Tom Chilton set to stun in 2003

After a great debut at Brands Hatch last year, Tom Chilton proved his doubters wrong to challenge for the Independents' Cup - only passing his driving test half way through the season! For 2003 he has joined Honda Racing, and we asked him about the year ahead.

How did the drive with Honda come about?

Well I had a big learning year last year, I proved that I can be sensible, that I'm not a wild thing like Boardman, I'm level-headed, I think I'm a good package. I had a test in the Honda at Snetterton, and I gave good feedback and matched the times that Alan [Morrisson] was doing at the time; then I had a Dunlop tyre test at Almera - once again exactly the same pace. And I'm young, which is good for Honda Racing from a marketing point of view. I was a good package all round and they wanted me, so I wasn't going to say "no" to signing a contract with Honda, was I?

When the contract was signed you were so pleased!

Yup. I still am. Absolutely chuffed to pieces.

How long is the contract for?

A year.

How different does the car feel to the Astra?

Obviously they run the same gearboxes, the same clutches, the same brakes; the engines are all around within three horsepower of each other, there's not really that much difference because there's so many bits that are the same. Obviously the works car is going to be slightly better than the independents' car, and I've found that as I've been testing I get a lot more feedback through myself and the car because it's doing more what I want it to do.

It's great - I think it's a great car, and we've been making steady progress in testing all winter, and I'm really looking forward in three week's time to starting at Mondello Park.

Alan's been with the team a year, has he been any help to you?

Yes, it's going to be a help having two good drivers, Matt Neal's got 15 years of experience. They're a great bunch of guys, they're great team mates and we all help each other in different places on the circuit. Away from the circuit we're all good friends, and we're good friends with everyone at the team.

Mike Earle who runs the team is very very experienced, he's done lots of things. I would say that he's the biggest person I look up to out of all the team. He can give as good feedback as us drivers getting out of the car. My engineer Richard Owen has done a lot of things before, he designed the Volvo estate touring car for example, and he's invaluable really. We get on really well together and both know exactly what each other's thinking. I don't know half his stuff, but it's good!

What about over the winter, how did you enjoy racing in Macau?

Macau was good - and the race! We finished 7th out of 43 cars, I thought it was quite a good achievement. It was my first time there, it's a challenging circuit - I couldn't even drive round it in a road car because you have to be 21, I was only 17. I ran round the circuit twice! It's quite a long circuit and the humidity was around 87%, temperature was hot - I was constantly drinking water: I had to go for a pee every nine minutes or something!

But it was a great experience, Macau. I loved it.

Any races you're particularly looking forward to this year? For example, do you think you can repeat what you did at Brands Hatch?

Oh yes, I'd like to think so. I wouldn't be coming here with Honda Racing to say I want to finish tenth. Obviously I want to finish as high up as I can - top five is a good objective.

Do you think the series is going the right way, or would you like to see the rules opened up a bit?

At the end of the day it's all about budget. It is getting better, this is the third year that it's been running and the budgets are slowly getting bigger but not quite as big as they were in the old Super Touring days. It's going to be a good year for everyone, because of the fact it's all so close. Everyone at Thruxton was within seven-tenths, and if you're that close round Thruxton then round here [Brands Hatch] it means you'll probably be within hundredths. It's going to be mega!

Who are going to be your closest rivals?

Vauxhall, or VX!, they'll be the closest. MG's good on its tyres for the first two laps so that'll be hard but then they obviously wear off a bit; and Proton are close. I think we have a slight advantage over Proton - I used to race them in the Independents' Astra - just!

This year for me, rather than doing it for myself it's more for a team, to be the top manufacturer. It's more about all three of us finishing as high as we can to get the most points. And it's about reliability as well, as far as I'm concerned I think Honda's one of the most reliable cars out there, so I'm hoping that's how we're going to get our advantage over the year.

Will there be any team orders?

No, there's no team orders at all. I think it's going to be exciting!



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