THE 2008 season saw five new drivers debut in the BTCC. Going into the 2009 season only three of those drivers from last year are still in the championship: Andrew Jordan, Stephen Jelley and Harry Vaulkhard. And of those three drivers only one is heading into the unknown: Harry Vaulkhard.
The Geordie racer is just 23 years-old and has a bright future ahead of him. After claiming the SEAT Cupra R Championship in 2007, Vaulkhard set his sights even higher and joined the BTCC with Robertshaw Racing. His first season proved to be a tough one, as the under-funded squad struggled to get the most out of the 2006-spec Lacettis and Vaulkhard found himself all too often in midfield obscurity. “2008 was a learning year,” he tells us. “It was very frustrating as we were in a car that was off the pace and I always felt that when we beat people who arguably we shouldn’t have beaten, it seemed to go a bit unnoticed.” However, Vaulkhard understands that there were many positives to draw from last season in what was a character-building year. “It was a great year for me to learn the very involved process of setting up an S2000 touring car as we often had to re-engineer the wheel,” he explains.
Whilst Vaulkhard will remain in a Chevrolet Lacetti for the coming season, the actual chassis is totally different. The car he raced in 2008 was an ex-WTCC car from the 2006 season that took two wins, whereas the car he will race this year is the very latest model straight out of the 2008 season, where it took five wins for drivers Rob Huff and Alain Menu. On top of that Vaulkhard will be racing in a new team, Tempus Sport, who bring a wealth of knowledge from the WTCC. “The new car is a fantastic bit of kit,” continues Vaulkhard. “I’m sure when we have had some more dry running and fully dialled the car into working on the Dunlop tyres we can rattle a few cages! [The cars] look the same and they sound the same!” jokes Harry. “But the new car is very much a progression of the old car, we will have to see what that translates to in lap times though!
“The tyre difference from the Yokohama tyres they run in the WTCC to the Dunlop we use is proving to be a tricky one to get our head round,” he explains. “It affects the car differently at different circuits, so we’ve been working on that mainly.”
Tempus Sport have entered two Chevrolet Lacetti’s into this year’s championship, although the second seat has yet to be filled and team director Richard Coleman admits that Vaulkhard won’t have a team-mate in time for the opening round of the season. Whilst Vaulkhard ran as team-mates to Alan Taylor last season he wasn’t in the same model of car and Harry hasn’t had a team-mate in the same type of car since Matt Allison left the BTCC last May. “It’s a huge benefit to have a team mate from a data acquisition point of view, especially with a new car to UK circuits,” he admits. “Although this year we do have some data from last season that we can put to use, so we’re not totally alone like we were last season. I’m hopeful of at least one team mate before the end of the season though.”
Vaulkhard admits he is expecting progress this season. “I anticipate moving up the field but then so does everyone else, everyone has found time from last season. I’m certainly hopeful of getting up a few big team’s noses!”
And one last thing from Vaulkhard - who does he think will win the championship? “Tip for the title has to be with either the now super light-weight RAC BMW’s or Gio in his Vauxhall.”
GO on my son, let’s have a bit!