For an excellent Oulton guide from CircuitDriver.com click here.
Seconds out... round 2 (for me at least)
Bit of a mad rush (which I paid for later as you'll see), saw me racing home on Friday night from work on the bike, only to jump into the car with Hels and leg it down to the new workshop to pick up the cars. Luckily for me, she'd already prepared most of our stuff and we loaded it up into the van and squeezed the trailer out of the garage (there's only about an inch gap to get in in/out! The only thing that I left was an old box of bits which I normally take, but for some unknown reason, left behind on this occasion. Repeat after me - doh, Doh and DOH!
We trundled up the M40/42 M6 to Chester and booked into the B&B (Tall Trees Lodge which is good value at 40 quid a night for us both). Martin and Stu had already managed to sink their bodyweight in lager, so we thought it best to join them for a few beers to chill for a bit before a good night's kip.
We'd been fortunate with the weather all week and the Saturday was no exception. Blue skies and sunshine were the order of the day. I personally put this down to the O'Donnell brothers not being there who are well-known rainmakers!! ;) So, off with the cars in the paddock where we parked up next to Graham Walker and Kev Lucas aka. LightWeight...I mean, LW Motorsport ;) I felt pretty good about going out even though I'd had very little experience of Oulton. Last year's race wasn't exactly a success for me and to compound matters, we were on the Fosters circuit which misses out the Lakeside/Hilltop hairpin and takes you through Cascades and Knickerbrook without doing the bus-stop and up Clay Hill. Still, never mind eh (gulp). So off to get signed on and set for scrutineering. Fluid check, spanner check, fuelled up, check harnesses, check FOR harnesses, distinctly LACKING harnesses! Now you know that box I told you about, well guess where my shoulder straps were!!!! :( What a prat. I'd taken the shoulder straps from the car when we came back from Donny as it was raining and must've put them in the box. The car hadn't been off the trailer since and I hadn't noticed that they were missing - bugger. Some quick thinking later and we managed to get Dominic O'Donnell, who was on his way to spectate (Oulton is his local circuit), to turn around and nick a pair from his car! What a star - thanks mate, I owe you a beer or three!
So there's nothing like preparation - and that was NOTHING LIKE preparation! Still, live and learn. So back to the action in the paddock where my lap belt and anchor hooks were removed and Doms harnesses were fitted. Luckily we were in a late scrutineering slot or I'd have been buggered. So finally, calm as you like, the car went to the bay where it passed with no problems - phew. Hels was much better organised as she'd spent some time prepping her car so she flew through too.
I made a good timing call on qualifying and managed to get into the assembly area first with Darryl and James Grantham behind me. Darryl had been busy testing the circuit the day before so I knew he would be on the pace. I decided that I'd let him through and tail him round so I could learn the circuit. Which was a good plan, except that within a couple of laps I'd dragged my feet a bit and couldn't really learn much from them - oops. Still, no-one was catching me so I just tried to get round as quickly as I could. I was turning in too early for Old Hall but made good speed through Cascades. The Knickerbrook bend is well tight and I was a bit too oversteery through it although, everyone else seemed to be making this mistake too. It's tempting to try and hold too tight a line through it instead of letting the car run wide. Clay Hill is straightforward enough but I just couldn't get Druids right. I knew I was braking when I didn't need to and tried going for it, but ended up with a bit of off-road excitement which fortunately didn't end in the wall. Actually, I only just left the track but it was a bit hairy nonetheless. Lodge is one of my favourite bends and rewards the brave. Just late on the brakes and gun it over the crest and let it run wide - marvellous ;) So, 10 laps done and the session ended. I legged it over to wish Hels the best of luck (she was in the second qualifying session) and tried to give some pitlane encouragement.
The race would be done in two parts due to the number of entries. After overall qualifying times were collated, a gridsworth (starting from the back ie. 26) would race a heat, which would then define grid positions for the points race. Make sense? Basically two races of 26 cars. Slowest 26 first. I got my times for qualifying to find that I'd been 7th fastest in my session and 9th overall. Seeing as I'd not done the circuit before I was pretty happy with that as it would put me half way up the points. Still, there's a race to do yet. Actually - there's two!! Due to the total numbers, my 9th in qualifying put me on pole for the heat! Which was bloody good news really as I'd get two races for the price of one and be in with a good chance of a win in the heat. Hels had also done a blinding job (despite convincing herself to the contrary) and was in 20th overall putting her in 11th for the heat. One fast femme (no bias honest ;) We re-fuelled the cars and did a spanner check. Bloody good job too really. One of my steering rack rods had come loose and had undone itself by a few turns meaning that my tracking was well out! Bizarrely, my fastest time was set in the last lap so maybe it was a good thing! ;) A quick search round the paddock and we scrounged some guages and with Mike Saunders help (cheers for that Mr.S) we got it sorted.
