Motorbase Performance....A Brief History
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 first 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 then expanded to run three cars with the addition of 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 taking a seat in Motorbase Performance run cars during this season included well recognised faces such as Tim Harvey, Dave Pinkney, Phil Quaife, Andy Britnell, 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 for Motorbase 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 Championship winning Honda Integra. The team also ran a successful programme in the British GT Championship. The driver line up at this stage 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, running 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 a great deal of time and resource was spent 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.
The 2008 season saw the team compete 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 cars 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 5 podiums between them. Kane scored the team's first podium at Snetterton, while Collard took the first Independents win at Knockhill. The team’s inspiring performance at the final round of 2008, at their home track of Brands Hatch, also saw them out-score all other teams in the pit lane, the only Independent team to do so for that season. It was a hugely impressive performance and left the team ideally placed for another great season in 2009.
The 2009 season got off to a great start, with major backing from Wrigley’s 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.
2009 proved to be the real turning point for Motorbase/Airwaves BMW in the BTCC, the Airwaves cars were at the heart of the action throughout the season, with Collard taking sixth overall in the championship after the team claimed its 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 twenty races.
The lead up to the 2010 season was a fraught time for Motorbase, one on hand the Porsche team went from strength to strength with the team securing a championship first by running an unparalleled six cars that saw Caine, Jackson, Richardson, and Parish all return to drive for the team with the additions of VW cup driver Liam Griffin and Charlie Bateman, who made a return to the championship following a year out.
In stark comparison, the season preparations for the BTCC team were challenging to say the least. With limited funding and the last minute shock departure of Rob Collard to another team, the Airwaves BMW team looked as if they would have to sit the season out. Never one’s to walk away from a challenge; David Bartrum and his team pulled together the comeback of the year with a little over two weeks until the official media day. Managing not only to secure increased sponsorship funding but also one of the most highly anticipated driver line ups of the championship with Mat Jackson and Steven Kane put in place for the season.
The hard work and tenacity of the team could not have received a higher reward after the championship first rounds held at Thruxton. The restructured Airwaves BMW team stunned everyone with a remarkable one-two finish in the final race of the day, a first for the team. Airwaves BMW had made their mark and shown themselves as serious title contenders. They would continue to lead the championship until the half way mark of the season, where after a number of difficult rounds, the lack of a pre-season testing programme and significant budgets of the manufacturer backed teams started to show through. Steven Kane and Mat Jackson took sixth and seventh places overall with an impressive 13 podiums and 2 wins between them, with the team slightly disappointed to finish a respectable forth overall and runners up in the Independent Team standings.
2010 ended on a high for the Porsche Carrera Cup team as Motorbase Performance triumphed at the Brands Hatch season finale, winning the Porsche Carrera Cup GB Teams Championship with a dramatic last minute effort. In addition, Ollie Jackson secured the Pro-Am1 title with George Richardson just edged out of claiming the Pro-Am 2 overall title. Although Michael Caine lost out on the driver’s title, there is no doubt that his seven race wins were all important as he held aloft the Teams Championship trophy.
On reflection securing the Teams Championship, the Pro-Am1 top spot (Jackson) and second place finishes in both Pro-Am1 (Caine) and Pro-Am 2 (Richardson) categories, Motorbase performance celebrated in style and are incredibly proud of their achievements.
In 2011, 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 under the title sponsor team name of Airwaves Racing and the Porsche Carrera Cup GB as Motorbase Performance, the team will be fielding a significant fleet of cars at the forefront of British motor racing.
2011 sees a number of changes to the Motorbase teams for the season. The reigning Porsche Carrera Cup Championships have reinforced their squad further with the addition of double title winner Tim Harvey who will be running alongside Michael Caine in the Pro category. George Richardson steps up to the Pro-Am 1 category this year, while Steve Parish makes a return to the Pro- Am 1 category and is joined by new Italian teammate Daniele Perfetti.
The partnering of Caine and Harvey in the Motorbase team is the talk of the Championship, with Harvey the most successful driver in Carrera Cup GB history, with 35 race wins and 105 podium finishes from 144 race starts. Caine has been his closest rival for a number of years, finishing runner up to Harvey in 2010 by a mere ten point gap, and all eyes are on the duo to see if they can retain the Championship title for Motorbase in 2011.
The BTCC team has seen a major shift, with the team opting to switch from the BMW’s it has run for the past three years to field two Ford Focuses powered by Mountune built NGTC (Next Generation Touring Car) specification engines. The decision to move away from the BMW badge was not taken lightly but the chance to race the Focuses used by the Arena squad in the 2010 BTCC proved irresistible. The move also sees the team name change to Airwaves Racing, a nod back to David Bartrum’s Ford Racing links.
Mat Jackson makes a return to take up the seat as number one driver for the team and is joined by Liam Griffin who steps up to make his British Touring Car Championship debut from the Porsche Carrera Cup. Behind the scenes, the team have invested a lot of time and resource in an extensive pre-season testing programme and are confident of a successful 2011 season.
Time will tell, but everyone involved with the Motorbase Performance team and sponsors will be hoping that 2011 sees the team claiming double championship titles.
