Re: ATR/SMRC News Thread

[Pebb]

3rd May - Test Session goes well

J.Wynder today revealed, that both Austins THR Racing and SMRC has a test session on Mugello. Before the big race day on the 3rd May, but when asked about his times.

Jamie had this to say, after the first couple of laps. I found out my car needed some work, so while the other drivers were still out on the track. The number 8 driver took his car back into the pit area to work on the cars speed and cornering. Once the setup was worked on for about 10 minutes, it was back onto the track.

Which saw a big improvement in the times, but Jamie still wanted more. And well that is what the driver got after another 10 minutes of trying and a 3rd setup.

----

Questions

What was your best lap time? My best lap time was a 1:51.222

Do you think you and the car can go much quicker? I reckon the car can still go faster, but for that to happen I will need to be more focused. Along with being with the car for a bit more time, before I can gel.

Other then that, I will also need to work on the setup of the car some more. Which I believe will not happen in time for the Mugello race, then against it could still happen.

But only time will tell, if that happens.

How did the other drivers perform? They did great.

Where do you want to finish? I rather not talk about this.

[Pebb]

3rd May - First race is a mixed bag for Jamie

While J.Wynder finished in first in group D, the number 8 driver confrimed that he wanted to get into group B. However since it is the first track on the calander, Jamie has said there is still time to get higher placed finishes.

Also when asked about the other side of the organization, this is what Jamie had to say:

"I am well pleased for Austins THR."

[Matt]

Team boss jenson09 stated his delight with the Austins THR wing of the team making a giant leap forward with a podium in the first round of the series, leaving them second in the table.
SMRC did well too but it is expected the team will bounce back from an indifferent meeting next time out.

jenson09 stated his intention to return to the driving seat ahead of the second round in a weeks time. In the meantime he pointed out that there was the small matter of the GPC drive for Brawn GP AND a TTCC car to test to keep him occupied in the meantime.
A busy time for the founder then!

[PLOW Kris]

have too say im looking forward to maple valley as the car is feeling more responsive and as a result is putting in some competitive times ! all down to a bit of track knowledge i suppose but its all TESCO every little helps helps

[Pebb]

18th May - Maple Valley goes well for both THR and SMRC

Jamie today reveled he was pleased with his overall finish in both races, along with his finish the number 8 driver also said he was pleased how his team mates did in SMRC. Along with drivers in THR.

Questions:

While you finished 5th in group B, did you want to finish higher up in the group B race? I feel one mistake cost me 3rd or 4th place, but on the whole I am happy with 5th. However I am hoping the next round goes a bit better.

Do you think one of your team mates, who is also called Jamie could of finished higher up? I reckon he had a good chance.

Where would you like to finish in the next two races? For the next Sprint race, I would like to finish 6th or 7th if possible. But for the next main race, I want to try to finish in the top 10 if possible.

How well did your other team mate in SMRC do? I am happy for him.

Any final thoughts? I think Dan deserves a shout out for his finish, along with working wonders with the setup for my NSX-R GT. While he was talking to SMRC's team engineers.

[Matt]

SMRC grabbed a word with team boss jenson09 after the Maple Valley round.....

So how do you feel that went?
Yeah it was ok. Not as quick as I'd hoped. Well, we are but I wasn't able to pull out a lap when it mattered. My qualy effort was ruined after a slide in the Follow Through so I'm quite pleased I actually did a fairly quick outlap!

And the Sprint?
Again I feel we compromised the set up to favour the longer circuit. But we got a good solid time out of the car which was good. Though, another spin cost me about two laps worth of times and of course track position. It's a shame as we were having a good little run with adam.

You had pole for C lobby, which was nice. How was the opposition and the main race?
Well, as nice as it was it was also short lived!
The XTI boys were all over us at the start. The Honda isn't the best at getting away from the lights. We're better on rolling starts. So yeah we ended up third and pretty much stayed there despite threading the needle through a number of cars. We had our own spin at the top of the hill whiich dropped us back but we fought back through.
I think third was ok, but second was on the cards but for a mistake by myself. The car is MUCH better on the tyres than it used to be too.

Positives to take away?
The car's faster. We're moving in the right direction and thats the worst track done with now. Thank god!!
We're moving to my third home, Road Atlanta, a track I love. The car's got great top end and its proven fast in tests there. Its just down to the driving so I'm putting in as much time as I can to getting the best out of myself.

