2002

The Tracer Motorsport team's hit the big time. The reigning NZ V8 Touring Car Championship-winning team has signed Aaron Slight for the 2002/2003 NZ V8 Touring Car Championship season. His co-driver for the Yellow Pages 500 on October 20 will be one of the UK's hottest young drivers, Andy Priaulx. And Caltex Havoline has spotted a winning combination, and come on board as the principal sponsor - the team will be known as the Caltex Havoline racing team.

Slight, best known as the New Zealander who has come closest to the World Superbike crown, is no stranger to the white heat of top racing circles and is currently racing in the 2002 British Touring Car Championship (BTCC). He's already shown class, and is leading the Independent Drivers Championship in his first full season at the hotly contested and ultra competitive BTCC.

The 28-year-old Priaulx may be a new name to New Zealanders, but he's also a seasoned racer. He held the British Hillclimb championship in 1995, took every pole and won every race in 1999's British Renault Spider champs, had three podium finishes in his rookie F3 season, and this year joined Slight in BTCC, where he's taken a win, two podiums and two poles in his first year out.

With Caltex Havoline's backing, and Slight and Priaulx at the wheel, the Tracer Motorsport team will be a force to be reckoned with in this year's Yellow Pages 500. Tracer Motorsport's team principal, Greg Bellingham, said: "The NZ V8 Touring cars is now a high profile series, and I was thrilled when Caltex Havoline decided to come on board.
"But we were still faced with an impossible task - finding someone to replace the late Ashley Stichbury in the hot seat, behind the wheel of the Tracer Falcon for the '02/'03 NZ V8 Touring Car championship. In Aaron we have found the man who can do the job. He has been a professional racer all his life, and has proved the transition from two to four wheels. We are sure he will carry Tracer Motorsports onwards and upwards!"

Speaking about the Tracer Motorsport team, Aaron Slight said: "I believe the Tracer Motorsport team to be the most highly organised and proven championship-winning team in the NZ V8 Touring Car Championship. My ambition is to race in Supercar V8s, so when this offer was made it was too hard to resist."

Slight and Priaulx should bring a touch of international flavour to the Yellow Pages 500, and they'll be joining a team that's sure to make as strong a challenge this year as last - indeed it has to be the number one team in contention for the Ford's newly introduced Racing Fund. Bellingham confirmed this year's cars would again be Ford Falcon XR8s, and named the experienced Peter Van Breugel as the team's second driver in the championship series, joined by Greg Brinck for the Yellow Pages 500.

The reigning NZ V8 Touring Car Championship-winning team has signed Aaron Slight for the Yellow Pages 500. His co-driver for the Yellow Pages 500 endurance race on October 20 in Christchurch will be Andy Priaulx. Caltex Havoline has spotted a winning combination, and come on board as the principal sponsor - the team will be known as the Caltex Havoline Racing Team.

Slight, best known as the New Zealander who has come closest to the World Superbike crown, is currently racing in the 2002 British Touring Car Championship (BTCC). He's already shown class, and is leading the Independent Drivers Championship in his first full season at the hotly contested and ultra competitive BTCC.

The 28-year-old Priaulx is also a seasoned racer. He held the British Hillclimb championship in 1995, took every pole and won every race in 1999's British Renault Spider champs, had three podium finishes in his rookie F3 season, and this year joined Slight in the BTCC, where he's taken a win, two podiums and two poles in his first year out.

With Caltex Havoline's backing, and Slight and Priaulx at the wheel, the Tracer Motorsport team will be a winning combination in this year's Yellow Pages 500. Slight and Priaulx will also bring a touch of international flavour to the Yellow Pages 500, and they'll be joining a team that's sure to make as strong a challenge in New Zealand's Premier Touring Car race - Tracer Motorsport hopes to be the number one team in contention for the Ford's newly introduced Racing Fund.

Slight looks to Aussie V8 races

Aaron Slight is eyeing the prospect of joining the expanding group of New Zealanders competing in Australia’s V8 supercar series.

The Masterton racer had talks with teams at the weekend’s 1000km race at Bathurst.

This weekend he will drive a Caltex Havoline Ford Falcon with Channel Islander Andy Priaulx in the Yellow Pages 500km race at Christchurch’s Ruapuna circuit, the first round of the national V8 series. “I’d like to race V8s in Australia, and I’ll be using the New Zealand V8 series to get some experience,’’ Slight said. “I left New Zealand in 1986 to race motorcycles and it’s nice to be able to come back and spend a summer racing here.’’

Slight’s touring car racing career is starting to gather momentum after a life-threatening head injury 2½ years ago ended his motorcycling career. Now based in Monaco, he said he has two options for staying in the British touring car championship next year but would not elaborate.

