Team Aon: More developments to come

Team Aon’s difficult season continued in the latest rounds of the BTCC at Snetterton, as technical issues blighted the weekend of sole entry Tom Chilton. However the team have more updates to come as the second half of the season continues.

The team had been hoping for a step forward in performance after using the seven week summer break in the championship to carry out a ‘major programme of updates’. These updates included modifications to the engine, aerodynamics and rear suspension of the Ford Focus ST.

Unfortunately for Alan Morrison, the development and manufacture of new parts meant that the team opted not to run a second car for him at the weekend, as it would have meant him running with the older, slower parts.

Explains team manager Alan Cole: “Although we had a long break in the calendar, there was still only time to design and manufacture one set of the new engine parts, bodywork and rear suspension components. We didn’t feel it was right to run another car with inferior performance and logistically it would have presented problems with the spares we would need, so the decision was taken to just run the one car at Snetterton and concentrate on fine tuning the new developments.”

Whilst there was little to celebrate in terms of results, with Chilton recording only one finish of 11th at the weekend, he was able to report positive feedback from the new parts. The team saw improvements during the Saturday practice sessions, but not as much in the all-important qualifying session. A problem with a new rear suspension component was the cause.

“The car had some strange handling characteristics in qualifying,” said Chilton. “Which was a shame because I’m sure we could have been a lot higher up the grid. The team found the problem after the session and it was easily cured. Overall, the development has been very positive. We’ve got more power from the engine, the handling was already good, now it’s superb and the speed trap figures show how much we’ve improved from the last races. So I’m really pleased.”

Race one yielded an 11th place finish for Chilton, whilst a broken spark plug caused a misfire in race two that put him out. In the final race of the day Chilton spun out on oil at the Esses. Despite scoring no points once again at the weekend, team boss Mike Earle is confident that stronger results are just around the corner for the team.

“For sure the results have been disappointing,” he said. “But when we analyse the data there is some very encouraging evidence, as well as the positive feedback we’re getting from Tom. We still have some more developments to come, particularly with the engine and we will also be able to use the information from Snetterton to perfect the set-up of the new suspension. So we’re looking forward to the next event at Knockhill in Scotland in two weeks time.”