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Scott Dennis – SEAT UK Motorsports & Events Manager
Scott has been involved
in the motor industry for 21 years,
having sold his first car at the
age of 17. Originally from Bedford,
Scott worked as a Sales Manager and
then General Manager in various car
dealerships in Northampton before
joining SEAT UK in 1997 as a Regional
Marketing Manager. His eye for detail
made him ideal for implementing the
brand's corporate identity and he
quickly climbed through the SEAT
UK's ranks, working as Dealer Communications
Manager, National Communications
Manager being involved in SEAT
UK 's successful television and print
advertising campaigns. As SEAT Sport
UK's motorsport programme expanded,
Scott took over the new position
of SEAT UK Motorsports & Events
Manager in 2003, taking overall responsibly
for both the SEAT Cupra Championship
and the BTCC programmes. Scott's
fresh and innovative approach has
seen SEAT set new standards of presentation
in the paddock, while the experienced
motorsport team he has helped build
ensure the cars are competitive on
the circuit.
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Grant Clearwater – SEAT Sport UK Joint Team Principal
Grant and Ian Fisher set
up a new motorsport preparations
company called Northern South in
March 2000. The company's name relates
to their place of birth, and with
Grant coming from Gore on New Zealand
's South Island, the formation of
Northern South brought together over
30 years of motorsport experience
from both Northern and Southern Hemispheres.
Today Northern South trades as SEAT
Sport UK, and plays a pivotal role
in the manufacturer's BTCC programme.
Grant raced karts and single seaters
in his youth and still races a historic
Zephyr whenever time allows. He is
a NZ ‘A' Grade Qualified Technician
by trade, and, since the age of 18,
has acquired a huge amount of experience
in a wide variety of motorsport arenas,
including manufacturer work in the
World Rally Championship and on the
Paris-Dakar. Grant is also in overall
charge of all technical matters in
the SEAT Cupra Championship, including
the preparation of each Leon Cupra
R, making sure all the equipment
is in place and managing and directing
the technicians and mechanics in
the workshop and in the paddock on
race weekends. During race weekends
in 2005, Grant will oversee the smooth
running of both the SEAT Cupra Championship
and the SEAT Sport UK BTCC team.
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Ian Fisher - SEAT Sport UK Joint Team Principal
Ian is in overall charge
of managing SEAT Sport UK 's accounts,
calculating budgets and controlling
all money coming in and out of the
company. Originally from Birmingham,
Ian is the northern half of Northern
South, and has been involved in motorsport
as a competitor, engineer, team manager
and now team principal. Having raced
in autocross and driven on rallies
up until 1992, Ian still races a
Rotax Max 125cc kart whenever he
can. In addition to his accounting
skills, Ian is well known in world
rallying as an accomplished engineer.
He worked at Prodrive between 1995-97,
working on the homologation of the
first Impreza WRCar and built Piero
Liatti's car that won the 1997 Monte
Carlo Rally. Ian joined the SBG team
in 1998 and as Team Manager guided
Alister McRae to the British Rally
Championship title that year. His
first contact with SEAT came in 1999
when he managed the team that ran
an Ibiza Evo 2 for Toni Gardemeister
in the British Rally Championship.
Ian shares joint responsibility with
Grant, and during race weekends in
2005 will oversee the smooth running
of both the SEAT Cupra Championship
and the SEAT Sport UK BTCC team.
When he's not working at SEAT Sport
UK, Ian likes to renovate old property.
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Eddie Hinckley – Jason Plato's Race Engineer
Eddie is one of the most
experienced race engineers in motorsport
and has worked on some of the most
successful sportscar and touring
car projects all over the world.
He was at TWR for 16 years, working
on all the company's touring car
projects, including Mazda, Rover,
Jaguar and Volvo. He worked in the
Jaguar World Sportscar Championship
Team for four years and was Race
Engineer on 1988 Le Mans winning
car. He was also Design and race
engineer on the XJR15 road/race car
and XJR 220 Le Mans program. Eddie
worked in the 1994 DTM with Alfa
Romeo and in 1995 and '96 was race
engineer on David Leslie's BTCC Honda.
