So hi I'm Rob Austin I need Yeti Tool because it's becoming apparent to me that I only have
a finite number of fingers. There you go, you can use that, now let's do it.
Hi I'm Rob Austin and I'm working with speedworks motorsport which
this year will be entering the British Touring Car Championship as Toyota Gazoo racing in uk.
I am their driver coach and I manage some of the sponsorship deals within the team.
My history with British Touring Car Racing is I came into the championship in 2011, and I raced
in it for eight years, multiple race winner, and then one year I had a, I had a little girl
my priorities changed and now I'm the other side of the of the fence and actually quite enjoying it
The British Touring Car Championship is the UK's premier motorsport. It's known for being close,
hard fought, rubbing's racing you know we like to get stuck in. Toyota Gazoo Racing with Speed Works
this year are, they were the second highest point scorer during the second half of last
year with Rory Butcher and should be looking to challenge for the championship this year.
Smartbench came to my attention when a friend of mine came across it
on facebook. He sent me the link and after looking through the extensive videos that are
available on youtube from Yeti Tool it looked like a really good product.
Space-wise it was compact and the ability to cut a full 4x8 sheet without
requiring a 60/70 grand CNC was really appealing.
This year we're going to be using it to make the splitters for the touring cars. They go through,
well if you're Rory you'll go through six a weekend, one per session. Obviously they are
a consumable item on the car so, but they need to be very precise. It's surprising how often I get
asked about the splitter. People are surprised to see is that plywood? But it's actually quite
trick ply, it's definitely more expensive than just run-of-the-mill ply from a local hardware
shop. It's phenolic ply and obviously it's uh precision cut. Each car will go through
15 to 20 splitters, including some wear and testing so you'll go through more at some
circuits and then obviously it depends on how your racing's going. British Touring Car is known
for a bit of a bit of argy-bargy and sometimes the splitters are victims so it gets changed.
My experience of operating CNC machinery hands-on is none. So it's quite intimidating but yeah it's
so intuitive it's like using your phone, very easy to use. The interface is really good and
now we've done one cut. I'm uh not nervous at all about you know taking on other projects with it.
Over the years running teams and being involved in motorsport my whole life yeah I've had some
experience along the way with CAD design software and stuff. VCarve is new to me so I'm learning
that but um I've got a decent teacher so I'm sure I'll get to grips with it pretty quick.
So obviously it's the product that initially drew me to Yeti Tool. I think it's a fantastic design
and the way the X-axis clamps together I think it's really really clever. But
off the back of that just seeing all the videos that you've got available I think
I think that's really actually quite unique. There's no one else who is giving a proper video
guide like that. Then you look further into it and realise it's nearly entirely you know sourced and
made in the UK which is again is a nice feature especially in current times. The splitter is
massively important. We’re nowhere near formula one levels of downforce, but because our grid
is so insanely closely fought, if you can gain an extra tenth that could be several positions.
So the more of that lead edge of the splitter we've got exposed the more downforce we're going
to generate from it. However our regulations determine how far out that can be. So if we're
conservative and stay within the rules we lose time, if we go over the rules we're kicked out
so it's really important that it is precise and right on that limit of legality and accurate yeah.
So having the Smart Bench will be a considerable saving for the team financially. It will mean they
can do an extra test day or two uh getting a bit more R&D into the car and help them win the races.