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How Dave Newsham and AmDTuning.com won the Jack Sears Trophy

By MJP Media | 17 October 2014

It took two unique talents, Dave Newsham and AmDTuning.com, to win the 2014 Jack Sears Trophy as the rules were changed this year to reward a combination of a suitably well sorted car and a very brave driver!

Dave Newsham lifts the Jack Sears Trophy

The Jack Sears Trophy is awarded to the Independent driver who achieves the greatest improvement from their respective grid positions over the entire season. In other words, the greatest number of overtakes. The start and finishing positions of all Independent drivers were logged for all 30 races and the driver with the highest total number of positions gained over the season became the Jack Sears Trophy winner.

AmDTuning.com have been in the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship for several years now, promoting their core business which is high performance remaps and modifications for road cars. The keys to their enormous success in this area are also keys in motor racing: primarily there must be total reliability, super smooth power delivery and perhaps most importantly the right amount of power for the particular vehicle so that it is easily manageable. In the road going version of this tuning, AmD also major on fuel economy as well.

Ready to race - Dave in the AmDTuning.com pit garage

In Dave Newsham, they found a naturally fast driver with proven race winning ability and the combination seemed to gel from the beginning. Dave loved the Ford Focus ST and was soon putting in fantastic times at the pre-season testing venues, whilst Shaun Hollamby of AmD found Dave to be very quick and at times too quick and so a balance was achieved.

The team went into the most competitive BTCC season for years with high hopes of some top 10 finishes. They weren't disappointed - the highlight of the season being the team's highest ever finish when they and Dave were on the podium at Knockhill: a huge achievement for both of them given the competition this year.

On track in the AmDTuning.com Ford Focus ST

With 31 drivers on the grid, the Jack Sears Trophy was never going to be an easy trophy to win and in the end it all boiled down to the final race of the season. Dave finally won the trophy with 6 more 'overtakes' than anyone else on the grid, giving him and the team their first full season BTCC silverware. Dave was delighted commenting "It is certainly the biggest trophy I have ever won and the most prestigious as well. I can't thank the team enough for the car that they have given me. We have improved it over the course of the season and this represents a great repayment of our efforts."

Shaun Hollamby of AmD was equally proud. "Our whole business is based on a fine balance of performance handling and power. With Dave we had our work cut out to give him exactly what he wanted from the car and to reign in his enthusiastic right foot at times - I think this trophy proves that we managed that as a team with Dave. Roll on 2015!!"

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