Graeme Dodd joins champion son in Honda Accord for 2015

James Dodd is hoping that he can make the most of his father switching cars to his advantage and retain his Super Touring title.

The 2014 champion will step back in to his ex-James Thompson 1999 Honda Accord for 2015, but instead of his father, and team-mate, Graeme lining up alongside him in a Nissan Primera, he will also pilot a 1999 Honda Accord, formerly driven by Thompson’s team-mate Peter Kox.

“It should help us,” James Dodd told TouringCarTimes at the Silverstone Classic Media Day. “Dad prefers the Honda to the Nissan. It’s certainly quicker in the straights but struggles with the corners a bit more, but he seems happy in the car.”

“It’ll be good to be able to use each other for setups, but there are slight differences between the two. The Kox car is a prototype, for example.”

Father Graeme could also see the advantages of the pair running similar cars, as opposed to entirely different marques.

“It’s easier to swap parts between the two cars,” explained Graeme to TouringCarTimes. “Although they’re each bespoke cars, switching parts will be a lot easier as they’re both 1999 Hondas. We struggled with the Nissan because it was just so different, as all the cars were back then.”

The pair ran for a short time in the morning test session at Silverstone, before a mechanical issue brought an early end to Graeme’s day.

“A drive shaft retainer broke just two laps in to this morning’s session,” said Graeme. “We did some testing here a few weeks ago and the car felt good, it felt quite positive when compared to the Nissan.”

Looking ahead to the first rounds of the series at Donington Park in May, the father-and-son team have two completely different goals for their season.

“I’m definitely looking forward to defending the number one and keeping it on the car,” said James. “There’ll be a lot of quick cars out there this season so it won’t be easy, but it’s a lot more fun that way. It’s a shame it’s not an official championship as it’s always nice to go for it, but you always want to chase number one no matter what.

“The key this year’s going to be reliability. We were very lucky to come back from Thruxton last year and had John Cleland not been forced to miss Brands Hatch he’d probably have won it. I think everyone’s improved a little over the winter, so I can see reliability being the deciding factor.”

Graeme, however, has something else on his mind rather than racking up the race wins.

“I’m here for the beer,” joked Graeme. “I won’t be catching James, I’m not going to try – I’m not 29 anymore. I’ve got a big birthday coming this year where I’ll turn 60, so I’m just here to enjoy the racing. It’d be nice to win, but having fun is the reason I’m here.”