gisbergen as they methodically went through the track analysing each corner and bump. This was followed by a drivers briefing for us later that afternoon.
Friday continued in the same vein as Thursday with the sun shining. We had a 15min test session, 5min break, followed immediately by a 15min qualifying session. Given Stephen hadn’t driven for a few weeks, and a few months prior to that the test session was rather slow to get familiarised with the track, and to take the opportunity to ‘bed in’ the new brake discs and pads installed on the car during the week. After a few laps Stephen returned to the pits to give everything an opportunity to cool down ahead of the qualifying session. Stephen started to push a bit harder during this session, gaining confidence with the car and the new Kumho Tyres provided by Blairs. The session was cut short however, and Stephen could only manage to qualify 7th but is confident he could have got higher up the order if the session wasn’t cut short. We spent the remainder of the day watching action from the track, including V8 Supercar practice sessions, drift demonstrations and various other support classes.
The BT Motorsport team arrived on Saturday morning to fairly heavy rain. We were running in the Muscle & Touring car class with our first race at 10.45am. Unfortunately the weather didn’t clear and we decided to put the full wet tyres on the car, which proved to be a wise decision. After qualifying 7th we started off the 4th row of the grid, in a standing start situation in fairly heavy rain. Stephen had a fantastic start and managed to get up to 2nd place just before the first corner. Unfortunately Stephen was a bit ambitious with his braking ability on cold tyres and couldn’t pull the car up in time for the corner, and under steered wide but was able to re-gather the car and slot back into 5th position, and had moved up to 4th before turn two. Stephen was stuck behind the Ford Mustang of Bruce Anderson who made the car rather wide in the first couple of laps, which also had 700+ HP under the hood which we couldn’t compete with down the straights. Stephen made the decision to maintain the 4th position rather than take any risks in trying to pass the Mustang, and to see out the remainder of the race. Unfortunately on the 5th lap of the race the actuator arm on the waste gate (which controls boost to the turbo) failed and Stephen lost all power. Not knowing what the problem was Stephen immediately returned to the pits so as to not incur any unnecessary damage to the vehicle, resulting in a DNF for Race One. BT Motorsport, sponsors and Stephen got significant exposure from this race on Gillette Motorsports television coverage of the event. We are trying to obtain a DVD copy of this race (along with the others) which we can then integrate into the in-car video taken from ‘SPEC C’.
The rain continued on and off for the remainder of Saturday, with our second race at 1.25pm. We made the decision in consultation with Chief Engineer Dave Heerdegen of Dtech Motorsport to run Kumho’s V700 asymmetrical semi slick, rather than full wets, as the weather at the time was drying. Unfortunately given the DNF of race one we were required to start off the rear of the grid in 16th position, again in a standing start race format. Stephen again had another good start but was ‘boxed in’ by the cars in front of him, having no choice but to brake to avoid contact. The wide range of cars in the class made racing rather frustrating as there was a mixture of high HP rear wheel drive muscle cars, and nimble 4WD turbos such as BT Motorsports ‘SPEC C’ which each have their strengths and weaknesses. Unfortunately the Hamilton street circuit does have limited passing opportunities so Stephen really had to choose his moments wisely when passing cars. To add to this the rain continued and the choice to go out on intermediates turned out to be the wrong one, with Stephen struggling to pull the car up for corners, and to put the power down on corner exit. This however did provide significant exposure again on the big screens at the venue with a number of “drifts” shown when exiting corners. Disappointingly Race two was not shown on Gillette Motorsport on Sunday’s coverage. By the end of the race Stephen had managed to get the car up to 8th place overall, which the team were pleased with given the trying conditions and the amount of traffic that we had to get through. After a quick clean of the car we called it a day and proceeded to watch the V8 Supercars in very trying conditions in the late afternoon.
