AmD Technik Essex(also known asAutomotive Developments) is a Britishcar tuningcompany andauto racingteam. The team competed in theBritish Touring Car Championshipunder the MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square banner.
| Founded | 1987 (as company) 1990 (as race team) |
|---|---|
| Base | West Thurrock,United Kingdom |
| Teamprincipal(s) | Shaun Hollamby |
| Current series | BTCC NASCAR Whelen Euro Series |
| Former series | Dunlop Sportmaxx Cup |
| Current drivers | BTCC: 4.Sam Osborne TBC.Bobby Thompson 24.Jake Hill TBC.James Gornall NASCAR Whelen Euro Series: 46.Ant Whorton-Eales(Elite 1),Shaun Hollamby(Elite 2) |
| Teams' Championships | BTCC Independents Teams Champions: 2019 |
| Drivers' Championships | Dunlop Sportmaxx Cup: 2009: Simon Shaw BTCC Independents Drivers title: 2019: Rory Butcher BTCC Jack Sears Trophy: 2019: Rory Butcher |
| Website | AmD Tuning Essex |
History
editThe company was formed in 1987, specialising in theVolkswagen-Audimarque, forming their own VW-backed race team in 1990.[1]They went on to win many championships with AmD-built and tunedVolkswagen Golfs.The company now offers tuning parts for most European cars.
For the 2008 & 2009 seasons, AmD ranSEAT Leónsin theDunlop Sportmaxx Cupand won the championship in 2009, with Simon Shaw driving.
BTCC
edit
In 2010, AmD Essex, under the nameAmD Milltek Racing,raced in theBritish Touring Car Championshiprunning aVolkswagen Golf Mk5,driven by their managing director,Shaun Hollamby.The car was previously run in theBaltic Touring Car Championship.
The team remained in the series in2011,withTom Onslow-Colecampaigning the Golf for the first four rounds of the season, running with a Lehmann built NGTC engine.
On Sunday 5 June, following Race 2 of round four at Oulton Park, Onslow-Cole announced he would be leaving the team following the final race of the day. Given the sudden circumstances, AmD Milltek took the decision not to field the car for the final round of the day. A day later, it emerged that Onslow-Cole was to return to his previous team, Aon Ford, to run a third car.
In the following week, it was announced that managing director Shaun Hollamby would pilot the car at round five at Croft, to give the team longer to find an appropriate replacement for Onslow-Cole. After Croft, Hollamby announced his retirement from high-level motorsport.[2]
For the remainder of the 2011 season, the team signed former Renault Clio Cup champion,Martin Byfordto drive the car.[3]
At the Autosport International show, AmD announced thatOllie Jacksonwould be driving for the team during the 2012 season.[4]
In 2013, AmD ran James Kaye in a Honda Civic for one round of the BTCC and four rounds in a Volkswagen Golf, which was also piloted by Hollamby and Aaron Mason for one round each. They sat out the Knockhill, Rockingham and Silverstone rounds of the championship.
Dave Newsham joined the team in 2014 and drove a Ford Focus ST for the season, picking up the team's first podium in race 3 at Newsham's home round at Knockhill and finished 17th in the championship.
For 2015, the team stuck with the Ford Focus ST with Mike Bushall piloting, and introduced the Audi S3 purchased from Rotek Racing to run Nicolas Hamilton for four rounds and Jake Hill at the final round at Brands Hatch.
Ollie Jackson returned to the squad in 2016 opting to run the Audi S3 and ditching the focus. Jackson completed the season in 26th place in the championship.
2017 saw AmD build a second Audi S3 for Ant Whorton-Eales to partner Jackson for the season with the two becoming regular points scorers on the way to 22nd and 23rd in the final standings.
AmD significantly expanded for the 2018 BTCC season with the purchase from the defunct Triple 8 team of a pair of race winning MG 6s. To drive the two machines, the services of young Scotsman Rory Butcher who debuted in 2017 and previous BTCC race winner Tom Boardman were called upon. AmD also retained the two Audi S3s with Jackson remaining in one for the 3rd consecutive season and youngster Sam Smelt called up to the sister car. They recorded their best season to date with Butcher regularly troubling the top points scorers. Boardman was replaced half way through the season by Ant Whorton-Eales for Snetterton, Glyn Geddie for Rockingham and Knockhill and Josh Caygill for Silverstone and Brands Hatch. Ollie Jackson also took a 3rd place finish at Brands Hatch in changeable conditions.
For 2019, AmD sold the MG 6s to new squad Exceler8 and bought a pair of Honda Civic FK2 from Eurotech, who left the series at the end of 2018. Butcher was retained for one of the new Honda seats and race-winner Sam Tordoff was brought in to partner him. Sam Tordoff was replaced after 7 rounds by Mike Bushall. The three of them secured the Independent Teams Championship with a combined 4 wins and 3 pole positions whilst Rory won both Independent Drivers title and the Jack Sears Trophy rounding off the team's most successful season to date.
TradePriceCars.com
editAlso in 2019, the Audi S3s were sold to Trade Price Racing but are still to be run for the team in a two-year deal by AmD, with Jake Hill taking one of the Audi seats and ex F1 driver, Le Mans & Indy Car race winner Mark Blundell taking the other. Jake took the Audis 1st ever victory at Knockhill.