BTCC RACE REPORT- ROUNDS 19 & 20, DONINGTON

Barwell drivers lose out in Donington carnage

Both Barwell Motorsport drivers, Aaron Slight and Tom Chilton, had their race weekends ruined through the appalling driving standards of their rivals in the final BTCC event at Donington Park last weekend. Aaron’s challenge for the Independents Cup title was completely ruined after he was knocked out of both races on the first lap, and Tom lost out on a potential overall podium finish in both races after being punted into a spin from behind. The highpoint of the weekend, however, was the absolutely miraculous job that the Barwell crew did in repairing the massive damage to the rear of Aaron’s car between the races, after it had effectively been ‘written off’ in the Sprint encounter. This typified the incredible team effort and spirit that has been a feature of our 2002 season.

During Saturday’s official qualifying sessions Aaron held sixth place before going out for his final run, and his dashboard timer was showing that this final lap would be even better when the red flags came out to stop the session because of an accident. In the end he was bumped down to ninth but still only 1/10th of a second from fifth spot!

Aaron’s Sprint race, and his Independent championship lead, was destroyed within two corners of the start, along with the complete rear end of his Barwell Astra. Two cars immediately in front of him had collided and one of them snagged the front of our car, pushing him wide at the same time as he was whacked up the rear by another BTCC challenger. This final impact sent him hurtling into the wall on the outside of the track and completely squashed the back of the car, so that the rear boot line was actually level with the rear wheels!

It looked to the general observer that Aaron Slight’s challenge was over for the weekend and the year, as his car was in such a bad state. However, the team weren’t prepared to admit defeat, and it was all hands on deck in the garage as everyone set about rebuilding the entire rear end. Luckily for us, Barwell's local bodyshop manager was up for day to support the team, and he was very quickly given some Barwell overalls as he set about the task of pulling out the boot along with some help from some key members from a factory BTCC team based closed to Barwell in Surrey! With just on two hours to perform this magic trick, the odds were stacked against Aaron. However, with the aid of about £1000 worth of ‘tank tape’ and some ratchet straps, somehow they managed to pull the rabbit out of the hat and a fully functioning if not very pretty Barwell Astra made it onto the grid in time for the Feature race!

With Aaron now three points behind the Peugeot 406 of Dan Eaves in the Indie Cup battle, the race for the title was back on. Tragically, however, his Feature race lasted little longer than the Sprint as the
un-acceptable driving standard of the works Proton of David Leslie smashed into the front wheel of our Astra as they braked for the Esses, breaking the upright and causing enough damage to force Aaron to retire and effectively ended his hopes of wining the BTCC Championship title.

** DONINGTON BTCC RACES WILL BE SHOWN ON ITV THIS SATURDAY, SEPT 28TH **

BTCC PRESS RELEASE - DONINGTON

You don't know the half of it! - Aaron Slight Autobiography

BTCC Independent drivers championship title contender and Ex World Super Bike (WSB) rider
Aaron Slight will be launching his Autobiography at Donington on September 20 -22.

'You don't know the half of it!' reveals all the details and emotions of being a world class sportsmen winning 13 WSB races and finishing 2nd in the race for the WSB Championship twice.
The book describes his growing up in New Zealand to him becoming an international star on the WSB scene. It also deals in depth with his illness in 1999 at the height of his international career, the resultant high-risk brain surgery, trauma, aftermath and recovery, and his miraculous return to the international motor racing stage.
This book will have great appeal not only to the many thousands of motorcycle and sports enthusiasts but also to people in general who identify with the spirit and determination of the individual to overcome life's obstacles and succeed in his chosen career that has earned Aaron a NZ Order of Merit and reveals the journey from Rural NZ to home in Monaco.
The book may be purchased all weekend at the Booklink Suite at Donington.

Aaron Slight will be at the Booklink Suite in the Paddock suite at Donington on Sunday 22nd September between 2 - 3PM for signing copies of his book as well as at the Barwell motorsport garage during official pit road walkabout 11.30 -12.30.

Slight extends his lead in Independents Cup

The Brands Hatch Indy Circuit provided the setting for an extraordinary BTCC race weekend for Barwell Motorsport. Aaron Slight suffered ups and downs throughout Qualifying and raceday, but Aaron emerged with an increased points lead in the Independents Cup battle. A major highlight for the Barwell team was also the fact that Aaron sensationally qualified his 2001-specification Vauxhall Astra second overall for the Feature Race grid, once again demonstrating the excellent set-up of his car to full effect.

The closeness of the lap times around the 1.2 mile Brands Indy 'bowl' never ceases to amaze, and Sunday's official qualifying session was no different. The difference in lap times from the front to the back of the 17-car Touring Class field was just 8/10ths of a second! Aaron was in the hunt for the top grid positions from the start of the Sprint race session, and he and the Barwell engineers gradually improved the set-up of his car each time he went out on the track. With a few minutes remaining of this session Aaron looked to have secured sixth, with a time under 2/10ths of a second off pole, but another two cars slotted times in mere 100ths quicker and bumped him to eighth for the Sprint!

