GOING PRIVATE IN GB4

Dylan Hotchin in 2023 will become GB4’s first-ever fully privateer entry, and that’s not the only unusual thing about the effort as Graham Keilloh finds out

2022-12-22 -

Next year Dylan Hotchin is one of a number of new entrants joining the GB4 junior single-seater championship’s grid for its second season of existence. Hotchin’s an 18-year-old racer with a background in karting and Fiesta tin-top racing. So far, so – apparently – usual.

But there’s something decidedly unusual about Hotchin’s entry. This year’s inaugural GB4 campaign was dominated by established junior teams such as Fortec and Hillspeed. Next year Hotchin, competing as Dylan Hotchin Racing helped by his father Richard, will become GB4’s first-ever fully privateer entry.

And this is entirely in keeping with the initial vision for the new GB4 contest, as outlined to Motorsport News by MotorSport Vision boss Jonathan Palmer in advance of the MSV category’s 2022 debut.

“It’s very important that we give the opportunity for privateers to come back and have a go,” Palmer told MN late last year. “The kids that have gone through karting, done quite well, not a wealthy dad but believes in his son, the lad’s desperate to get on and you can go and buy an existing Tatuus F4 car for £25,000 running and you could run that car on £5000 a race weekend, to get into a high-quality single-seater championship.”

And it was this that attracted the Hotchins. “When we came from karting we originally looked at Formula 4 and it was just too far out of reach [financially] ,” Richard Hotchin tells MN, “and that’s why we went [into] tintops with the Fiesta.”

But after a “torrid year mechanically” with their

ST240 Fiesta, they were considering a move into another tin-top category, such as TCR or JCW Minis. “And with us wanting to do privateering we’d discounted the single-seater option,” Richard notes, “and then we came across GB4 and thought this is a good option.

“When you look at the GB4 package as a whole, the cars are reasonably priced, in fact they’re cheaper than the Fiesta that I built, it’s access level really now. That’s what Jonathan Palmer’s done; he’s realised that Formula 4 is that step too far for a lot of drivers and that you need something in the middle.

“He’s maybe bridged a gap there, I’ll tell you at the end of this year! But from a privateers’ point of view for the amount of money I was spending at go-karting I can run as a privateer one of those GB4 cars.”

“Something new isn’t it?,” Dylan adds to MN on the prospect of him stepping into single-seater racing, “it’s just a different style of racing really but yeah I’m excited for it.

“It’s been up there [in my view] for a long time but I never actually thought we would do it, I’ve never come across it. It’s always been in the back of my mind but then the money side is a bonus really, so it’s just cheap for us to race, that’s why we’ve chose it.”

And why are they doing it as a privateer? “We just want to do things different,” Richard adds.

“Dylan’s very hands on and the concept side of it as a privateer is let’s learn the car ourselves, understand the car ourselves.

“I almost feel sometimes that teams, if you are the biggest payer in that team you’ll get the best service, if you’re the lowest payer in that team you’re not getting necessarily the best service.

“So it’s very much let’s have a go at this on our own. If we get in the middle of the pack we’ve done well.

“Dylan’s studying as an apprentice controls engineer. Dylan’s very hands on, he’s not the typical driver where he gets out the car, just walks away from it. If you’re around the GB4 championship you’ll see him actually mechanicing on the car, he preps his own cars a lot of the time. He’s changed five engines this year in the Fiesta, so he’s very hands on and we just thought let’s have a go and see where we end up with this.

“If you look at say Michael

Schumacher, [he] was very hands on, he worked on his car until midnight, one in the morning. I can’t compare Dylan to Michael Schumacher obviously but it’s the same sort of concept,

Dylan will understand the car mechanically rather than letting mechanics look after it etc.

“So I think we know enough about car racing, we know enough about motorsport and because we’re a group of engineers that we’re going to be to help assist Dylan, and Dylan himself having that mechanical understanding, electrical understanding of the vehicle, we can develop it [the car] quite well.”

And this brings us to the second way that the Hotchins’entry will be different. They also will invite to be part of the team mechanical and electrical/control trainees from apprenticeships and colleges, who will be guided by senior British Steel engineers.

So, again, why? “I’ve developed a lot of young engineers over the years,” Richard explains. “I’m a control engineer myself, so I’ve developed 35, 40 engineers over my time and I just thought these young lads can control machinery in heavy industry. So if you take British Steel for example we’re controlling hot metal and it goes through and transforms into railway lines or whatever else, on through computers and looking at the data that comes back so we get the high-end performance of a piece of steel, well it’s only the same as looking at a car.

