Freke Calls it a Day
Tight budget sidelines promising Tuscan Racer
Nathan Freke had his 3rd outing in the TVR Tuscan Challenge at Snetterton last weekend and due to funding difficulties it will have been his last for the forseeable future.
Nathan was plagued with mechanical troubles all weekend in the Pete Osborne owned Tuscan. Running on an absolute shoestring budget Nathan struggled with the ill handling car in all test sessions and the races.
Timed qualifying was ended prematurely by a punctured radiator after 3 laps, but he still posted a time good enough for 8th place on the grid for the first race. A good start in the race was hampered by a car in front which was slow away and Nathan had to take to the grass to avoid a collision. Running in 7th and slightly behind the main pack he was circulating at the same speed as the 3 cars in front but unable to make any inroads towards them, not helped by an oil slick laid down by Phil Keen's expiring engine. Looking safe for 6th, disaster struck on the last lap when he rolled into the pits having lost all drive with a broken rear drive shaft, and a non finish.
Having worked on the car himself all weekend to keep the cost of the meeting down, nathan now had to replace the drive shaft to enable him to compete in the 2nd race, this was completed an he took his place at the back of the grid. A poor start followed by some hard work saw him claw his way up to 8th place when the car slowed down to return to pits with the rear brakes in flames and another non finish.
The descision has been taken by Nathan and Century Motorsport that he will not race in the Tuscan again this year unless suitable funding can be found.
In a statement, Nathan thanked his supporters to date: Silverstone TVR, Pete Osborne, Greg Lun - Motion TVR / Newlun Design, Tim Hood, Tony Hughes - Truckcare, Craig Ferguson - Elite Signs, Richard Francis - Racing Dick, all of whom have helped without any form of recompense for their services.
Link : www.century-karting.co.uk
A PH sponsored Challenge car ??? 
Simon.J said:
If it wasnt for lack of funding and backing im sure many more aspiring drivers would be filling up the grids...
Simon.J
To right, I was tempted but even scrimping on tyres ect and i was looking at 50k !!!!
the car at 10-15k is the cheap bit... and even the engine lease isnt that bad.. but its tyres and repairs that are the killer...
racingdick said:Doesn't have to be - there are other series that have equal profile to the Tuscans (although not on here obviously
Hopefully it wont be a case of hidden talent being wasted... Again!
) that can be competed in for a fraction of the costs. They won't have everything that makes the TVR a special series (afterall, there is a reason why people make the huge sacrifices that they do to race a Tuscan), but they may have benefits that even the challenge can't compete with.
Even though it is a dream to race with the Tuscans, I think that if you are trying to build a career, it would possibly be better to choose a series (especially one that is at the same meetings) that your budget will get you through the whole season.
hedgetrimmer said:
I think it could be up to 16 if everyone comes out to play. Such a shame about Nathan Freke. Looked promising for some good racing to come. They worked damned hard on the car all weekend at Snetterton too and it wasn't lack of enthusiasm that stopped them.
To mount a serious challenge Nathan needs around £30K. His contact details are on the Century website.
regards
James
Nathan is a very quick driver (mind you he has 10 years of karting under his belt), but he's in the same boat as everyone else in terms of raising funds.
He went into it without sufficient funding, so him dropping out is hardly a surprise.
(P.S. - hats off to Nathan for putting in 1.11 laps at Snett. The suspension set up on that car was clearly way off - see the photo on Ted's Snett report, the car is dragging its @rse on the ground)
Ahh - edited to say, I see what you mean. Sponsoring me!! Doh!! I thought you meant was I suggesting there were buckets of money out there for potential racers to access
Its that kind of vision and ability to quickly and accurately process information that has made me the Tuscan legend I am today You can't do the Tuscans with no budget. Nathan has done well to do three rounds when he really didn't have the funding to do one round properly. And he has performed incredibly well on track too.
The biggest battle is raising the money. It always will be.
I don't know what efforts Nathan is making to raise sponsorship, but he should get his website updated for a start.
P.S. I have no budget left either. But I'll find a way of staying out there. It would help if no-one else drove into me for the rest of the season
Messrs Woodbridge, Hay and Ross >> Edited by griff2be on Thursday 10th June 12:59
griff2be said:And on that note - congratulations on being the only (very shortly to become one of two
I don't know what efforts Nathan is making to raise sponsorship, but he should get his website updated for a start.
) sites on the net having the timetable up for the weekend after next's racing. Here if anybody else has been looking for it.
daydreamer said:
I don't know what efforts Nathan is making to raise sponsorship, but he should get his website updated for a start.
And on that note - congratulations on being the only (very shortly to become one of two
Here if anybody else has been looking for it.
Shucks, you're too kind
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