Power Maxed Racing and Vauxhall for BTCC

In incredibly exciting news, Automotive Brands – the owner of Power Maxed Racing – has announced a commercial partnership with Vauxhall Motors that will see twin Mk7 Astras star in the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship from 2017 onwards, almost three decades after John Cleland won his first BTCC title as a works driver piloting a Mk2 Astra GTE.

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“I’m incredibly pleased and proud to be working with Vauxhall, and to be in charge of the team that brings this iconic and highly successful brand back to the BTCC,” said Power Maxed top dog, Adam Weaver. “The Astra is fantastic, and it’s no surprise that it was voted 2016 European Car of the Year. It will make for a show-stopping BTCC challenger,” he added.

We asked Adam about the specification of the Griffins he’ll be putting on the grid next year. “We’ve got the shells, and work to turn them into highly competitive BTCC cars is well under way. There are a lot of regulation control parts that we need to use, such as front and rear subframes and suspension uprights, but we’ll be fitting turbocharged two-litre Vauxhall engines capable of close to 380bhp,” he said.

The Vauxhall powerplants being put to work will be extensively configured by Swindon Powertrain, the respected automotive engineering specialist that has a long and colourful history in the design and maintenance of successful Formula One, touring car and rally car engines. This partnership further highlights the commitment to UK manufacturing and product excellence evident from both Automotive Brands and Vauxhall, the latter assembling Mk7 Astra hatchback and sports tourers at its Ellesmere Port plant in Cheshire (check out our exclusive factory assembly line showcase feature by ordering a back issue copy of the December/January 2017 edition of Performance Vauxhall at