Simon Belcher Unveils 2012 Car At Autosport International
Simon Belcher had already announced his plans to enter the 2012 Renault Clio Cup prior to the start of the Autosport International 2012 show, but unveiled his car to the world during the first morning on the Karcher stand. Driver coach and BTCC driver Dave Newsham was also on hand to help reveal the car. We caught up with Simon shortly after as he outlined his goals, and gave us some insight into his racing career.
We’ve already seen Simon on the Clio Cup grid during the 2011 season, in the UK round of the World Series by Renault at Silverstone and later at Brands Hatch during the final round of the Championship. As he explains, the intention was never to take on many races before 2012.
“The aim was always to try to get some experience under our belt in 2011 ready for 2012.” he said. “We didn’t want to waste a year doing Clio’s. Our ultimate aim is to move into Touring Cars and we wanted to make sure we do the minimal amount of time in Clio’s that we can before we progress to Touring Cars.”
The Clio Cup is still one of the strongest feeder series for drivers to contest on their way to the British Touring Car Championship, and Simon is under no illusions that it is a necessary step in reaching his goal.
“I’m very good friends with Dave Newsham and he really said that I need to go through Clio’s before I go into Touring Cars, and he was right. I’ve spent 10 years driving rear wheel drive cars and this is front wheel drive and very very different. The racing is so close in Clio’s you have to get everything 100% right.”
He went on to add; “What we did was start doing a little bit in 2011 to make sure we’re ready for 2012 and did a number of tests. We did the Silverstone race which was my first race, and the first TOCA race for me which was the final round at Brands Hatch. I drew a lot from those and it helped me to go away and think about that we were really weak in certain areas.”
The few races that he has competed in along with the series of tests have left Simon filled with confidence, and full of excitement going into the new season.
“It really is starting to come together now,” he said. ”The confidence in the car that i’m building everytime I go to the track now is immense and i’m really looking forward to it.”
If you’re going to make an effort in the Clio Cup, there are certain names which any driver would love to be associated. For Simon, his associations stretch beyond just one of these names. Ensuring that gives himself the best possible grounding leading into the Championship, has linked Simon with former Champions Phil Glew, through his relationship with Team Pyro, and Danny Buxton. This comes alongside his personal coach Dave Newsham. His relationship with Newsham however stretches beyond just driver and coach.
“I’ve been good personal friends with Dave for many years, and I raced with him for years in Legends,” he said. “In 2008 we both went and did a Clio Cup test and we both did it in the same car. At that time Dave decided he would move on and go to the Clio Cup. I said no, I wanted to stay where I was a bit longer. So we almost made the decision to move on at the same time, but for one reason or another we ended up of-setting it slightly.”
He went on to add; “Dave is a fantastic driver, hes learned his craft, and Danny Buxton has taught him a lot about these cars. I’ve been working with Danny, with Dave and with Phil Glew as well. I’ve tried to go about it the right way and I’ve tried to get the right people working with me to help me have the best chance to progress through the Clio Cup, which is a cracking series, and to move up to British Touring Cars.”
When choosing a team to operate a car on your behalf, there can be few choices better suited to a front running challenge than Team Pyro. As Simon went on to explain, choosing Pyro to manage the engineering of the car for the season was an easy decision to make.
“They’re head and shoulders above the rest,” he said. “Three Championships in four years speaks for itself. With Dave being my mentor and my driver coach he was the first one to say that it’s an absolute no brainer. You have to go with Pyro if you want to make good progress in the series. I’m looking forward to racing with the other guys in Pyro, Jack (Goff), Josh (Files), Adam(Bonham), they’ve all had a lot of time in Clio’s. I’m going to work with them and learn from them and hopefully take as much as I can away from it.”
The entrance licence will be their own though. In fact, Handy Motorsport already have a strong infrastructure behind them which they hope to utilise on their quest upto the BTCC.
“We’ve got our own team, our own workshops, facilities and trucks,” he said. “To be honest we’ve probably got the infrastructure to run a Touring Car already. We’ve got our own full time mechanics. Very much like the coaching mentality that I’ve taken, trying to bring the right people in is why I’ve gone to Mark at Pyro.”
“We’re going to be under our own entrance licence. It’ll be Handy Motorsport with Pyro, and Team Pyro will be a separate entrant. Pyro will be looking after the engineering on the car. It saves us a year learning the driving side and learning the setup of the car. If we were doing what we’ve done we’d only have gone with Team Pyro.”
Check out our video of the grand unveiling of the stunning Black and Yellow Karcher backed Car below.
Photo Credit: Pete Mainey (www.psmmotorsportimages.co.uk )
Richard Devine
