“Blessing and a curse”: reality of taking satton from within your team

To define ‘esoter’ in terms of British Touring Car Championship, don’t see further Dan cammishNo, you understand, because of the man; He is a refreshing open, honest, self-analysis chap. This is more its result.

In 2023, when Ash Sutton was swept away by the lead NAPA-Liverid Ford Focus in St., Camemish took the sister’s car to the sixth position in the standing. Last year, when the machinery of the Alliance Racing Squad was accepted by BMWS and Exceller 8 Motorsports Hyundes of West Surrey Racing, Sutton moved to third place, while Camish equalized the fourth position points. Colin TurkingtonHe had only 19 points of Sutton, with more than 93 compared to 2023, and even excluded his 2019 season in Team Dynamics Honda, when he came within a lap and half of the title.

Of course, part of the previous deficit of the camemish for satton in 2022 in Donington Park ‘you cannot make it’ were below the fate – The fire; Failure of brake and huge shunt at the same place in the next season.

“We had things that actually spoil our speed,” he reflects. “I am not saying that it would have changed the result of the championship a lot, but it certainly took us a little derailed when we were trying to gain some speed. Then ’24 completely ‘completely Was more positive as a team we have actually progressed.

“What I would say in ’23, I know it is easy to say that we had the strongest package, but only one of us actually did and she was ash. The rest of us (team-partner Dan Robotum and including Sam Osborne) At that time he could not do what he could do, not to be honest by some difference. This was equally difficult because you are compared when you find the same equipment, but it was not possible for us to get that performance. ,

Camemish declared pride that “we go such a long way in 2024”, but how did this happen?

He and the Sutton team reached together, then known as a motorbase for 2022, when most of the work done on the car was to implement the new hybrid system. For 2023, Tony Karzza, a long-time engineer of Sutton, led a no-stone-anted redevelopment for the redevelopment of the focus. Like the other great champion, Sutton has a driving style that a set-up demands conflict with others. Perhaps, then, the window within which the car could be effectively operated was widened to 2024 …

Keep it in the cameish, and he replies: “You know what?” I wish I could give you a direct answer, but I really don’t know how things happened in some ways. From the moment we hit the track in 2024, we (Cammish and Engineer James Mundi) moved in a slightly different direction in some set-up.

“Originally we thought what we did, he really helped me in the context of my driving style, but as time passed, I think we realized that we realized that perhaps was probably negligible. We were just in a very good window with the car. I felt that I was able to get out of more than being able to be able to be able to get out of the last few years, and had definitely come out more than Ash’s performance.

“It hurts me elsewhere, but at least it means that I can actually commit the entry phase of the corner and take the speed, which has helped me move forward. I think I think I think Seems like”
Dan cammish

“Ash could no longer do what he could do a year ago. We had very similar qualifications-we were five-all last year-and we raced him and defeated him on the track on several occasions, which we could never do years ago! And I don’t know why it is in some ways. ,

So did you inspire that different direction on set-up?

“It does not affect the speed of the car, such as it just reacts the way it reacts and the way it feels under your bum, it changes everything because we are all talking about anytime anytime , Isn’t it?” States Camish. “The driver for the driver, we all want a little different spirit.

“To keep it in simplified terms, I think the focus has always been quite sharp, especially since 2023 (redevelopment of Carzza). You bend the wheel and it actually dives into the corner, sometimes a little too much for my taste. I think the rear cannot live with it, so I eliminate steering out of the corner because I am steering in it.

“We made some changes for such improvement. It hurts me elsewhere, but at least it means that I can really do the corner entry phase and take the speed, which I think I have helped me move forward.

“The car is always a little nervous, and I think Dan (Rawbottum) still hurts it a bit. I have tried to try it to try to do it. They did it once and dismissed it, but rejected it, but Perhaps it is something when he is again a similar feeling. For. “

Before reaching the team, both camemish and Rubbotum’s BTCC reference point Dynamics Honda Civic Type R FK 8, which Yorkshireman says that “Now we look long and less in the context of the profile we do. Does, a little more like a GT car in that regard.

“It is slightly more stable in high speed and allows you to turn the wheel a little more. If you look at those high-speed corners … Money is a good example in snetterton, it is the fifth-gier corner, but it can be on about three wheels the moment you go in.

