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ATR Newsletter - 08/02/2012

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ATR Newsletter - 08/02/2012 Empty ATR Newsletter - 08/02/2012




Hello everyone and welcome to the latest news from ATR.

Last Sunday saw the second round of the TORA ISCC European Championship from the Montserrat Extreme circuit in the Spanish mountains. This would defernately be the most difficult event on the ISCC calendar and would be a true test of a drivers skill.

Unfortunately for ATR, only team boss Daniel was the only driver present as both Zach and Ben had other commitments which forced them to miss this race.
Things took a turn for the worse in qualifying as Dan was only able to complete one flying lap. Coming out of the first hairpin, the rear of the Lola Aston started to slide which turned into a tank-slapper and forced the ATR driver into the barriers. This caused front end damage which immediately sent him out of the remainder of qualifying. Despite this little setback, Dan still managed to qualify fourth on the grid; 1.4 seconds off pole position set by CQR Berty2D.

Heading into the main event, the mood in the ATR camp was a little tense. Mainly because of the incident during qualifying and because Dan wasn't feeling as confident as he was before the race meeting began.
When the race finally went underway, Dan managed to move up to third by out-sprinting GLR Mikem before the first chicane on the backstraight. From then on, it was a case of trying to stay on the tail of VVV Magictap for as long as possible. But it was to no avail. By the fifteen minute mark, Berty and Magictap were starting to pull quite a lead from the ATR man.
With half an hour to go, Dan was coming up behind Bli33ard to try and lap the LMPC driver. But instead, there was a major mis-communication which nearly cost Dan of a strong finish. Bli33ard just sliced right infront of Dan as he tried to find his way through. According to the pitwall, Dan was reporting that "the front end is understeering and feared he might have damaged the car." Sure enough, as the team stared over from the pits, they spotted some damage to the front splitter. After another radio transmission to the team, Dan was ready to settle down and finish in third place. This was made more difficult when GLR Mikem started to close the gap.

However, the race was to take a real twist. With just two laps to go, coming off the back straight and through the twisty section of the circuit, Dan was more than surprised to see non other than VVV Magicptap pulled up by the side of the road with what seemed to be a steering failure on the Lola BMW. Just a few hundred yards later, the team informed their driver that the race leader, Berty, was forced to make a pitstop and they had a chance to win. Sure enough, as both Daniel and Mikem started the final lap, they had both overtaken the M&M driver as he was exiting the pits.
Despite all the pressure he endured with Mikem in close company, ATR DAN finally crossed the line to take the chequered flag to win the second round. The atmosphere within the teams was one of utter rejoice and wild celebration as they felt that winning the race was impossible.

After the second round, ATR slip to third in the team standings because of the abscenties. However, Daniel has extended his points lead to 20 from CQR Berty2D.

Just a couple of days after this latest triumph, Dan flew on a plane to Italy for a two day test at the stunning Mugello Circuit. After the event at Montserrat, the team felt it was important to spend more time trying to evaluate the car further as well as trying to improve on their car set-ups which has set them back in the past.
We shall leave you with pictures from the first day of testing and thank you for taking your time to read this newsletter.


ATR DAN
ATR DAN

TORA Race Number : 7
Xbox One Xbox 360

Number of posts : 4872
Location : Some boring place in England
Registration date : 2008-09-15
Reputation : 48

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ATR Newsletter - 08/02/2012 :: Comments

ATR DAN

Post Wed 8 Feb 2012 - 16:01 by ATR DAN

ATR Newsletter - 08/02/2012 Motors10

After the first day of testing here at Mugello, a journalist from Motorsport News sat down with Daniel Austins for an exclusive interview. He reveals the buzz he gets from racing amongst the best drivers & teams around and how difficult his job can be as team leader of ATR.

Journalist: First of all Dan, many thanks for taking your time to sit down and talk to us & many congratulations on your most recent victory at Montserrat.

Daniel: Thank you very much. It's always a pleasure to sit amongst the presence of a motorsport journalist and just talk about our sport in general.

Journalist: How surprised were you by the sucess at Montserrat?

Daniel: To be perfectly honest, I am even more surprised than either yourself or any other member of the press would be. It was certainly boiled down to luck, but you've got to grab the opportunities when they arise. You've basically got to be in it to win it.
I'm even more surprised because I felt that we haven't had the pace to win the event. Mainly because our car isn't as strong as the Lola BMW or even the modified LMP2 Acura. Our target was to finish on the podium but I couldn't believe my luck when I started the last lap and found myself leading the race.

Journalist: Tell us from your perspective about what you saw happen to Berty2D and Magictap?

Daniel: I wasn't really sure to be honest. It was only later when I watched the replays that there was an incident between Berty and Magic because of lag apparently. I send my commiserations to both of them for losing first and second place like that on the final lap. It must be extremely frustrating for both of them after their battle that lasted most of the race.
Basically, I was told by my pitcrew that Magictap was parked on the side of the track with a suspected failure on the car. Sure enough, after the long back straight, I saw Magic just parked very close to the chicane. I was almost distracted and nearly contacted his vehicle in the process because just a couple of corners later, I was informed that Berty was forced to pit. Again, coming onto the start/finish straight, he was making his way out of the pits and myself & GLR Mikem just sailed past into first and second place.

Journalist: It was an real epic tustle between yourself and Mikem towards the end of the race, but you managed to hold him off. You didn't exactly have a helping hand during the second half of the race did you?

