The market town of Pershore...

The market town of Pershore is hardly Ferrari’s base in Maranello, but it’s here in rural Worcestershire that Matt Neal’s championship-winning Team Dynamics outfit is gearing up for its latest BTCC title defence.

The likeable 6ft 6in Midlander has won back-to-back touring car titles. However, the introduction of new S2000 technical rules has marginalised his all-conquering Honda Integra, forcing his little family-run team to reconsider its options. Until today, those plans have remained top secч­ret. But now, Big Matt gives Auto Express readers an exclusive insight into what’s going on behind closed doors in the Vale of Evesham.

“I started worrying about what we were going to do this season within hours of winning last year’s championship,” admitted Neal, 40, as he welcomed us to Dynamics’ surprisч­ingly unassuming, Sixties-style, red-brick workshop on Pershore Industrial Estate. “It was brilliant to win the title for a second year, but the goalposts were about to move and there was no time to celebrate,” he said.

After having explored a number of alч­ternatives, Dynamics has decided to go it alone again, and is working round the clock to ready a pair of new Honda Civics for Matt and team-mate Gordon Shedden to race in 2007.

“We originally wanted to go for an existing package and talked at length to the likes of BMW, Chevrolet, SEAT and Alfa Romeo, as they already have proven S2000-specification cars,” Matt explained. “Then we could have refined things here and immediately been on the pace at the first race. But, to be honest, we simply could not afford to go that way.”

He continued: “I’m not saying it’s cheap to design and develop a totally new car, but at least we are in control of the costs, as well as our own destiny. BMW customers, for example, have to pay around чЈ2,000 for

a front bumper. Yet we can produce the same item for the Honda for less than a third of that cost.” Last BTCC season, Neal and Shedden got through 16 of them. Had the pair been in BMWs, the bill for those alone would have exceeded чЈ30,000!

Neal is confident the new Honda Civic was the right choice. “Through our success with the Integras, we have a good relationship with Honda. It’s a great company and very motorsport oriented; the only problem is that it’s so focused on F1 at the moment.”

He went on: “Even so, as we are racing a model sold in Europe rather than the old Integra, it’s keen to support us as much as it can. Besides, the new Civic looks exciting, and we know the engine, based on that of the Type R, has huge potential.”

For all its inherent strengths, the latest Civic contender has a hard act to follow. The Integra won its first and last races, clocked up 25 BTCC wins from 60 starts and took Neal to consecutive crowns. What’s more, the new cars are still being built – and the first race is in less than six weeks!

“The guys have only had Christч­mas Day off since we pushed the button, but it’s still going to be tight,” said Neal. “The first bodyshell has now been to the paintshop and the second isn’t far behind. If all goes to plan we’re hoping to start testing in the middle of March. Even so, we’re going to need some luck. I keep telling myself that the other teams, who are more advanced than us with their preparations, are all wearing out their cars and we’ll be okay!”

This is a budget-conscious, privately run operation with only eight full-time employees working in humble surroundings. How much longer can it keep trouncing rival factory-funded outfits such as SEAT and Vauxhall, as well as those now racing manufacturer-built BMWs and Alfas?

Neal told us: “Thanks to Halfords, the Clydesч­dale Bank and other sponsors, we have a reasonable budget, and we try to use it where it counts. My dad Steve, who runs the team, always says: ‘Will it make the car go faster?’ If so, he’ll spend whatever it costs. If not, forget it. So we don’t have a fancy workshop.”

Yet Dynamics has its hands full just to get the two Civics fit for the opening battles at Brands Hatch on 1 April. “It’s going to be tough,” Neal concluded. “But I rate our guys as the best in the business, and winning is like a drug – we all want more.”