Aaron's best individual 'sector' times of each corner had all been bang on the pace, but he had yet to complete one really special lap which matched them all up and produced his best potential lap time. This was clearly the target for the Feature race qualifying session, and his first run was better but still only good enough for the fringes of the top six. He then calmly sat in the pits until timing his final run towards the very end of the session. This time he managed to match up four out of five of those best corner sector times, and the result was a stunning second fastest time - just 2/1000ths of a second from pole, which in distance is only 6.1 centimetres!!

Aaron clearly had the pace to challenge for a top three result on his Brands Indy debut, but racing around this circuit is unlike any other place - and experience counts for a great deal. He had also upset many of the established stars with his qualifying performance, and this would count against him. Right from the green lights at the start of the Sprint race it was clear this was going to be a bruising encounter, as Aaron got tagged by two cars off the startline and then squeezed out wide at the first corner. Before the dust settled next time by he was then unceremoniously turfed into a spin by the factory Honda of Alan Morrison (not for the first time this season), and then had to fight his way back through the Production Class pack.

Aaron had been right behind Tom, but suffered more cruel fortune as he was hit by a Production car and knocked into the Paddock gravel trap.

Aaron's horrible luck continued on during the day, as a problem with the throttle sensor inside the air intake (probably caused by his earlier trip into the gravel) meant that he got stuck in the pit lane as everyone was leaving to form up on the grid. We managed to fix the problem, but he missed the deadline to get out onto the grid and would be forced to start from the pit lane. The 40-lap Feature race at Brands can include many twists of the plot, however, and team strategy can always play a major part in the end result.

This is where we managed to turn Aaron's race around completely, as we crucially anticipated the deployment of the safety car and made the call to bring him into the pits, just in time before they closed the pit lane entrance. This meant that his two-wheel stop
was carried out with the rest of the field crawling round behind the safety car. After the pit stop he emerged out of the pits in an incredible fifth place - not bad considering he had started stone cold last (29th place including the Production class field) and also had to work his way through the entire Production class pack!

Slight, meanwhile, was untroubled in fifth and closing down Indie rival, Tim Harvey (Peugeot 406) for the class win and fourth overall. Then, with just six laps to go his rear tyres picked up some of the 'marbles' (chewed up rubber residue from the tyres) on the outer edge of the track, and he had a big slide. This put the snarling pack of Anthony Reid (factory MG), Muller, Neal and Priaulx onto his tail and an amazing battle ensued over fifth place. Aaron got whacked by just about every one of them as places were swapped around at every corner during a monumental five-lap scrap. With Muller and Neal fighting for the overall drivers' title, things were getting pretty nasty as they tried to bully the Barwell Astra out of the way. At this stage we needed a finish, and thus radioed Aaron to not get involved and bring the car home in ninth overall and second Indie Cup runner. Tom Chilton, Aaron's team mate was able to finish right on Aaron's bumper, in 10th overall, as they crossed the line.

With just the final event at Donington Park left, the stage is set for a nail-biting final showdown in the fight for the prestigious Independents Cup championship title. Aaron currently holds a 13-point lead over the VLR Peugeots of Harvey and Eaves, and is looking forward to returning to his favourite circuit in four weeks' time.

** BRANDS HATCH BTCC RACES WILL BE SHOWN ON ITV THIS SATURDAY, AUG 31ST **
THE FINAL BTCC EVENT IS AT DONINGTON PARK ON SEPT 21/22

BTC TOURING INDEPENDENTS CUP
DRIVERS' CHAMPIONSHIP

(after 18 of 20 races)

1. Aaron Slight - Barwell Vauxhall Astra - 144
2. Tim Harvey - VLR Peugeot 406 - 131
3. Dan Eaves - VLR Peugeot 406 - 130
4. Gareth Howell - Atomic Kitten MG ZS - 124
5. Tom Chilton - Barwell Vauxhall Astra - 108
6. Colin Turkington - Atomic Kitten MG ZS - 96
7. Carl Breeze - VLR Peugeot 406 - 54

Aaron Slight further extends his lead in the BTCC Independents Cup

It was Aaron's turn to star during official qualifying on Saturday afternoon (set in the dry). His first sighting of the 1.2 mile hillside 'rollercoaster' track was just 24 hours prior to this, and the only experience he was able to gain before Saturday morning's unofficial practice sessions was 10 laps as a passenger in a hire car on Friday evening! Despite this considerable handicap, he was immediately on the pace come Saturday morning and running on the fringes of the top six fastest.

With the times being incredibly close (just a whisker over a second covered the entire 17-car field!), he was constantly trying to improve the set-up of the Vauxhall Astra to gain those all-important extra few 10ths of a second. Aaron tried a different set-up on his car for the first qualifying session (for the Sprint race), but didn't like it and couldn't extract what he wanted out of the car which resulted in him being shuffled back to 11th overall. When he reverted back to his original settings, however, he absolutely nailed it in the Feature race session and posted the provisional pole position time with just three minutes of qualifying left. The Barwell crew collectively held their breath as we were on the verge of a major coup, but we were just denied pole by the factory Honda of Andy Priaulx and the factory MG of Anthony Reid. Still, Aaron retained an amazing third fastest overall, and managed to pip all four of the factory Vauxhall team's cars to be the top Astra on the grid!