Daniel: Not really to be honest. I suffered damage on the front end whilst trying to lap a slower LMPC car. It happened just after I made my final pitstop. I basically tried to make my way past Bli33ard when all of a sudden, he just turned into the path I was trying to follow. I slammed on the brakes but it didn't slow the car sufficently enough and I tapped the rear of his car. For the last 30 minutes of the race, I was suffering terribly with understeer. This of course meant that GLR Mikem was able to chase me down. And when we eventually started the final lap, he was almost onto my gearbox. Thankfully, I managed to hold him behind but I think the gap was less than a second when we finally completed the race. It was a real hard fought event which is why I feel overjoyed, even more so than any other of my race victories in the past.
Unlike the past however, I have grown to being a more forgiving person so I have no grudge against Bli33ard. It's just a mis-communication on both of our parts really. All is forgiven.

Journalist: According to our statistics, your victory at Montserrat was also your 71st race victory since you joined TORA way back in 2008. Does statistics like this mean something to you or is it just about the results for yourself and ATR at each race meeting you attend?

Daniel: It's really nice to accumilate these kind of results over the amount of time you spend racing, and I certainly didn't expect this amount of sucess since I joined TORA. I was only expecting to join for fun but it turns out not to be the case. Problem I have is because I have achieved so much, you have a certain amount of expectation on your shoulders literally in every race I participate in. It can lead to pressure sometimes but it can give you that extra bit of motivation as well.
Any sucess I achieve really is for the team and not for my own pleasure. I'm really thrilled to have won that many races, but it's more for the team really.

Journalist: Speaking of the team, it's been nearly a year since you and Matt Hunter decided to form an alliance once again to create ATR. How are things settling down for you and has there been any part to the job where it's been troublesome or difficult?

Daniel: It's great once again to be forming the team once again since the days when we won the 2009 GT Championship. It's been a real struggle at times because we are still a relatively small team and I've tried to expand our operations by forming with other drivers like Mark (Rollin InAn STi) for example. But unfortunately, it hasn't worked out that well at all. No matter how hard I try, we're not gonna be the next VVV or CQR or EZT etc. But at the same time, it gives you a real good feeling and a sence of satisfaction when you take on the bigger teams and you beat them.

Journalist: Do you feel there are certain elements compared to the larger teams you wish existed within ATR?

Daniel: It's funny you should ask that because just after the race on Sunday, I was speaking with Louis Satterlee (Audisport Louis) who's in a rival team but we're good friends on and off the track. I was explaining to him about certain things within the team that is missing compared to rival squads. Because all of the operations in the team; including painting, car building, tuning etc is all done by myself, I wish that I had some help. I wish I had certain members who could share the tasks basically. One person could do the painting, I could do the tuning, another person did testing etc. And every once in a while, we could all do a group test, evaluate and compare notes and set-ups. That's one thing that I feel is defernately missing from our team and I get stressed & frustrated by the amount that has placed upon me sometimes.

Journalist: Are there certain aspects to ATR that you feel pleased with?

Daniel: I think the drivers we've signed I'm really pleased with. As well as the fact we give our fellow members who are new to either TORA or online racing in general the chance to develop their skills and allow them the chance to race in a competitive environment. I think it's important to have this asset to give people who are new to give out all of the best advice and support to help them grow further. I honstly feel that Zach Casto and Ben Chalk all have great talent and a lot of potential. I would have felt the same for John Murphy if he didn't decide to walk out of TORA for his behavior.
And now I feel the same also for our newest recruit in Chris Ford (Bli33ard) who has decided to join us for the remainder of the GT championship.

Journalist: Because you quoted that ATR is a small team, how does it feel when you're racing amongst some of the best in the TORA community?

Daniel: It feels absolutely fantastic when you find yourself racing amongst the best drivers and teams around. And when you do beat them, I don't think words could describe how one feels. It's obviously a result which is far greater than you anticipate. But it's all down to the hard work that we commit ourselves to and we reap the rewards when it all goes right.
I still feel of course that our team could be expanded somewhat, there's no denying that. I mean, even some of the TORA veterans have expanded and grown so much to hire some of the best around. M&M have Berty in their LMP1 programme as well as STORM/BMW with VVV Magictap. But I suppose it's my responsibility to expand and grow this team further to attract the drivers/tuners need. And so far, it's extremely tough. Which is why when you get the opportunity to either match or beat them, it makes the job as team owner even more rewarding.

Journalist: After the sucess at Montserrat, you decided to fly over to Italy to test at the Mugello racing circuit. What is the main purpose of this proposed test?

Daniel: It's mainly to do with setting up the cars. That's been our weak spot in the past because I know I'm not exactly the worlds best tuner. And after the raw performance shown at Montserrat, I feel that we need to improve on our car set-ups. So that is really the only explaination as to why we have decided to spend a couple of days here.

Journalist: Final question from me before we leave you to your duties. The next round of the GT championship is at Catalunya this weekend. What are your hopes and expectations for yourself, Matt and Chris?

Daniel: Catalunya isn't one of my strongest tracks to be brutally honest with you. So I think if we can achieve the same results as Road Atlanta which is to be in the top 10, then I'll be extremely satisfied with that. I think if all three of us can finish within either the top 20 or 30 depending on the number of entrants, then we can consider that to be a good job. I think I've made a grave mistake this season by sticking with the Aston Martin Virage which isn't the best car in the field by a long chalk. I felt after the strong results from the GT24 championship, we could carry the momentum forward into this season, but it hasn't been anything like the results we achieved in the GT24's. But if we can achieve our goals, that'll be the perfect race meeting for us.

Journalist: Many thanks for taking your time off for an interview with us.

Daniel: Thank you very much.

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