[ATR DAN]

TEAM NEWS - 18/05/2009

Welcome to the latest news for the ART and SMRC teams.

Round two of the GT Championship was held at Maple Valley. Both of the teams had a mixture of results at this race meeting with the SMRC squad struggling to dial there cars around this very demanding circuit. There top finisher was TVR fan who came 10th in the sprint race and 13th in the feature race.
There team boss Jenson09 finished in 22nd in the sprint race and 19th overall in the feature. Chucky1982 finished just outside the top 20 in both of the races. Further reaction can be found later with the SMRC boss Jenson09.
Despite this, the whole THR enterprise celebrated long into the night when DAN 2605 gave the THR name it’s first ever win in the GT’s when he won in the sprint race ahead of King Hill. However, Plow the Butcher was too strong for DAN to try and win the feature race. Despite this, the ATR boss was very pleased with his race weekend. Selective Rogue had another strong weekend in his Maserati. He came a creditable ninth in the sprint race and came in tenth place (second in lobby B) in the feature.
After this meeting, we spoke with the ATR boss DAN 2605:

DAN; Congratulations on your first win in the GT’s. How did you feel after all the racing had finished?

Thanks very much.
I was absolutely over the moon! I couldn’t believe it when I crossed the finish line. I know it was only the sprint race; but it’s a win! And I don’t care which of the two races it came in. At least we won something; which was one of our targets for the season.

Jenson09 of course is the original founder of THR. How did he feel when he found out that you won?

He couldn’t believe it. Because to be fair he had a lot of bad luck when he ran the team. It’s just fantastic that a win has finally come to a team who deserves it more than anyone else. I mean THR didn’t do very well to be fair since this championship was founded. But no, he was very pleased with this result. And I’m very pleased that I was the one who brought the winners trophy back at our factory here in Weston-Super-Mare. And a runners up trophy of course to go with our two other third place trophies at Mugello.

You ran very well at the sharp end of the field. Was that to your surprise?

Most defernately. Because I was thinking of the same idea as I did at Mugello. Which was the fact that I’d struggle to be in the top six in all of the races. But how wrong could can anyone be sometimes? I mean, this Maserati is just a fantastic car to drive and I’m glad it’s bought us so much success all ready.

After Maple, you’ve just taken the lead in the team standings from Martini Porsche. Is that to your surprise as well and how much has Selective Rogues effort’s contributed to this?

It is again to my complete surprise yes. Because I thought we would be about second or third after this meeting. But Rogue’s contribution for this race has been superb. He’s done a fantastic job for us so far this season. He’s been racking those extra points for us which has put us to the top of the team table.

It was a shame about your other team mate KR15 wasn’t it?

Defernately. It was a real shame that his car had some really difficult technical issues before this weekend. He was looking very strong to do probably even better than I did. So it was really unfortunate about him. But he’ll bounce back at Road Atlanta, you watch!

We will!

With a pair of binoculars I hope. HA HA!

HA HA! Defernately. Finally then, what are your feelings about how your other team (SMRC) did at Maple?

Ermm…. That’s a tough one. You should ask Jenson09 fully about that. But I think they had a difficult time with not only there cars, but of how to dial into this difficult circuit. But they have done a good job so far in the first two meetings. But they will defernately bounce back for the rest of the season. And we are all very much looking forward to the next round at Road Atlanta.

[Matt]

crying.???? WTF?
Pleased yes....

[ATR DAN]

crying.???? WTF?
Pleased yes....

Just to make the report more interesting! lol
I've taken it off now!

[Matt]

Ahead of the Road Atlanta meeting both ATR and SMRC will be running in a special paint dedicated to Radio Le Mans in recognition of its Petit Le Mans coverage.
"Radio Le Mans continues to support the teams well and this is our thank you," jenson09 said recently.

The ATR car will appear in a subtle RLM paint while the SMRC cars will be arriving in the USA resplendant in a Brawn GP inspired paint.
It is expected that the teams will also run special paints for Sebring and Silverstone.

[ATR DAN]

Hi everyone and welcome to another bit of news from ATR and SMRC.