In 1997 Eddie worked as Tim Harvey's
engineer at Peugeot and then enjoyed
four years at Audisport UK, with
the highlight being 3rd place at
Le Mans with Bentley in 2001. For
two years, Eddie worked as Cadillac
ALMS engineer for Max Angelelli and
Wayne Taylor, had a year with Veloqx
Motorsport doing the FIA GT Championship
as engineer for Darren Turner, Kelvin
Burt and Jamie Davies with the Ferrari
360 NGT, including Sebring and Le
Mans with a Ferrari 550. Eddie was
Jason Plato's race engineer in
the 2004 BTCC, and remains with SEAT
Sport UK for 2005.
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Piers Phillips – James Pickford's Race Engineer
James Pickford will have
a familiar Race Engineer this year,
as he worked with Piers Phillips
on his SEAT Cupra Championship title-winning
challenge in 2004. Piers has a lot
of experience in single seater race
engineering, having been involved
in Formula Ford and Formula Renault
in the British, Scottish and Canadian
Championships. In 1999-2000 he worked
as Race Engineer in Canadian Champcar
Lights championship and returned
to the UK in 2001 to work on Robbie
Kerr's British F3 Scholarship Championship
car as Junior Engineer – a season
which saw Robbie win the title with
11 class wins. In 2002, Piers worked
as Team Manager / Race Engineer with
Malaysian driver Mohammed Fairuz,
guiding him to 5th in the British
F3 Championship, while in 2002-'03
he was Race Engineer at numerous
FIA / LMES ALMS Sportscar races,
working on a Reynard 01Q / JUDD with
the likes of Martin Short, Warren
Carway, Steven Arnold and Earl Goddard.
Piers is also involved with post-modern
Formula 1 cars. In 2003 and '04 he
worked as Race engineer in USA American
Boss Championship, working on a 1994
Benetton and 1997 Jordan-Peugeot,
while he has run several F1 cars – including
a Tyrrell, Benetton, Ferrari, Williams
and a Dallara – at special events
such as Goodwood. A keen Newcastle
United fan, Piers raced himself for
nine years and is currently restoring
a Brabham BT38 Classic F3 car to
run in the HSCC Championship when
time allows. He is engaged to Caroline
and has two children Zoe (3) and
Ethan (2).
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Nick Clipson – Luke Hines' Race Engineer
Nick Clipson has 20 years
of top flight motorsport engineering
experience, having worked in sportscars,
World Rallying and the British Touring
Car Championship. Born in Hertfordshire
and brought up in Bath, Nick gained
a degree in Automotive Engineering
and Design from Loughborough University.
After graduating in 1985 he worked
for Renault Trucks and Panther Cars
before joining TWR in 1989. Nick
worked on the Jaguar XJ220 road car
and sportscar projects before turning
his attention to TWR's Volvo BTCC
programme. As Design Office Manager,
he worked on the 850 Estate car and
the 1998 BTCC title-winning Volvo
S40 (driven by Rickard Rydell). Nick
moved to MSD in 1998 to work on the
Peugeot BTCC programme, but when
Peugeot withdrew from the series
Nick stayed on at MSD to work as
Chief Engineer on the Hyundai World
Rally Championship programme. In
2003, Nick left MSD to become a freelance
motorsport engineer and has been
in great demand ever since – both
in racing and rallying. His involvement
with SEAT Sport UK began in 2003
when he worked as a Race Engineer
in the SEAT Cupra Championship, and
in 2005 he will be Luke Hines's BTCC
Race Engineer. A keen skier, Nick
is also renovating an old barn in
rural Herefordshire, which he plans
to make his new home with wife Allison,
their two children, Ellen (9) and
Tom (11), and a growing list of farmyard
animals, including five pigs!
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