leo parente: i'm back from thespa 24, back from mid-ohio this past weekend. also back from the uk is robbholland, our american racing british touring carthis month. thank you for beingon the shakedown. robb holland: thanksfor having me. leo parente: we're going to havemore on drive about spa. and i'm going to do a fridayepisode about indy car and gt rules, the new things coming.
let's talk to you aboutbritish touring car and your plans. robb holland: great. leo parente: you've seenzach galifianakis in between the ferns? robb holland: yeah. leo parente: can we call theshow, "between the burns"? robb holland: sure. leo parente: ok, we'll doit that way then, ok?
let's start with an importantquestion. the english use themetric system. the americans use theenglish system. a meter is 1.1 yards. aren't you going to beslower in england? ok, next question. you've said that british touringcar is bigger than jesus and the olympics. what gives you the rightto say that?
robb holland: i didn'tsay that. leo parente: you've calledyourself the michael phelps of british touring car? have you the right? robb holland: why am i talkingracing with the guy from american pie? leo parente: those werethings that-- robb holland: i'm goingto call my agent. leo parente: --you said.
what? rob, thank you for putting upwith my bad sense of humor. you know the commenterswill all attack me. thank you for goingalong with that. robb holland: absolutely. leo parente: ok, so let's catcheveryone up to speed. we talked to you before onan earlier shakedown. you went off to snettertonto test. robb holland: i did.
leo parente: it was goingto be your first race. and now we bumped into eachother in mid-ohio. robb holland: inthe rain again. leo parente: yeah,bad, bad, bad. but thank you for coming in. and let's talk a little andcatch everyone up on what's happened and what's going tohappen next with the races. let's talk a littlebit basically. explain to the audience whatis british touring car, the
dunlap msa british touringcar championship. what is it? robb holland: well, it's theoldest touring car series in the world, and obviously,i think, one of the most prestigious. if you look back over the years,the series started in 1965 and has been going prettymuch continuously ever since. and it is basically a seriesof production-based sedans. currently, the rules specifya 2-liter turbo motor.
cars put up around 300horsepower, 325 horsepower. but they're full-blownrace cars underneath. i mean, they're small gt cars. it's fully sequential gearboxes,penske suspensions. they're just absolutemonsters. leo parente: so you've racedworld challenge a lot. you cut your teeth on that. as a matter of fact, you evengot in a car at mid-ohio. leo parente: and it was goinggreat up until the tire
degradation. but i digress. talk to me a little bit aboutthe difference between this car, the btcc car, andthe challenge car. it's more of a racecar, as you said. world challenge carsare great. but they're production-basedcars, and they stay very true to their production roots. there's not a lotof modification.
there are some basic suspensionupgrades, so shocks, springs, sway bars. there's some modificationsto the braking system. that's more of a safety thing,obviously, production breaks-- leo parente: in worldchallenge. robb holland: in worldchallenge, yes. but they do use the pirellislicks in world challenge. going over to the btcc,the cars are basically bespoke cars.
they take the original chassisof a production-based car, and it is completely torn out. there are custom subframe,custom suspension pick-up points. the shocks are rod actuated. they've got dynamic rear toe. i mean, it's the amount ofthings that these cars can do. so it's literally like comparinga street car to a car at le mans.
leo parente: and you can stiffenup a production car. but the race car you're talkingabout is a much more stable platform? robb holland: incrediblystable. i mean, they spend so much timegetting the suspension just right. because obviously, a lot ofthese cars are front-wheel drive cars. and touring car in general isalways really for the most
part, meant a front-wheeldrive car. and there's a lot of things thatfront-wheel drive cars struggle with when you talkabout putting them in a race application. and these teams spend millionsand millions of dollars engineering all of thefront-wheel drive antics out of those cars. leo parente: now you'reracing a honda civic. robb holland: yep.
leo parente: but you're going upagainst toyota avensis, bmw 3 series, plato and the mg6-- robb holland: mg6, yeah. leo parente: --ford focus. proton has a car. audi a4, vauxhall, both avectra and an insignia? robb holland: yes. leo parente: am i gettingit right so far? robb holland: you've prettymuch got it all.
robb holland: yeah,i did the math. and a vw golf. leo parente: but there's twodifferent categories. there's the ngtc, the newgeneration touring car. and this is s2000 specyou're racing? leo parente: but theyboth have the same engine you told me? they both use-- the seriesoverall uses a 2-liter engine. it's a spec 2-liter engine.
the engines can be from theparticular manufacturer. but they have to bea 2-liter turbo. and what they've done is they'vedone-- just the series itself have done an extensiveamounts of engineering to understand the capabilitiesof all the engines. because, as you know, when youget into trying to match different cars, each one has a different performance parameter. so it's very, very difficultfor a series to create cars
that are someone equal,which obviously creates the best racing. so what the british touringcar has done-- toca. they've gone in, measured allthe engines, and then they do an adjustment basedon the lap times. cars obviously have-- different chassis havedifferent performance abilities, whether it'scornering or whatever.
and so what they can do is a carthat maybe struggles a bit in the corner has a littlebit more or a straight-line advantage. so they use lap times tothe balance that out. and they change the booster. leo parente: so the lastrace was croft. and honda civics aredominating now. you're going to be in s2000-spechonda civic. but that raises theexpectations.
everyone around thisprogram are on your side, i'm assuming. robb holland: yeah, well, imean, the big thing is i've got honda on my side. hpd in the us has reallybacked me on this one. lee niffenegger and thoseguys have been awesome. and in fact, they were partof the genesis of a lot of this happening. we had talked to jas abouttheir world touring car
program as well. so lee's been a big backer. hpd has been fantastic. and then i've also gotoakley, which i've been with for years. and they're the bestguys in the world. and then my good guys over atoptima batteries, who i've known through world challenge. but we've done someother stuff.
and they're also workingon this with me, too. so yeah, totally i've gota lot of support. so, yeah, they'll be morethan a few expectations. leo parente: ok so you're racingthe next you races-- snetterton and nokia,august 12th weekend and then august 26th. robb holland: correct. leo parente: so let'sget right to it. because you went to thetest at snetterton.
leo parente: and myunderstanding is it was, what? raining in england? in the uk? robb holland: in the summer. surprise. leo parente: so talk to us alittle bit about the test, maybe if i don't gettoo deep here. start with you've neverbeen to the track. you've never been in this car.
so what were your feelings? what were you thinking? you're sitting in the car andgetting ready to go out the first time? robb holland: well, it's alittle daunting, to be honest. i mean, it's a different car,a new track, a new team. and obviously, being anamerican, the first american in almost 40 years to comeinto british touring car, there was the more-than-casualcuriosity of the british fans.
so there were a lotmore people out there that i was expecting. you do a test in the us, andit's you and your team and the guy who runs the track. and that's about it. there were a few more peoplethan that there. then obviously, in theconditions, the track didn't even go green until almost noon,because they had so much standing water on the track.
because it not had been rainingthat day, but it had been raining for thepast two months. so it wasn't just a littlebit of rain. leo parente: so going off wasgoing to be an adventure. robb holland: going off was--and that's the big thing. going off isn't reallyan option. you're starting off with a newteam, a new series, and all the scrutiny thatgoes with it. and the last thing you wantto do is start off the
relationship by stuffing theircar into the wall and having the mechanics have to workall night to repair it. but you also don'twant to be slow. because these guys have nowinvested in bringing you in. so there is that balance. and as a pro driver, it's justone of those things that you're going to haveto deal with. so it was just more of-- in a way, it was good becausei could use the first couple
laps to figure out wherethe track went. the other thing was it hadrained for the entire two months prior. so that there wasno rain line. because all of the rubberhad gotten washed away. so you could pretty much run anormal line there and still have a fair amount of grip. leo parente: now, it was anopen test, i understand. were there other british touringcar teams there?