As is traditional at Knockhill the rain decided to come down just 10 minutes before the start of the race! This unfortunately threw Aaron a major curved ball, as he now had no idea of the wet braking points for the corners or where the best part of the track was in terms of surface grip. This caught him out on the first lap as they field streamed down to the hairpin, as he locked up the front wheels and collected Phil Bennett's Proton, breaking his suspension on the spot.

True to Knockhill form, conditions worsened between the end of the Sprint and the start of the Feature races. The rain got so heavy, and the rivers so deep on the track, that the event officials decided to run the first five laps of the 40-lap Feature presentation behind the Safety Car. This would then give the cars the chance to clear some of the standing water lying on the road surface. After his first race excursion, Aaron was still suffering from a lack of wet weather experience, but managed to hold his own in third place for the two laps before the pit stops began. With most of the front-runners, including Aaron, making their mandatory pit stops very early on.

Aaron did well to get to grips with a streaming wet Knockhill this time, and kept his Astra on the track with enough pace to beat the Atomic Kitten MG of Howell and the Peugeot of Breeze to claim third spot in the Indie division. The points battle in the championship is now delicately poised, with Aaron pulling out a further two points on his lead over Eaves and Howell.

KNOCKHILL BTCC RACES WILL BE SHOWN ON ITV THIS SATURDAY, AUGUST 17TH

BTC TOURING INDEPENDENTS CUP
DRIVERS' CHAMPIONSHIP

(after 16 of 20 races)

1. Aaron Slight Barwell Vauxhall Astra 132
2. Dan Eaves VLR Peugeot 406 124
3. Gareth Howell Atomic Kitten MG ZS 109
4. Tim Harvey VLR Peugeot 406 104
5. Tom Chilton Barwell Vauxhall Astra 88
6. Colin Turkington Atomic Kitten MG ZS 88
7. Carl Breeze VLR Peugeot 406 54

Aaron battles hard in the Snetterton heat

The 20,000-strong crowd at Snetterton witnessed some frantic incident-packed BTCC action under scorching hot skies last weekend. In the thick of it all were Barwell Motorsport team-mates, Aaron Slight and Tom Chilton , who were pitting their Vauxhall Astras against the VLR Peugeot 406s and Atomic Kitten MGs in the fight for Independents Cup honours. Although neither driver was
able to clinch a victory over the weekend, Aaron managed to maintain his Championship lead over VLR’s Dan Eaves. With six races left, this battle for the title is set to go down to the wire.

As soon as the lights went to green for the start of the 15-lap Sprint race, Aaron made his customary good start, and during the opening laps was ‘exchanging paint’ during a heated battle with the factory Proton of David Leslie over 10th place. Although Aaron moved his Barwell Astra ahead of the former BTCC runner-up, Leslie barged his way back past in a very borderline manoeuvre at the Esses. Just after this the safety car was called out as a Production Class car had blown its engine at the Russell chicane. Unfortunately, Aaron had arrived on the scene first to discover oil all over the road and as he struggled to control his sliding car, the Peugeots of Carl Breese and Eaves nipped through and undid his previous good work.

Although he had been catching the MGs of Turkington and Howell before the oil incident, Aaron now had to battle past the Peugeots again before he could get back on terms with them. This he did in quick succession, but despite circulating half a second a lap quicker than the MGs in the closing stages he ran out of time and came home two seconds behind, claiming third in class and 12th overall.

Aaron again took the fight to the Atomic Kitten MGs in the early part of the 25-lap Feature race, as he overcame his lowly grid position with a series of ultra-quick laps that matched those of race leader, Matt Neal (factory Egg Vauxhall Astra). Aaron lost a place to Breese’s Peugeot due to Breese benefiting from completing his stop under the safety car (which came out the lap after Aaron’s stop!)This was especially upsetting, as during the team’s pit stop practice session that morning our crew had performed their personal record best time of 5.5 seconds.

Towards the end of the race, however, many cars suffered punctures, but our drivers sensibly stayed off the kerbs and picked his way through to 9th overall at the flag.

