In the first of a series of exclusive columns for Crash.Net, Martyn Bell looks back over his preparations for the 2006 season and his move into the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship, which kicks off this weekend at Brands Hatch…
The season launch and media day was a big learning curve for us and I was certainly a lot happier at the end of the day than I was at the start, when we’d got the car working properly at the back end. It was really, really twitching at the rear and I think the time will come now once we get more confident with the car.
After rain at
Donington Park when we ran the car for the first time, and then snow at
Croft, it was vital for us to get some dry time in the car because I’d hope there will be more dry running during the season than wet. That said, if it happens to be snowing when we go to Croft then put your money on me because I’ll be ready for it!
The fact the weather has been so poor during our pre-season didn’t give me as much confidence in the car as it could have done and that is what you need. With any new car need to know things like when you’ll be able turn in early and turn it in late – basically you need to know the car so you can do whatever you want to do. The test at Croft for example really didn’t benefit us at all and to be honest it was a waste of money.
Despite that, everybody in the Geoff Steel Racing team is learning all the time and we have made massive leaps forward in the time since we got the car. We’ve altered one or two things, in every session we have changed something, and I’m now starting to get the confidence in the car that I’ve just mentioned is so vital. We just need the car to be able to ride the kerbs a bit more, we know where we are slow and need to improve and we have to work on it.