or was it just a mix of-- robb holland: originally, therewere supposed to be other british touringcar teams there. but what ended up happening isthat in order to keep costs down, the series basically saysyou're not allowed to test at the tracks that you'regoing to go to until after you've gone to them. they had made an exception in mycase because, obviously, i have never been to thistrack before.
the one thing i discovered aboutgoing over there for the first time is that all of thetracks throughout are 150 miles from each other. leo parente: yeah, it's all-- robb holland: right. so whereas here if i go toroad atlanta, well, road atlanta is five,six hours away. all of these tracks are withina couple of hours. so these guys drive thesetracks all the time.
so they really have a knowledgeof these things. so this series made anexemption for me. so they allowed me togo out and test. there were other ginettacup teams there. there were a bunch of 250ccshifter go-kart guys out there, which were absolutelyinsane. leo parente: how do you findthem in your mirror? robb holland: no, no, no-- different times on track.
they were there. but yeah, otherwise you wouldn'tfind out until after you ran them over, orseveral of them. and then actually, the coolthing was that rob huff, who is a world touring car driver,who has been very successfully competing in the british touringcar for a number of years, was actually pittedthe garage over from us. he was running-- i believe, it was likea '67 camaro, the
old in sunoco livery. leo parente: oh, wow. robb holland: it was-- leo parente: in the uk. robb holland: in the uk. in the uk. so actually it was funny. because when i went out,i went out behind him. and i said, well, that'sthe guy who i want to
follow for a while. and sure enough, i did. so there were few otherguys out there. leo parente: so take usinto the car now. what did it feel like? what were your sensations aboutdriving that civic btcc? robb holland: it's an amazingcar to drive. it's funny. you don't realize, spending somuch time in world challenge
and in a very stock car, howmuch better jumping into a fully prepped race car is. it's just precise. you want there? there's your apex? great. boom, there it goes. it was really a lot of fun. and it was one of those thingsthat three corners into it,
you're like, so happy. really, you say, thisis going to be good. the car itself is great. it's a sequential gearbox,which is fantastic. because it's a right-handdrive car. that was one of the biggestworries is that in a six-speed, you're sitting therewith your left hand going, i don't know whichgear is what. and when you're racing, youcan't have that moment's
hesitation. so then my next big fear wasthat it's a right-hand drive. i've never driven a right-handdrive car on a race course. but it's basically you need tobe here on this particular point in the track. that's where you are. and you don't eventhink about it. so that really becamea non-issue. leo parente: so the prospectivedidn't really
affect you. robb holland: youknow, it didn't. but here's the funny thing isthat the one thing i didn't think of is the mirrors,my rear-view mirror. leo parente: ok. robb holland: from the timeyou get into a car-- leo parente: look left-- robb holland: you lookup like that. there's my mirror--
there are birds in my mirror. and i don't know why. oh, because my mirror's there. and it's one of those thingsi did every single time. every time i went to lookin the mirror, i looked to the right. so that was the one thingit took to get used to. but the car itself was-- it just comes alive the fasteryou drive it, the harder you
lean on it. and it's one of those thingswhere a stock car, when you start leaning harder, eventuallyit just gives up. leo parente: right. robb holland: and this carwas just like, ok, we're not there yet. keep-- and it just feedsyou into going faster. leo parente: did you getsome dry running time? robb holland: we gotdamp running time.
leo parente: damp runningtime, ok. robb holland: how's that? we had enough-- leo parente: were youon dry tires? robb holland: we switchedover to slicks. it was good because therewas a dry line. the only issue was that throughsome of the faster corners, the line hadn'treally developed yet. so it was still slick.
and eventually, you get to thepoint even on a slick where the tire gives up, and thecar will start to wash. and the thing is that there'sa dry line, not a dry line. so the car starts to wash. and as soon as the slicks touchwhere it's more damp offline, the card just skates. leo parente: did youget a feeling-- is this car you tossaggressively to carry speed? or it's smooth aggression?
what works? robb holland: i thinksmooth aggression is going to be like-- i think the car can takewhatever you throw at it. and it's going to be setupthat's going to really determine how you drivethe car or how the car wants to be driven. the amazing thing about thesecars is that they've got a dynamic rear toe, basically.
so the toe link itself is-- it's almost a shock absorberwith preloaded and everything. and what it does is it createsa rear-wheel steer. so once you get therear tires hot-- and the only way to do that isactually rotate the fronts to the rear because the rears willnot get heat in them. otherwise, no matter how hardyou lean on them, you'll actually get a rear toe thatbasically rotates the car through the corner.
so once we did that-- so wehad gone out and done the running in the wet. but obviously, it doesn'treally make a difference there, because there's notenough friction to get the dynamic rear toe to work. but once we went into the dry,we were able to make some adjustments. and i leaned on itthe first time. and it was like, oh,the car rotates.
and then you have to-- it's areadjustment of all of your lines on a track. because you're now turning inearly for everything, because the car turns so well. so after doing that, i wasable to go out and do, i think, a lap, a lap and a halfbefore they had a red flag because the rainhad picked up. leo parente: so somehow i think,if i'm understanding, it takes away the front-drivesensation.
it just becomes aplatform that-- robb holland: well, it's almosta better platform than a rear-wheel drive at thatpoint, because it takes away the negative of a front-wheeldrive. but the great thing about thefront-wheel drive is that the front wheels are pulling youthrough the corners. so it almost has theadvantages of an all-wheel drive. leo parente: are you rootingfor rain or dry?
robb holland: i just spentthe whole weekend in the rain in mid-ohio. no, i think dry. the problem with racing in therain, especially with a bunch of guys that you just don'tknow yet, is that you just don't know who you can trust. and the margins becomeso much smaller. and we're really looking for aclean race and really just to go in and really get afeel for the series.
so i think in the dry,it's going to be a little bit more sane. leo parente: so you schooled meon the fact that the s2000 spec has smaller tiresthan the ngtc. so now we're talking about howthe car corners and handles and does those things andgetting temperatures. are you doing some tiremanagement in an s2000? leo parente: much morethan the ngtc. how does that affectyour race?
robb holland: well,in both ways. because like you were saying,the smaller tire, because of the smaller volume, getsheat in it quicker. so actually, at the start of therace, the s2000 cars have a little bit of an advantagein the sense that our tires are going to be up to pressureand temperatures much quicker. so it's one of those things. it's attack at the beginning. but 75% of the way through therace that balance shifts back
over to the ngtc carswith bigger tires. that'll have-- they reallydon't have as much tire management. the other big thing is,obviously, with a front-wheel drive car, you're putting power through the front wheels. so you're burning up the tiresat a little bit faster rate, because of your corneringforces and also the acceleration forces.
