Team Profile: Tim Barber

Tim Barber is director of competition services and chief engineer for Winding Road Team TFB. He has long history as a driver and as a race car engineer. "With Winding Road Team TFB, we have a strong emphasis on driver development because in amateur or pro-am racing that’s almost always where the biggest opportunity and the greatest rewards are" says Tim.  

With Tim’s pro driving experience, Winding Road Team TFB takes a somewhat different approach. "After my pro driving, I’ve spent the last ten years working on race car design and set-up, based on a detailed knowledge of data, physics and what is happening in the driver’s seat" he notes. The team leverages Tim’s driving skills by putting him in the race cars whenever possible to quickly get an understanding of how specific track conditions and set-up strategies are working. Tim observes "For example, during the early time we spent developing the MX-5 Cup cars, I did a few races to be sure our approach was working under the difficult passing conditions of a 40 car spec race. My time in the car during the very limited practice allowed in a pro weekend also shortened the time to get a solid baseline setup for all our drivers from perhaps 2 full sessions to more like 15 minutes."

When working with drivers, Tim mixes his extensive coaching career and his racecraft. "When you’ve worked with lots of drivers, you know there are different ways of describing things, so you adapt to different styles. You also know there is only so much input a driver can handle at one time. The big thing is to bring knowledge of racing at a specific track together with the data the car is providing and the development needs of a specific driver so that you concentrate on getting solid improvements that the driver can execute well" he says. "The same thing applies to adjustments to the car. You have to know what dynamics suggest something that should be changed on the car and what dynamics indicate a focus on driving approach" Tim noted.