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BTB At The Autosport Engineering show

• 1/10/2017

As BTB looks forward to their upcoming reappearance at the 2017 Autosport Engineering show, they

reflect on the progress that 2 particular visitors from 2014 have experienced in 3 years.

Dave Eaton was one of many potential customers to speak with BTB about his own project almost 3

years ago. BTB MD Joe Ellis remembers the moment well, “I recall Dave telling me about his project

to recreate a Porsche 917 for which he was going to need an exhaust. There was nothing particularly

unique about that, except for the shear ambition that was required to take on such a task. What

particularly impressed me was when he showed me his portfolio of CAD images, and then I realised

that his was a serious effort and that his modelling skills were clearly quite advanced. He then told

me that his day job was CAD work at Ford, and I realised that this was one project that was worth

following. I agreed that BTB would love to be involved, and we exchanged business cards. Dave

admitted that there was still a long way to go before he was ready for an exhaust, and if I didn’t

mind he’d like to keep in touch as the design work progressed.”

Dave did indeed follow up with some questions concerning his proposed installation of a 964 flat six

engine and the issues surrounding the packaging of an IVA compliant exhaust on the car. Although it

was only when the chassis and body was displayed at Race Retro a couple of years later that it

became obvious that the preparation and determination was becoming tangible. Following yet

more consultation with BTB with CAD data going back and forth between Daventry and Rayleigh, the

rolling chassis was finally delivered to BTB in October to see whether Dave’s exhaust design would

actually fit the chassis. Despite the tight packaging and some very close tolerances, BTB’s manifolds

and silencers fitted perfectly, with only some minor tweaking of the mounting bracketry being

necessary to enable easy removal with the engine in situ. It is very satisfying for all concerned, and

even though there are still a lot more jobs to do, it is one step closer to Dave Eaton realising his

dream of driving his own 917 on the road.

The second visitor who has had an eventful 3 years since meeting BTB on their stand in 2014, is none

other than Rebecca Jackson. BTB are used to being approached by young race and rally drivers at

Autosport over the years, but none have impressed us as much as Rebecca. There always racing

drivers at the Autosport show who are looking for “sponsors” to support their racing ambitions. BTB

will only ever offer product support and then only when there is a significant potential return on

investment. Rebecca needed help to upgrade her production specification Porsche Boxster to make

it competitive for the endurance series that she planned to enter that year. By happy coincidence

BTB already had a racing exhaust developed for the Boxster, which they agreed to supply in return

for branding on the car and the undoubted publicity that Rebecca could generate from her

burgeoning car reporting career. Later on Rebecca’s Porsche was the test bed for BTB’s new tuned

length tubular exhaust manifolds, which powered her towards the front of the grid. This upgrade

was exchanged for Rebecca providing the voice over and a piece to camera for BTB’s corporate

videos, which have proved very popular. BTB’s Managing Director Joe Ellis was not only pleasantly

surprised by Rebecca’s enthusiasm and professionalism, but also impressed by her skills behind the

wheel. “I watched Rebecca racing at Silverstone, and saw that she has the same total commitment

on the track as off it, which is a necessary but rare quality in my experience. Most drivers see

sponsorship as a one way ticket, but Rebecca has always made time to give us a return on the

support we have offered, whether that’s in terms of PR, or by testing our products on track, her

work ethic is admirable and should be an object lesson to all aspiring drivers.” In 2015, when a

Canadian customer wanted BTB to develop a trackday exhaust for his highly modified Toyota MR2

Turbo, Rebecca not only offered her own MR2 as a donor vehicle, but then gave valuable feedback

on the prototype exhaust’s performance and noise, thus speeding up the development process for

BTB.

For more information on Rebecca Jackson’s quest to race at Le Mans read all about her

adventures at www.rebeccaracer.com Follow @BTBExhausts on Twitter for the chance to meet

Rebecca Racer herself on BTB’s stand (E1070) at Autosport Engineering 12 th -13 th January 2017.

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