“And it’s about giving the young kids a little bit more of an opportunity to be in that and around that GT paddock, around the high-end performance feeder teams.

“What we’re going to do is go to the local engineering schools and the colleges and say right OK your best guy for this month that’s performed let’s give him the opportunity to come to Silverstone, work on the car, understand the data and work within that motorsport environment.

“So it’s one-off opportunities for young kids as well, certainly Lincolnshire, the region where we live, we have quite a lot of heavy industry colleges around here along the Humber bank. There’s some great young kids that are coming through and it’s good to be able to develop them as well in a little-bit-different environment.”

The Hotchins will get their hands on a GB4 car in late January, while Dylan – who brings experience of racing directly against Jonny Edgar, Abbi Pulling and Dexter Patterson – has distinct aims. “To come top three,” he says, “that’s where I want to aim, and just to have fun as well, seeing where you can go and how high you can get.”

“All of motorsport we’ve always done as a hobby,” Richard adds, “that’s the difference as well, and hence why Dylan is doing his engineer apprenticeship because we see it as a hobby. If it comes to more than that hobby then that’s great.

“For us it is about being able to compete with these big teams as a small privateer and if this year as I say is all about learning, mid pack, and the year after is we should have learnt that trade and we should be fighting for the top three. That’s where we want to be and it’s just see where we go.” ■

Richard Hotchin “I want to be in the top three”

Dylan Hotchin “We can develop the GB4 car quite well”

International racing

1. By how many points was eventual champion Max Verstappen off the Formula 1 championship lead after the first three rounds of the 2022 season? Was it: 26, 36 or 46?

2. And after how many rounds of the 22-race F1 season did Verstappen take a points table lead he was never to lose?

3. How many drivers took their first-ever Formula 1 pole position in 2022?

4. How many races did

Stoffel Vandoorne win in his championship-winning 2021-22 Formula E season?

5. Where did all-female

Iron Dames finish in this year’s World Endurance Championship LMGTE Am teams’championship?

6. Which driver took the most race wins in this year’s

IndyCar season?

National racing

7. How many different race winners were there in the

2022 British Touring Car Championship season?

8. With which team did Alexander Sims race with in British GT this year?

9. How many British Formula 4 race wins did Alex Dunne get in his record-breaking

2022 season?

10. How many former overall Formula Ford Festival winners entered this year’s event?

11. Samuel Harrison won races in which three different cars in 2022?

12. Who raced Martinis in Historic F2 in 2022?

International rallying

13. Efren Llarena won something a Spanish driver hadn’t done since 1980. What did he win?

14. Kalle Rovanpera became the youngest World champion in history aged 22 and one day. Whose record did he beat and how old was the previous record holder?

15. Only once did a British competitor finish on an ERC podium in 2022. Who was it?

16. When she’s not co-driving Sebastien Loeb, what is Isabelle Galmiche’s day job?

17. Loeb was the first driver to win a WRC stage driving a Ford Puma, but who was the second?

18. Why is Rally Finland considered a second home event for Japan’s Takamoto Katsuta?

National rallying

19. Which north of England special stage came back into use in 2022 after a gap of 27 years?

20. Matthew Hirst won the Welsh Rally Championship in a Ford Fiesta R5: but who drove that car in 2021?

21. Name the winning driver and co-driver from the Protyre Asphalt Rally Championship in 2022.

22. Who finished second in the Junior British Rally Championship?

23. Two British Rally Championship contenders had fathers competing on the Killarney Historic Rally: name the fathers.

24. Who won the 2021/22 MN Circuit Rally Championship?

25. Which island welcomed the return of rallying this year after a break of more than 30 years?

January

Following on from the Red Bull Racing overspend controversy at the end of the 2022 season, Yorkshireman John Booth announces Manor Motorsport’s intention to re-enter Formula 1 in 2024. “I have got lots of caps – all of them flat ones,” he says.

The 2022 Singapore Grand Prix finally finishes.

February

After from his successful sporadic programme in 2022, national rally driver David Henderson decides once again to cherry-pick his events. He kicks off his season by tackling a sporting trial in Devon. He wins and is considering a full campaign.

After the introduction of hybrid power in 2022, chiefs of the British Touring Car Championship announce a new tie-up with BP. A garage forecourt is to be installed at each venue and drivers will be forced to stop and plug their cars in for 15 minutes to recharge in the middle of each race.

