Unless you go looking for it, you wouldn’t know it was there.
Tucked away in the corner of a small industrial park in Surrey sits Barwell Motorsport’s workshop. It’s a modestly-sized rabbit warren of a facility that houses the contemporary and historic race programmes operated by the British team across the continent each year.
Barwell’s base occupies part of a larger set of properties that previously housed part of the late-lamented David Price’s motorsport and industrial concerns. But size isn’t everything. Space may be at a premium, yet there is more than enough here for the jobs at hand. Everything about its workspace is functional, and its location in the south of England is undeniably useful.
From the moment you walk in the front entrance, you are greeted by a reception area littered with enough trophies to make even the most successful Premier League teams blush. Everything about it oozes success. Sitting in the waiting area, you’re surrounded by silverware. There are so many significant trophies that there’s a doorway blocked off by a set sitting on the floor.
There is a meeting room lined with cups in every nook, cranny, window ledge and shelf too, as well as a stairwell at the back of the building that retains some of David Price’s heritage memorabilia. The man, and his efforts, are still remembered by the enthusiastic Barwell management.
The team’s long-standing, impeccable reputation was hard-earned and well-deserved. This is a team which in touring car and GT racing circles has remained relevant for decades, from its humble beginnings in the 60s, through to the modern GT era. It has won major races and titles every step of the way and since 2016 received support directly from Lamborghini Squadra Corse, forging its status as one of the premier customer teams in the Italian marque’s GT3 stable.
The present-day operation, run in partnership by Mark Lemmer and Chris Needell, is tight-knit. Just 10 full-time staff work back at base, though it has a sizeable group of loyal engineers on tap for its packed annual schedule racing in British GT, GT World Challenge Europe, historic racing and beyond.
There’s not a spanner out of place in its workshop and its commitment to doing things “properly” has ensured that its separate machine shop gets its fair share of use.
While Barwell takes every season extremely seriously – “we’ve always been a commercial business, we live and die by profit and results,” Lemmer points out – 2025 looks set to be particularly important.
We live and die by profit and results
Barwell is looking at putting together a worthy encore off the back of arguably the most dominant British GT campaign in the championship’s history and a strong run of five podiums through the GT World Challenge Europe season in the Bronze Cup. 2025 is set to be the final season of the Huracan GT3 EVO II before the Temerario debuts, so, naturally, Lemmer and Needell want to end their story with the current platform on a high.
Sitting down with them both in their office upstairs to reflect on the 2024 season and get a tease of what’s to come, the first question was simple: “What was the secret sauce for British GT then?”
It’s tough to find the superlatives to describe just how impressive its romp through the season was. Six pole positions, five wins and a 1-2 finish in the standings after a title decider which pitted its two Huracans against one another for the overall honours.
And it was not a weak year for the championship’s GT3 category, far from it. The class of 2024 featured a number of factory drivers and a set of full-season cars – from four manufacturers – into double figures.
“It was a combination of factors,” Needell (pictured below) says.
“One was that we didn’t like getting beaten the year before,” adds Lemmer. “When you get a bad car delivered, and the EVO II originally had lots of problems, you have to learn more about the car to get on top of it. When we worked out how to get our heads around the engine mapping, the TC and the brakes, we’d learned so much about it that we were able to keep it at the top of that performance window.
“That combined with the fact that we’d reviewed the previous few years and worked out all the areas where we were weak. We put everything into improving in those areas. This included settings at specific circuits.
“It wasn’t about increasing the overall performance, it was about maximising the performance window, in all conditions. Take colder weekends, for example, the Lamborghini often struggles with front tyre temp. So we worked on ways to work around it.”
“Another thing that I think a lot of people in British GT don’t appreciate,” Needell continues, “is that we do British GT and World Challenge. Same car, same tyre, so we’re doubling up on testing and race information. We’re doing triple the mileage in GT World Challenge that we do in British GT, with a similar BoP too. And we’ve been winning in British GT for 20 years, we know the circuits and we know what makes a good driver line-up.
“A mistake teams make nowadays is trying to sign up the highest profile factory driver they can, regardless of their experience on UK circuits. Some of the factory drivers have either no experience in British GT when they get signed up for it, or don’t want to be there. They just want to get paid.
“That’s why the most successful driver in series history is Jonny Adam. He’s not always been the fastest, but he’s brilliant on these tracks and he’s brilliant at maintaining relationships with teammates.”
