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  • BTB At The Autosport Engineering show

     

    As BTB looks forward to their upcoming reappearance at the 2017 Autosport Engineering show, they

    reflect on the progress that 2 particular visitors from 2014 have experienced in 3 years.

     

    Dave Eaton was one of many potential customers to speak with BTB about his own project almost 3

    years ago. BTB MD Joe Ellis remembers the moment well, “I recall Dave telling me about his project

    to recreate a Porsche 917 for which he was going to need an exhaust. There was nothing particularly

    unique about that, except for the shear ambition that was required to take on such a task. What

    particularly impressed me was when he showed me his portfolio of CAD images, and then I realised

    that his was a serious effort and that his modelling skills were clearly quite advanced. He then told

    me that his day job was CAD work at Ford, and I realised that this was one project that was worth

    following. I agreed that BTB would love to be involved, and we exchanged business cards. Dave

    admitted that there was still a long way to go before he was ready for an exhaust, and if I didn’t

    mind he’d like to keep in touch as the design work progressed.”

     

     

    Dave did indeed follow up with some questions concerning his proposed installation of a 964 flat six

    engine and the issues surrounding the packaging of an IVA compliant exhaust on the car. Although it

    was only when the chassis and body was displayed at Race Retro a couple of years later that it

    became obvious that the preparation and determination was becoming tangible. Following yet

    more consultation with BTB with CAD data going back and forth between Daventry and Rayleigh, the

    rolling chassis was finally delivered to BTB in October to see whether Dave’s exhaust design would

    actually fit the chassis. Despite the tight packaging and some very close tolerances, BTB’s manifolds

    and silencers fitted perfectly, with only some minor tweaking of the mounting bracketry being

    necessary to enable easy removal with the engine in situ. It is very satisfying for all concerned, and

    even though there are still a lot more jobs to do, it is one step closer to Dave Eaton realising his

    dream of driving his own 917 on the road.

     

    The second visitor who has had an eventful 3 years since meeting BTB on their stand in 2014, is none

    other than Rebecca Jackson. BTB are used to being approached by young race and rally drivers at

    Autosport over the years, but none have impressed us as much as Rebecca. There always racing

    drivers at the Autosport show who are looking for “sponsors” to support their racing ambitions. BTB

    will only ever offer product support and then only when there is a significant potential return on

    investment. Rebecca needed help to upgrade her production specification Porsche Boxster to make

    it competitive for the endurance series that she planned to enter that year. By happy coincidence

    BTB already had a racing exhaust developed for the Boxster, which they agreed to supply in return

    for branding on the car and the undoubted publicity that Rebecca could generate from her

    burgeoning car reporting career. Later on Rebecca’s Porsche was the test bed for BTB’s new tuned

    length tubular exhaust manifolds, which powered her towards the front of the grid. This upgrade

    was exchanged for Rebecca providing the voice over and a piece to camera for BTB’s corporate

    videos, which have proved very popular. BTB’s Managing Director Joe Ellis was not only pleasantly

    surprised by Rebecca’s enthusiasm and professionalism, but also impressed by her skills behind the

    wheel. “I watched Rebecca racing at Silverstone, and saw that she has the same total commitment

    on the track as off it, which is a necessary but rare quality in my experience. Most drivers see

    sponsorship as a one way ticket, but Rebecca has always made time to give us a return on the

    support we have offered, whether that’s in terms of PR, or by testing our products on track, her

    work ethic is admirable and should be an object lesson to all aspiring drivers.” In 2015, when a

    Canadian customer wanted BTB to develop a trackday exhaust for his highly modified Toyota MR2

    Turbo, Rebecca not only offered her own MR2 as a donor vehicle, but then gave valuable feedback

    on the prototype exhaust’s performance and noise, thus speeding up the development process for

    BTB.

     

     

     

    For more information on Rebecca Jackson’s quest to race at Le Mans read all about her

    adventures at www.rebeccaracer.com Follow @BTBExhausts on Twitter for the chance to meet

    Rebecca Racer herself on BTB’s stand (E1070) at Autosport Engineering 12 th -13 th January 2017.

     

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