Dan Brown and Liam Collins expect their battle at the top of the Class A standings to be at its fiercest yet when the Racing Hondas Championship arrives at Brands Hatch in just over a week’s time (Sunday 16 June).
Collins ended Brown’s early season winning streak last time out at Cadwell Park but it still remains Brown 5, Collins 1 in terms of race victories.
Both though believe they will have to be at the top of their game to come out on top in the two races at the famous Kent venue.
“Liam is going to get better and better,” reckons Brown. “It’s his first season of racing and he seems to be a bit of a natural.
“He’s a very good driver and we will be battling each other for the rest of the season.
“I think the lap times at Brands could be a bit insane because of how hard we are pushing each other.”
Collins says: “It was my racing debut at Anglesey and quite intimidating going out onto the track with a 34-car grid so I’m glad I didn’t make a fool of myself there.
“I learnt a lot from Dan following him, learning how to position the car and make a nuisance of yourself. He’s got more experience when it comes to race craft.
“It was nice to get the first win in race 1 at Cadwell and it could have been two had we not had the contact in race 2 which I put my hand up to.
“We were both fine about it and have some good chats in between the races. I’d say it’s a friendly rivalry but we want to beat each other – if we’re side by side going into Paddock Hill Bend at Brands then I don’t intend on backing out but obviously there’s respect at the same time.”
What will be fascinating is how their two different cars – Brown’s normally aspirated Civic Bali and Collins’s supercharged Integra DC2 – perform on the short Brands Indy circuit.
Although different on the exterior, they share some surprising commonalities under the skin including chassis, wheelbase, suspension arms and engine (both are powered by modified by the 2.4 203bhp motor originally found in the Honda Odyssey ‘minivan’ model)!
“Liam has a bit more power (262bhp to 241bhp) but my car is lighter so it balances itself out,” explains Brown.
“He has a broader power window from the supercharger whereas my power curve dies off with a normally-aspirated engine.
“My engine is maxed out so I probably need to develop the car in different areas, such as grip and aero, because he is only going to get faster.”
Collins replies: “We’ve got different driving styles. Dan sets up his car to get a good exit out of corners which negates my advantage with the extra torque from the supercharger – you’d think that’s where I’d close up but in fact he goes away slightly. At Cadwell it was on the brakes where I was making time on him.
“I think it’ll be very close between us at Brands. It could come down to who works the traffic best in both qualifying and the races…”
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