Major technical changes to Team GulfAir's Golf GTI British Sportscar Championship contender should provide it with more power and greater reliability for its next outing.

The radical Volkswagen endurance racer will be in action again next Sunday (22 Jun) at Castle Combe in Wiltshire, where it will be up against sports cars such as the Lotus Elise, Marcos Mantis, Morgan Aero 8 and Porsche 911 in a one-hour classic.

Drivers Stuart Scott and Steve Wood are hoping for a podium placing: "We believe that the Golf more than has the pace to make it into the top three in its class," said Stuart. "We've made changes to the engine to provide more top-end speed and it's always been good out of the corners, so we're optimistic."

Team GulfAir technical chief Ashley Blenkhorn has installed a new, larger turbocharger to combat the problems the team endured at Silverstone last month and is developing the electronics system of the 1.8-litre turbocharged power unit to suit. "We're looking to get around 285bhp from it," said Stuart. Backed by Gulf Air, ART and Cambridge Business Travel, the Golf has made history this season by becoming the first-ever front-wheel-drive contender in the British Sportscar Championship.

Cambridge-based Scott and Ruislip racer Wood both have extensive experience of Castle Combe, Stuart having claimed a class podium placing there in 2000 at the wheel of a Porsche.

June 12th 2003