so there is going tobe some management. and the tough part is iprobably won't get a race-distance session so ican understand where that balance comes in. so i'm going to probably haveto play it a little conservative at the beginning. but that's not reallymy nature. so we'll have to see. leo parente: is the team--
have you already figuredout, are they all talkers on the radio? or they just let youdo your thing? robb holland: no, they'vebeen really good. dave, my crew chief, used to beone of the crew guys, one of the top crew guys for aaa. so he's been with the best guys,and he understands what the driver needs. i'm not a big talker on theradio, especially with a bunch
of new guys. you're really tryingto absorb. you're trying to be asponge right now. and the last thing you wantto do is have a 20-minute conversation with your engineerabout how the car's feeling in the middleof the race. but we did great as faras debriefs and stuff. we really were onthat same page. he understands that there'sthings that the drivers want
that the engineers mightnot quite get. and that's really importantfor me. leo parente: so the last timeyou were on here, i got you to pledge to take us throughthe debrief session. leo parente: i don't want totrade or share secrets. but let's do thata little bit. so you ran a session or two,came in and sat down with dave, i'm assuming. leo parente: talk to us.
take us through the debrief. like put us in theroom with you. how did that progress? what happened? get out of the car-- robb holland: well, firsti stopped smiling. so that was the first thing. but then they really want toknow what my first sensations or what my first impressions arebecause usually those are
the most important. is the car too loose? how's the braking? so we sat down and really-- leo parente: very qualitativedriver feel things. but mainly it's ageneral feel. here's my overall impression. but then let's startbreaking it down. turn one, what didturn one do?
what was it loose? where was it loose,if it was loose? was it entry? was it mid-corner? was it exit? and so we basically walkedthrough corner by corner. one of the things that imentioned on my initial feedback was i wasnot getting-- i tried to get lock-up out ofthe brakes, just to see what
the level of grip wasbecause it was wet. and i wasn't able to lock-up. and i was pushing harderand harder and waiting. and they said, no. the way they've sized the mastercylinders is the master cylinder is small so thatthere's a low level of force on the brakes. so you could really nail 'emand not get any lock-up. so that basically then changeda whole bunch of things going
out for session number two. because it really allows you touse the brakes a lot more. because i've been driving carsfor years with abs now because they're stock-based cars. leo parente: and there'sno abs on them. robb holland: there's no abs. so that's the-- you're kindof like, ok, where's the lock-up for it? leo parente: did youlike it better?
robb holland: i can'tstand abs. i really can't. abs doesn't stop you quicker. leo parente: i'm rightthere with you. it basically allows you tocontrol the car, but i don't need that. i want the car to do whati want it to do. and abs it doesn't allow that. and even in the rain in mid-ohiothis weekend, it was
one of those things that my feelis more important than what the computer says. so they haven't gottenthat good yet. leo parente: now when youstarted this feeling of the car, was there any databeing introduced? or was it was just listeningto you describe? robb holland: initially,it's just listening. i mean, part of the issue thatwe had is that because of the rain, we really didn't get ontrack until late in the today,
which was unexpected. and then on top of that, they,because there were other cars there, they shortenedeveryone's sessions. so we were only getting20-minute sessions. and then on top of that, whichwas very surprising, is that there were a lot ofcars going off. so there, we'd get in fiveminutes into a session-- red flag. and then that was the session.
it wasn't like they said, redflag, and just give us a minute, and we'll go get it. it's red flag, just go back tothe pits, and wait for your next session. so i think we got 15, 16 laps inpretty much the whole day. so the problem is-- and then theconditions were changing throughout the day. and as a lot of places in theuk, the rain stops, but the wind keeps going.
so the tracks dry outvery quickly. so the conditions, even in asession, you'll come through one lap, it's completely wet. it stops raining. the wind goes, and it's drier. so it's really, the data wasreally tough that day. leo parente: so backto the debrief. once we got through thequalitative part, was there a discussion of what changesto make to either
the car or your driving? or what happened next? robb holland: yeah, that'swhen the track actually started to go dry. that's when we reallycould start figuring some more stuff out. and that's when we switchtires front to rear. they would start talking aboutthe dynamic of the rear-wheel steer and how one, i useit, but also how, two,
i adjust for it. because believe it or not, ina front-wheel drive car, you can be too loose, especiallywith the rear wheel steering you into the corner. and because the rear toesare adjustable, you can actually use that. leo parente: so how do youdrive it differently? robb holland: i've always liketo call it pitch and catch. you pitch the car into thecorner, the rear wheel comes
around, and you catch itwith the throttle. and you're basically justaiming for-- the front wheels-- for whereyou want to go. the issue with that,though, is that that's always been with-- the way we've really doneit in the us is just reduce rear grip. this is different. this is actually you havefull rear grip.
and the rear wheel is actually--the rears are actually steering youinto the corner. so it's a littlebit different. and it takes a littlebit to get used to. and i think it's going to bea lot better once i do. the harder parts are goingto be when you're racing. when you really get in there,you're trail-breaking it hard, trying to stuff it up theinside, and the rears are steering you in.
there's no real way toget out of that. because the rears are actuallysteering you. so that's going to be somethingto try to get used. so we might downplay that fora bit and maybe do a little change in toe or something. leo parente: does it become--and then i'll drop it after this. does it become a platformmanagement? like you feel the car rotating,and then you've got
to put the weight whereyou want it? robb holland: yeah,i mean, you do. the thing is that those slickshave so much grip that they overcome a lot of whatyou can try to do. so once it starts to steer youinto the corner, you're just hanging on for the ride. leo parente: or committed. robb holland: yes, orvery committed. so it's unique.
and it's just definitelysomething as a driver you just have to adapt to and then learn to use to your advantage. leo parente: what happenednext in the debrief? did they start to go throughthe predictive of lap? or data of the car? what happened next? robb holland: we startlooking at data. once again, it's tough becauseevery lab was different.
i was picking up a second a lap,one, because of the rain, but then two, becauseof my learning the track and the car. leo parente: and did they have abaseline from their previous experience that theywere using? or was it just so a andb different that-- robb holland: well,a little bit. i mean, that's actually onething i've requested for the race is to try to get gordonsheddon's data from last year
because i don't havea teammate. and that, as you know, isimportant that you can-- i can be way off througha corner. oh, that corner's flat. and i'm still-- because it'snew to me, ok, i'm half throttle, 3/4 throttle, andeventually i work up to it. but if i know in advance, oh,yeah, it's flat then it becomes a lot quicker. leo parente: here comes myteammate, start of debrief.
robb holland: ok. leo parente: so and it's true. so the teammate and i walkedinto the engineer's room. and he turns to my teammateand says, drop your suit. drop your pants. the guy looked athim, like, what? he said, well, i'm lookingat the data. i want to see if youhave any balls. robb holland: fortunately forme, my engineers have never
said that to me. so we're good to go. leo parente: i wouldn'thave thought so. if i forced you to pick onething you think the car does best, what would it be? robb holland: everything. leo parente: really? robb holland: it'sjust such a-- leo parente: and youmean that by--
robb holland: i mean that byit's just such a different car than the touring carsi've driven. 2004 2005, the touring cars inworld challenge were great. they were very similarto that. and those cars were alot of fun to drive. these cars are that. and that's the thing is thatfor the past three or four years, i've been more inproduction-based cars. so jumping into this car again,i mean, that's why i
said i came out of this car witha huge smile on my face. because it's just like, i nowhave this huge set of tools to be able to use. it's like, ok, thiscar does this. and now i can use that. because i've had to manipulatethe car to get the car to do it--- my teammate used to say, circustrick the car in order to get through the corner.