SNETTERTON BTCC RACES WILL BE SHOWN ON ITV THIS SATURDAY, AUGUST 3RD

BTC TOURING INDEPENDENTS CUP DRIVERS' CHAMPIONSHIP
(after 14 of 20 races)

1. Aaron Slight Barwell Vauxhall Astra 122
2. Dan Eaves VLR Peugeot 406 116
3. Gareth Howell Atomic Kitten MG ZS 101
4. Tim Harvey VLR Peugeot 406 87
5. Colin Turkington Atomic Kitten MG ZS 73
6. Tom Chilton Barwell Vauxhall Astra 66
7. Carl Breeze VLR Peugeot 406 48

THE NEXT BTCC EVENT IS AT KNOCKHILL ON AUGUST 10/11

Aaron Slight takes clear lead in BTCC Independents Cup

Aaron Slight and Barwell Motorsport moved into a clear points lead in the BTCC Independents Cup, when the series paid a visit to Yorkshire's superb Croft circuit. Despite having to survive assaults from rivals which sent his car spinning around, the Kiwi kept a cool head and scored a second and fourth in the 'Indie' class in the Sprint and Feature races respectively.

Aaron's luck, meanwhile, came in the form of the gaggle of Production Class cars that he always seemed to encounter on his 'hot laps' for both of the grids. Many of the slower ones in this class were complete 'mobile chicanes', and he lost precious 10ths of a second getting past them. Qualifying positions of 12th and 10th overall were thus unrepresentative of what his Vauxhall Astra Coupe was capable of. It was especially galling that he was held up in the latter (Feature) period, when he was just half a second shy of fourth spot on the extremely tight grid time sheet.

Slight made a blinding getaway at the start of the Sprint race, rocketing straight from 12th up to 8th as they approached the first corner. Sadly, all his good work was undone in a moment as he was unceremoniously nerfed into a spin from behind. Luckily, Aaron managed to keep our Astra out of the barriers, but once the dust had settled he rejoined dead last right at the back of the Production Class runners.

The safety car period had allowed Aaron to catch up onto the back of the Touring Class train, and it was he who now took up the fight with Harvey, Phil Bennett (factory Proton Impian) and Gareth Howell (MG ZS) over what was ninth place with five laps to go. When Bennett crashed out, and Yvan Muller (factory Vauxhall Astra) suffered a puncture, this became a battle for seventh overall. Aaron and Harvey swapped places a few times in a great scrap, and then with two laps to go Howell and Harvey took each other off the circuit thus allowing Aaron through into seventh (and second in the Indie division).

In the Feature race, Aaron was running fine in the early stages of the race and enjoying a good tussle over seventh place with Dan Eaves (Peugeot 406), Paul O'Neill (factory Egg Vauxhall Astra) and Howell. He was running in eighth spot right behind O'Neill when the round of pit stops began, but when Aaron arrived outside our garage (for his mandatory front two-wheel change) the driver-operated lever that controls the air-jacking system had got knocked into the wrong position. This meant that the rear wheels of the car were unnecessarily raised as well as the fronts. After the front tyres had been changed the problem was swiftly dealt with, but the end result was a loss of 15 seconds (and five places) on the road to his previous rivals - a lifetime in the ultra-competitive arena of BTCC racing.

The former World Superbike star then fought back tremendously to get himself back up to ninth place (and third Indie), but six laps from the end a power steering line got cut through by a stone and he lost all the fluid out of the system. At a demanding circuit like Croft, this would make the car virtually impossible to drive anywhere near the pace, as the steering becomes incredibly heavy. Last year a similar thing happened to the factory cars, and the drivers were forced to retire them immediately. Aaron showed just how fit you have to be to be a world-class motorbike rider, however, as he manhandled the Astra around only three seconds a lap off his full pace and got it to the finish. This allowed Howell back past, however, and dropped our man to 10th overall and fourth in class.

BTC TOURING INDEPENDENTS CUP
DRIVERS' CHAMPIONSHIP
(after 12 of 20 races)

1. Aaron Slight Barwell Vauxhall Astra 107
2. Dan Eaves VLR Peugeot 406 100
3. Tim Harvey VLR Peugeot 406 87
4. Gareth Howell Atomic Kitten MG ZS 77
5. Tom Chilton Barwell Vauxhall Astra 60
6. Colin Turkington Atomic Kitten MG ZS 43
7. Carl Breeze VLR Peugeot 406 32

BTCC RACE REPORT - ROUNDS 9 & 10, MONDELLO

23 June 2002

Another win and leading the Indy championship.

Aaron won his 3rd BTCC Independants Cup race and notched up another top 10 overall finish last weekend at Mondello Park, Ireland. A track unfamiliar to Aaron until Thursdays open day.

Qualifying on Saturday Aaron soon got to grips with the circuit but it ended in disaster as electrical problems at the TOCA scrutineering bay meant Aaron could not restart the Vauxhall Astra which lead to his times being dis-allowed.

"The characteristics of this circuit is so different, it has highlighted a problem we have never had before. This is why the car didn't start."

Race day Sunday was even more dramatic. With half an hour to go, it was discovered that Aaron and his team mate's car had developed a computer related electrical problem. After much effort from the team, it was unable to get Aaron's car fixed to make the race start.

All efforts were made by the team to ensure that Aaron had a perfect car for the feature race. Starting from the back of the grid Aaron drove focused and fast setting a blistering pace through the field to 3rd place overall. During the pit stop with a dry line appearing, Aaron changed to slicks and drove faultlessly to notch up his 3rd Independants Cup victory and regain joint leadership in points table.

