The Vehicles Earth

By Tarek Ramchani

As expected Rob Austin Racing faced a very hard weekend at Thruxton, for the third meeting of the British Touring Car Championship. The two Audi A4 NGTC cars struggled a lot on a very penalizing track.

It all started with a very disappointing qualifying session yesterday, Will Bratt qualified his #14 Audi A4 in eighteenth place and Rob Austin with the #13 car was twenty-fifth. In race 1 Will Bratt again finished in eighteenth place, right ahead of the other Audi with Rob Austin in nineteenth. In race 2 Rob Austin improved one position finishing eighteenth, whilst Will Bratt ended twenty-second. Race 3 was clearly the hardest of the day for RAR. Rob Austin did not finish the race, retiring after eight laps. Will Bratt was seventeenth.


Thruxton race saw a case of Honda domination, the works Honda Yuasa Racing Team won all three races. Matt Neal with the #2 Honda Civic victorious in the first two races of the day. The race three victory went to the 2012 champion, Gordon Shedden, with the #1 Honda Civic.

Rob Austin Racing may have struggled a lot at Thruxton, with a very obvious lack of top speed, however the car is very well balanced, as seen at the previous two rounds at Brands Hatch and Donington Park. Outlon Park is the next stop for the BTCC, a track which could be favorable for the Audi A4s.

Photo credit: Phil Laughton Photography

By Tarek Ramchani

Thruxton is hosting the third meeting of the British Touring Car Championship this weekend. Rob Austin Racing, with their two Audi A4 NGTC cars, faced a very hard qualifying session.

From the start the two drivers, Rob Austin and Will Bratt, were expecting that their Audis would not be competitive. Thruxton is the fastest track on the BTCC calendar, thus very difficult for the RAR cars. Whilst being one of the strongest cars in the field, the Audis are lacking in power when it comes to top speed performance, when compared to their rivals. Rob Austin the team owner/driver of the #13 Audi A4 qualified in a very disappointing twenty-fifth place. Rob Austin also complained of a broken component in the suspension. His team mate Will Bratt with the sister #14 machine did slightly better, he ended in eighteenth place. Pole position went to Andrew Jordan with his privateer Honda Civic, in second was Gordon Shedden with the factory Honda Yuasa Racing, third was Matt Neal in the second works Honda.

Rob Austin was very disappointed after the hard qualifying: "Well, that was an unfortunate qualifying session. We've found a broken component in the suspension that cost us huge time on corners. Boys working hard now to rectify. Keep smiling folks; the fight back begins tomorrow" (quotes sourced from Rob Austin Racing official Facebook page). Qualifying results are here

The three sprint races are set for tomorrow. We wish the best of luck to the Rob Austin Racing team and their two drivers.

Photo credit: Phil Laughton Photography

By Tarek Ramchani

Rob Austin Racing, the only Audi team in Biritish Touring Car Championship, faced a very hard Donington Park round last time out, with disappointing results in the end. Both WIX Racing backed Audi A4 NGTC cars lacked top speed compared to rivals cars from Honda, MG, BMW and Toyota.

As seen at Brands Hatch, and even at Donington Park, the Audi A4 is very good in handling and cornering, one of the best chassis on the grid. The next round of the series will be at Thruxton, clearly the fastest circuit of the BTCC calendar. Rob Austin Racing recently went to Silverstone to test the Audi car, whilst preparing for that demanding - and penalizing - event. The team focused on gaining extra power to be more competitive in a straight line.

Team owner Rob Austin talked to btcc.net about these tests: "It was a reasonably productive day. We were working on our ducting to try and reduce charger temperatures as well as develop our set up for the unique long fast corners of Thruxton. Field Motorsport are also working tirelessly to give us some more power and bridge the power gap to the other teams." (Quote sourced from btcc.net)

Will Bratt: "We made some good progress with the turbo cooling and handling, and we’ve got some engine work planned between now and the next race. Hopefully they will find us some extra speed, as Thruxton will really show up any disparity in power against the other drivers." (Quote sourced from btcc.net)

Photo credit: Phil Laughton Photography

By Tarek Ramchani

Rob Austin Racing faced a very hard British Touring Car Championship weekend at Donington Park. Both Audi A4 NGTC cars of Rob Austin and Will Bratt were extremely unlucky with very mixed results in all three races.

Here is a selection of great photos from Donington Park by our friend Phill Laughton.

Photo credit and more information:
Phil Laughton Photography official Facebook

By Tarek Ramchani

Donington Park is hosting the second round of the British Touring Car Championship this weekend. Rob Austin Racing is again fielding two Audi A4 NGTC cars with some mixed results in the qualifying session.

Team owner and driver, Rob Austin, who had a very nasty crash at Brands Hatch, finished in eighteenth place with a fully repaired #13 Audi. His team mate Will Bratt, with the sister #14 A4 was seventeenth. Looking at the lap times both Audi A4 cars were not that bad. However the very demanding field and the close times pushed the RAR drivers down to P17 and P18.

Pole position went to Honda's driver and 2012 BTCC champion, Gordon Shedden, ahead of Frank Wrathall's Toyota and Andrew Jorand's Honda. The qualifying results are here.

The three races are set for tomorrow, we hope that both Audi drivers will be able to improve on track.

Photo credit: Phil Laughton Photography

By Tarek Ramchani

Rob Austin, the RAR team owner/driver, had a very mixed British Touring Cars season opener at Brands Hatch. His Audi A4 NGTC showed very strong performances, highlighted by a third place finish in race 1. Later in the third and final race of the day he had a very nasty crash, luckily he was OK, but the car was heavily damaged as shown in the pictures below.

There were some fears that the car would not be ready for the next event in such a short time. Now some very good news has emerged. The car is fully repaired and ready to race at BTCC round two, at Donington Park this coming weekend.

Rob Austin is delighted: "It’s been emotional. There’ve been a few tears along the way, during the rebuild of the car when a few setbacks left everyone wondering if we’d make it and then at the end when we knew it was going to happen. It has been amazing to see it unfold and to be a part of it, what my boys have achieved.” (quotes sourced form the thecheckeredflag.co.uk)

The team will again field two Audi A4 cars, the second one will be in the hands of youngster Will Bratt.

Photo credit: Phil Laughton Photography