We say a bit, but it's big news this time for the organisation. One that brings the team not only joy but sadness too.
We start with the sad news that last years GTC Champion KR15 ONE has decided to pull out of the championship. The reasons for this will not be fully released by the team; but it means that he is not able to race at all. He will however remain in the team as a test/reserve driver.
The good news is however, that the team have managed to find a new driver. However, he isn't new at all to this championship. The ATR squad would like to fully announce that the new driver in the team is the man who is a former race winner in this championship. The team would like to welcome......the one....the only........iGr Champion!

The ATR Team boss, DAN 2605 had this to say on his new drivers arrival: (speech came exclusively for us from Autosport)

"Hello to one and all for joining us in this press conference.
As you may know, KR15 ONE has had to pull out of the championship for reasons that I can't explain to you all. Its something that I would like to remain private between myself and KR15, and also to the rest of the team. He is undoubtedly a very talented driver who has proved alot since he joined this championship. Winning the third season of the TORA GT just says it all. It doesn't mean however that he will be leaving our team for good. He will remain loyal with our team as a test driver. But also as a reserve driver should we need him.
But I have to give all the best of luck to him in his absence. The team won't be the same without him."
"However on a different note, we would like to present KR15's replacement in the team. He is a former race winner in this championship and most certainly one of the most talented in TORA's history. We would like to announce our new driver, iGr Champion"
"With Champion in the team, we are very sure to have one of the strongest line ups on the grid. I have won a race already this season, but I have a feeling that Champion can bring us a lot more sucess. He is the sort of driver who can jump into any car and be really quick in it. Thats the kind of driver that we need in our team. And I am very happy that he's decided to join us and prove that ATR are a team that can be at the top very consistently!"
"I am hoping that iGr Champion can enter for our next round at Road Atlanta. But it's more likely to be at Suzuka. But We'll see what happens"

iGr Champion has this quick word to say about joining the team and his chances for the rest of the season:

"I never thought that I would be back here racing with my old rivals.

ATR have offered me a seat with them to finish off this season as I was away for the past 2 season due to funds. I more than happily accepted this drive with ATR as, from previous season I have had them as my rivals but now I am setting in the car along side them pushing the team forward. ATR are a up and coming team that you should be looking out for in the near future on the podiums.

We are due a test as soon as I get my 2009 lience back as my old one expired. The test is going to be at Road Atlanta hopdfully ready for round 5 & 6, if my lience doesn't turn up. We will be hard at work at suzuka getting ready for rounds 7 & 8.

I would like to say a big thank you to ATR for giving me a drive with them and I am going to be working with them to having a podium for the rest of the season"

[ATR DAN]

Also in the news, the ATR team have secured a couple of new sponsors.
The new main title sponsor for the team is Abbey. Unfortunately, things fell apart between Relentless and ATR about the sponsorship money after the teams sucessful start to the season. Another of the main title sponsors is The Prince's Trust. DAN 2605 was very pleased to have them onboard; having been with the Prince's Trust in the past.

Here is a full list of the teams sponsors:

Abbey
Princes Trust
Midweek Motorsport
Radio Le Mans
Dunlop
Snap On
Samsung
Ontime Automotive
Koni
Recaro
DHL
dailysportscar.com

Here is a few pics of the teams new livery which will be used after Road Atlanta:

[CQR The Butcher]

is Kris not driving for you anymore?

[CQR Champion]

he has had to drop out of the rest of the season.

only him and dan know why.

[lfcnicklfc]

sorry to see you not racing in these cars anymore kris so no one in all the gt seasons the champion hasn't retained his championship and cant wait too see you on the grid again Ash by the way Dan the car looks awsome!

[CQR Champion]

cheers nick, be good racing again

[nickyf1]

Dan the car looks great, but! Those pointy bits on the front wheel arches are annoying me, they dont line up with the main Abbey vynil!

Livery OCD, sorry..

[CQR Champion]

haha, there is always one lol!!!

[ONR Baby Jet 3]

Thats a shame man about Kris. I loved racing with him one of the cleanest guys on the grid. Good to see you back Champion.

[CQR Rogue]

After a weeks abesnce due to personal reasons, Selective Rogue is heading back on track for Road Atlanta over the next 48hours.

Selective Rogue is quoted as saying "he is very sorry to here Kirs has dropped out, but belives with iGr Champion at the wheel ATR/SMRC will be going from strenght to strenght".

