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Championship winning engineer guiding Tim Brook’s direction
Fourth in the points after four rounds of the inaugural National Trans Am Series, Tim Brook had a former championship winning engineer in his corner.
After dealing with each other over the phone previously, experienced engineer Paul Forgie joined Brook’s team in a hands on role for the first time at Sydney Motorsport Park.
Forgie won titles with Stone Brothers Racing in the mid-2000s and is currently part of Brad Jones Racing’s engineering team.
Brook demonstrated improved form at SMP, but a fuel pump failure hampered his weekend though he ended on a positive with a podium result in Race 3.
“We had Paul Forgie at Sydney Motorsport Park for the first time, we’ve dealt with him on and off as an associate of Wall Racing on the phone, but to actually have him hands on at the track it cemented the direction we were going in was right,” said Brook.
“He’s obviously got some different ways of thinking in tyre management and those sorts of things. Paul has so much knowledge in those cars and that category, so you can ask a question to make a change and he will say either we do or do not need to make the adjustment.”
Brook admitted he was still wrapping his head around his Trans Am Ford Mustang after transitioning from the Toyota 86 Race Series at the start of this season.
“I get a massive buzz every time I jump in the car, there’s just something about them,” Brook said. “I’ve spent most of my career trying to drive slow cars fast. You look at Formula Vee and 86s, then all of a sudden, you’ve got something a lot more power and more mechanical grip to go along with it.
“Even tunability, there’s so many things you change in the car over the course of a race weekend just to try and get speed out of it. You’re always trying to drive it harder in Trans Am, but it seems like there’s so much else to wrap your head around from an engineering standpoint.”
The plan is to have Forgie attend further race meetings this season, if possible.
“The guys that I have around me are bloody brilliant and switched on, we’ve effectively taken the crew that we had in the 86 series over to this,” Brook explained.
“It’d be good to have Paul there (at the next round), it’d be good to have everyone there and when we did at SMP it showed.
Taking third in the series is a clear goal for Brook as he lies just 17-points behind fellow rookie Edan Thornburrow.
“We’re fourth in the points, I look at it thinking I should be battling for third alongside Owen Kelly without the reliability problems we’ve both faced,” Brook explained.
“Edan’s (Thornburrow) done a ripper job, but I think I’ve beaten him in 10 of the 12 races this season. One of the two he has beaten me in I DNF’d at Symmons Plains and the other was at SMP when the fuel pump failed.
“It just goes to shows the way the points system is, you have to finish.”
The next round of the National Trans Am Series will be held at Morgan Park Raceway on August 15-17. CLICK HERE for tickets.