Mike Newton

Mike Newton at the Spa-Francorchamps 1000km race in 2009

Mike Newton in the RML MG-Lola EX264 in 2005

Mike Newton in the 2008 RML MG-Lola EX265C at the 2008 Silverstone 1000km race

Mike Newton in Coyote CC / 08 with the number 51, drives for the introductory lap at Daytona 2008

Mike Newton (born April 14, 1960 in Manchester , England ) is an English entrepreneur and racing car driver .

Working life

In 1982 Mike Newton founded Dedicated Micros to develop, manufacture and sell video surveillance systems . In 1997, the parent company AD Holdings Plc was founded and Mike Newton took over the management. With 2003 sales of £ 73 million, it is one of the largest companies in the video surveillance industry.

Racing career

Beginnings in motorsport

Mike Newton began his motorsport career in 1985 with the participation in races of the Formula Ford 1600 Championship. In 1995 he finished second in the Championship of the Champion of Outlan. In 1996 and 1997 he achieved a placement in the top four. At the same time, he started in various hill climbs and national sprint races with an MG. In addition, several years Newton was as from 1987 marshals active.

FIA-GT

In 2003 Newton switched to the FIA GT , where he met Thomas Erdos , with whom he shared a vehicle more often from now on. There they drove a Saleen S7R for Graham Nash Motorsport . The best result of the driver pairing was two fourth places in the 500 km races in Donington and Oschersleben . In addition, both of them drove, reinforced by Pedro Chaves and Miguel Ramos , in the 24-hour race of Spa-Francorchamps and achieved fifth place in their class. The following year, both Newton and Erdos switched to RML and competed for another season on a Saleen S7-R. The best result in the 2004 season was a sixth place on the Circuit Ricardo Tormo . At the 24-hour race in Spa they drove together with Miguel Ramos and Chris Goodwin , who had previously driven the second Saleen S7-R from RML in the championship. The car broke down halfway through the race with an engine failure. Erdos collected a total of 16.5 points and was twelfth in the drivers' championship at the end of the season. Then he and Erdos finally moved to the Le Mans Series.

Le Mans Series

In 2003, in addition to his involvement in the FIA ​​GT, Newton competed in Ray Mallock's team at the 1000 km Le Mans race. Together with Thomas Erdos and Chris Goodwin, he drove an MG-Lola EX257 , but could not finish the race due to a gearbox failure. The individual race in November 2004 led to the Le Mans Endurance Series , in which he competed again with Erdos in the EX257. During the season, Newton consistently collected points and finished the championship in fifth place in the LMP1 category. The next year he and Erdos stayed in the series, but switched to the small prototype class LMP2 with the new MG-Lola EX264 . The duo finished the 1000 km race in Istanbul as class winners, and they also finished on the podium in two of the five championship races. However, they beat competitor Gareth Evans and Chamberlain-Synergy Motorsport by one point each in the team and driver championship. A year later, Newton only just lost the title. At the 1000 km race in Jarama, his vehicle crashed a few minutes before the end of the race with an engine failure. Juan Barazi and Michael Vergers had one finish enough to relegate Newton and Erdos to second place in the 2006 season . Despite a class win and another podium finish, the duo were missing two points in the drivers 'and teams' championships in the LMP2 category. In the 2007 Le Mans Series season , the tide turned in favor of Erdos and Newton. Although the team did not compete at the Mil Milhas in Interlagos , he and Erdos won the LMP2 drivers' championship. At the end of the season, he had two class wins in the 1000 km races in Spa and at the Nürburgring. In addition, the team collected a total of 36 points in three other races. In order to continue to compete for a class victory, RML switched to an expansion stage of the previous year's car for the 2008 season . Compared to the Porsche RS Spyder, however, the MG-Lola EX265 did not prove to be sufficiently competitive. Although the team consistently finished all races among the best six LMP2 cars, they lost the championship prematurely to Jos Verstappen . Therefore, team owner Ray Mallock decided to use a closed prototype for the last 1000 km race of the season in Silverstone. After the end of the season, the team separated from the engine supplier MG and switched to the Japanese manufacturer Mazda . RML ended its engagement with MG after six years. Newton stated that it was mainly MG's lack of support that led to the separation. The choice of the aggregate ultimately turned out to be the wrong decision. In the five championship races of the 2009 season, he and Erdos only finished two races without engine damage. The engine could not cope with the gasoline additives that were changed at the beginning of the season. Although the driver duo finished the last championship run in Silverstone on the podium of the LMP2, the team collected more penalty points than counters due to the multiple engine changes and therefore ended the year at the bottom of the class. Like all other Mazda-AER customer teams, RML also switched to another engine supplier for the 2010 season. In contrast to the competition, however, the team concluded a contract with the manufacturer Honda, which had previously mainly used the engine under the name Acura in the Acura ARX-01 . Newton and Erdos were also supported by Andy Wallace until the middle of the season. Then Ben Collins took over from Wallace. The trio finished all championship races in points, and the team also won the 1000 km race in Algarve. The continuity earned him and Erdos again the title of LMP2 champions of the series at the end of the year.