So, pre race nerves were errr... strangely absent actually. I was more concerned with getting Hels out there than my performance. I must say, it was nice to lead the grid out though. Everyone managed to form up quite quickly and it was only a minute or two on the grid until the 30 second board came out. I was determined to make a good start...and I did. Andrew Crapnell shot off like an exocet but I had the line into Old Hall, down through Cascades I pulled out a fair gap which I did my best to keep through Knickerbrook. Round Knickerbrook without incident I lined up for Clay Hill when BRRAAAWWWWPPP Andrew just passed my like I was stuck in 1st!!! Annoyed, but not discouraged I let him safely through hoping to take it back through Druids, he was much slower here causing me to brake far more than I would normally (but I didn't want a 1st lap crash!) but I got a good line out to try and take him on the run up to Lodge, but, BRRAAWWPP he just left me for dead? His car was bloody fast in a straight line that's for sure. We carried on like this for several laps. I could close up any gap in the corners but he'd just disappear on the straight. I knew that once I got past and through a couple of corners he'd be stuffed. Round we went with me stuck to his tail. My best chance was going to be Old Hall or Cascades having got past on the exit to Old Hall only to be pushed off line for Cascades and back into 2nd. So, next lap I went for it, got a good exit from Old Hall and went round the outside of Cascades. The car was right on the edge and there was plenty of rubber down off-line to help me off the track. I managed to keep it on the black stuff though and took 1st from him. Then, near disaster braking into Knickerbrook where I couldn't find a gear - ARRGHH!! Fishtailing down the road (which I hoped would put him off but wasn't deliberate), I managed to keep it in one piece and keep the place. But. Once again, up Clay Hill and BRRAWWWPP he was past again - that bloody engine of his must be a V8!!! :( Now playing a tactical game I decided to wait for the last lap and go for it through Druids or Lodge. Keeping an eye for my pit board which Stu was managing, I spotted the L1 sign and after a move out of Old Hall kept my cool until Druids. I got the line wrong on the entry and he pulled out a gap down the straight. My last chance was a dive down the inside at Lodge but Andrew was on the case and it would have required a nudge by me to get by. 'Cos I'm so nice I decided that it was better to avoid the incident and I chased him to the line finishing .25 seconds behind him. Bugger :( Still, the car was in one piece and so was I and 3rd place was 12 seconds behind. I think we'd put on a good show for the crowds and the marshalls looked particularly impressed - probably 'cos no-one had crashed ;) It was great to drive round and soak up the applause for a bit. I slid up next to Andrew to take Cascades side-by-side as that's the way it had been all race. Hels had also put in a blinder and came 7th! Top stuff babe. It was only when the results came in that my suspicions were confirmed, Andrew got to the line 1st but I could be proud of setting the fastest lap with a time of 1:18.387 - half a second quicker than Andrew's best and a time which would have put me in 3rd had I been able to do it during qualifying.
So, that done, we waited for the main race where the points were at. The heat meant that I'd actually dropped a place overall and was now in 10th with Hels in 15th (bit too close for my liking ;) We re-fuelled the cars and did a spanner check. Mart noticed what looked like a water leak from the front pulley. Thank God for his sharp eyes as the top water pump cover bolt had come undone and was about 5mm from shredding itself into the back of the top pulley :( That fixed, we were ready to rock and roll again. The usual pre-race butterflies kicked in and we made our way leisurely to the assembly area. Not so much fun lining up further back in the grid but hey, I've got 12 laps to make them up. Lining up for the start and watching the engine temp, I planned my race strategy. Errr.... survive the 1st corner and then go like buggery! So when the lights went green I tried just that. I was on the outside of the track this time and got forced wide through Old Hall. Determined not to end up on the grass I had to concede a couple of places (damn) and a couple more in the melee own at Knickerbrook (double damn). Then, as the pack sorted itself into some sort of order, the red mist came down and I went chasing! I concentrated on clawing back some places but glot slowed in the middle of th race as I caught traffic, I only realised this danger when Mark Crankshaw overtook me (which I'm sure he enjoyed immensely ;) but I wasn't having that and got the bit between my teeth to chase him down again. Erik Fairburn provided some excitement (of the brown trouser sort) by spinning big-stylee at Old Hall, I just missed him as did Brett who took to the grass and Bunny-hopped his way to Cascades. No joke, the rear of Brett's Procomp Locost was about 2 feet in the air at one point! So I made that place stick. The rest of the race had me holding Brett off and by the end I didn't have a clue where I was in the overall standings. Luckily my faithful crew had been more attentive and confirmed that I'd ended up 7th and Hels got in the points with 16th busting the male dominance wide-open in the process.
So, a pole, a fastest lap, qualified 10th, dropped to 14th and got back to 7th - for me, that's a result to be pretty proud of expecially seeing as I was a Fosters 'virgin'. The honours were a toss up between James Grantham and Darryl Beckwith who traded places every lap. Darryl was faster at Lodge in the end and took the flag by a mere 3 hundredths of a second. Good job both of you. So who was third? Well, the exocet propelled Andrew Crapnell had found some more speed and finished 2 seconds later (setting the fastest time too). Apparently, the speed of his car had caused a few raised eyebrows and unfortunately for Andrew, these included the scrutineers. I'm happy to report though, that subsequent checks on the engine by the scrutineers found everything to be in order .
Tired but happy we made our way home and talked the usual bollocks the next day in the pub. I'm quite happy with my speed so far but won't be happy until I can take a win. So it's Brands on the 27th next. I've only been round it in a road car so the race will be fun and Paddock Hill bend and Druids is bound to see some action. Let's hope it's not the crashing sort! It looks likely that my brother will make his racing debut there too. God help anyone who even scratches his lovely shiny Locost - he'll be bloody livid! ;)
Final thanks once again to Dom O'Donnell for being a bloody star with the harnesses, to Graham Walker and Kev Lucas for lending various bits that I'd also forgotten to bring (doh), to Mike and Chris Saunders who made a welcome return to the paddock and to Justine (plus a bit) and Rich for their support. Cheers! CJ ;)