NEXT BTCC RACE : Croft, Yorkshire July 13/14

BTC TOURING INDEPENDENTS CUP
DRIVERS' CHAMPIONSHIP
(after 10 of 20 races)

1. Aaron Slight - Barwell Vauxhall Astra - 87
2. Tim Harvey - VLR Peugeot 406 - 87
3. Dan Eaves - VLR Peugeot 406 - 77
4. Gareth Howell - Atomic Kitten MG ZS - 67
5. Tom Chilton - Barwell Vauxhall Astra - 60
6. Colin Turkington - Atomic Kitten MG ZS - 16

STCC (Swedish Touring Car Championship) Round 4

10 June 2002

Aaron was very pleased qualifying 4th on the grid at a venue that he had never been to before. As well as getting used to a new car, a Volvo S60 Turbo. The Volvo S60 race car was immaculately prepared by Flash Engineering, who also run the Factory Volvo S60 Super Touring cars.

Race 1 was eventful with lots of contact with resulted in Aaron finishing 10th.

'These guys are very aggressive. I thought the BTCC was full of contact until I raced here!' - Aaron Slight

Race 2 was on Sunday in front of a capacity crowd of 20,000. Aaron was forced to start from the back of the grid as the officials thought he was driving too aggressively in race 1! Volvo protested the decision but Aaron was forced to start from the back of the grid. A focused and motivated Aaron carved his way through the field to finish 9th in the 15 Lap race.

'Now that was more like it. It was fantastic trying to carve the field in this car. It feels big at times and using the turbo without going into lag was exciting too. 3 more laps would have made a big difference. It was a great opportunity and I would like to thank Volvo Cars(PAG)Sweden, Castrol Sweden and Flash Engineering'

Next event:
Aaron will be testing his Barwell motorsport Vauxhall Astra at Donington Park on 11 June.

BTCC RACE REPORT - ROUNDS 7 & 8, SILVERSTONE

3 June 2003

Aaron won his 2nd BTCC Independant race yesterday at a wet Silverstone circuit. Although Aaron had never driven a Touring Car in the wet before he drove great races to claim the Sprint race result as others around faded away.

Aaron continued his impressive form of late during official qualifying, and after a slow Production Class car ruined his run for the Sprint race grid (leaving him 12th) he stormed to third place for the Feature starting line-up – one of the best qualifying performances for an Independent team/driver for many years. Indeed, for much of the Feature session he held a spot on the front row of the grid, and was fastest Vauxhall Astra, before the factory Astra of Paul O’Neill just bumped him back by a 10th of a second.

A quick and heavy shower just minutes before the cars were due to leave the pit lane for the Sprint race start was just what Aaron didn’t need. Although confident of the wet-track car set-up, Aaron had never started or driven in the wet before in a BTCC event. Unfortunately as the lights went to green for the 15-lapper, Aaron bogged down off the line. This put them behind the Production Class front-runners and meant they had to fight their way through this squabbling pack on the opening lap – as well as finding his feet in wet conditions. He emerged unscathed at the end of the first lap, but with a big deficit to the back of the Touring Class pack. As the track dried out, Aaron made his way up through the field to win his second BTCC Independant Cup race and with the result of his team mate, help Barwell Motorsport notch up its first BTCC Independents Cup 1-2 result as well.

Sadly, the Feature race which had promised so much came to nothing. As the pack approached the third corner on the opening lap and everyone braked, Aaron’s car was rudely attacked from behind by the factory Honda Civic of Alan Morrison. This whack sent him scrabbling sideways, and then Morrison simply smashed into the front of the car and broke the steering. This was an extremely unnecessary and amateur act from someone who is supposed to be a factory-level driver. Aaron was thus forced to retire at the next corner and lost a potential top-three overall result. Tom (Aaron team-mate) fared little better unfortunately, as a scuffle with one of the Peugeots on the second lap had broken a driveshaft and his race was run as well. More luck next time please. . .

Aaron has been invited by VOLVO Cars to drive their entry in the 2002 STCC S60 Challenge.

The Swedish Touring Car Championship support event will be a one off appearence for Aaron in the Swedish Volvo S60 Challenge at the Gallerasen circuit in Karlskoga on June 8th and 9th. The Volvo Challenge is a production-based one-make series for the 265bhp turbocharged S60 saloons! The car will be quite exciting and it also re-unites Aaron with Castrol as the sponsor of his race car.

"I found the proposal to be interesting and my answer was yes straight away. I will drive under professional circumstances in a great team it felt right to drive a Castrol-Car as I´ve been sponsored by Castrol for a long period of time in my career on Superbikes" - Aaron

The race this weekend will take place in Karlskoga, Sweden. The track is relatively technical and has the longest right turn of all the Swedish circuits. Aaron has never raced there before.

