ROOKIES RELISH NEW TCR MACHINES

Michael Clemente was one of several rookies at the TCR test – Photo: InSyde Media

The TCR Australia test day at Winton provided two of the category’s newest competitors an opportunity to get more acquainted with their machines, especially when both will contest the series in family-run teams.

By HEATH McALPINE

Excel graduate Michael Clemente was one of the first entries announced prior to Christmas, the 18-year-old will pilot an ex-Wall Racing Honda Civic Type R in his debut season, kicking off at the Asia Pacific Cup as support to the Australian Grand Prix.

“I’m loving it so far; it’s been super fun and every time I get out of the car there is a huge smile on my face,” Clemente told Auto Action.

A previous winner of the Excel Nationals, Clemente noted some similarities, though he has had to adapt his driving style to the rapid responsiveness of the Civic Type R TCR.

“In a funny way it’s still quite similar as in front-wheel-drive, sort of a low horsepower car – more than an Excel – with a lot more grip and better brakes so I’m just having to fine tune all the little different driving styles to adapt to,” Clemente explained.

“The biggest thing I found was the steering ratio, in an Excel there is no power steering and it’s quite a slow steering rack. As soon as you jump in these, any in-put makes a huge direction change, but as a driver I prefer that and a lot of lock like a road car.

“I had to adapt to the turbo and antilag, but one of the other bigger things was the aerodynamics. This Civic Type R has changes that can be made where as with an Excel it has hardly any.”

Clemente’s aspiration is to remain in Australia and grow his outfit, unlike many other drivers, who are hoping to covert success in Australia into a career overseas.

“At the moment we’re looking at running a small team, within two years we hope to bring in a second car and have another driver,” Clemente concluded.

Zac Soutar behind the wheel of his Honda – Photo: InSyde Media

Fellow competitor Zac Soutar is a friend of Clement although he took the Formula Ford pathway, but he will also contest TCR Australia in an ex-Wall Racing Civic Type R TCR, a chassis that took the first ever pole for the class in Australia and the first win for Honda.

The test day was the first opportunity his team had worked together and after driving the Civic Type R TCR for the first time Soutar was further impressed by the package.

“We were really keen on TCR before driving the car, now I’m even more convinced,” Soutar enthused.

“They are such fun cars to drive, it’s a bit of an art to getting the most out of it, especially on a brand-new tyre so that’s going to take a bit of getting used to. So far so good.”

Soutar finished the day seventh and the test gave his team valuable running before the Asia Pacific Cup next month.

“The day went smoothly and everything we wanted to try we got to test,” he explained. “The car was quite fast, we weren’t too far off the outright pace and it was a really good day, the first where we’ve worked as a full-team.”

When weighing up his options after a successful season of Formula Ford last year, Soutar focused his efforts on joining the burgeoning touring car class.

“TCR was our first priority,” Soutar admitted. “Motorsport these days is pretty expensive, but TCR was the most cost-effective choice in terms of continuing to run a team ourselves.

“We weren’t really thinking about any other options it was just race TCR and how we could get ourselves a car, and what we could do to make it work.”

Both entries will run at TCR’s first event, the non-series Asia Pacific Cup supporting the Australian Grand Prix on March 12-15.

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