where is................

[Rob]

norman simon?

[Claw]

The Job centre?

[vitesse]

This weekend he's at Le Mans for the test days- driving for the Spyker GT team

[Peter Briggs]

Sadly Norman is only driving a few times this year with the Spyker Gt car. He drove for them last season as well as driving for us in BTCC hence back of grid start at Thruxton as he was at Le Mans test day during our qualifying.We would love to run him again my sponsor partners Mezzanine Floor Co. paid for him last year but cannot this year.Michael Bentwood and Norman would be a formidable team-Maybe one day it will happen .Peter Briggs Edenbridge.

[John]

Shame because he seemed a very talented driver, especially considering it was his first season in the BTCC.

Is there a planned second BMW at all this season or is there just going to be the one car? Depressing that a decent team like Edenbridge cant afford to run two production cars :(

[Peter Briggs]

We would love to run our second car.Tom Ferrier was in line to drive it but unfortunately he lost a major sponsor 3 weeks before the start of the season. It costs approx £400,000 to run a 2 car team in Production luckily Mezzanine Floor Co. help but we would still need about £90,OOO to run the second car for the balance of the Championship.

[John]

Originally posted by Peter Briggs
We would love to run our second car.Tom Ferrier was in line to drive it but unfortunately he lost a major sponsor 3 weeks before the start of the season. It costs approx £400,000 to run a 2 car team in Production luckily Mezzanine Floor Co. help but we would still need about £90,OOO to run the second car for the balance of the Championship.

Thats an interesting insight (that a lot of teams might not be willing to share!).

There have been many discussions about this problem - ie teams needing to take on drivers who can bring money (In this case it looks like you'd be unable to take on a driver if he couldnt bring in £90,000) when there are many good drivers sitting on the sidelines unable to get a drive - as mentioned here Norman Simon is one, Simon Harrison is another that comes to mind.

Presumably its a sign of the times, the economic situation means companies are less willing and able to pay money for sponsorship, and this is seen in other series including F1 (Look at Jordan for example).

It just seems that there are cars and drivers sitting there doing nothing and grids are therefore only half full. Hopefully the situation will improve soon.

Getting back to Edenbridge, is there any support received from BMW (or BMW GB)? and if not then why not?

[bramble]

While there is a man with the knowledge about I'd like to ask Mr Briggs how much work needs to be done on a Production car between rounds, e.g. do the brakes need to be changed, does the engine need a 'going over': and is there a rule stating that you have to replace any damaged body panels?

[Peter Briggs]

Very briefly...On return to workshop..Set down , that is check final suspension settings and record..Thorough clean and visual inspection of complete car..repair bodywork..replace decals if damaged..change final drive ratio to suit next circuit..adjust final drive..reset suspension for each circuit..camber..toe angles..damper settings..roll bars..adjust corner weights to balance..check final weight and ballast as necc...drain fuel and calc. race consumption..check clutch..brakes .after Mondello both front discs cracked after just 1 race replaced cost of£340. pair plus new pads for Brands. Hope this gives some idea ..If you come to a race please ask us questions and as long as we are not to busy we will be happy to assist.

[John]

Originally posted by Peter Briggs
If you come to a race please ask us questions and as long as we are not to busy we will be happy to assist.

Yep thats true - the team was very approachable last year at Croft!

By the way Mr B. if you are hard up for cash you can have the bumper back from the ex-number77 car if you need it - unfortunately Tom scribbled on it though! ;)

One final question - what sort of employee total does the team have, and I assume running two cars needs more employees than to run one car, so have you had to reduce numbers - even temporarily?

[Peter Briggs]

Apart from myself we have 1 engineer..1 other engineer who is mechanic at moment...1 transport/tyre man...1 parts/mechanic helper. Plus at races 1 mech. who repairs bodywork when not with us and 1 Mezzanine Director on signal board.For 2 cars we would have3 more part time people.Most of the team have worked together for the past 10 yrs.

[The Stig]

Cheers for taking the time and trouble to answer our questions in this forum. Teams such as Edenbridge and others clearly haven't forgotten an important part of British Touring Cars, the fans.

[bramble]

Yeah its great to see you taking the time to answer the fans questions. :)

[Reynard]

Originally posted by Peter Briggs
Most of the team have worked together for the past 10 yrs.

So you must have started back in the days when Warren Hughes did British F3 for you in '92 and then Olly Gavin subsequently amongst others. That's a lot of experience...

Thanks for sharing your insights with us as it helps us to understand something of what is involved.