Tin top convert Dylan Hotchin continues to make progress in his first year of single-seaters with his family run team, and the Lincolnshire driver is aiming to break into the midfield pack by the end of the season.
Hotchin has a best result of eighth so far, and believes he can better that as he and the team continue to adapt to running a single-seater.
“Having had very limited time in the car before the start of the season [87 laps], it was always going to be difficult to hit the ground running,” he comments.
“Our budget is very tight and with me being in work full time as an engineering apprentice outside of racing, we do no testing between rounds which again doesn’t help and slows my progress as a driver down. That aside this year we always planned to use the race meetings as test days but also using the races to hone my race craft. Up to now this has worked and we have made massive progress as a team, and for me, I have learnt so much from not only the engineering side but also as a driver.
“For sure single-seater racing is a very different approach to tin top racing but up to now it has been very enjoyable, but I still have much to learn. It is very much about time in the seat and feeling the road under me to hone the driving style to get the maximum from the car and start to get in the middle of the pack.”
Hotchin is the only driver currently to run as a privateer, and he’s enjoyed getting to grips with the Tatuus F4-T014 car along with his family. He’s received plenty of support from the operations up and down the paddock too.
“At the start of 2023 my dad [Richard] built a team that consists of two senior engineers and eight apprentice engineers from all over the country, who come together as volunteers at race weekends to do something that we all have a passion for.
“No one in the team had ever worked on an F4 car nor knew how to set one up, so when we turned up at the media day at Donington it was very much a guess of how to get the car to go round.
“Since that moment we have very much become a team and have worked so hard to use basic engineering theory to try and get the car set up to the best of our ability.
“That aside, the help we have had from the GB4 team and other teams and engineers has been incredible. They have all helped in their own way to get us on the right track and put a car down that will allow me to drive it. Not only that they have helped me with the transition in driving style also.
“The paddock is a great place and full of helpful engineers and support. It takes me back to my young days in karting where everyone in the paddock was there to help and have a great time. It has definitely put a smile back on my face after a torrid year last year in tin tops and is a credit to not only GB4 but MSV for creating this series and relaxed atmosphere.”
While results continue to improve, the team’s off-track performance at Donington Park back in May showed they are a force to be reckoned with, when despite their lack of experience, a complete car rebuild was completed in the paddock overnight after picking up big damage.
“My highlight so far has simply been able to compete in every race so far. Our aim is to complete every race meeting this year and go faster every time I get in the seat.
“At Donington we proved that from memory we were 10 seconds away from the fastest lap after the first session on the Friday morning, and by the end of the day I was only 2.5 seconds away. Incredible really as I didn’t test on the Thursday like everyone else so was on the back foot, but I just worked on my driving, made some changes to the car and it started to come together.
“The Saturday though was a different story as the chassis split and we had to change it. Now that was an experience! I do a lot of work on the car myself and it was a big job to do at a race meeting. I remember working late in to the night and my dad sending me to bed at 2.30am and then getting up at 5am to finish the car ready to race.
“When I sat on the grid Sunday morning I thought ‘wow what an experience that was and what a team we have become in such a short space of time.’”
With all that experience under his belt, Hotchin is now pushing to make further gains on the drivers ahead.
“The aim is to firstly get enough money together to go racing and then to just keep getting quicker and hit the last target I set out at the start of the year. That target is to be battling in the middle of the pack.
“We are a small team and it is great to be battling against some of the best teams in motorsport, with the support I have from not only the team, my sponsors and people in the paddock I hope to hit my goals and then at the end of the year to start to test ready for a competitive season next year!”
