New car, new era and new challenge for Power Maxed Racing

One thing you could never accuse Power Maxed Racing of is lacking ambition. In only its third year in the British Touring Car Championship, the Warwickshire-based team has become a constructor for the first time and has secured the return of Vauxhall as a manufacturer entry after a seven year absence.

The road from privateer squad to constructor/manufacturer entry has been a swift one, but it has been on the team’s radar since they took over the BTC Racing entry for the 2015 season. Team principal Adam Weaver told TouringCarTimes at Snetterton that year that he was already working on securing manufacturer support, and that work has since borne fruit.

The team has built two latest generation Vauxhall Astras over the winter, the second of which only turned a wheel for the first time at the recent media day at Donington Park. Lead driver and BTCC returnee Tom Chilton is no stranger to the Vauxhall brand, and his experience alongside series newcomer Senna Proctor will doubtlessly be key in 2017.

So what of the challenges of this new world for PMR? TouringCarTimes caught up with some key figures within the team at media day to find out more about getting the new cars on track, and the nuts and bolts of the deal with Vauxhall.

Team manager Martin Broadhurst oversees the running of the team and is rarely seen without a headset glued to his ear during the media day test.

A hugely experienced hand, the former Triple Eight crew chief also worked with Prodrive Subaru and Mitsubishi in the WRC before moving into touring cars and has been part of the team since it joined the BTCC in 2015.

For Broadhurst, the first part of the job with a new car is to consider the absolute basics.

“We’ve got a baseline setup because we’ve got experience of NGTC on the RML kit, but the dynamics of this chassis are totally different to what we’ve worked to in the past,” said Broadhurst to TouringCarTimes.

“We roll out with a baseline setup, get feedback from the drivers and make sure the car is safe, first and foremost.

“They’re reasonably happy at the minute – there’s a few small driver fit issues more than anything else, to make them comfortable in the car. They’re both quite well built guys!

“It’s about making sure they can see the dash clearly, and the steering wheel and gear lever are in the right place.”

Unsurprisingly, every time the new Astra ventures out onto the circuit, it’s a positive learning experience for the team.

“For anybody in engineering, if you don’t approach every day with the attitude that you’re going to learn something new, you’re in the wrong game. We’re all learning every day,” said Broadhurst.

“You might go home at 6pm but you don’t stop thinking about what’s going on the next week, the next race, different tracks, different surfaces, different weather conditions…”

Memorably, Team BMR only ran its new Subaru Levorgs on the eve of first practice at Brands Hatch last year. At the other end of the spectrum, Team Dynamics built and tested their new Civic machines over a long winter. So where do Power Maxed fit on this scale ahead of the new season?

“Somewhere inbetween. We’ve achieved a massive feat it itself getting two cars to media day. We’re a bit ahead of where teams can be,” said Broadhurst.

“The proof is running it on the track. Every run we’ve got data, and we work with the data and the stopwatch. If the driver thinks it’s comfortable, then it’s usually not fast enough!”

In one of the driving seats, Tom Chilton returns to the BTCC for the first time since the Arena Ford project in 2011, and will dovetail his season with a sixth consecutive year in the World Touring Car Championship. The Astra he is piloting is a very different beast to the Citroen C-Elysee which has defeated all comers on the world stage since 2014.

Relying on the years of experience he’s built up since bursting onto the touring car scene in 2002, Chilton is already making encouraging noises about the new Astra.

“The first time you get in a car, you have a database of everything you already know. For me that’s 16 years in touring cars,” said Chilton to TouringCarTimes. “Even my first flying lap out there I can tell you what doesn’t feel right. There are very simple things which can lead on to become big things.

“We’ve got to work hard to get the balance right. This car is very different to the Chevrolet Cruze which the team ran before, which was quite noticeable.

“I was quite shocked out of the box with how quick we were, which makes me wonder what everyone else is doing with tyres and weight. I don’t want to get too excited, but it was quite nice following Matt Neal for four laps, flat out, a metre away from his bumper.”

The Surrey driver may have chosen the toughest year for a long time to return to the BTCC, but he is confident he will be able to flourish in a series where the rule book encourages close racing.

“All the cars are quite similar, a lot is down to the driver, which is nice. I was worried I’d get in and be 20th or 30th, but the whole point here is to keep the cost down. You can drift everywhere and be fast!” said Chilton.

“PMR for the first time building their own car has done a fantastic job. I’ve got a lot of experience racing with some of the best teams in the world, and looking around the car, they have done a very good job with it. I’m very impressed.”

There is a lot of bedding in to do ahead of the new season, not just with the new car and new drivers. Chilton’s engineer Nick Sylvester only joined up with the team and driver for the first time at media day, but he was quick to get up to speed and was happy with the progress made.

At the end of the four hour test, it’s been a largely productive day for PMR. Considering his day was effectively just a shakedown run, Proctor set a respectable 23rd best time of 1.11.255, on his 15th of 16 laps. He was around 0.6 slower than Chilton, who racked up 45 laps on his way to the eighth best time, a 1.10.658.

Proctor had issues with a misfire and Chilton with a wheelnut which curtailed some of their running, but encouragingly for the team, neither are connected to “their” parts.

“You always have issues with a new chassis, but the team’s done a really good job with these. The issues we’ve come across haven’t been down to the car,” said Sylvester.

“Tom’s quite new to the car, and we’re just covering the basics to get a setup direction and try and put miles on to improve reliability.

“We were quite happy to put the laptime in we did, we’re very happy with it really. We’re still trying to understand the new tyres, which are different from last year, and optimising around that.”

Regardless of where his cars end up this weekend, team principal Adam Weaver is proud of the hard work which has secured the return of Vauxhall to the BTCC.

Referring to his statement from Snetterton in 2015, Weaver said: “I’m pleased what you’ve said there, because I’ve got proof that it was part of the plan! I’m sure there are plenty of people who think it’s luck but ultimately since day one, it was the plan to come in and do it properly.

“We wanted to show that by applying straighforward business acumen we could become a manufacturer-backed team. And in our third year here we are with two brand new Vauxhall Astras and very much looking forward to the season ahead.

“Vauxhall themselves and the trade club are involved. We’ve got a good commercial deal and an amount of money coming in from Vauxhall and Vauxhall partners. I think it can get better over the agreement [a three year deal] – we’re a relatively new team and I think they’re testing the water a little bit.

“We’ve got a commercial arrangement based on us doing things to support them as a business which will generate us more income. I’m happy with it, I think it’s a very genuine and fair starting point. It’s something we can build upon.”

The proof of the hard work will ultimately come when the car hit the circuit for free practice at Brands Hatch this Saturday. In what is likely to be one of the tightest fields for many a year, PMR is certainly not shirking a challenge.

Asked about his goals for the year, Weaver said: “While it’s probably going to be the toughest year to do it, I’d really like to see Senna win the Jack Sears Trophy and bring it back to the team. I’d really like to see us take our first win and with Tom’s experience, that shouldn’t be unrealistic.

“But I’ll reassess after Brands Hatch. Until we go out in qualifying we’re never going to truly know how we compare to other people’s cars. I know the guys couldn’t have worked any harder. Based on that, we should be quick!”