Jake was promoted to the AmD side of the team for 2020 and will be partnered by Sam Osborne, whilst the Trade Price Cars arm will be piloted by Bobby Thompson and ex British GT Champion James Gornall.
MB Motorsport
editFor 2020, a partnership with ex-F1 racerMark Blundellwas formed, taking over the running of the Honda Civics.Mark Blundellwill act as sporting director of the two-car Honda programme featuring new BRDC SuperstarJake HillandSam Osborne,with AmD founderShaun Hollambyretaining the position of team principal.[5]The team merged withMotorbase Performancefor 2021.[6]
BTCC results
edit| British Touring Car Championshipresults | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Team name | Car | Drivers | Wins | Poles | Fast laps | Points | D.C. | T.C. | M.C. | I.D.C. | I.T.C. |
| 2010 | AmD Milltek Racing.com | Volkswagen Golf |  Shaun Hollamby
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 28th | 16th | N/A | 22nd | 13th |
| 2011 | AmD Milltek Racing.com | Volkswagen Golf | Tom Onslow-Cole†
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 61 | 13th | 12th | N/A | 7th | 10th |
| Shaun Hollamby
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 29th | 24th | ||||||
| Martin Byford
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 30th | 25th | ||||||
| 2012 | AmD Tuning.com | Volkswagen Golf | Ollie Jackson
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 61 | 18th | 13th | N/A | 13th | 11th |
| 2013 | AmD Tuning.com | Honda Civic | James Kaye
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 27th | 18th | N/A | 26th | 15th |
| Volkswagen Golf | ||||||||||||
| Shaun Hollamby
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 33rd | 29th | ||||||
| Aaron Mason
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 29th | 34th | ||||||
| 2014 | AmD Tuning.com | Ford Focus ST | Dave Newsham
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 70 | 17th | 10th | N/A | 13th | 8th |
| 2015 | AmD Tuning | Ford Focus ST | Mike Bushell
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 22 | 23rd | 5th | N/A | 15th | 9th |
| Audi S3 Saloon | Nicolas Hamilton
|
0 | 0 | 0 | N/A | N/A | N/A | |||||
| Jake Hill
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 35th | 28th | ||||||
| 2016 | AmD Tuning | Audi S3 Saloon | Ollie Jackson
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 26th | 16th | N/A | 13th | 10th |
| 2017 | AmD Tuning | Audi S3 Saloon | Ant Whorton-Eales
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 34 | 23rd | 14th | N/A | 12th | 7th |
| Ollie Jackson
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 42 | 22nd | 9th | ||||||
| 2018 | AmDTuning.com with Cobra Exhausts | Audi S3 Saloon | Sam Smelt
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 34th | 17th | N/A | 21st | 13th |
| Ollie Jackson
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 59 | 23rd | 15th | ||||||
| AmDTuning.com with AutoAid/RCIB Insurance Racing | MG6 GT | Rory Butcher
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 99 | 17th | 12th | N/A | 10th | 7th | |
| Ant Whorton-Eales
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 30th | 23rd | ||||||
| Tom Boardman
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 29th | 20th | ||||||
| Glynn Geddie
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 33rd | 25th | ||||||
| Josh Caygill
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 40th | 29th | ||||||
| 2019 | Cobra Sport AmD with AutoAid/RCIB Insurance Racing | Honda Civic Type R (FK2) | Rory Butcher
|
3 | 1 | 3 | 266 | 5th | 3rd | N/A | 1st | 1st |
| Sam Tordoff
|
1 | 2 | 0 | 147 | 13th | 6th | ||||||
| Mike Bushell
|
0 | 0 | 1 | 27 | 24th | 17th | ||||||
| TradePriceCars.com | Audi S3 Saloon | Jake Hill
|
1 | 0 | 0 | 131 | 15th | 11th | N/A | 4th | 4th | |
| Mark Blundell
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 27th | 18th | ||||||
| Year | Team name | Car | Drivers | Wins | Poles | Fast laps | Points | D.C. | T.C. | M.C. | I.D.C. | I.T.C. |
- Notes
- *Season still in progress
- †Swapped teams mid season
References
edit- ^"About AmD Technik".AmD Technik (Essex) Ltd.Archivedfrom the original on 15 January 2010.Retrieved20 January2010.
- ^"Hollamby retires from driving".GPUpdate.net.JHED Media BV. 20 June 2011.Retrieved2 January2015.
- ^"AmD Milltek signs Byford to drive Golf".GPUpdate.net.JHED Media BV. 8 July 2011.Retrieved2 January2015.
- ^O'Leary, Jamie (12 January 2012)."Ollie Jackson joins AmD for 2012 BTCC campaign".Autosport.Haymarket Publications.Retrieved2 January2015.
- ^"Mark Blundell Motorsport formed for 2020 BTCC season".12 February 2020.
- ^"Motorbase acquired by Shaun Hollamby, Pete Osborne".TouringCarTimes.13 November 2020.Retrieved13 November2020.
External links
edit- Official website
- http://www.amdessex.com/btcc.blog.cfm
- http://www.btccpages.com/news/1/1678/New-team-brings-VW-Golf-to-2010-BTCC/
- http://www.racecar-engineering.com/news/cars/438063/volkswagen-joins-btcc-grid.html[permanent dead link]
- http://www.crash.net/btcc/news/155825/1/amd_reveals_volkswagen_btcc_plans.html
- http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/80796