News

Team Aero Racing "A New Name And A New Face"

Tuesday 19th July 2005






We haven't finished with news items from the British GT Media Day at Silverstone on Wednesday: there are several more items to come. Sebring, and a touch of editorial 'flu, have meant that it's taken us a little longer than usual to get everything posted.

With the ‘retirement’ of Rob Wells at the end of 2004, Team Aero Lewis is now known as Team Aero Racing and the team has upped sticks to Welwyn Garden City (from Potters Bar). Remarkably, the team is now even smaller than last season, comprising of just the two drivers and two mechanics. Billy Bellinger is the man preparing and looking after the car between races, while Ian Grimes will be returning to help out at the meetings.
Keith Ahlers returns from a winter break that included skiing trips to California and Austria (and also a trip to Australia to watch the F1 race), eager to carry on from where he left off last year. The last three races of 2004 saw the team secure three podium places; a feat which indicated that the woes of earlier in the year had finally been banished.So has the Morgan changed much since Bahrain? “It’s got a new windscreen and paint job, but that’s about it,” said Keith. “We didn’t get the car back (from Bahrain) until mid-January, so there’s been no time to do anything else. Today’s the first time we’ve tested this year and we’ve got a day at Snetterton before the first race, so we’ll be ready.”

Sadly absent from the Team Aero lineup this year is Aaron Scott. “The seat was his up until a fortnight ago,” explained Keith, “but the sponsors he was talking to didn’t write the cheques and I had to look elsewhere.” Aaron was present at the media day, looking for potential outings to dovetail with his Britcar commitments (see separate story). In his place will be another young driver, Oliver Bryant.

Despite clocking in at just 19 years of age, Oliver is no newcomer to motorsport. “I raced an MGB in the Eden Conservatories MG TEAM championship (in the UK and France) last year and won all five races – that was great fun,” explained the Marlow resident. “I’ve raced against Keith in the Morgan Challenge and I also raced a 1964 AC Cobra in the Gentleman Drivers Championship, winning at Spa and Estoril.”
As if that was not enough, Oliver Bryant also races a DB5 in Historic racing and has just returned from racing the Cobra in South Africa. Mondello in a Morgan Aero 8 is unlikely to hold any terrors for this young man.

Despite his Historic racing, Donington in April will not see Oliver Bryant’s GT debut. That came in Bahrain last November, when he received a last minute invitation to race a Lamborghini Diablo for the RSG team, finishing fifth in class in the final. We'll bring you an image of the young man at the first race, at Donington Park.

After the trials of the 2004 Cup campaign, the signs are that 2005 will see Team Aero Racing’s Morgan back at the front where it deserves to be.
Mark Howson

Popular News Post Tags