and now i can actuallyuse the car. so it's just-- the handing, i think for me,is the biggest thing. leo parente: well, and i'massuming that's going to give you more room toactually race. robb holland: oh, absolutely. leo parente: because you'renot working for the car. robb holland: well the thingis, even as a good driver, when you are tricking the car todo something, you're really
not 100% sure what you'regoing to get. like, yes, i-- leo parente: shh! don't tell everyone that. robb holland: ok, sorry. cut. no, but you're-- leo parente: but yeah,i hear you. robb holland: but you'rereally not.
i mean, it's a wingand a prayer. yeah, i'm going to throw the carin, and i know it's going to slide this much. but it could slide that much. and if it does, then i'm goingto hit the guy next to me. and these cars are alot more precise. so the thing about that isthat if i hit some in the btcc, it's because i mean to. leo parente: and i'veseen those races.
and i think the feeling ismutual for those guys. leo parente: now, correctme on this, because i really am vague. i think that british touringcars in the us are on some type of recap programmingon speed? robb holland: on thespeed channel. robb holland: usuallyin january was where it was last year. hopefully, now there's anamerican in the series.
they might try to put a littlemore focus on it. but we'll see. leo parente: so if we need tofollow you in august, we've got to find some kid to teachus how to torrent or do whatever the hell i'm supposedto do to find it. robb holland: yeah, thereare a couple ways. leo parente: ok, good. robb holland: i think peoplecan research on the web. itv4 in the uk is thesatellite company.
and they have a internet feed, alive internet broadcast, six hours of coverageevery sunday. so there's a 30-minutesprint rush, the 30-minute sprint race. and then there'ssupport series. our 30-minute sprint race,support series. and then our lastrace of the day. leo parente: are you going tobe staying in the uk through the knockhill scotland,the snetterton?
robb holland: i'm goingto be over there. i actually have to go to germanyto do some stuff with audi at the nurburgring. and then i come back. so my vacation from btcc is togo play at the nurburgring with the audi tt-rsvln spec car. leo parente: well, lifecould be tougher. leo parente: yeah. so you've i'm goingto use your word.
you've made a point not to makethis an american in the uk circus trick. but what has the media done? how has the media reactedto all this? robb holland: unbelievable. i didn't expect this. i mean, this for mewas something i've always wanted to do. i started off racing prettymuch because of the btcc.
i mean, looking at back in thesuper touring car days, that was just the best cars,the best racing, and-- i thought-- the best drivers. and i said, this is somethingthat i want to go do. and that's how i gotinto racing. so for me, this is somethingthat i've always wanted to go do. i did not know that i was goingto be the first american
in almost 40 years to racein the series until i was notified after i had signedthe contract. and when the press picked itup, it just went nuts. we made our press releaseon wednesday. and in between wednesday andfriday, i had probably done 20 interviews. and there were reportersat the test. this is a local test. i mean, this is like if youhave your crew guy there,
that's probably the biggestcheering section you've got. and we had reporters. and everyone's gotstopwatches. and then i've pretty much donean interview a day, pretty much since we madethe announcement. the funny thing is that thelast guy i just did an interview with said, so howdo you feel with all this attention focused on you? are you going to havea problem with that?
and i went, what attention? really, don't jinx this. so it's really been nuts. the other funny thing is thatthey're all surprised. they all, why would youcome to be btcc? and you go, well, why wouldn'ti want to come? they don't understand that theway they feel about btcc in the uk, the die-hard racing fansaround the world see it the same way.
leo parente: not to becontroversial, do you think they think of american racersas something less than the uk-experienced driver? robb holland: i think that'sa general thing. i don't think it's uk. i think it's europe-us. and i think europe sees usas nascar, and that's it. and frankly, they don't thinka lot of nascar drivers. but you put jeff gordonin a car.
you put kyle busch in a car. you put-- i mean, those guysare good drivers. you put them in anything, aformula one car, a touring car, they're going to go fast. they're going to figureout a way to go. and i think that's alwaysthe way it is. i think part of that isbecause americans have struggled over in europebecause it's a
whole culture thing. and fortunately, for me, i spenta lot of my time growing up in europe. so for me, i feel verycomfortable over there. so there isn't thathuge shift. leo parente: lasttwo questions. what do you have left todo to adapt to getting this car to go quick? robb holland: couplemore sessions.
give me dry sessions. give me an hour in the carwhere i can really start making some changes. because that's the big thing. right now we're using a setupthat they used last year for gordon sheddon. and i don't know gordon. i haven't met him yet. other than watching him on tv,i haven't seen him drive.
so it's very difficult to knowif that's the style of car that i'm really looking for. so until then, you really can'tget that last tenth of a second out of the car. so give me a couple sessions. give me a-- dave and i will sit down and dosome debriefs, and i think we'll come up with a fast car. leo parente: and the car hasenough adjustability to adapt?
robb holland: it's amazing. that was my big worry. coming in, you just look at allthe things you can adjust. and we're going, ok, well,we're going start-- well, the big thing is thatwe've got a good base. the guys last year, obviously,they won the championship in the car. so we've got a good baseand working on that. leo parente: so project yourselfto the start of that
first race, august 12th? leo parente: you'vedone the session. you've done your qualifying. you probably have a sense ofwhere you're going to go. i'm not going to pin you downon your expectations. robb holland: thanks. leo parente: but what is goingto be going through your head and helmet on the grid gettingready for the grid. robb holland: hopefullynot my lunch.
leo parente: yeah,there you go. robb holland: no, it's fun. because i'm excited. i'm not nervous. i'm excited. and i think the one ability ihave, and i think at lot of other race car drivers haveit, the ability to compartmentalize things. you throw out the media.
you throw out the fans. you throw out all the peoplethat have come up over the past few weeks and pattedme on the back. because i think if you try tokeep all that with you, it just becomes overwhelming. and you can't focus on thejob that you have to do. so for me, it's just basicallyit's going to be just like a world challenge race. it's the red lights.
when they go out, i go fast. that's it. leo parente: do you think,first turn, and then connect the dots. or do you have a visionof the entire race? i know it's unpredictable. but how do you think? robb holland: and the funnything is that's the way i normally see it.
the way i normally look at itis ok, i know the track. here's what normally happens. yeah, the inside line'sthe fast lane. or the outside line's the fastlane because the inside line gets backed up. and then you think aboutthree or four laps. and then you say, ok,let's see how everything settles out. and then we'll run the race.
but here i don't know. it's all unknown. it's all new. i mean, yes, i knowthe circuit. yeah, i can kind of see howturns one, two, three, four might play out. but you're dealing with all newcars, a whole new set of cast of characters. so really it is that'sthe big unknown.
leo parente: two racesper weekend? robb holland: threeraces per weekend. leo parente: three racesper weekend. robb holland: you have a30-minute sprint, which is set-- the grid's setby qualifying. another 30-minute sprint, thegrid is set by the finishing order of race one. and then the last is another30-minute sprint. and the finishing order thereis the finishing order--
i'm sorry, the starting orderthere is the finishing order of race two, but they havean inversion process. so between four and 10, theywill pick a number and invert those cars. yes, i understand asa racer, hey, look, this where i finish. this is where i start. let's just go. but i also think that one,it creates great racing.
and at the end of the day,we're entertainers. that's what the fansare there to see. leo parente: i understand. robb holland: they're thereto see good racing. but it's also the rulesof the series. and i think that you can't justhave the fastest car now, and say, ok, i qualifyon pole. win the first two races. and then because i won to firsttwo, i get to pole the
third and then go. you have to be ableto pass people. and i think that addssomething to it. leo parente: well, regardless ofwhat happens, and i'm sure it's going to be good, you'regoing to have stories. robb holland: i will havestories, lots of them. leo parente: we're goingto have you back. i'm looking forward to it. thanks, leo.
