The reality of taking on Sutton from within his own team

To define ‘enigmatic’ in the context of the British Touring Car Championship, look no further than Dan Cammish. Not, you understand, because of the man himself; he’s a refreshingly open, honest, self-analytical chap. It’s more his results.

In 2023, when Ash Sutton swept to the title in the lead NAPA-liveried Ford Focus ST, Cammish took the sister car to sixth in the standings. Last year, when the Alliance Racing squad’s machinery had been eclipsed by West Surrey Racing’s BMWs and Excelr8 Motorsport’s Hyundais, Sutton slipped to third, while Cammish rose to equal the points tally of fourth-placed Colin Turkington. He was just 19 points adrift of Sutton, with 93 more than in 2023, and even outscored his 2019 season in the Team Dynamics Honda, when he came within a lap and a half of the title.

Of course, part of Cammish’s previous deficits to Sutton was down to his ‘you couldn’t make this up’ luck – the fire at Donington Park in 2022; the brake failure and huge shunt at the same place the following season.

“We had things that crept in and really spoiled our momentum,” he reflects. “I’m not saying it would have changed the outcome of the championship much, but it certainly internally derailed us slightly when we were trying to get some momentum going. Then ’24 was a whole lot more positive. As a team we’ve really progressed.

“What I will say is that in ’23, I know it’s easy to say that we had the strongest package, but only one of us did really and that was Ash. The rest of us [including team-mates Dan Rowbottom and Sam Osborne] couldn’t do what he could do at that time, not by some margin to be honest. That was equally tough because you are compared when you’ve got the same equipment, but it was just not possible for us to get that performance.”

Cammish proclaims pride that “we came such a long way forward in 2024”, but how did it happen?

He and Sutton arrived together at the team, then known as Motorbase, for 2022, when most of the work carried out on the car was to implement the new hybrid system. For 2023, Sutton’s long-time engineer Tony Carrozza led a no-stone-unturned redevelopment of the Focus. Like other great champions, Sutton has a driving style that demands a set-up others struggle with. Perhaps, then, the window within which the car can operate effectively was widened for 2024…

Put that to Cammish, and he replies: “You know what? I wish I could give you a straight answer, but I’m not really aware of exactly how things came to be in some ways. From the moment we hit the track in 2024, we [Cammish and engineer James Mundy] went in a slightly different direction into some of the set-up.

“Originally we thought that what we’d done had really helped me in terms of my driving style, but as time went on I think we realised that actually was probably negligible. We just happened to be in quite a good window with the car. I seemed to be able to get more out of it than I had been able to the last couple of years, and certainly more out of it in terms of Ash’s performances came back towards me.

“It hurts me elsewhere, but at least it means that the entry phase of the corner I can really commit and carry the speed in, which has helped me to move forward I think”
Dan Cammish

“Ash could no longer do what he could do the year before. We had very similar qualifying performances – we were five-all last year – and we raced him and beat him on track on numerous occasions which we could never have done the year before! And I don’t know why that is in some ways.”

So what motivated that different direction on set-up?

“It doesn’t affect the speed of the car as such, it just changes the way it reacts and the way it feels under your bum because that’s all we’re ever talking about anyway, isn’t it?” states Cammish. “Driver to driver, we do all want a slightly different feeling.

“To put it in simplified terms, the Focus I feel has always been quite pointy, especially since 2023 [Carrozza’s redevelopment] onwards. You turn the wheel and it really does dive into the corner, sometimes a bit too much for my taste. I feel that the rear can’t keep up with it, so I end up steering out of the corner as I’m steering into it.

“We made some changes to kind of improve that. It hurts me elsewhere, but at least it means that the entry phase of the corner I can really commit and carry the speed in, which has helped me to move forward I think.

Cammish believes set-up tweaks makes the Focus easier to commit to attacking corner entries

Photo by: JEP

“The car has always been a little bit nervous, and I think Dan [Rowbottom] still finds it a little bit nervous. I have tried to get him to try what I’ve done. He did it once and dismissed it, but maybe that’s something he’ll have a look at again if he has a similar feeling. Just to basically slow the reaction of the car down, to give yourself a little bit more time on entry to let the car take a set and carry a little bit more speed in.”

Both Cammish’s and Rowbottom’s BTCC reference point before arriving at the team was the Dynamics Honda Civic Type R FK8, which the Yorkshireman points out “looks longer and lower in terms of its profile than what we drive now. It drives like it too, a little more like a GT car in that respect.

“It’s a little bit more stable in high-speed and allows you to turn the wheel a bit more. If you look at those higher-speed corners… Riches at Snetterton is a good example, it’s a fifth-gear corner, but it can be on three wheels almost from the moment you turn in.