[Matt]

iGr Champion will be making his debut in S4 with Austins THR at Suzuka after tecnical difficulties meant he could not compete at Road Atlanta.
A strong run of form despite the lack of drivers meant that ATR retains its position at the top of the tables.
To further reiterate the relationship between ATR and SMRC, both teams have taken on the Abbey/Santander support.

Another push in performance is widely expected for the first of the Japanese rounds.
Hopes in both teams are high despite the shortfall in overall performance from the SMRC Honda.

[ATR DAN]

After Road Atlanta, DAN 2605 spoke to Autosport about his own and the teams strong performance after the ATR/SMRC's visit to the American circuit.

DAN, Congradulations on your two second places! How did you feel after the races?

Thank you! Ermmm... To be honest, I was really dissapointed at first because I felt that this was going to be a really strong event for me. And the fact that I threw away a chance of the victory in the feature race. Our car was absolute fantastic over the race weekend; and I felt that I give our team another win.
But later on, I was fine about it because of our situation in the teams points.

Just tell us about that because you ran wide at turn five on lap five.

Basically, I took the entry to turn five a little too quickly and I ran wide onto the concrete on the outside of the bend. As a result, the car oversteered and I ran onto the gravel as well. Of course, that was when the race was lost.

But you didn't give up though did you?

No, I didn't. Despite the fact that I made too many mistakes during the race, I was catching Plow the Butcher. And especially after the pitstops, I was catching him bit by bit. It was a lot of pressure to take because when the guy infront is running the same laptimes as you are, it makes it even more difficult to catch up. But I just thinking to myself "Not to give up"! But unfortunately it wasn't enough!

How do you feel about your own and the teams progress?

I was dissapointed with myself because of the fact that I threw away a victory for the team. But at the same time, I am thrilled to bits with the progress that my team mate Selective Rogue had made at Road Atlanta. A fifth and a fourth which helps towards our team points a lot. He did a fantastic job all weekend for the team and I hope that this continues for him for the rest of the season!

What happened to your new driver Champion?

Unfortunately on the day of the race, he had a couple of last minute technical issues that forced him not to participate at Road Atlanta. But he will be back for the next round at Suzuka.

You've pulled away now from Martini Porsche in the teams points. How much extra boost has been put into the team knowing of how sucessful it's been so far this season?

I think you've seen from my team mates results that his confidence has been boosted a lot. I think as well the fact that he is contributing to the team is also an extra boost for a driver. But the whole team is thrilled and excited still of how sucessful we've been this year. We've been working much harder than the start of the year because we want to stay ahead of the pack!

You're a few more points behind butcher now. How dissapointing is it to be losing these points? Is your tighter fight over already?

Its never over. Its obviously frustrating to lose again to one person. But to be honest, I'm taking it as a positive. Because in all of the races, I've been getting closer to butcher. At Mugello, I finished nearly ten seconds behind him. At Maple, I finished just over six seconds behing. And now at Road Atlanta, I've finished a couple of seconds behind. So the gap to him is getting closer all the time.
But one thing I'd like to change is the way that I prepare for the race. Because in the teams testing, we've been only doing six to eight lap practices but that doesn't prepare you for how you get on in all 25 laps. So I would like to prepare myself a lot more. But I am planning to do several tests around Suzuka to try and get the best out of the car and myself. It's not confirmed yet but I'm planning to do at least 100 laps of preperation around the track and see how that goes.
Also, 25 points to butcher is big when it's not easy to catch up. But I'm not giving up. I will fight to the end to bring home the drivers and teams championship for the THR organisation.

The other half of the THR organisation (SMRC) haven't had a good season so far. How frustrating is it that they are doing not very well?

Obviouly, our objective was to get both the ATR and SMRC teams into the top five for the teams championship. Unfortunately, that hasn't happened yet due to either the uncompetitiveness of the Honda or the fact that not everyone in the team turns up for an event. So it is frustrating because I've been helping the guys a lot with the set-ups of the car and we're getting very little back. It would be unfair of me to say that the drivers are bad because they're not! Its like with myself for example, that we need to prepare a lot more for the races.

What is the target now for both of the teams as we head for suzuka?

Same as usual really. Except that we need a lot more testing mileage than we already have done for each event. I need to improve on my own performances as well at these test!

[Pebb]

It is still a shame, how I was the only SMRC driver to turn up for the previous two rounds. But still I am happy, I have made every round so far.