leo parente: good luck. best on you. [music playing]
let's talk to you aboutbritish touring car and your plans. robb holland: great. leo parente: you've seenzach galifianakis in between the ferns? robb holland: yeah. leo parente: can we call theshow, "between the burns"? robb holland: sure. leo parente: ok, we'll doit that way then, ok?
let's start with an importantquestion. the english use themetric system. the americans use theenglish system. a meter is 1.1 yards. aren't you going to beslower in england? ok, next question. you've said that british touringcar is bigger than jesus and the olympics. what gives you the rightto say that?
robb holland: i didn'tsay that. leo parente: you've calledyourself the michael phelps of british touring car? have you the right? robb holland: why am i talkingracing with the guy from american pie? leo parente: those werethings that-- robb holland: i'm goingto call my agent. leo parente: --you said.
what? rob, thank you for putting upwith my bad sense of humor. you know the commenterswill all attack me. thank you for goingalong with that. robb holland: absolutely. leo parente: ok, so let's catcheveryone up to speed. we talked to you before onan earlier shakedown. you went off to snettertonto test. robb holland: i did.
leo parente: it was goingto be your first race. and now we bumped into eachother in mid-ohio. robb holland: inthe rain again. leo parente: yeah,bad, bad, bad. but thank you for coming in. and let's talk a little andcatch everyone up on what's happened and what's going tohappen next with the races. let's talk a littlebit basically. explain to the audience whatis british touring car, the
dunlap msa british touringcar championship. what is it? robb holland: well, it's theoldest touring car series in the world, and obviously,i think, one of the most prestigious. if you look back over the years,the series started in 1965 and has been going prettymuch continuously ever since. and it is basically a seriesof production-based sedans. currently, the rules specifya 2-liter turbo motor.
cars put up around 300horsepower, 325 horsepower. but they're full-blownrace cars underneath. i mean, they're small gt cars. it's fully sequential gearboxes,penske suspensions. they're just absolutemonsters. leo parente: so you've racedworld challenge a lot. you cut your teeth on that. as a matter of fact, you evengot in a car at mid-ohio. leo parente: and it was goinggreat up until the tire
degradation. but i digress. talk to me a little bit aboutthe difference between this car, the btcc car, andthe challenge car. it's more of a racecar, as you said. world challenge carsare great. but they're production-basedcars, and they stay very true to their production roots. there's not a lotof modification.
there are some basic suspensionupgrades, so shocks, springs, sway bars. there's some modificationsto the braking system. that's more of a safety thing,obviously, production breaks-- leo parente: in worldchallenge. robb holland: in worldchallenge, yes. but they do use the pirellislicks in world challenge. going over to the btcc,the cars are basically bespoke cars.
they take the original chassisof a production-based car, and it is completely torn out. there are custom subframe,custom suspension pick-up points. the shocks are rod actuated. they've got dynamic rear toe. i mean, it's the amount ofthings that these cars can do. so it's literally like comparinga street car to a car at le mans.
leo parente: and you can stiffenup a production car. but the race car you're talkingabout is a much more stable platform? robb holland: incrediblystable. i mean, they spend so much timegetting the suspension just right. because obviously, a lot ofthese cars are front-wheel drive cars. and touring car in general isalways really for the most
part, meant a front-wheeldrive car. and there's a lot of things thatfront-wheel drive cars struggle with when you talkabout putting them in a race application. and these teams spend millionsand millions of dollars engineering all of thefront-wheel drive antics out of those cars. leo parente: now you'reracing a honda civic. robb holland: yep.
leo parente: but you're going upagainst toyota avensis, bmw 3 series, plato and the mg6-- robb holland: mg6, yeah. leo parente: --ford focus. proton has a car. audi a4, vauxhall, both avectra and an insignia? robb holland: yes. leo parente: am i gettingit right so far? robb holland: you've prettymuch got it all.
robb holland: yeah,i did the math. and a vw golf. leo parente: but there's twodifferent categories. there's the ngtc, the newgeneration touring car. and this is s2000 specyou're racing? leo parente: but theyboth have the same engine you told me? they both use-- the seriesoverall uses a 2-liter engine. it's a spec 2-liter engine.
the engines can be from theparticular manufacturer. but they have to bea 2-liter turbo. and what they've done is they'vedone-- just the series itself have done an extensiveamounts of engineering to understand the capabilitiesof all the engines. because, as you know, when youget into trying to match different cars, each one has a different performance parameter. so it's very, very difficultfor a series to create cars
that are someone equal,which obviously creates the best racing. so what the british touringcar has done-- toca. they've gone in, measured allthe engines, and then they do an adjustment basedon the lap times. cars obviously have-- different chassis havedifferent performance abilities, whether it'scornering or whatever.
and so what they can do is a carthat maybe struggles a bit in the corner has a littlebit more or a straight-line advantage. so they use lap times tothe balance that out. and they change the booster. leo parente: so the lastrace was croft. and honda civics aredominating now. you're going to be in s2000-spechonda civic. but that raises theexpectations.
everyone around thisprogram are on your side, i'm assuming. robb holland: yeah, well, imean, the big thing is i've got honda on my side. hpd in the us has reallybacked me on this one. lee niffenegger and thoseguys have been awesome. and in fact, they were partof the genesis of a lot of this happening. we had talked to jas abouttheir world touring car
program as well. so lee's been a big backer. hpd has been fantastic. and then i've also gotoakley, which i've been with for years. and they're the bestguys in the world. and then my good guys over atoptima batteries, who i've known through world challenge. but we've done someother stuff.
and they're also workingon this with me, too. so yeah, totally i've gota lot of support. so, yeah, they'll be morethan a few expectations. leo parente: ok so you're racingthe next you races-- snetterton and nokia,august 12th weekend and then august 26th. robb holland: correct. leo parente: so let'sget right to it. because you went to thetest at snetterton.
leo parente: and myunderstanding is it was, what? raining in england? in the uk? robb holland: in the summer. surprise. leo parente: so talk to us alittle bit about the test, maybe if i don't gettoo deep here. start with you've neverbeen to the track. you've never been in this car.
so what were your feelings? what were you thinking? you're sitting in the car andgetting ready to go out the first time? robb holland: well, it's alittle daunting, to be honest. i mean, it's a different car,a new track, a new team. and obviously, being anamerican, the first american in almost 40 years to comeinto british touring car, there was the more-than-casualcuriosity of the british fans.
so there were a lotmore people out there that i was expecting. you do a test in the us, andit's you and your team and the guy who runs the track. and that's about it. there were a few more peoplethan that there. then obviously, in theconditions, the track didn't even go green until almost noon,because they had so much standing water on the track.
because it not had been rainingthat day, but it had been raining for thepast two months. so it wasn't just a littlebit of rain. leo parente: so going off wasgoing to be an adventure. robb holland: going off was--and that's the big thing. going off isn't reallyan option. you're starting off with a newteam, a new series, and all the scrutiny thatgoes with it. and the last thing you wantto do is start off the
relationship by stuffing theircar into the wall and having the mechanics have to workall night to repair it. but you also don'twant to be slow. because these guys have nowinvested in bringing you in. so there is that balance. and as a pro driver, it's justone of those things that you're going to haveto deal with. so it was just more of-- in a way, it was good becausei could use the first couple
laps to figure out wherethe track went. the other thing was it hadrained for the entire two months prior. so that there wasno rain line. because all of the rubberhad gotten washed away. so you could pretty much run anormal line there and still have a fair amount of grip. leo parente: now, it was anopen test, i understand. were there other british touringcar teams there?
