Q&A: MG Sport & Racing's Rob Oldaker.

MG Sport and Racing Director Rob Oldaker is a driving force behind the company's motorsport programmes. Here he gives an insight into some of the philosophies behind its motorsport campaigns - Touring Cars, Le Mans and rallying - and what's in store for 2002.

Why have MG elected to contest what is traditionally the most competitive saloon championship in Europe - the British Touring Car Championship?

Rob Oldaker: "Simply because it is so competitive. By competing in the BTCC we gain the benefit of high-profile exposure in competition against other leading manufacturers.

"When we looked at our new product range, the ZS always appeared the natural choice to make a competitive competition car. It meets all the requirements to be successful in Touring Car specification, and its good chassis set-up, with double wishbones all round, gives it plenty of scope for development. It was a car we felt we could be competitive with in the BTCC, and we have already proved it has what it takes to win."

After the fine results the team recorded in the final BTCC meeting of 2001 at Brands Hatch, what is the mood in the company?

RO: "Everyone feels that our successes at Brands Hatch fully justify our decision to enter the BTCC. We only contested the final three meetings of 2001 to learn as much as we could about the series before properly entering the 2002 championship - so to take a pole position and a race win was a huge boost to everyone.

"The MG ZS EX259 Touring Car only ran for the first time in August, but we could see immediately that we had something that could be very good.

"We always thought Brands Hatch would suit us and allow the team to exploit the handling and braking virtues of the car. In the previous round at Donington Park - a much more technical circuit - we had been a little bit closer to the front-runners than in our Silverstone debut. Anthony Reid ran as high as third in the Feature Race. But we knew it was the tight Brands Hatch 'Indy' circuit that would give us our best opportunity to see what the cars could do.

"On the Saturday, it was fantastic for Warren Hughes to take pole. The set-up on his car really worked, and we put that on both cars for the races. The cunning move the team pulled in the Sprint Race to put one car on wet tyres and leave Anthony out on slicks won us the race. It was an amazing performance from Anthony to keep the MG on the soaking track and take the win."

What are MG Sport & Racing's goals for the 2002 season?

RO: "Simply to do well in the BTCC! We're not turning up just to make up the numbers - that wasn't even our goal in our limited programme this year - we are out there on the track to win.

"Winning is our goal in the series. A driver's championship title would be absolutely wonderful, the manufacturers' crown superb - but we know we have some tough competition to face next year, but that's what makes the BTCC worth entering. We're also looking at opportunities to run other cars in the series, but, like everything in motorsport, that's finance permitting,
and sponsorship isn't the easiest thing to find at the moment."

Are MG's motorsport programmes integral to the company's image and marketing philosophies?

RO: "We aim to gain the maximum marketing benefit from our on-track activities. The launch of our Le Mans and Touring Cars were timed to coincide with the launches of our Z range of road cars, and our racing has to be a marketing tool for us. We aim to bring the excitement of the racetrack into our showrooms.

"Motorsport is very important to us at the moment. When you launch a new car you're always pretty nervous about how well it will be received, and we chose to very visibly link the Z range to our racing programmes. The press response to the new cars has been great, and with a brand like MG we feel we need to be in motorsport to emphasise the sporting pedigree of our
product.

"The Le Mans programme gained us an incredible amount of high-profile exposure. We were able to declare that 'MG are back' in the biggest way possible, at one of the world's most famous sporting events. We need to continue that with the Touring Car programme and with our rally campaign as soon as that really comes on-line.

"Our new cars are really attracting attention - people stop to look at them in the street - and all our activities, both on and off the track, have combined to give the image of MG a real boost."

What is the mood of the workforce about the Company's on-track successes?

RO: "We make sure our news releases are distributed internally as soon as possible, and after Brands Hatch we brought the trophy into the plant the day after the race which was great!

"A lot of people had been following what was happening at Brands on our web-site, so right away the news was out and success like that gives people a real pride in their company and what they do!

"In a way, it was like our weekend at Le Mans. We didn't finish the race - but we felt like we had won it after taking the cars so much further into the race than we expected to. Again, we had suffered from a real lack of preparation time, but we were still in the race at half distance, which was more than we had ever hoped for, and there was a great sense of accomplishment in the company afterwards.

"We are already working hard on being even more competitive at Le Mans next year. Straight after Brands Hatch, Anthony Reid went down to Estoril, in Portugal, and spent a week testing the EX257 Le Mans car with Jonny Kane. The engine ran flawlessly all week, and some new tyres from Michelin saw the car setting stunning lap times - we'd have been on pole for the
sportscar race held there earlier this year. We'll be more than ready for Le Mans in 2002."

How fired up are the team to get back in BTCC action with the MG ZS EX259 Touring Car?

RO: "We can't wait to start racing again next year! We know we've got a lot of hard work to carry out through the winter, new parts to test and develop, but if we do everything properly then we can come out and win again.

"We know we need a little more power from the engine - without compromising the excellent reliability we have had so far - but our engine people are aware of exactly the areas they need to focus on, and we can get what we need form the power unit. With just a few more horses under the bonnet at the start of next year - we'll be in winning form!"