What people forget is that Rob’s a businessman
Another element, clearly, was its driver line-ups for the season. The Collards, Rob and Ricky, who went on to win the title in the finale, proved to be a force. Many touring car drivers struggle to adapt to GT racing, yet Rob seems right at home in a Huracan and has pushed hard to hone his craft. The reward? Two British GT titles in two seasons (2020 and 2024) with the team.
“What people forget is that Rob’s a businessman,” explains Lemmer. “He runs a successful, large business that takes up a lot of his time. However, he puts so much effort into his driving. He keeps a book of notes on everything. His preparation is meticulous, he’s on the sim when he can, he does half marathons every month. It’s staggering.
“Everyone moans and claims it isn’t fair, but he’s paid for his racing his whole life. He’s an amateur driver who puts the effort in. He’ll be in the truck at midnight looking at data, he does whatever it takes. You can moan, you can say it’s not fair and they don’t get it, but the reality is they’re breezing in and don’t have their head in the game.”
Alex Martin meanwhile, quickly got to grips with GT3 racing through the season, no doubt aided by circuit knowledge garnered from his BTCC and single-make Porsche campaigns.
Wins at Oulton Park, Donington, Snetterton and Brands showcased both his consistency and versatility, as well as his ability to learn from his supremely talented teammate Sandy Mitchell. The pair’s lone retirement at Silverstone proved costly though, as they missed out on the crown by five points over the sister car.
“Alex is great. He’s brilliant. He works for his dad’s business and his head’s on that all week, but he has a head for motorsport through touring cars and Porsche Cup,” Lemmer comments.
“He loves driving the Lambo as well,” adds Needell. “We’ve had a lot of amateurs come through the doors, but what makes him stand out is his evolution across a weekend.
“Often on a weekend he will be far off the pace in practice, but he puts it together in his mind and soaks up data and video to ensure he gets faster. By Qualifying he will be ready to nail it, then he will go up another level in races. He never panics.”
How tough was it, managing a title showdown featuring both sides of its garage?
We have fun when appropriate, we relax at times, but we treat our Ams like professionals
“We’ve been in this position before in GT World Challenge and British and it’s the drivers that can make it hard for you. But Alex and Rob were really fair with each other, there was respect,” Lemmer (below) reflects.
“One thing that’s non-negotiable at Barwell is that we pool our data, we don’t race each other in the back of the garage. There are teams in British GT that don’t do that. We joint brief and debrief and only fight each other on track.
“We have fun when appropriate, we relax at times, but we treat our Ams like professionals. This ensures respect is maintained.”
What will 2025 look like for Barwell? Plans are coming together apace. A British GT title defence looks certain (with the team pushing for a car in Pro/Am and Silver/Am this time), as does another foray into GT World Challenge Europe and an attack on the Spa 24 Hours.
There’s also an ambition to compete at Le Mans down the line from Euan Shand, the architect of the team’s Black Bull partnership, who now co-owns the team with Lemmer, Needell and engineering director Chris Weeden. The opportunity to gain an invitation is there for winning in the World Challenge Bronze Cup. An Asian Le Mans Series campaign in 2025/26 may also whet the team’s appetite.
“Putting together a programme, it doesn’t matter if it’s British GT or World Challenge, presents the same set of challenges,” says Needell. “Ultimately, we’re in a Pro/Am world and you need to find the right driver who is prepared to spend the right money for seven to 10 weekends a year.
“It’s a business challenge, but it’s what we do and you have to be comfortable with it. We’ve never had a sugar daddy that’s pouring millions in. Instead, we have good partners and team sponsors who help us put deals together.”
Either way, the association with Lamborghini looks set to continue. Both Lemmer and Needell take a lot of pride in representing the brand in Europe and are eager to see what comes next when the Temerario comes on song. It’s a relationship that both sides hope will continue to deliver success.
“I don’t think we need to stay away from the fact that we are very seriously looking at staying with Lamborghini,” concludes Lemmer. “I’ve seen the new Temerario. It’s got all the things you want out of a new generation car, and it’s not going to be crazy money. The car cost and cost per kilometre at Lamborghini has always been competitive and that’s important for us.
“Lamborghini’s core engineering team remain the same too, and they’re brilliant guys. So we’ve got an eye on a new deal that will see us racing with them for years to come.”
British GT images courtesy of SRO & Paul Foster