" I don´t know anything about the circuit and I don´t feel pressured by it. It will be a great experience and I hope I do well " - Aaron

The Barwell Motorsport team and driver, Aaron Slight, suffered cruel misfortune at Thruxton yesterday, when the former World Superbike star looked set to score a pair of superb top five results and Independent Cup victories, but was robbed of the chance to take them. We had to endure further heartache at the Hampshire venue, when Aaron’s team-mate, Tom Chilton, was put out of the Feature race in a crash on the opening lap.

At the start of the weekend we were expecting an uphill battle to be ultra-competitive, as neither Aaron nor Tom had raced at Thruxton before, and to put Tom even further on the back foot, he was forced to miss the pre-event test day. At such a high-speed track, where the average lap speed is around the 110mph mark, feeling fully ‘at one’ with your car is absolutely imperative.

Despite this handicap, both drivers were immediately impressive during Sunday morning’s first ‘unofficial’ practice session. Aaron absolutely stunned the opposition by setting the fourth fastest time overall, as he revelled in the superb handling of his Barwell Motorsport Vauxhall Astra. Aaron thus qualified 10th and 9th quickest overall for the Sprint and Feature races respectively, with Tom 13th and 14th (after his Feature race session was cut short by an ‘off’).

Aaron made a blinding getaway at the start of the 15-lap Sprint race, and was immediately up to 8th spot as they crossed the line at the end of the first lap. He then picked off Colin Turkington (MG ZS) and Tim Harvey (Peugeot 406) in quick succession to move into 6th overall and the lead of the Independents Cup division. Once clear of these two he set some excellent lap times and was closing in on the factory Honda Civic R of Andy Priaulx.

With the factory Astra of Yvan Muller retiring, Aaron’s chase of Priaulx became the fight for fourth place overall. Sadly, this charging drive and certain ‘Indie’ Cup win was ruined when the engine blew a head gasket and the water temperatures on the Barwell Astra started to soar above 120 degrees. Once Aaron had radioed in with this information, we had no choice but to tell him to back off the throttle during the remaining laps to avoid blowing the engine up. It was then gutting to watch him have to give up his pursuit of the Honda, and let both Peugeot 406s of Harvey and Dan Eaves past. The engine temperature came down slightly and he was able to hang on to seventh place (and third ‘Indie’ runner) at the flag – but this was scant reward for such a great performance. Tom, meanwhile, was looking set for a top 10 finish when he encountered a gearbox problem which hampered his progress towards the end of the race, and he slipped back to 13th spot.

The head gasket failure on Aaron’s car meant that an engine change was necessary for the Feature race. The Triple Eight Race Engineering-built BTCC Astra is designed so that when you take the engine out, everything has to come with it – suspension, subframe, air intakes, radiators, wiring, ancillaries, pumps etc etc, basically everything that lives under the bonnet apart from the chassis legs. Unfortunately, with us not having the resources of a factory team to have a complete, ready-to-go, built-up spare front
assembly unit ready (costing over £60,000), we had to swap everything over from the old engine to the new one. This is a process that normally takes around 4 hours in the workshop, but yesterday we only had a little over two to do it in! The Barwell crew did an amazing job to try and pull a rabbit out of a hat, but in the end we just ran out of time, needing about another 15 minutes to get the car safely ready for the race, before it had started. Just to rub salt into the wound, Harvey’s Peugeot, which Aaron had comfortably been ahead of in the Sprint race, finished fourth overall in the Feature. . .

1. Aaron Slight Barwell Vauxhall Astra 57
2. Tim Harvey VLR Peugeot 406 57
3. Dan Eaves VLR Peugeot 406 55
4. Gareth Howell Atomic Kitten MG ZS 45
5. Tom Chilton Barwell Vauxhall Astra 36
6. Colin Turkington Atomic Kitten MG ZS 8

1. Yvan Muller factory Vauxhall Astra 59
1. Matt Neal factory Egg Vauxhall Astra 59
1. James Thompson factory Vauxhall Astra 59
4. Anthony Reid factory MG ZS 35
5. Warren Hughes factory MG ZS 29
6. Andy Priaulx factory Honda Civic Type-R 27
7. Tim Harvey VLR Peugeot 406 25
8. Paul O'Neill factory Egg Vauxhall Astra 23
8. Dan Eaves VLR Peugeot 406 23
10. Aaron Slight Barwell Vauxhall Astra 1

After a sensational start from 12th place on the grid; Aaron Slight drove at a blistering pace to secure 6th place overall and win the Independents cup on only his second BTCC race meeting. The Barwell Motorsport prepared Vauxhall Astra performed perfectly enabling Aaron to overtake Team PSP's highly experienced David Leslie and Honda driver Andy Priaulx in 2002 spec. cars.

For the feature race Aarons car had the mandatory success ballast added, which made an impact to his lap times. A good pit stop from the team resulted in a 3rd place finish for Aaron in the Independents cup and 8th overall behind James Thompson's Factory Vauxhall Astra.

