Not sure what you guys and girls have been up to in the off season, but it’s been all systems go at SV. Although to be honest, it’s been far too long without a race to attend, and it’s a good job the pre-season testing is under way, as I’ve been going out of my mind!
Insight
Like most teams, we use the winter period to service all our equipment, wash the awnings, clean and polish the flooring etc… Our trucks have been re-painted and offices have been re-furbished. Everything looks awesome, although I’m sure this may change with some sweaty drivers in pre-season testing!!
Growth
The SV Clio Cup team has grown over the winter and the team has plenty of quality to report. Whilst we welcome back Stefan Hodgetts into the team for a full series assault, his fellow One Call Insurance drivers – Ronnie Klos and Finlay Crocker are also back for a second year. Let’s see if my incentive offered to them if they can regularly finish top ten can be achieved, although it may make me a poorer team boss….!
Josh Wakefield is also a new addition to the team, he has undoubted pace and whilst he has had a few testing seasons, I’m convinced he will visit the podium regularly during the year. He has looked rapid during the tests so far!
Devon Modell is another driver making his debut in the Clio Cup with SV. A hugely successful karter, beating some big names in the process – expect some big things from him.
KX Akademy
KX Akademy have extended their support to two more drivers alongside Stefan in the Clio Cup with us, meaning we now have three drivers running under the KX scheme. This has taken a great deal of work behind the scenes to achieve, and we are incredibly proud to increase our involvement with KX, it’s a great initiative and a program we are fully behind.
Ant Whorton-Eales has been chosen by a select panel of judges including KX mentor Jason Plato, to be receive guidance, support and financial backing from the Akademy. We are really excited to welcome Ant into SV , I have wanted to run him in the series since I coached him two years ago, in the MINI Challenge. He is an incredible talent, with raw pace and a great racing brain. Let’s see what this year holds….. ;)
Stefan is retained for a second season on the scheme, and will be looking to go for the Championship I’m sure. He is ultra-quick and hugely experienced, bring it on! It should be a mega Clio Cup season!
Promoter
There has been a change of promoter at the helm of the Clio Cup – the British Automobile Racing Club have taken over from SRO. Early signs are positive, and hopefully we can all work together and make the Clio Cup the success at needs to be, especially with the new car being released at the end of the year.
Dunlop Tyres
The Championship has switched to Dunlop tyres for 2013, they are a harder compound and with any new tyre, it take a little bit of time to get used to. My gut feeling is that it’ll make racing more spectacular during the season, as the tyre performance drops away fairly quickly.
Ginetta Challenge
We have taken on Alex Drabble to run in the SV car. He has good pedigree, coming from the British Formula Ford Championship and we think he could be the star of the year.
Testing is under way and things are looking very promising!
GT’s
Nothing to report here just yet unfortunately, but I would say that things are looking better by the day. The British GT3 Championship is looking really healthy this year, so if we could make a deal happen, it would be fantastic. I expect to see around 30+ GT3 cars on the grid – how cool would that be?!
Watch this space…..
Anyway, it’s great to be back reporting on SV, it means the racing is just around the corner!
Be in touch with more news soon.
Looking forward to your continued support this year, we’re loving every minute!
Danny Buxton
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Thanks for reading, remember it’s all about #winning! Be good ;)
