CHARGING INTO THE FUTURE
It is quite impressive how one little button has given everyone so much to talk about and consider ahead of the new British Touring Car Championship season. The hybrid system is finally here and it promises to add an exciting new element to the campaign when it kicks off at Donington Park this weekend . What is perhaps the most interesting element to the extra power boost granted to all of the cars will be how the drivers decide to deploy the system – which can offer up to 15 seconds per lap of electronic power to supplement that coming from the motor. It can be used to attack or defend and, speaking to the people who will use it, there is yet to be a consensus on which will be the optimum time to push the button.
Over the course of the 30-race season, patterns will surely emerge and there will be a route that becomes clear, but the opening rounds are going to be intriguing. Never before has a driver’s strategical brain had such an input into success in Britain’s highest-profile championship.
In this issue, we also look ahead to the start of the British Rally Championship, which kicks off with the closed-road Rally
Tendring and Clacton. The event is making its debut on the BRC roster and should provide an exciting test for the entrants. Sadly, this year’s contest will take place without reigning champion Matt Edwards, who has been unable to secure the funding to make a return. That does mean, however, that it is a wide open contest for the title with Osian Pryce leading the line and desperate to put the memories of a narrow defeat last season to bed.
The man in the Q&A hot seat this week is ace engineer
Frank Dernie, a man who was at the heart of the Williams success story in the 1980s and a man who has worked with a plethora of World champions throughout his long career. He certainly pulls no punches when it comes to his opinions and he gives a thoroughly entertaining interview.
In this issue, we have included as many of the national racing and rally reports that we can given the Bank Holiday weekend and the MN print deadlines.
A report from the second British GT Championship race from Oulton Park, for example, is on the Motorsport News channel on the fastcar.co.uk website and a report will be published in the issue next week.
And also, don’t forget to make your voice heard in our latest MN poll to discover which driver has the favourite crash helmet design. The options and details of how to vote are on page 33.
Matt James Editor, Motorsport News matt.james@kelsey.co.uk