18
Trevor Carlin
T
he owner of a team that competes in
five different championships (GP2,
F.Renault 3.5, GP3, Euroseries and
British F.3), Trevor Carlin is one of Dallara’s
most important customers in the
motorsport world. The British team
manager’s relationship with the company in
Varano goes back to 1993. «
After 20 years
-
smiles Carlin –
Engineer Dallara is almost
like a father to me, I have an enormous
amount of admiration and respect for him.
It’s no accident that, over the years, we have
become one of Dallara’s biggest customers in
the world of motorsports. Since 1996, the
year I founded my team, we have purchased
around forty cars from Engineer Giampaolo,
and we currently have around twenty in our
factory».
What’s your first recollection of Dallara?
«
It was back in 1992, at the time I was
working for Bowman Racing, and a close
friend suggested I take a trip to Italy to have
a look at the new Dallara for the '93 season.
I sent a fax to arrange a meeting with
Engineer Dallara, then, a few days later, I left
for Varano. I have really warm memories of
that day, especially because of how much
time Giampaolo was prepared to spend with
me. At the time we were competing in the
British F.3. championship with Bowman, and
getting some good results with a car that we
had designed ourselves; so I took a large,
framed photo of our single-seater along with
me to ask Engineer Dallara what he thought
of it. We had a lengthy discussion about
where the team could make improvements
and then he took me to see the car they were
preparing for the 1993 season. As soon as I
saw the F393 it was obvious that it was
superior, not only to our own Bowman, but
also to all the other cars in the category».
So, when did you first start racing with it?
«
Giampaolo even offered us a discount on
the purchase price and favourable deal with
Fiat for the engines, on condition that we
were able to attract a top level driver. I
wanted Steve Robertson, but we were unable
to reach a deal and the project came to
nothing. As it happens, though, I only had a
few more months to wait: in fact, in 1993, I
moved to West Surrey Racing and
immediately told the team owner, Dick
Bennets, that I thought we should abandon
the Reynard in favour of the Dallara. He
wasn’t convinced to start with, but it soon
became apparent that the F393 was a much
better option, and the team placed its first
order».
As a British team manager you witnessed
Dallara take on the British constructors and
conquer the market. What do you think
were the reasons behind this success?
«
I think it was a question of foresight. At the
time when Dallara was making its big push
into F.3, Lola and Reynard were making a lot
of money from the senior competitions,
principally from IndyCar, but also F.3000.
For them F.3 represented only a very small
part of their business, so they tended not to
dedicate sufficient resources to research and
design. In the long run, this weakened their
position in other sectors too, because a tree
can’t survive without its roots. Engineer
Dallara understood this well: he has always
dedicated an vast amount of attention to the
design and development of the F.3 cars,
which were like the roots of his company,
and the success in that field enabled the
company to obtain contracts to provide the
cars for single brand categories and produce
increasingly competitive cars for the more
senior categories too. He knew how to take
the long view».
All your teams currently use only models
built by Dallara: does this make your
technical personnel's job easier?
«
Absolutely. Our team is divided into
independent units that work on the different
championships, but sometimes it is necessary
«
A
FTER
20
YEAR
E
NGINEER
D
ALLARA IS ALMOST LIKE A FATHER TO ME
,
I
HAVE AN
ENORMOUS AMOUNT OF ADMIRATION AND RESPECT FOR HIM
.
I
T
’
S NO ACCIDENT THAT
,
OVER THE YEARS
,
WE HAVE BECOME ONE OF
D
ALLARA
’
S BIGGEST CUSTOMERS IN THE
WORLD OF MOTORSPORTS
.
S
INCE
1996,
THE YEAR
I
FOUNDED MY TEAM
,
WE HAVE
PURCHASED AROUND FORTY CARS FROM
E
NGINEER
G
IAMPAOLO
,
AND WE CURRENTLY
HAVE AROUND TWENTY IN OUR FACTORY
»