[Pebb]

Pit Lane News - Update

After a bad qualifying lap time, things have got worst for the number 8 driver. After his car started to fail to get moving, after returning to the pits.

Which could see Jamie miss both the sprit and feature race. However J.Wynder did say the pit crew are working there hardest on his car at the moment, to try and get it working again.

Update - 22:28pm

After making the feature race, J.Wynder suffered a bad peformance. Which the driver wants to correct in the next meeting, but when asked how it went bad.

This is what Jamie said:

"I thought I could finish in the top 2, but a bad start. And some small crashes did not help.

However as racing goes, that happens.

[ATR DAN]

ATR/SMRC NEWS 15/06/2009

Hello everyone and welcome to another bunch of news from the ATR/SMRC organization.
Both of the teams have just come back from Suzuka after completing the fourth race meeting of the season. There was much celebrating after the race because the organization had produced another win under there belt. DAN 2605 had won by a comfortable margin of half a minute from Ianmr in the M+M racing Porsche. However, it wasn’t all smooth during the race weekend when he made a mistake and could qualify only 19th for the sprint race. He did recover to 17th but he set the quickest lap of the race which stuck him on pole in the feature.
DAN’s team mate Selective Rogue had completed another strong meeting by finishing in 5th and 10th places in his first race in the Dodge Viper. His and Dan’s points mean that ATR have extended there lead in the team’s championship by 93 points over Martini Porsche.

In the SMRC squad, they made progress by all three of there drivers entering this race. The best placed of the Honda’s was the team manager, Jenson09 who came in 16th and 21st respectively. But it was his strongest event to date this season.
Chucky1982 came in 23rd in the sprint race and 29th in the feature. TVR FAN wasn’t having such luck however. Making a mistake during qualifying meant that he qualified in 25th for the sprint race. Coming onto the grid for the sprint, his car suffered an engine failure. This meant that he missed the race and he had to start at the very back of the grid. It didn’t get much better in the feature as he could only finish in 28th overall.
The SMRC team are still in 10th place in the teams championship, but are hopeful that they can improve even more as the season goes on.

As the team’s arrived at Heathrow this morning, Autosport had managed to get a word with the new winner of the GTC, DAN 2605.


DAN, Congratulations on your first feature race win. Does this mean even more to you and the team than your first win at Maple Valley?

Thanks very much. It does mean a lot more this victory because I did it in a longer race, rather than winning a feature race. I don’t know how we stayed sober after our big party last night, but all of us were just celebrating big time. It’s fantastic! Not only for myself, but for the team as well.

It looked to be an easy race for you from the start. How good was the machinery that you had and was this really enjoyable at the same time?

All of these races that we enter are never easy really. It looked it though because of the gap that I had over my competitors. But it was really stressful because I didn’t want to throw the car off the road and lose another win for us. But I just kept my concentration throughout the race and it’s payed off.
I have to say that this has been the best race of my career. The car was absolutely fantastic throughout the race and I didn’t get any trouble with the tires as well. Also, I was really pleased that my new approach to these races has worked. Because before I would do between 20 and 30 laps of testing. But I’ve done more than 100 laps this time and it has payed off.

It wasn’t plain sailing throughout was it because you made a mistake during qualifying. Could you tell us what happened?

Of course! The lap itself was going fine until the latter stages. I got distracted by one of my team mates. As a result, I out braked myself at the final chicane which cost me 5 seconds at least.
I wasn’t happy cause I needed to do well in this event to catch up with butcher in the championship. Also, we needed a lot of points to stay ahead of Martini Porsche, which we are. But we could have been more than 100 points ahead if it wasn’t for that.

What about the performance of your team as a whole?

Very pleased with the result as a whole. Because Selective Rogue had scored a couple of fantastic results in a new car. Obviously being in a new car is a challenge, so I’m really pleased for him. And we’ve pulled away again in the team’s points. So I’m really pleased with our results at Suzuka.

Finally, how pleased were you with the SMRC’s progress?

Very well I think. The first major step was that all three of them had turned up for this race meeting which is an improvement. What’s nice as well is that Jenson09 was the highest placing of the cars.
More work needs to be done I think, but we’ve got the driving talent and resources on their side. So I’m hoping that they can move up the order pretty soon!

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