or was it just a mix of-- robb holland: originally, therewere supposed to be other british touringcar teams there. but what ended up happening isthat in order to keep costs down, the series basically saysyou're not allowed to test at the tracks that you'regoing to go to until after you've gone to them. they had made an exception in mycase because, obviously, i have never been to thistrack before.
the one thing i discovered aboutgoing over there for the first time is that all of thetracks throughout are 150 miles from each other. leo parente: yeah, it's all-- robb holland: right. so whereas here if i go toroad atlanta, well, road atlanta is five,six hours away. all of these tracks are withina couple of hours. so these guys drive thesetracks all the time.
so they really have a knowledgeof these things. so this series made anexemption for me. so they allowed me togo out and test. there were other ginettacup teams there. there were a bunch of 250ccshifter go-kart guys out there, which were absolutelyinsane. leo parente: how do you findthem in your mirror? robb holland: no, no, no-- different times on track.
they were there. but yeah, otherwise you wouldn'tfind out until after you ran them over, orseveral of them. and then actually, the coolthing was that rob huff, who is a world touring car driver,who has been very successfully competing in the british touringcar for a number of years, was actually pittedthe garage over from us. he was running-- i believe, it was likea '67 camaro, the
old in sunoco livery. leo parente: oh, wow. robb holland: it was-- leo parente: in the uk. robb holland: in the uk. in the uk. so actually it was funny. because when i went out,i went out behind him. and i said, well, that'sthe guy who i want to
follow for a while. and sure enough, i did. so there were few otherguys out there. leo parente: so take usinto the car now. what did it feel like? what were your sensations aboutdriving that civic btcc? robb holland: it's an amazingcar to drive. it's funny. you don't realize, spending somuch time in world challenge
and in a very stock car, howmuch better jumping into a fully prepped race car is. it's just precise. you want there? there's your apex? great. boom, there it goes. it was really a lot of fun. and it was one of those thingsthat three corners into it,
you're like, so happy. really, you say, thisis going to be good. the car itself is great. it's a sequential gearbox,which is fantastic. because it's a right-handdrive car. that was one of the biggestworries is that in a six-speed, you're sitting therewith your left hand going, i don't know whichgear is what. and when you're racing, youcan't have that moment's
hesitation. so then my next big fear wasthat it's a right-hand drive. i've never driven a right-handdrive car on a race course. but it's basically you need tobe here on this particular point in the track. that's where you are. and you don't eventhink about it. so that really becamea non-issue. leo parente: so the prospectivedidn't really
affect you. robb holland: youknow, it didn't. but here's the funny thing isthat the one thing i didn't think of is the mirrors,my rear-view mirror. leo parente: ok. robb holland: from the timeyou get into a car-- leo parente: look left-- robb holland: you lookup like that. there's my mirror--
there are birds in my mirror. and i don't know why. oh, because my mirror's there. and it's one of those thingsi did every single time. every time i went to lookin the mirror, i looked to the right. so that was the one thingit took to get used to. but the car itself was-- it just comes alive the fasteryou drive it, the harder you
lean on it. and it's one of those thingswhere a stock car, when you start leaning harder, eventuallyit just gives up. leo parente: right. robb holland: and this carwas just like, ok, we're not there yet. keep-- and it just feedsyou into going faster. leo parente: did you getsome dry running time? robb holland: we gotdamp running time.
leo parente: damp runningtime, ok. robb holland: how's that? we had enough-- leo parente: were youon dry tires? robb holland: we switchedover to slicks. it was good because therewas a dry line. the only issue was that throughsome of the faster corners, the line hadn'treally developed yet. so it was still slick.
and eventually, you get to thepoint even on a slick where the tire gives up, and thecar will start to wash. and the thing is that there'sa dry line, not a dry line. so the car starts to wash. and as soon as the slicks touchwhere it's more damp offline, the card just skates. leo parente: did youget a feeling-- is this car you tossaggressively to carry speed? or it's smooth aggression?
what works? robb holland: i thinksmooth aggression is going to be like-- i think the car can takewhatever you throw at it. and it's going to be setupthat's going to really determine how you drivethe car or how the car wants to be driven. the amazing thing about thesecars is that they've got a dynamic rear toe, basically.
so the toe link itself is-- it's almost a shock absorberwith preloaded and everything. and what it does is it createsa rear-wheel steer. so once you get therear tires hot-- and the only way to do that isactually rotate the fronts to the rear because the rears willnot get heat in them. otherwise, no matter how hardyou lean on them, you'll actually get a rear toe thatbasically rotates the car through the corner.
so once we did that-- so wehad gone out and done the running in the wet. but obviously, it doesn'treally make a difference there, because there's notenough friction to get the dynamic rear toe to work. but once we went into the dry,we were able to make some adjustments. and i leaned on itthe first time. and it was like, oh,the car rotates.
and then you have to-- it's areadjustment of all of your lines on a track. because you're now turning inearly for everything, because the car turns so well. so after doing that, i wasable to go out and do, i think, a lap, a lap and a halfbefore they had a red flag because the rainhad picked up. leo parente: so somehow i think,if i'm understanding, it takes away the front-drivesensation.
it just becomes aplatform that-- robb holland: well, it's almosta better platform than a rear-wheel drive at thatpoint, because it takes away the negative of a front-wheeldrive. but the great thing about thefront-wheel drive is that the front wheels are pulling youthrough the corners. so it almost has theadvantages of an all-wheel drive. leo parente: are you rootingfor rain or dry?
robb holland: i just spentthe whole weekend in the rain in mid-ohio. no, i think dry. the problem with racing in therain, especially with a bunch of guys that you just don'tknow yet, is that you just don't know who you can trust. and the margins becomeso much smaller. and we're really looking for aclean race and really just to go in and really get afeel for the series.
so i think in the dry,it's going to be a little bit more sane. leo parente: so you schooled meon the fact that the s2000 spec has smaller tiresthan the ngtc. so now we're talking about howthe car corners and handles and does those things andgetting temperatures. are you doing some tiremanagement in an s2000? leo parente: much morethan the ngtc. how does that affectyour race?
robb holland: well,in both ways. because like you were saying,the smaller tire, because of the smaller volume, getsheat in it quicker. so actually, at the start of therace, the s2000 cars have a little bit of an advantagein the sense that our tires are going to be up to pressureand temperatures much quicker. so it's one of those things. it's attack at the beginning. but 75% of the way through therace that balance shifts back
over to the ngtc carswith bigger tires. that'll have-- they reallydon't have as much tire management. the other big thing is,obviously, with a front-wheel drive car, you're putting power through the front wheels. so you're burning up the tiresat a little bit faster rate, because of your corneringforces and also the acceleration forces.
so there is going tobe some management. and the tough part is iprobably won't get a race-distance session so ican understand where that balance comes in. so i'm going to probably haveto play it a little conservative at the beginning. but that's not reallymy nature. so we'll have to see. leo parente: is the team--
have you already figuredout, are they all talkers on the radio? or they just let youdo your thing? robb holland: no, they'vebeen really good. dave, my crew chief, used to beone of the crew guys, one of the top crew guys for aaa. so he's been with the best guys,and he understands what the driver needs. i'm not a big talker on theradio, especially with a bunch
of new guys. you're really tryingto absorb. you're trying to be asponge right now. and the last thing you wantto do is have a 20-minute conversation with your engineerabout how the car's feeling in the middleof the race. but we did great as faras debriefs and stuff. we really were onthat same page. he understands that there'sthings that the drivers want
that the engineers mightnot quite get. and that's really importantfor me. leo parente: so the last timeyou were on here, i got you to pledge to take us throughthe debrief session. leo parente: i don't want totrade or share secrets. but let's do thata little bit. so you ran a session or two,came in and sat down with dave, i'm assuming. leo parente: talk to us.