Le Mans 24 hour race

In 2003 Newton competed in the Le Mans 24-hour race for the first time . He, Pedro Chaves and Thomas Erdos were registered in the GTS class on a Saleen S7-R from Graham Nash Motorsport , but retired early in the race with an engine failure. In 2004 Erdos, Newton and Nathan Kinch drove a Le Mans prototype for RML . The team started the race from 13th position on the grid, but had to give up the race prematurely with major engine damage. As in the Le Mans Series, Erdos and Newton drove an MG-Lola EX264 in the small prototype class at Le Mans in 2005. The duo was supported by Warren Hughes . On his first finish in three years, he drove to class victory in the LMP2 and 20th overall. In 2006 Newton and Erdos defended the result together with Andy Wallace . The trio finished eighth overall, Newton's second class win and the best overall result ever. In the following two years, the successful driver trio from 2006 remained unchanged, but the result could not be repeated. While the EX264 had to be abandoned in the 2007 race due to a piston damage, his teammate Erdos collided with Greg Pickett's Lola B07 / 10 on the fourth lap in 2008 . The mechanics were able to repair the ailing car and send Andy Wallace back on the track. Nevertheless, Wallace pitted again after a few laps and Ray Mallock withdrew the car from the race. For the race in the following year, the driver pairing was slightly changed, instead of Wallace, Chris Dyson took the wheel of the Lola Coupé with a Mazda engine. The trio of drivers was in fourth place in the LMP2 class until Sunday morning, but had to park the vehicle early after an engine failure on lap 273. After Newton was out for three years in a row, he was able to show a finish again in 2010 with a podium in the LMP2 category.

Daytona 24 hour race

Together with Tom Herridge , Chris Ellis and Marco Attard , Newton took part in the Daytona 24-hour race in 2002 , but was unable to finish the race in the eighth hour after an accident with his Porsche 996 GT3-R . At the end of the Grand Am season he started again in Daytona. In the 3-hour race, he won the GTS category with a Saleen S7-R. The next outing at Daytona followed in 2003. He drove a Porsche 996 GT3-R together with Rob Wilson , David Gooding and Martyn Konig . However, the vehicle had an engine failure after 211 laps and retired. The following year he rode a Doran JE4 for Michael Shank Racing . Newton did this first job in a Daytona prototype alongside Thomas Erdos, Kelly Collins and Cort Wagner . He finished the race in seventh place overall, while the team just missed a podium in the DP class. In the following year Erdos and Newton competed together again. As in the previous year, both drove a Doran JE4, but were reinforced in 2005 by Burt and Brian Frisselle . After 523 laps, the gearbox of the Doran used by Synergy Motorsport went on strike , so that the team had to give up the car. Newton took a break in 2006 and drove for Cheever Racing the following year . In addition to Newton, Thomas Erdos, Eddie Cheever jr. and Harrison Brix in the steering wheel of the Fabcar FDSC / 03 . After driving 579 laps, the team finished the race in 18th place in the DP class. Also in 2008 Newton and Erdos competed in America . Newton started the race on the Coyote CC / 08 and later handed it over to Erdos, who had to park the vehicle on the 49th lap with a major engine failure.

statistics

successes

• 2005: LMP2 class winner in the Le Mans 24-hour race
• 2006: LMP2 class winner in the Le Mans 24-hour race
• 2007: Le Mans Series driver and team champion of the LMP2
• 2010: Le Mans Series driver and team champion of LMP2

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
2003	Graham Nash Motorsport	Saleen S7R	Thomas Erdos	Pedro Chaves	failure	engine
2004	RML	MG-Lola EX257	Thomas Erdos	Nathan Kinch	failure	engine
2005	RML	MG-Lola EX264	Thomas Erdos	Warren Hughes	Rank 20 and class win
2006	RML	MG-Lola EX264	Thomas Erdos	Andy Wallace	Rank 8 and class win
2007	RML	MG-Lola EX264	Thomas Erdos	Andy Wallace	failure	piston
2008	RML	MG-Lola EX265	Thomas Erdos	Andy Wallace	failure	accident
2009	RML	Lola B08 / 86	Thomas Erdos	Chris Dyson	failure	engine
2010	RML	Lola B08 / 80	Thomas Erdos	Andy Wallace	Rank 8
2011	RML	HPD ARX-01d	Thomas Erdos	Ben Collins	Rank 12

Web links

Commons : Mike Newton  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Le Mans Series Yearbook 2009 p. 162
2. ↑ Harald Gallinnis: http://www.gt-eins.at/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3257&Itemid=1 as of November 6, 2008
3. ↑ Harald Gallinnis: http://www.gt-eins.at/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4284&Itemid=2