Borland Racing Developments

rdf:langString Borland Racing Developments

rdf:langString Borland Racing Developments is an Australian championship winning manufacturer of open-wheel racing cars, principally in the junior categories of Formula Ford and Formula Vee. Borland Racing Developments was formed in 1984 to prepare and engineer cars for the Australian Formula 2 Championship. Four championships were secured in the next five years, after which Michael Borland turned his attention to producing the Spectrum Formula Ford and Sabre Formula Vee racing cars. Past drivers who have partnered with BRD include Craig Lowndes, Jason Bright, Jason Bargwanna, Steven Richards, Mark Winterbottom, Shane Price and John Martin. The Spectrum chassis established itself in the local Formula Ford market, taking a second for Jason Bargwanna in the 1996 title race. He gained a 1-2 in the 1998 Australian Championship for Adam Macrow and Christian Jones. The strength and popularity of the chassis grew with ongoing development and since 2004, the Spectrum has been the most consistently successful brand in Australian Formula Ford Championship racing. In 2000, a New Zealand title to Phil Hellebrekers was the first international crown for the marque. In 2006 a Spectrum model 011 was built for the UK championship. On the Brands Hatch GP circuit, John Martin took a resounding victory in the chassis' debut weekend. This win was the impetus to appoint a UK agent in Mark Bailey Racing Ltd, which culminated in leading UK championship team Kevin Mills Racing switching to the Spectrum chassis for the 2008 season. With pole positions and race wins with KMR in 2008 and 2009, Spectrums are regular front runners in the UK championship. BRD continues to develop a business as a specialist fabricator, meeting the demands of Daytona Sportscar production, historic restoration projects and production of specialty parts for the motor racing industry. During 2007, the Braeside factory doubled in size to accommodate the existing workload and to provide capacity for new projects. Amongst the first of these projects were the Spectrum F2000 (the slicks and wings racer for the US market) and the Sabre 02 Formula Vee,1600.