take us through the debrief. like put us in theroom with you. how did that progress? what happened? get out of the car-- robb holland: well, firsti stopped smiling. so that was the first thing. but then they really want toknow what my first sensations or what my first impressions arebecause usually those are
the most important. is the car too loose? how's the braking? so we sat down and really-- leo parente: very qualitativedriver feel things. but mainly it's ageneral feel. here's my overall impression. but then let's startbreaking it down. turn one, what didturn one do?
what was it loose? where was it loose,if it was loose? was it entry? was it mid-corner? was it exit? and so we basically walkedthrough corner by corner. one of the things that imentioned on my initial feedback was i wasnot getting-- i tried to get lock-up out ofthe brakes, just to see what
the level of grip wasbecause it was wet. and i wasn't able to lock-up. and i was pushing harderand harder and waiting. and they said, no. the way they've sized the mastercylinders is the master cylinder is small so thatthere's a low level of force on the brakes. so you could really nail 'emand not get any lock-up. so that basically then changeda whole bunch of things going
out for session number two. because it really allows you touse the brakes a lot more. because i've been driving carsfor years with abs now because they're stock-based cars. leo parente: and there'sno abs on them. robb holland: there's no abs. so that's the-- you're kindof like, ok, where's the lock-up for it? leo parente: did youlike it better?
robb holland: i can'tstand abs. i really can't. abs doesn't stop you quicker. leo parente: i'm rightthere with you. it basically allows you tocontrol the car, but i don't need that. i want the car to do whati want it to do. and abs it doesn't allow that. and even in the rain in mid-ohiothis weekend, it was
one of those things that my feelis more important than what the computer says. so they haven't gottenthat good yet. leo parente: now when youstarted this feeling of the car, was there any databeing introduced? or was it was just listeningto you describe? robb holland: initially,it's just listening. i mean, part of the issue thatwe had is that because of the rain, we really didn't get ontrack until late in the today,
which was unexpected. and then on top of that, they,because there were other cars there, they shortenedeveryone's sessions. so we were only getting20-minute sessions. and then on top of that, whichwas very surprising, is that there were a lot ofcars going off. so there, we'd get in fiveminutes into a session-- red flag. and then that was the session.
it wasn't like they said, redflag, and just give us a minute, and we'll go get it. it's red flag, just go back tothe pits, and wait for your next session. so i think we got 15, 16 laps inpretty much the whole day. so the problem is-- and then theconditions were changing throughout the day. and as a lot of places in theuk, the rain stops, but the wind keeps going.
so the tracks dry outvery quickly. so the conditions, even in asession, you'll come through one lap, it's completely wet. it stops raining. the wind goes, and it's drier. so it's really, the data wasreally tough that day. leo parente: so backto the debrief. once we got through thequalitative part, was there a discussion of what changesto make to either
the car or your driving? or what happened next? robb holland: yeah, that'swhen the track actually started to go dry. that's when we reallycould start figuring some more stuff out. and that's when we switchtires front to rear. they would start talking aboutthe dynamic of the rear-wheel steer and how one, i useit, but also how, two,
i adjust for it. because believe it or not, ina front-wheel drive car, you can be too loose, especiallywith the rear wheel steering you into the corner. and because the rear toesare adjustable, you can actually use that. leo parente: so how do youdrive it differently? robb holland: i've always liketo call it pitch and catch. you pitch the car into thecorner, the rear wheel comes
around, and you catch itwith the throttle. and you're basically justaiming for-- the front wheels-- for whereyou want to go. the issue with that,though, is that that's always been with-- the way we've really doneit in the us is just reduce rear grip. this is different. this is actually you havefull rear grip.
and the rear wheel is actually--the rears are actually steering youinto the corner. so it's a littlebit different. and it takes a littlebit to get used to. and i think it's going to bea lot better once i do. the harder parts are goingto be when you're racing. when you really get in there,you're trail-breaking it hard, trying to stuff it up theinside, and the rears are steering you in.
there's no real way toget out of that. because the rears are actuallysteering you. so that's going to be somethingto try to get used. so we might downplay that fora bit and maybe do a little change in toe or something. leo parente: does it become--and then i'll drop it after this. does it become a platformmanagement? like you feel the car rotating,and then you've got
to put the weight whereyou want it? robb holland: yeah,i mean, you do. the thing is that those slickshave so much grip that they overcome a lot of whatyou can try to do. so once it starts to steer youinto the corner, you're just hanging on for the ride. leo parente: or committed. robb holland: yes, orvery committed. so it's unique.
and it's just definitelysomething as a driver you just have to adapt to and then learn to use to your advantage. leo parente: what happenednext in the debrief? did they start to go throughthe predictive of lap? or data of the car? what happened next? robb holland: we startlooking at data. once again, it's tough becauseevery lab was different.
i was picking up a second a lap,one, because of the rain, but then two, becauseof my learning the track and the car. leo parente: and did they have abaseline from their previous experience that theywere using? or was it just so a andb different that-- robb holland: well,a little bit. i mean, that's actually onething i've requested for the race is to try to get gordonsheddon's data from last year
because i don't havea teammate. and that, as you know, isimportant that you can-- i can be way off througha corner. oh, that corner's flat. and i'm still-- because it'snew to me, ok, i'm half throttle, 3/4 throttle, andeventually i work up to it. but if i know in advance, oh,yeah, it's flat then it becomes a lot quicker. leo parente: here comes myteammate, start of debrief.
robb holland: ok. leo parente: so and it's true. so the teammate and i walkedinto the engineer's room. and he turns to my teammateand says, drop your suit. drop your pants. the guy looked athim, like, what? he said, well, i'm lookingat the data. i want to see if youhave any balls. robb holland: fortunately forme, my engineers have never
said that to me. so we're good to go. leo parente: i wouldn'thave thought so. if i forced you to pick onething you think the car does best, what would it be? robb holland: everything. leo parente: really? robb holland: it'sjust such a-- leo parente: and youmean that by--
robb holland: i mean that byit's just such a different car than the touring carsi've driven. 2004 2005, the touring cars inworld challenge were great. they were very similarto that. and those cars were alot of fun to drive. these cars are that. and that's the thing is thatfor the past three or four years, i've been more inproduction-based cars. so jumping into this car again,i mean, that's why i
said i came out of this car witha huge smile on my face. because it's just like, i nowhave this huge set of tools to be able to use. it's like, ok, thiscar does this. and now i can use that. because i've had to manipulatethe car to get the car to do it--- my teammate used to say, circustrick the car in order to get through the corner.
and now i can actuallyuse the car. so it's just-- the handing, i think for me,is the biggest thing. leo parente: well, and i'massuming that's going to give you more room toactually race. robb holland: oh, absolutely. leo parente: because you'renot working for the car. robb holland: well the thingis, even as a good driver, when you are tricking the car todo something, you're really
not 100% sure what you'regoing to get. like, yes, i-- leo parente: shh! don't tell everyone that. robb holland: ok, sorry. cut. no, but you're-- leo parente: but yeah,i hear you. robb holland: but you'rereally not.