March

David Henderson is at it again as he chooses, randomly, to enter a National Hot Rod meeting at Foxhall Heath. He wins. “I might have to contest the rest of this series now,” he admits.

Ruairi Bell’s efforts to score a first outright on-the-road win in the British Rally Championship are thwarted by late entrant Oliver Solberg, who is tackling the Malcolm Wilson Rally to keep his eye in. Although Solberg is unregistered, it takes the spotlight away from his 23-year-old rival.

April

Proud Yorkshireman Jonathan Lewis says he is thinking of reconvening Jonathan Lewis Motorsport to put together a grand prix assault. “I think I could easily make it work within the flat-cap budget,” he declares.

A new success penalty system the BTCC causes controversy in the opening round. While plugged in for his 15-minute compulsory recharge at Donington Park, Tom Ingram fails to collect the sausage roll and packet of Chilli Heatwave Doritos as demanded by the tweaked regulations. He docked 20s from his race time and finishes fifth.

May

More drama in the BTCC when Gordon Shedden loses a certain win at Snetterton during the compulsory BP petrol station stop during race two. He is delayed while collecting the required large coffee because the automated machine only has small cups. The hold-up means he finishes ninth.

Ruairi Bell’s hope of a maiden outright BRC win are dashed again as the nonregistered Chris Ingram decides to enter the Jim Clark Rally to keep his hand in and manages to prevail.

June

Late entry David Henderson dominates the Beaver Rally Road Rally event. He is considering chasing the silverware in this series too.

Thierry Neuville wins the British Rally Championship section of the Ypres Rally in a Hyundai R5 car despite not being registered for points. Ruairi Bell is truly fed up in second place.

Ash Sutton is stripped of BTCC victory at Oulton Park when mandated toilet visit at BP is thwarted by a lack of hand wash. He has to attract the attention of staff to replace the supplies and is still in the garage, as far as we know…

July

Billy Wood is disqualified from victory in the National Hot Rod World Final when officials decide that his plan of running flat-out around the outside wall of the short oval at Ipswich for the entire 75-laps is deemed against the spirit of the regulations. “I saw Ross Chastain do it in NASCAR, and it was fine there,” says the disappointed driver.

August

David Henderson gets a last-gasp shot at the BTCC as he is named as a substitute driver at the Knockhill rounds for Team Hard. He wins – complete with a full collection of local AA road maps, a 40-watt lightbulb and some Fairy Liquid – as required by the regulations, and says he is pondering entering the remainder of the contest. “I think I could claim the outright crown,” he declares.

On the Ulster Rally, development driver Kris Meeke makes a sensational return to the top of the rally podium as he claims the win in a Skoda Fabia Rally2 machine despite not entering the championship. “What do I have to do?” says a frustrated Ruairi Bell.

September

Yorkshire historic rallying veteran Bob Bean announces his intention to enter a team in grand prix racing in 2024, although he is disappointed that he can’t use his Lotus Cortina. The 85-year-old, who confirms backing from Werther’s Originals, is excited. “It is about time those of us with a cap that is within the rules are recognised,” he says.

Plaudits go to Gwyndaf Evans, who comes out of retirement to tackle a one-off on Rali Ceredigion in the British Rally Championship in the new Toyota GTR Yaris Rally2 car, gifted to him by his son Elfyn. He scores no points as he isn’t registered. Secondplaced Ruairi Bell is inconsolable.

Adam Morgan is stripped of victory at Silverstone’s BTCC rounds as it turns out that the BLT sandwich he collected during his mandated 15-minute recharge period only contains lettuce and tomato.

October

David Henderson wins the Formula Ford Festival on a glorious return to single-seater racing. “I think I might go for the National FF1600 crown in 2024,” he confirms.

Ruairi Bell wins the Cambrian Rally. He is overjoyed, but the delight is short-lived. It subsequently transpires that he hadn’t filled in his championship entry form properly and therefore is not registered for points, handing the round victory and the crown to Eamonn Kelly.

Jake Hill is proved as the cutest BTCC driver of all. At the final rounds at Brands Hatch, he turns out he has been the only one who registered for a BPme Rewards loyalty card. That gives him an extra 30 championship points, and it is enough for the crown.

November

Returnee Roberto Moreno wins the Walter Hayes Trophy FF1600 final from Tommy Byrne and Rick Morris. It’s 1980 all over again!

Ruairi Bell wins the Roger Albert Clark Rally but is disqualified at post-event scrutineering for not having a bobble hat in the car along with a warning triangle and flask of tea. He is defeated by one-off entrant Oliver Solberg.