Maxtreme “will not be beaten” in BTCC fight

Maxtreme team boss Paul McMillan has revealed the team “will not be beaten” in their battle to rejoin the BTCC grid, after engine problems plagued the first half of their season. Liam McMillan has had a frustrating debut season, with his SEAT Toledo not being seen on track since Donington Park in May due to engine woes.

Commenting on the Ten Tenths website, Paul McMillan revealed the extent of the problems that have blighted his son’s first season in the BTCC.

“The Toledo was a good cheap grounding for Liam. We did seek advice from Liam’s engineer Paul Ridgeway before the purchase, but none of us expected or budgeted for the engine woes.

“When we bought the cars (all three of them) and engines (four of them, we thought we would have enough engines and spares to last the season. We are a self funded team so would only require the running costs for the season.”

After pre-season testing was completed on a 20-valve Seat motor, engine problems struck straight away as the team began racing on a fresh 16-valve unit.

“The 16-valve broke after 34 kilometres, was returned to the builders, repaired and sent back, and then broke again after 40 kilometres” reveals McMillan senior.

Maxtreme say that unpaid bills by previous owners led to problems having the motors returned, meaning instead of concentrating on driver, Liam was turned in an emergency mechanic.

“Liam has re-built two of the 20-valve engines, but the parts for the 16-valve are a real problem as Seat Sport will not sell us, or any other builder the engine parts so we have had to have them made. The 16-valve inlet cam seized in the cylinder head destroying the cam head and some of the followers.

“We have bought a brand new production cylinder head after taking some time just to figure out which one it was, then have had it copied from the Seat works head.

“I doubt any one in the world outside of Seat Sport has ever seen the inside of the factory 16-valve engine. Everything is bespoke and nicely made, and costs huge amounts of money and time to have done. We also had a new inlet camshaft made and some solid lifters all then especially friction coated to match the original parts. Each process has taken at least a couple of weeks, with the friction coating taking three weeks.”

The option of renting petrol engines from Seat has also been ruled out on a cost basis, because of extensive modifications required to the exhaust and fuel system, plus the rental costs themselves.

There is some light at the end of the tunnel however, which will hopefully see Maxtreme back on track before the seasons end.

“We now have the head about 90% finished, the engine needs to be dummy built to check clearances and valve lift. We have had no valve clearance data or timing data as we never stripped the engine! Over the next week this will be done then we need to dyno the engine, which is another problem! We own the engines and the ECU but apparently Seat own the rights to the engine software and will not give us access to be able to dyno and setup the engines.

“So we are not out of the woods yet! I will not be beaten, we will get there, but it will be in our time.”

McMillan also revealed the team had only received £14.75 for the shell of the ex-Jason Plato Toledo which Liam had destroyed earlier in the season, while at the start of the year the team had been offered a Chevrolet Lacetti, and also turned down the opportunity to buy Dave Pinkney’s Alfa Romeo.