PLANNING THE ATTACK
The Motorbase squad have some BIG news ahead of the 2020 BTCC campaign…
We may have been quiet for a couple of issues since our last outing at Brands Hatch in the 2019 season finale, but don’t think we’ve all been off on holiday for several weeks and forgotten about the BTCC until the new season starts in Spring. This racing lark is something you can’t shake-off, you live it and breathe it. So, while we’ve been off the radar for a few weeks, we’ve been busy behind the scenes hatching plans for our approach to the 2020 season.
All of the teams start the season with one thing on their minds – winning. And we’re no different. We’ve enjoyed the highs of race wins (including a 1-2-3 finish in the Independents Championship last time out) as well as our fair share of the lows and misfortune that competitive motorsport can throw your way. But, we’ve always been in the mix, always had the car and the team capable of winning Championships, and this year we’re ready to prove that.
So, with that in mind, the first piece of great news we can update you with this month is that our driver line-up for 2020 is one of the strongest on the grid; with Ollie Jackson continuing to build on last season, and the welcome return of Rory Butcher to the Motorbase team for 2020 too. Ollie is looking to build on his successful first year with the us in 2019, in which he scored more points than he’d done in any of his previous six seasons in the BTCC. “The Independents Trophy title has to be my aim for the season,” he explains.
Alongside Ollie for 2020, we welcome back the reigning Independents Trophy Champion, Rory Butcher. Rory has raced with us in various championships in the past, but is looking forward to re-joining the team, especially after starting his BTCC career with us. “Motorbase launched me on my British touring car journey, and it feels like ‘coming home’ to go back to the team,” Rory admits, “I know that I might not have the touring car experience of some of the guys out there in but I am working relentlessly to absorb all the information I can and push myself, and the team, forward to go for the biggest prizes we can reach. I have tasted glory in the Independents Trophy, which was a huge achievement, but my sights are set higher. I want more wins, and the overall championship is my aim.”
So we’ve got a fantastic team of drivers already chomping at the bit, keen to push each other but also eager to work together for the good of the team and to progress the development of the cars simultaneously.
Speaking of which, that’s our other bit of huge news this month. The RS is no more… But as you can tell by our update in this very magazine we haven’t strayed away from the Blue Oval. Not at all. Instead, we’re building brand new cars ready for 2020, based on the new Mk4 Focus ST. There’s so much progress in car design and production so quickly these days, and with the older Mk3 Focus style shell now being over 10 years old, newer cars on the grid do have a marked advantage when it came to using modern designs. The main advantage in terms of racing is improved shell and chassis stiffness, and while we can’t say too much at this stage, the development of the new cars is coming along really well, and is already showing a lot of promise.
We can’t show you everything this month, but the Fast Ford cameras have been closely following the development and progress of the new car builds, and we will bring you a full feature showing exactly what’s been going on in a future issue.
In the meantime, have a quick look at the cheeky CAD drawing preview of the new car with its yet-to-be-developed wide arch kit. It’s going to look awesome!
More updates next month, but needless to say we’re all really excited to see what 2020 brings, and we can’t wait to go racing again.