i mean, it's a wingand a prayer. yeah, i'm going to throw the carin, and i know it's going to slide this much. but it could slide that much. and if it does, then i'm goingto hit the guy next to me. and these cars are alot more precise. so the thing about that isthat if i hit some in the btcc, it's because i mean to. leo parente: and i'veseen those races.
and i think the feeling ismutual for those guys. leo parente: now, correctme on this, because i really am vague. i think that british touringcars in the us are on some type of recap programmingon speed? robb holland: on thespeed channel. robb holland: usuallyin january was where it was last year. hopefully, now there's anamerican in the series.
they might try to put a littlemore focus on it. but we'll see. leo parente: so if we need tofollow you in august, we've got to find some kid to teachus how to torrent or do whatever the hell i'm supposedto do to find it. robb holland: yeah, thereare a couple ways. leo parente: ok, good. robb holland: i think peoplecan research on the web. itv4 in the uk is thesatellite company.
and they have a internet feed, alive internet broadcast, six hours of coverageevery sunday. so there's a 30-minutesprint rush, the 30-minute sprint race. and then there'ssupport series. our 30-minute sprint race,support series. and then our lastrace of the day. leo parente: are you going tobe staying in the uk through the knockhill scotland,the snetterton?
robb holland: i'm goingto be over there. i actually have to go to germanyto do some stuff with audi at the nurburgring. and then i come back. so my vacation from btcc is togo play at the nurburgring with the audi tt-rsvln spec car. leo parente: well, lifecould be tougher. leo parente: yeah. so you've i'm goingto use your word.
you've made a point not to makethis an american in the uk circus trick. but what has the media done? how has the media reactedto all this? robb holland: unbelievable. i didn't expect this. i mean, this for mewas something i've always wanted to do. i started off racing prettymuch because of the btcc.
i mean, looking at back in thesuper touring car days, that was just the best cars,the best racing, and-- i thought-- the best drivers. and i said, this is somethingthat i want to go do. and that's how i gotinto racing. so for me, this is somethingthat i've always wanted to go do. i did not know that i was goingto be the first american
in almost 40 years to racein the series until i was notified after i had signedthe contract. and when the press picked itup, it just went nuts. we made our press releaseon wednesday. and in between wednesday andfriday, i had probably done 20 interviews. and there were reportersat the test. this is a local test. i mean, this is like if youhave your crew guy there,
that's probably the biggestcheering section you've got. and we had reporters. and everyone's gotstopwatches. and then i've pretty much donean interview a day, pretty much since we madethe announcement. the funny thing is that thelast guy i just did an interview with said, so howdo you feel with all this attention focused on you? are you going to havea problem with that?
and i went, what attention? really, don't jinx this. so it's really been nuts. the other funny thing is thatthey're all surprised. they all, why would youcome to be btcc? and you go, well, why wouldn'ti want to come? they don't understand that theway they feel about btcc in the uk, the die-hard racing fansaround the world see it the same way.
leo parente: not to becontroversial, do you think they think of american racersas something less than the uk-experienced driver? robb holland: i think that'sa general thing. i don't think it's uk. i think it's europe-us. and i think europe sees usas nascar, and that's it. and frankly, they don't thinka lot of nascar drivers. but you put jeff gordonin a car.
you put kyle busch in a car. you put-- i mean, those guysare good drivers. you put them in anything, aformula one car, a touring car, they're going to go fast. they're going to figureout a way to go. and i think that's alwaysthe way it is. i think part of that isbecause americans have struggled over in europebecause it's a
whole culture thing. and fortunately, for me, i spenta lot of my time growing up in europe. so for me, i feel verycomfortable over there. so there isn't thathuge shift. leo parente: lasttwo questions. what do you have left todo to adapt to getting this car to go quick? robb holland: couplemore sessions.
give me dry sessions. give me an hour in the carwhere i can really start making some changes. because that's the big thing. right now we're using a setupthat they used last year for gordon sheddon. and i don't know gordon. i haven't met him yet. other than watching him on tv,i haven't seen him drive.
so it's very difficult to knowif that's the style of car that i'm really looking for. so until then, you really can'tget that last tenth of a second out of the car. so give me a couple sessions. give me a-- dave and i will sit down and dosome debriefs, and i think we'll come up with a fast car. leo parente: and the car hasenough adjustability to adapt?
robb holland: it's amazing. that was my big worry. coming in, you just look at allthe things you can adjust. and we're going, ok, well,we're going start-- well, the big thing is thatwe've got a good base. the guys last year, obviously,they won the championship in the car. so we've got a good baseand working on that. leo parente: so project yourselfto the start of that
first race, august 12th? leo parente: you'vedone the session. you've done your qualifying. you probably have a sense ofwhere you're going to go. i'm not going to pin you downon your expectations. robb holland: thanks. leo parente: but what is goingto be going through your head and helmet on the grid gettingready for the grid. robb holland: hopefullynot my lunch.
leo parente: yeah,there you go. robb holland: no, it's fun. because i'm excited. i'm not nervous. i'm excited. and i think the one ability ihave, and i think at lot of other race car drivers haveit, the ability to compartmentalize things. you throw out the media.
you throw out the fans. you throw out all the peoplethat have come up over the past few weeks and pattedme on the back. because i think if you try tokeep all that with you, it just becomes overwhelming. and you can't focus on thejob that you have to do. so for me, it's just basicallyit's going to be just like a world challenge race. it's the red lights.
when they go out, i go fast. that's it. leo parente: do you think,first turn, and then connect the dots. or do you have a visionof the entire race? i know it's unpredictable. but how do you think? robb holland: and the funnything is that's the way i normally see it.
the way i normally look at itis ok, i know the track. here's what normally happens. yeah, the inside line'sthe fast lane. or the outside line's the fastlane because the inside line gets backed up. and then you think aboutthree or four laps. and then you say, ok,let's see how everything settles out. and then we'll run the race.
but here i don't know. it's all unknown. it's all new. i mean, yes, i knowthe circuit. yeah, i can kind of see howturns one, two, three, four might play out. but you're dealing with all newcars, a whole new set of cast of characters. so really it is that'sthe big unknown.
leo parente: two racesper weekend? robb holland: threeraces per weekend. leo parente: three racesper weekend. robb holland: you have a30-minute sprint, which is set-- the grid's setby qualifying. another 30-minute sprint, thegrid is set by the finishing order of race one. and then the last is another30-minute sprint. and the finishing order thereis the finishing order--
i'm sorry, the starting orderthere is the finishing order of race two, but they havean inversion process. so between four and 10, theywill pick a number and invert those cars. yes, i understand asa racer, hey, look, this where i finish. this is where i start. let's just go. but i also think that one,it creates great racing.
and at the end of the day,we're entertainers. that's what the fansare there to see. leo parente: i understand. robb holland: they're thereto see good racing. but it's also the rulesof the series. and i think that you can't justhave the fastest car now, and say, ok, i qualifyon pole. win the first two races. and then because i won to firsttwo, i get to pole the
third and then go. you have to be ableto pass people. and i think that addssomething to it. leo parente: well, regardless ofwhat happens, and i'm sure it's going to be good, you'regoing to have stories. robb holland: i will havestories, lots of them. leo parente: we're goingto have you back. i'm looking forward to it. thanks, leo.
leo parente: good luck. best on you. [music playing]
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