GETTING OVER THE LINE
TECHNICAL COLUMN PROVIDED BY WITHAM MOTORSPORT – DISTRIBUTORS OF MOTUL AUTOMOTIVE LUBRICANTS
“Using Motul’s products can help us with the outright performance of the car”
Speedworks Motorsport boss Christian Dick and head mechanic Jack Coker take us through life at the cutting edge of the BTCC
Just before the final round of the 2021 British Touring Car Championship season, we caught up with Speedworks Motorsport team principal Christian Dick and Rory Butcher’s number one mechanic Jack Coker to discuss what goes on behind the scenes at the factory between race weekends as well as their aspirations for 2022.
How did you get into motorsport and your current role?
Christian Dick: “I ended up in my role kind of by accident. I knew that I loved motorsport from a young age. Thankfully I had parents that did as well, so I’ve been in and around that world for as long as I can remember. From age 10 through to 30 I was racing myself while also running the team. The role has evolved over the years, with BTCC being the main headline for us, and my role developed into being the team manager.”
Jack Coker: “I was studying mechanical engineering and thought motorsport might be a good avenue to follow so I started off as a volunteer in the team, came down and wanted to give it a try and thankfully Christian and Amy said yes. That was 10 years ago.”
Can you give us an overview of Speedworks Motorsport’s history?
CD: “Speedworks was originally set up in 2005 to run in a one-make Mazda MX-5 championship, and since then we’ve gone from strength to strength. We were very much a grassroots team when we started, but we’ve learnt a lot on our journey coming up through the ranks from Mazdas to Ginettas; from G20s through to winning the British GT4 Championship in a G50 in 2010. In 2011 we moved to the BTCC.”
What tasks does the team undertake between race weekends?
CD: “It’s quite intense: sometimes we have a smaller turnaround than at other times. If it’s back-to-back weekends, we will get back on Sunday night and get everything prepared and sorted to leave again on Wednesday. Provided we’ve got no major chassis or accident damage, we have a standard preparation. The cars will get stripped back and every component will get crack checked, cleaned, serviced and put back.”
JC: “My role is maintenance on the car between and during race weekends, set-up changes and making sure the decisions Rory and the engineers make go onto the car. The level of preparation between race weekends varies depending on the damage you’ve picked up.”
What can often be the major time-consuming elements of your team’s work back at the factory?
CD: “The area that consumes the most time is damage: the BTCC action can be robust and if we end up with damage on one or both cars, a short turnaround can be a tough ask. The focus is always also performance. We are looking at data analysis to establish where we are strong, where we are weak and what we can change to improve.”
How important is having trusted partners like Motul to ensure quality products are used on the team vehicles?
CD: “It is vital that we have partners like
Motul along for the ride with us. It’s vital to our existence, not only for the financial support we get, but also from every element of reliability on track through to performance.
“Motul’s input to us isn’t just the race vehicles themselves, it’s things such as trucks, team vehicles, crew buses that take people to the circuit.
“They all use Motul. Our on-track performance is determined by the quality of the products we get supplied by Motul.”
What Motul products are used on the vehicles?
CD: “Motul offers a huge range of products that are useful for us. This is areas such as general lubrication where we use a product called EZ lube, right through to the major components. For the engine we use the 300V 040 product, gearbox we use the Gear 300 product, and we use Motul grease in the driveshafts. It’s not just component life we’re looking to improve, it’s performance we’re looking to gain. Whether that’s friction reduction or the outright performance these products can give us in a straight line, we need that performance.”
JC: “We use Motul products daily for cleaning through to mechanical elements. We used Motul products long before we were sponsored by them because they are the best products you can buy. We are lucky to now have them onboard as a partner so we can use their technical knowledge to ensure we’re using the correct product for the correct application.”
What are the team’s ambitions over the next few years?
CD: “This year we grew to two cars, and that was a big change for us. Running two cars in the BTCC is a challenge to make sure we can be as competitive as we can with two cars.
That competitiveness is what drives us forward. We’re not here to make up the numbers, we’re here to win, so the overall objective in the next few years has to be that we win the championship. We know that we can win races, so it’s a case of stringing together those performances to win the championship.”
JC: “For me, it’s quite simply to win the championship and to be part of that winning team, knowing I’ve helped everyone to achieve that goal.”