“I want a car on three wheels, of course we have to do it, but let’s take it to the point where I really want to lift the wheel, not where it wants to do it on my own. I want that stability I am so that I can attack the entry phase.

Camemish admits that “I think later in that year we could withdraw that change and probably did not suffer.” We did it to fix and fix other things at a certain time. But you know, it works with you and you walk with it. This is the case in touring cars – you get so much time to test during the season, once you locked with what you have received after those initial days in the test, it is difficult to deviate Is. ,

The camemish with Rawbotum for 2024 was made of swapping garage so that he was no longer with Sutton, but with the team owner Pete’s son Osborne. Asked if it reduced some pressure, Camish replied: “This is a good question. I am sure it has an element.

“This was not done for that reason initially; This was done because the team felt that it was good to rotate things around. We are four entire crew teams, so it was good to let people work with different people. But for me personally there is no doubt that it has come at a really good time.

“Finally you are compared against two best people in British motorsports – in one ash and one in a tony – and it takes from every race to every practice from every practice. This year I and James actually hit the reset button and went about it a little differently, and I think it paid dividends.

“In general, being with Sam and perhaps to operate our own location, I think it really helped. So yes, you can keep it in this way! ,

BTCC came as one of the greatest drivers in history, partnering Sutton, came as an eye -opening for the camemish. Only in 2017, in his single season in Porsche Supercup, he surpassed the teammates-and with Michael Ammaramuller and Dennis Alsen, in his fourth place in his fourth place, indicate the great things coming in his debut international season in Lochanar Racing in Lochanar Racing Gave.

“I think what happened in ’22 -’23 was clearly a blow to the system, not Ash could defeat me, but the amount she could beat me,” he believes. “It was difficult, and I think it is very clear for someone that it will take its toll. But I have met some good people around me, from my wife to my family and team, who really really The rally around me. Pet Osborn really believes in me and I think 2024 showed them.

“(Sutton is exceptionally talented, but he is working incredibly, which I think people do not realize”
Dan cammish

In fact, Camish – as Sutton – is closed in Alliance by the end of 2026: “Pete Osborne has been great and is someone I really see and respect. Especially when the seat I have contested with a lot of heat – it is definitely one or major seats in the British Motorsport. This is something that I am very proud of.

“We have found a large group of people, it is a very family-oriented environment from Pete, Sage’s Steve Richardson … which filters up from top to bottom and, whether it is a good day or bad day, It is a pleasure.

And this means working with two more years – and unavoidable comparison – the force of nature that is sutton. “He is exceptionally talented, but he is incredibly working hard, which I think people do not realize,” praise the camemish. “People probably think that Ash is all natural talent and I do not feel wrong, he has got its weight, but he also works hard. He studies the data as much as it is not more. He got a real work morality. Is, and they and Tony have got its real understanding, which only improves them.

“Working with her has been both a blessing and curse in some ways. I have learned a lot, seeing how they work as a unit, which makes them so strong, and it combines both of them jointly – they think as one in many cases . And this is something that we all try and repeat.

“You have found to work on it, go through peaks and troughs, and this is what I and James have done in many ways. Now what you are seeing is that we consider it wrong, and it is only Better will be one thing with ash that it is the only speed that is a flat-out-as you do not sandbags, you know where you are with it. You know that if you are with him, it means that you are probably near the front! “

So, as we approach what the final season looks with the focus before a new weapon emerges from the Northampton complex of Alliance for 2026, perhaps the BTCC puzzle is less than the sleeper in the camish pack. Being a clay lead man (living in Berkshire) he is that he is, you will not get any adventure of adjacent supremacy, but the reason for being quietly optimistic.

“A driver who has me, as long as I have, I don’t get better or worse,” he says. “Weekends for the weekend, year -head -saal, I am sure my ability is very stable from this point. But if you can make small, incremental growth in other areas, you will run it faster. This is just natural.

“It is like jumping from a medium tire to a soft – you do nothing, you just feel a catch and go quickly. Now my job and team and James have to ensure that this is not the peak of our learning state. We have to climb the mountain, because if we want a shot in this championship then there is still a reasonable way. ,