Ford Focus undergoes big changes

The Ford Focus will undergo some big changes in an effort to improve the car’s performance. Team Aon expects the changes will get more speed out of the car. Their drivers Tom Chilton and Alan Morrison struggled for pace during the opening rounds of the 2009 British Touring Car Championship at Brands Hatch and Thruxton.

“We are looking forward to Donington and are very pleased the event was not postponed, as appeared possible until last week”, team boss Mike Earl said to the official series website.

“We have been burning the midnight oil to introduce new parts and to develop our cars using all the information we have gathered from the season’s first two events.”

The team has made improvements on the cars’ engine, suspension as well as the aerodynamics. All the development work has been done in-house.

“Since Thruxton we have managed to get a car in a wind-tunnel and spent some time analysing suspension geometry on a K&C rig. In an ideal world we would have completed these tasks much earlier, but with our deal coming together so close to the beginning of the season this is the only possibility we had open to us”, Earl continues to say.

“We have learnt a tremendous amount with these processes and, together with some engine development work that was always scheduled, we are confident that at Donington we will show a step forwards in our performance. We need the races at Donington to see exactly how far we have progressed.”

To see if the changes are working correctly the team will be testing on the Pembrey track in Wales this thursday. After the test the cars will be transported to Donington Park, where the third round of the season will be held this coming weekend.