“I want the car on three wheels, of course we have to do that, but let’s move it around to the point where I actually want to pick the wheel up, not where it wants to do it on its own. I want that stability so I can attack the entry phase.”

Cammish does admit that “I think later on in the year we could have taken that change back and probably not suffered. We did it to try and fix other things at a certain time. But you know, it works with you and you run with it. That’s the thing in touring cars – you get so little time to test during the season, once you’re locked in with what you’ve got after those initial days in testing, it’s difficult to deviate.”

Much was made of Cammish swapping garages with Rowbottom for 2024 so that he was no longer alongside Sutton, but instead with Osborne, son of team owner Pete. Asked whether this alleviated some pressure, Cammish responds: “That’s a good question. I’m sure there is an element of that.

“It wasn’t done for that reason initially; it was done because the team felt it was nice to rotate things around. We are a team of four whole crews, so it was nice to let people work with different people. But there’s no doubt for me personally it came at a really good time.

“Ultimately you are compared against two of the best people in British motorsport – one in Ash and one in Tony – and that carries across from every race to every practice to every debrief. This year me and James really hit the reset button and went about it a slightly different way, and I think it paid dividends.

Cammish says the reset he and engineer Mundy embarked on in 2024 paid dividends

Photo by: JEP

“In general, being alongside Sam and maybe having a bit more of our own space to operate I think really helped. So yeah, you could put it that way!”

Partnering Sutton, one of the greatest drivers in BTCC history, did come as an eye-opener to Cammish. Only in 2017, his single season in Porsche Supercup, had he trailed team-mates – and his fourth place in the points alongside Michael Ammermuller and Dennis Olsen at Lechner Racing on his debut international season hinted at great things to come.

“I think what happened in ’22-’23 was obviously a shock to the system in terms of not just that Ash could beat me, but the amount that he could beat me,” he admits. “That was difficult, and I think it’s pretty obvious to anyone that it would take its toll. But I’ve got some good people around me, from Libby my wife to my family and the team, who have really rallied around me. Pete Osborne really believes in me and has continued to give me an opportunity, and I think 2024 showed them why.”

“[Sutton is] exceptionally talented, but he’s incredibly hard working, which I think people don’t realise”
Dan Cammish

Indeed, Cammish – as is Sutton – is locked in at Alliance until the end of 2026: “Pete Osborne’s been great and he’s someone I really look up to and respect. Especially when the seat I have is so hotly contested – it’s certainly one or the prime seats in British motorsport. It’s something I’m very proud of.

“We’ve got a great group of people, it’s a very family-orientated environment from Pete, Steve Richardson of NAPA… That filters down from the top and, whether it’s a good day or a bad day, it’s certainly a pleasure to be part of it.”

And it means two more years of working with – and the inevitable comparison with – the force of nature that is Sutton. “He’s exceptionally talented, but he’s incredibly hard working, which I think people don’t realise,” admires Cammish. “People probably think Ash is all natural talent and don’t get me wrong, he’s got loads of it, but he does work hard as well. He studies the data as much as anyone if not more. He’s got a real work ethic, and he and Tony have got a real understanding of that, which only makes him better.

“Working alongside him has been both a blessing and a curse in some ways. I’ve learnt so much, seeing how they operate as a unit, what makes them so strong, and it is the two of them combined – they think as one in many respects. And that’s something we all try and replicate.

Cammish has learned a huge amount from working closely with Sutton

Photo by: JEP

“You’ve got to work at it, go through peaks and troughs, and that’s what me and James have done in many ways. Now what you’re seeing is we get it right more than we get it wrong, and that’ll only get better. One thing with Ash is he kind of only ever has one speed, which is flat-out – he doesn’t sandbag. As a barometer, you know where you’re at with him. That’s good, because you know that if you’re near him, that means you’re probably somewhere near the front!”

So as we approach what looks set to be the last season with the Focus before a new weapon emerges from Alliance’s Northampton premises for 2026, perhaps Cammish is less the enigma of the BTCC than the sleeper in the pack. Being the earthy Leeds man (albeit living in Berkshire) that he is, you won’t get any bold proclamations of impending domination, but there’s reason to be quietly optimistic.

“A driver who’s been in it as long as I have, I don’t tend to get better or worse,” he muses. “Weekend to weekend, year to year, I’m pretty sure that my ability’s pretty static by this point. But if you can make small, incremental increases in other areas, you’ll drive it faster. It’s just natural.

“It’s like jumping from a medium tyre to a soft – you don’t do anything, you just feel grip and go quicker. My job now and the team’s and James’s is to make sure this is not the peak of our learning curve. We’ve got to keep ascending the mountain, because there’s still a fair way to go if we want a shot at this championship.”

Will this be the year Cammish becomes BTCC champion for the first time?

Photo by: JEP