About Motorbase Performance
In 2010, Motorbase Performance will be one the biggest and most impressive race teams in Britain. With parallel programmes in the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship and the Porsche Carrera Cup GB, Motorbase will be fielding no less than eight cars at the forefront of British motor racing.
The Motorbase Performance team was created for the 2004 season, but its origins go much further back. It is over 20 years since David Bartrum started racing and, after extensive success in Production Saloons, TVR Tuscans and Ford Saloons, he turned his attention to team management and then to the creation of Motorbase Performance.
During 2004, Motorbase Performance entered cars in the prestigious Porsche Carrera Cup GB, one of the key support races to the British Touring Car Championship. Brothers Andy and Gary Britnell contested a full season with the team, mid-season, the team expanded to three cars with the addition of a car for Irish charger Damien Faulkner. Podium finishes and race wins followed as the team finished runners-up in the coveted Carrera Cup teams' championship.
2005 saw Motorbase Performance enter the British GT Championship in the highly competitive GT3 class, selected rounds of the Porsche Carrera Cup GB and the Seat Cupra Championship. Drivers seen in Motorbase Performance cars included, Tim Harvey, Dave Pinkney, Phil Quaife, Andy Britnell, Sam Edwards, Steven Kane, Chris Stockton and Damien Faulkner. Again race wins and podium finishes were obtained with ease.
The 2006 season was another major step forward with dual campaigns in the Porsche Carrera Cup GB, using the stunning new 997-type GT3 Cup Car, and the prestigious British Touring Car Championship with the 2005 winning Honda Integra. Plus the British GT Championship, including selected rounds of international sportscar racing, centring on the Le Mans Endurance Series. The driver line up included Tim Harvey, Michael Caine, Phil Quaife, Dave Pinkney, Andy Britnell, Gary Britnell, Rod Barrett, Jan Persson and Gary Eastwood.
Never content to sit on its laurels, Motorbase Performance continued in both the Porsche Carrera Cup GB and the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship in 2007, with two SEAT Toledos marking the team's most serious BTCC challenge to date. While the cars, in the hands of Matt Allison and Gareth Howell, were quick, they had an uncanny knack of getting involved in incidents and an awful lot of time and resource was used keeping them in pristine condition. Top 10 results came, although Tom Ferrier later replaced Howell for the closing races of the season.
In the Carrera Cup GB, Steven Kane led the team and came very close to clinching the overall title after a superb season. Ultimately, after a disastrous weekend at Knockhill, he finished third while Sam Hancock joined the team for his debut Carrera Cup season and was a race winner before the end of the year. Andy Britnell battled hard for the pro-am title and ended the year runner-up to Nigel Rice.
For the 2008 season the team competed at the very top of British motor racing with a pair of BMW 320s for Steven Kane and Rob Collard in the HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship. It was a tough start to the year as the team learned about the car without the benefit of any real pre-season testing.
But hard work and determination delivered results and over the second half of the season the drivers scored 19 podiums between them. Kane scored the team's first podium at Snetterton, while Collard took the first Independents win at Knockhill. It was a massively impressive performance and left the team ideally placed for another great season in 2008.
With major backing from Airwaves, Motorbase ran Rob Collard and Jonathan Adam in the BTCC, while Michael Caine and Ollie Jackson spearheaded the Porsche Carrera Cup team. During the season, George Richardson, Liam Griffin and Steve Parish all sampled the Carrera Cup as they built up towards full programme 2010.
In the 2009 BTCC, the Airwaves cars were at the heart of the action, with Collard taking sixth overall in the championship after Motorbase claimed it's first two BTCC wins. In the Carrera Cup, Caine was always a front-runner and finally finished fourth in the championship with three wins. Jackson had a great debut season, finishing third in pro-am1 as the only driver to score points in all 20 races.
