Golf to “come into its own” at Rockingham

Shaun Hollamby believes there is more to come, both from him and his VW Golf, ahead of this weekend’s Rockingham rounds. In addition to some minor revisions, Hollamby predicts that the twists and turns of Rockingham should play to the car’s strengths, allowing for a stronger showing than on its BTCC debut at Thruxton.

“The Golf’s handling is its strength and that’s why I think we’ll be in better shape at Rockingham which is much twistier than Thruxton,” said Hollamby, speaking to the official BTCC website.

“I think the car was one of the slowest through the speed traps there (Thruxton) in the last five years! Through the chicanes we didn’t lose much time at all, if any, plus it seems to ride the kerbs really well. If it rains this weekend the car could really come into its own.”

“You’re never happy if you’re three seconds off the pace, as we were at Thruxton,” continued the 44-year-old Orpington racer, “But look at last year’s times and I was almost on the pace of the Ford Focus. We know there’s a second to come from handling, another second from straight-line speed/engine mapping and hopefully another second from me.”

Ahead of Rockingham this weekend and the AmD MilltekRacing.com have made some revisions to the Golf with a view to beginning to claw back some of this time, as Hollamby explains:

“We had two retirements in the three races, both caused by CV joint failure. To combat that we’ve re-positioned the engine a lot higher and changed the rotation of the gearbox so the driveshafts have an easier time, while still allowing us to run the same ride height. There’s also an improved aero’ package to aid straightline speed performance.”

One of the problems at Thruxton was an inability to get heat into the VW’s rear tyres, with the AmD team experimenting with set-ups throughout the weekend in order to rectify the problem, with some entertaining results.

“Maybe we went too far with that set-up and in race three it felt like driving a rear-wheel-drive Mk2 Ford Escort through a gravel rally stage in a forest! I had a mighty spin coming through Church corner at over 100mph but at least it caught the ITV cameraman’s attention!”

It wasn’t just ITV’s attention that Hollamby and the Golf were grabbing over the Easter weekend either. 20 years on from the last VW Golf to compete in the BTCC, the red and black machine has attracted a lot of interest, not least from the fans at the circuit.

“We all know how big and knowledgeable the crowds are at the BTCC, but it was still probably the biggest shock for us all weekend at Thruxton,” says Hollamby.

“We were mobbed. It was a fantastic response. The autograph session in the morning was something else – I think Jason (Plato) was most popular, then Tom (Chilton) and then us!

“In race three as well I was having a good little battle with John George and you could hear the crowd over the noise of the car. How can teams and sponsors not want a part of that!?”