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.
Best Regards
The BT Motorsport Team
