|
TeamLOCTITE
has its roots in Trevor Powell's Team SWR operation,
which was a frontrunner and race winner in the early
years of the Formula BMW UK Championship.
SWR
was formed just four months prior to the start of
the 2004 season, yet by the end of that year's Formula
BMW Championship, it had firmly established itself
among the absolute frontrunners - taking two victories
in the final three races of the year. In fact the
second of these wins was the most dominant seen
in the 2004 championship, as SWR's Matt Howson stormed
to victory by a crushing eight-second margin at
Donington Park. These superb results topped a year
that had already included Rookie class victories,
podium finishes, three pole positions, and at least
one car in the points in 18 of the season's 20 races.
SWR driver Oliver Turvey, a winner at Rockingham,
ended the season seventh in the championship despite
missing two races due to prior academic commitments,
while the team snatched fifth place in the entrants'
standings at the final race of the year. For a squad
that hadn't even existed a year earlier, these were
very gratifying achievements.
SWR
expanded in 2005 - running a four car Formula BMW
team in addition to a two car attack on the British
Formula Three National class. The latter programme
got off to an outstanding start as Josh Fisher won
SWR's first F3 race. Many podiums followed in both
championships, with the highlight of the season
being a spectacular one-two finish in the Mondello
Park Formula BMW round. In difficult conditions
SWR opted for a split strategy, with Matt Harris
going for slick tyres and coming from last to first,
while team-mate Turvey finished second on wets.
At
the end of the 2005 season, SWR helped Nigel Mansell's
sons Greg and Leo to make their car racing debut,
running their first ever tests and Formula BMW races.
Mansell's long term aim was always to operate his
own team, and in April 2006 Powell decided to sell
SWR's name and assets to the 1992 world champion.
This
deal paved the way for the formation of TeamLOCTITE,
a new partnership with the world leading high performance
adhesives manufacturer. The team ran Turvey in the
Formula BMW UK Championship in 2006 and guided him
to 5 race wins, 7 pole positions and 10 podiums
on the way to second in the Championsip; an astonoshing
achievement considering they only participated in
14 of the 20 FBMW races that season.
Team
Principal Trevor Powell continues to oversee the
whole LOCTITE
racing operation. He is best known as the man behind
the Pro Seat racing car seating system, a device
enthusiastically adopted by teams in Formula One,
the Champ Car World Series and at virtually every
level below. In addition to his seating business
commitments, Powell has long championed and supported
young talent, and was involved in several team management
projects before forming Team SWR late in 2003.
His
South West Racing team competed in Formula Vauxhall
Junior and Formula Renault Sport in the mid-1990s
before joining forces with West Country neighbours
ME Motorsport. This new alliance subjugated all
competition in the 1999 BARC Formula Renault Championship,
appearing on the podium in every single race as
lead driver Elliot Lewis dominated the series and
his rapid young team-mate Craig Fleming astounded
at every turn. The SWR-ME partnership took Fleming
into Scholarship Class Formula Three for 2000, before
Powell turned his attention to other projects, including
his son Alex's karting career.
As
well as being respected for the inspirational levels
of professionalism and presentation that characterised
SWR's single-seater programmes, Powell's revolutionary
achievements in the field of racing car seating
design have earned him the esteem of countless influential
figures in the uppermost strata of motorsport on
both sides of the Atlantic. Indeed, his Pro-Seat
design first appeared in the US on the personal
recommendation of no lesser figure than the great
Mario Andretti.
|