Dylan & Mark win the coveted 2nd & 3rd Places in the GT Championships
Becky Manns supplied the fun logos at the end of the fianl race day as a surprise for Dylan....... they never doubted for a minute.
Marlin 5EXi racer Dylan Popovic has ended the 2012 season with his best ever result, coming second in class and fifth overall in the hard fought Castle Combe Sports and GT Championship. And he was backed up by Marlin Cars MD Mark Matthews in the second works 5EXi who came home third in class and sixth overall in the Championship. It was a fantastic result for the two drivers and the culmination of several years fine-tuning the Audi turbo powered 5EXi racers.
Dylan explains how it all came about
What a fun season of racing at Castle Combe!
The 2012 season actually started in a hotel bar in Fuerteventura in the summer of 2011 after a tough day of Kite surfing! Mark and I (never to be seen sitting idly), armed with a beer each and a Wifi enabled iPad, asked each other – what engine can we fit inside the EXi next?! What started off as a typical nonsense pub chat, soon became a plan.. A plan was made (on a back of napkin of course) to install an Audi 2.7bi turbo V6 engine for next season… This is where Marlin cars differ from other manufacturers, big or small – nothing is impossible, nothing is too much trouble – creative thinking always in abundance.Within a few months a donor Audi was bought, engine bay of my race EXi modified, engine installed and mapped and the car was ready to go for early 2012.
The biggest motivation for the 2.7bi turbo power plant was reliability.. Although we had good results with the previous Audi 1.8t engines, reliability was a big issue during 2011 season. It is fascinating how big a difference there is between a trackday and a race (and I seem to have had a special knack for finding the next weakest link race after race during 2011!). After the first few test days, one thing was obvious – the 2.7bi turbo was a great decision! Producing 360BHP with more torque than a V10 BMW M5, the 2012 season was starting to look quite promising. Ok, so the first race ended prematurely in torrential rain (water leaking down into the ECU), but the second race of the season brought the first podium of the year! Something that I managed to achieve five times in 2012. Just as importantly, I was scoring points race after race.. The car was proving to be amazingly reliable – the engine lasted a whole season with only an oil change! The rest of the car behaved with similar confidence – no mechanical or electrical issues to speak of! The Maclaren F1 team had more reliability issues this season!
(Testament to Mark’s design ideas and the Marlin build quality, ignoring the first race, I was only forced to retire in one race with a sheared inboard suspension bolt after hitting a curb at Bobbies chicane).
Granted the 1st place was not up for grabs – the heavily modified Mitsubishi Evo (with anywhere in the region of 600-800BHP) was simply too quick to catch. But 2nd place in class C is a great result – I managed to beat all other competitors including previous championship winner Stuart Dixon in his supercharged 2.2l Lotus Exige.
I can’t thank Marlin cars enough for all the support, ingeniousness and professionalism shown in 2012 that allowed me to bag 5 podiums and finish the season 2nd in class. (And having Mark finish the season 3rd in class completed a perfect season!)
A final word from Terry & Mark at Marlin Cars
A big thank you has to go out to the following EXi owners who have rallied around and given their help, support, encouragement and more importantly their faith - knowing we would get there eventually - so thank you Robin & Becky Manns, Mike Coombes & son Jonathan, Ken Robson and of course Dylan’s wonderful wife Annelie.
Mark receiving one of his cups during the race season