Q&A: Bobby Issazadhe - Performance Racing.

Performance Racing is continuing to work on the new National class car that will be used in the British F3 championship.

Wet weather at Donington Park was far from ideal for testing the Mugen Honda powered machine, but team owner Bobby Issazadhe was pleased with the way things are progressing with the car when Crash.net joined him for a chat...

Crash.net:
Bobby, having another run today with the National class car that you will use next season and testing another driver in Tim Bridgman. Obviously the wet weather conditions haven't helped you but how do you feel the day has gone?

Bobby Issazadhe:
No unfortunately the conditions have been really, really bad so unfortunately for Tim he hasn't been able to do many laps and not really good laps because it's just too damp. Anyway the car has shown again that the engine works very well and it's very reliable, and the power delivery seems very good so we are happy with the engine at least, but unfortunately we have been unable to do any proper testing.

Crash.net:
Now the rain is something that you come to expect from the British weather, but how disappointing is it to get a driver in to test the car and then not be able to see what he can really do?

Bobby Issazadhe:
Obviously it's very disappointing because I've been looking forward to testing Tim because I know he is a very quick driver. Even in these conditions I can see in the body language and everything that he is a very aggressive driver and I think once we get a proper test with him in the car he will go very, very quick, I'm sure of that.

Crash.net:
Again today you're running the new Mugen Honda engine that will be used in the National class next season, you had a test with it a week ago with your 2004 driver Stephen Jelley, what kind of feedback was he able to give you?

Bobby Issazadhe:
It was very good because obviously when you have a one spec engine and they want to make the engine last longer and keep costs down, I was a little bit afraid that the engine would lose some of the F3 characteristics if they tried to downtune it a bit. But it seems it is as strong as the engines we have been using in the past, so this car is going to be as quick as any F3 car. They have done a few modifications in the cylinder head that will allow it to withstand over-revs a bit better but generally it is a proper F3 engine.

Crash.net:
This is all part of a plan to bring down the costs and increase participation in the National class. As a team owner, you're obviously happy that it will be bringing those costs down as well.

Bobby Issazadhe:
Oh yeah, at the end of the day if we can make the class cheaper then it will bring more drivers in and be better for everybody, so I'm happy with the new rules.

Crash.net:
It is something that has been obvious in the Scholarship class at points during this year, there have been races where there haven't been many drivers out there and it gets to the stage where people might say 'Is it worth having the Scholarship class when it only has three runners?' Do you think these new rules and the engine package will make the new National class as it's going to be called more appealing to teams and to drivers?

Bobby Issazadhe:
Absolutely. We have been in the Scholarship class it has been known for a few years now and you can always see a drop off in the last year of the car, because even in the National Class every driver wants to win. When the car is getting to the end of its development life, it is basically six years old and a new car is being developed for three years, for example the aerodynamic development on the new car will make it too quick so therefore a lot of drivers think the last year is not so interesting as the difference between the A class and B class cars is too big. If you look back a few years when [Robert] Dahlgren and [Adam] Carroll were doing the Scholarship class, the cars were almost equal in speed and I think that is also a contributing factor why there has been not so many cars this year.

Crash.net:
You've had a few tests now with the new engine and the car as it will run in 2005. What kind of level do you think the new National class cars will be able to run at compared to the front running cars on the grid? Do you think there is a chance that the National class cars will be able to challenge at the front of the field or do you feel there will be an obvious difference on track between the two?

Bobby Issazadhe:
If it wasn't for the fact that Dallara are feeling competition from the other marques like Lola and Ligier then I would have said that I think this car will be almost as quick as the new Dallara. But this year I know they have to bring something out that is very good from day one, so I would guess that our car, with a good driver in it, will be maybe half a second off so I think it will be very difficult to win overall. But as long as there is good competition within the class it is not very important. One of the reasons for doing the National class is that you are preparing yourself for the following year, so even if the car is half a second off the pace of the new car it is still going to be very interesting.

Crash.net:
You have Tim here today, albeit in conditions that aren't beneficial to him, you had Joey Foster in the car last week. Is this just a case of you trying to finalise who will be your drivers next season?

Bobby Issazadhe:
Yeah, we want to give the lads an opportunity to work with us, we want to see if they gel and if they like the way we work with the car and work with the data and also we'll have a chance to look at these drivers. I think with Joey that we have a good chance because he likes the way that we work and if he can find the budget then I am certain that he will be with us. Tim I don't know yet, this is the first time we have met but so far so good. It would be a fantastic set-up for us to have Tim and Joey in the team for sure.

Crash.net:
This season the Scholarship class was dominated by Ryan Lewis. Next season would you like to see Performance Racing having that kind of dominance in the class?

Bobby Issazadhe:
Yeah, I think once we get two quality drivers we will dominate it because we are one of the few teams who are actually concentrating on the National class. If you run one car in each class, you tend to favour the Championship car and maybe your energy and resources would go towards that, but in our case we are only doing National class and we are focused on that and we are doing a good job, we have been doing it since 2001 and I think once we get the drivers in the car we will be right up there next season.

Crash.net:
Bobby, thank you very much for your time, all the best for 2005.

Bobby Issazadhe:
Thank you very much.