"That was a fantastic sprint race. Oulton Park is a complex circuit with very little room for error; so a win here is awesome. The data showed I was just getting faster with each lap as well. Being able to overtake the experienced BTCC drivers and be on the winner's podium is fantastic. "- Aaron Slight

"Thruxton is next and it should be exciting. I tested there 2 weeks ago and it is FAST!" - Aaron Slight

BTC TOURING INDEPENDENTS CUP DRIVERS' CHAMPIONSHIP
(after 4 of 20 races)
1. Aaron Slight Barwell Vauxhall Astra 47
2. Dan Eaves VLR Peugeot 406 31
3. Tom Chilton Barwell Vauxhall Astra 30
4. Tim Harvey VLR Peugeot 406 27
5. Gareth Howell Atomic Kitten MG ZS 27
6. Colin Turkington Atomic Kitten MG ZS 8

A fantastic day for Barwell Motorsport. The team made an immediate impression in the BTCC 'Big League' yesterday, when Aaron Slight's team mate Tom Chilton scored an amazing 3rd place overall finish in the Sprint Race. The team's joy was enhanced by the fact that its other Astra driver World Superbike star, Aaron Slight, also came home in the top six on Barwell's debut in the senior category.

Slight, meanwhile, was suffering badly from a lack of mileage after a testing shunt, and took the first session to get back up to speed in his Astra. Once his confidence was fully restored, he put in an excellent effort to get within a few 10ths of a second of team mate Tom Chilton's time in the Feature period and claim ninth on the grid.

Chilton made a reasonable first-ever BTCC getaway at the start of the 15-lap Sprint race, but the experienced pros on the grid behind him were immediately snapping at his heels and trying to force him back down the order. His Kiwi Barwell team-mate, Slight, enjoyed an almighty battle in the early stages against both Hondas of Andy Priaulx and Alan Morrison, and both factory Proton Impians of David Leslie and Phil Bennett. This scrap, for eighth place at the time, provided one of the highlights of the race, and it was Aaron who pulled off one of the best overtaking moves of the entire event when he went past one of the Hondas on the outside under braking for the 130mph Hawthorns Bend!

Aaron was unable to capitalise on this move, sadly, as shortly afterwards he suffered an electrically-related problem which meant his engine cut out on an intermittent basis during each lap. He was able to soldier on, however, and eventually claimed sixth place and a useful points haul.

In the 20-lap Feature race disaster struck just after the first corner. Two cars tangled just ahead of Tom and set off a chain reaction of events which led to another car slamming into the side of the Barwell Astra, and punting it into the barriers. Sadly, his race was over there and then. Slight managed to avoid the carnage, however, and at the re-start settled into ninth place. After the pit stops had shaken out, Aaron then looked set to try and challenge Harvey and Warren Hughes (factory MG ZS) in 7th and 8th respectively. Unfortunately, however, his clutch had packed up just before the pit stop and left him in 2nd gear to pull away in at the stop. With the electronic pit lane speed-limiter only working whilst operated when in 1st gear, it made it difficult for Aaron to keep to the limit, and he just got out of the pits a little too fast. This meant he had to endure a pit lane 'drive-through' penalty, and thus lost any chance of improving on his ninth place.

With regards to the Independents' Cup standings, however, Aaron scored a third and a second place, and currently lies just three points behind leader Dan Eaves.

1. Dan Eaves VLR Peugeot 406 25
2. Aaron Slight Barwell Vauxhall Astra 22
3. Tim Harvey VLR Peugeot 406 15
4. Tom Chilton Barwell Vauxhall Astra 12
5. Gareth Howell Atomic Kitten MG ZS 0
6. Colin Turkington Atomic Kitten MG ZS 0

Barwell Motorsport have secured the services of ex World Superbike rider and 2001 Peugeot BTCC driver Aaron Slight to fill their remaining seat to drive their Vauxhall Astra BTC Touring car in the 2002 British Touring Car Championship.

Barwell Motorsport directors Mark Lemmer and Chris Needell agreed on the deal early last week with Aaron Slight's manager Tubbs Wanigasekera; pending Aaron's arrival in the UK from New Zealand.

Aaron Slight arrived to evaluate the Vauxhall Astra BTC Touring car and meet the Barwell Motorsport team on Saturday at Snetterton.

'I was starting to look at other competitive motorsport programs such as ASCAR; assuming all the top competitive seats in the BTCC had gone! That's until I got the text message in NZ from Tubbs in the UK' - Aaron Slight

'I was excited by the opportunity to be able to be in a Vauxhall Astra, which is the car to beat in the series! Also to be associated with a sponsor such as Kaliber which has been in the BTCC for years. I am rapt!' - Aaron Slight

'I am delighted to welcome someone of Aaron's caliber to Barwell Motorsport. I would like to thank our sponsors Kaliber and La Manga Club in helping this deal come together in such a short time.' - Mark Lemmer.