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Promoted: Making power gains simple

Putting VP Racing Fuel into your car can be just as effective a means of improving performance for club racers as bolting on a new set of tyres

Engineering

Our experts' guide on how you can become a better racing driver

It's a grey-and-gloomy Tuesday morning when Autosport ventures west along the M4 to a garage on the perimeter of Castle Combe. As the inevitable rain takes hold, the shelter offered by Circuit Motors seems very appealing.

Inside, a modified 1.6-litre Ford Fiesta ST180, not a million miles away from those regularly appearing in the Castle Combe Racing Club's (CCRC) Hot Hatch Challenge Series, is straining on the tethers keeping it arrow-straight on a dynamometer. And hitting some eye-catching numbers too.

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Author James Newbold

James Newbold is Autosport's Plus Editor, responsible for coordinating website feature content.

In a sign of things to come, having completed his Politics and International Relations degree at the University of East Anglia in 2015, he left his graduation ceremony early to catch the last train to Brussels for the following day's Spa 24 Hours.

After a period as a freelancer, he joined the Autosport staff in 2018 and won the Motorsport UK young journalist of the year award. He initially edited Autosport magazine's Performance and Engineering supplements before joining the website team in his current role in 2020.

A keen enthusiast of anything that can be categorised unusual or niche, he enjoys unearthing little-known stories across all branches of motorsport, but has spent most of his career covering sportscars and is a regular part of the Le Mans 24 Hours reporting team.

He lives with his wife and children in Plymouth, England.