Sunday arrived and again the weather was being rather unpredictable, with varying levels of showers throughout the morning, dispersed with bouts of intense sun! The Third race starting order was based off the total aggregate of points accumulated in the prior races, unfortunately given our DNF of race one we were relegated to 14th on the grid. Interestingly enough two ex V8 Supercars were added to the rear of our field to ensure a “muscle car” won the race, as opposed to Japanese cars which had won the previous two races. Whilst we were sitting on the dummy grid it started showering, and we didn’t have an opportunity to change the Kumho slicks for the Kumho intermediates, these showers continued for the first couple of laps, which made the race rather interesting! Stephen had another good start, but was again boxed in by cars in front, rather than taking any risks in the trying conditions Stephen joined the freight train for the first couple of laps, before starting to methodically pass cars in front. Stephen had got up to 6th place by the last lap of the race, after some intense racing getting through the traffic. Stephen was following the big Mustang of Bruce Anderson again for the last lap, Bruce ran wide on the “Big Pond” corner (turn and Stephen went down the inside of Bruce and was well ahead on the right hand kink leading up to turn nine which takes the cars back onto the main straight. Disappointingly Bruce didn’t give Stephen any racing room and made contact with Stephen on his left rear wheel, putting the car into a spin, head on into the concrete barriers at approx 140km/h. The car then spun back in the other direction causing damage to the rear of the vehicle as well as the significant frontal damage from the head on impact. Stephen was obviously rather shell shocked after this heavy impact but was able to walk away from the crash in one piece (albeit rather sore and bruised). The entire team are thankful for the modern safety devices in use, including our HANS Device (which was actually a new acquisition for this event), our Racetech head restraint seat, and the extensive roll cage. Disappointingly the car also caught fire after the crash, which took awhile to extinguish. Below is a brief in-car video of the incident:
This was obviously a heartbreaking end to an exciting and successful race weekend, and has unfortunately put BT Motorsport out of competition for the short term, until our engineering partner Dtech Motorsport can make a full assessment of the damage and an economic analysis and feasibility can be completed before making a decision on how and when to proceed with repairs or a new car. Our thanks go to our support team, Dave Heerdegen, Tim Robinson, and team manager Mark Brown-Thomas for the help, support and assistance on site, as well as fellow Taranaki competitors Dave Geraghty and Shaun Van Beers and their respective support teams. Our thanks also go out to those supporters who called, txt or sent messages of support for Stephen and the team after the incident.
Our thanks also go out to the support provided by our sponsors, KCL Property, Blairs/Kumho Tyres, Alaska Interiors, and Dtech Motorsport whom without your support we would not have had the ability to race at this event, and gain the exposure we did.
BT Motorsport are pleased to announce a new partner, Alaska Interiors. Alaska Interiors are an Auckland based construction firm specialising in commercial & retail construction, retail & hospitality interior fit-outs, and refurbishment projects.
Alaska Interiors dont see problems, only opportunities. Alaska build relationships, offer solutions, are flexible, and work collaboratively with their clients. They take safety and sustainability seriously and work hands on with personal involvement from the Directors down.
For any of your construction needs please contact Alaska Interiors on (09) 375-0080 or visit www.alaska.co.nz for more information.
BT Motorsport are pleased to announce a new partnership with Blairs, who are the sole New Zealand distributor for Kumho. Blairs are a family owned business importing and wholesaling Kumho tyres, Trelleborg tyres, Goodride tyres, Argo ATV vehicles, and Petrol & Diesel engines.
Blairs have been operating since 1956, and have evolved into one of New Zealand’s leading tyre wholesalers with depots throughout New Zealand and an excellent distribution network of dealers.
We highly recommend the Kumho range of tyres. Kumho have a tyre for every facet of motorsport covered, along with passenger vehicle tyres.
If you are interested in any Kumho products please contact BT Motorsport, call 0508 BLAIRS, or visit www.blairs.co.nz to peruse the wide range of products on offer from Blairs.
BT Motorsport are pleased to announce that they will be competing at the ITM400 in Hamilton on the 15th to the 17th of April 2011, in one of the support classes to the V8 Supercars.
We are looking forward to the new challenges that a demanding street circuit will bring. If you are unable to make it to Hamilton keep an eye on Gilette Motorsport on TV3 for full coverage of the weekend.
and Stephen went down the inside of Bruce and was well ahead on the right hand kink leading up to turn nine which takes the cars back onto the main straight. Disappointingly Bruce didn’t give Stephen any racing room and made contact with Stephen on his left rear wheel, putting the car into a spin, head on into the concrete barriers at approx 140km/h. The car then spun back in the other direction causing damage to the rear of the vehicle as well as the significant frontal damage from the head on impact. Stephen was obviously rather shell shocked after this heavy impact but was able to walk away from the crash in one piece (albeit rather sore and bruised). The entire team are thankful for the modern safety devices in use, including our HANS Device (which was actually a new acquisition for this event), our Racetech head restraint seat, and the extensive roll cage. Disappointingly the car also caught fire after the crash, which took awhile to extinguish. Below is a brief in-car video of the incident:
