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Life in the fast lane<br />
M OTO R S<br />
THIS MONTH J’AIME’S MOTORING CORRESPONDENT AND RESIDENT RACING DRIVER MARTIN PLOWMAN<br />
HAS BEEN REFLECTING ON A POSITIVE FIRST FULL SEASON IN THE BRITISH GT CHAMPIONSHIP WITH<br />
RICHARD TAFFINDER AND RJN MOTORSPORT IN THE NUMBER 53 NISSAN 370Z GT4<br />
I’d done two races with Richard Taffinder in the<br />
British GT Championship before I was handed the<br />
role as technical director for Richard’s racing team,<br />
UltraTek Racing. I had always enjoyed my time with<br />
Richard and admired his grit and determination as<br />
well as his goal to race in Le Mans. Since winning Le<br />
Mans in 2013, I have been focusing on getting back<br />
and winning it for the second time.<br />
I was tasked by Richard to help realise his goal; the<br />
first step for me and UltraTek Racing team principal<br />
Ben Snowdon was to find the right team. Richard<br />
had been racing in a pair of Lotus Elises however,<br />
one thing my 22-year career has taught me is that<br />
without the right team and their ability to balance<br />
reliability with speed, completing a race is difficult,<br />
let alone winning.<br />
My first call was to the global head of Nissan<br />
Motorsport; I have a great relationship with the<br />
guys at Nissan and their UK-based team RJN had a<br />
phenomenal relationship, which is where our journey<br />
began last October.<br />
Looking back, the season delivered its fair share<br />
of highs and lows for the 53 car, from myself and<br />
Richard earning a class victory at Spa<br />
Francorchamps to being forced to retire<br />
at Donington following liquid on the<br />
track as both drivers had shown blistering<br />
pace in the early sessions.<br />
I think it is fair to say that I had more<br />
than my fair share of headlines this<br />
season, from the first race at Oulton<br />
Park, where I managed to lead with a<br />
commanding five second gap. By focusing<br />
and keeping a level head, along with the<br />
great work done by the team to give me<br />
a reliable car. I achieved multiple fastest<br />
lap times and was able to show the pace<br />
of the Nissan and give our sponsors<br />
some much-deserved TV time including<br />
unlapping myself at Brands Hatch,<br />
passing the GT4 leaders to get back on<br />
the lead lap following a technical issue.<br />
Perhaps the most significant victory of the year<br />
is the amount of progress that Richard Taffinder<br />
has made. Richard has come on leaps and bounds,<br />
and we have built a strong personal and racing<br />
relationship. Richard responds really well to my<br />
highly analytical approach to motorsport. As I always<br />
say, when analytics are combined with a positive<br />
driver attitude and a strong team, it’s incredible the<br />
progress that can be made.<br />
Both myself and Richard have worked extremely<br />
MARTIN AND THE<br />
ULTRATEK TEAM<br />
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