Race Report. Season Issue 1: 3: Oulton Park International Circuit, 25th 6th May March

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1 Race Report Season Issue 1: 3: Oulton Park International Circuit, 25th 6th May March Ivor NEIL RACES Wins! AT THE DOUBLE Mairs takes the Moose Trophy Post89: McAttack! David s Brian Linley Trophy MacLennan takes both wins at the start of the Tourist Trophy

2 DATA & CREDITS Meeting Type: Double Header Circuit: Oulton Park International ( miles) National Championship: Rounds 4 & 5 Tourist Trophy: Rounds 1 & 2 Organising Club: BRSCC Sponsors: Britcover, Avon Tyres Championship Co-Ordinators: Ian Smith ( ) Tracey Hunter ( ) CONTENTS Page Introduction 3 Qualifying 4 Qualifying Statistics 7 Faces of Formula Ford Race 1 12 Race 1 Statistics 17 Race 2 18 Race 2 Statistics 23 Trophy Presentations 24 INTRODUCTION When competitors headed to Oulton Park in leafy Cheshire on 6th May for meeting number 2 of the 2017 Britcover National Formula Ford 1600 Championship with Avon Tyres we received confirmation that this season is going to be one of the best in the 50 year history of the category. A field of high quality drivers, many of whom would excel at higher echelons of the sport, fought tooth and nail for victory. However, the series is not all about career minded young chargers as the new-for-2017 Clubman Class, which is divided into Post89 and Pre90 categories, offers those with limit experence or who race for fun something to chase. Due to local restrictions with racing on a Sunday at Oulton Park, all the action took place on the Saturday. A qualifying session in the morning was followed by the first race before lunch with the second taking place in the late afternoon. All the on-track sessions were of a 20 minute duration. Oulton also marked the beginning of another initiative that was introduced for this year the Tourist Trophy. This will encompass tracks in each of the four Home Nations Oulton Park (England), Kirkistown (Northern Ireland), Knockhill (Scotland) and Anglesey (Wales) with prizes on offer for all classes. Words & Editing: Dave Williams Copyright on Pictures: Bourne Photographic Next Meeting: 3rd/4th June: Knockhill National Championship Tourist Trophy Page: 2 Page: 3

3 Qualifying DIFFERENT CLASS although Luke believed there was even more pace in the car. In fourth was another happy driver. Having impressed in the Northern Double Header back in March, Ross Martin was making his debut in the National series with Graham Brunton Racing tended Ray GRS17. The team arrived in the paddock with their very swish brand new truck. Martin got faster during the course of the 20 minutes. He and the Brunton squad were delight he was so high up in the classification in such a competitive field. The third row for the opening encounter would be occupied by two cars from the Cliff Dempsey Racing stable. Jamie Thorburn lost his fastest time to a Track Limit infringement1 and his second best lap was baulked by a slower car all this James Roe Jnr sported a new colour scheme meant he was fifth in his Ray GR15, just under 3 tenths faster than his team mate, Neil MacLennnan, who was behind the wheel of a GR14 model from the same marque. James Scott-Murphy was someone who made huge steps forwards with his pace at Oulton Park in the Oldfield Motorsport Van Diemen JL16 and he was satisfied to be seventh ahead of the two Firmans fielded by Myercough College. These were driven by Josh Smith (RF16) and Jack Wolfenden (RF17). The former was rather frustrated not to be able to put together a clean lap. Rounding out the Top Ten was the Spectrum 011 of Michael Eastwell. This was an impressive performance as it was his first time at Oulton Park and he had only completed 20 laps in testing on Friday. Luke Williams was in a class of his own during qualifying There was talk that the circuit was in perfect condition for fast times to be set as plenty of rubber had been laid down at the previous weekend s British Superbike meeting. The Fun Cup cars, which shared the bill with our championship, were also said to be laying down plenty of residue from their tyres. As a result, the first 10 cars beat the fastest lap in qualifying at the Northern round back in March. Luke Williams, however, was in a completely different class. Having mightily impressed the paddock due to his speed in testing on Friday, Williams steered the Firman RF16 round the International Layout secs faster than anyone else. Next up was James Roe Jnr in the Van Diemen RF99 run by Bernard Dolan. Had things gone perfectly, perhaps Roe Jnr could have been challenging Williams but testing had been dogged by distributor and brake issues and then, just as the Irishman was winding himself for an all-out effort at the end of qualifying, oil went down on the circuit. After a particularly difficult week, Luke Cooper was delighted to be third quickest. While competing at Castle Combe the previous Monday (May Bank Holiday) a piston melted on his Swift SC16. Luke thought his engine would never be ready for Oulton Park but Barnett Racing Engines rebuilt his power unit in 2 days. Then during testing on Friday, Cooper s machine was plagued with problems and he was only able to complete 14 laps. He went into qualifying with a set-up from Castle Combe which exceeded all his expectations Page: 4 Page: 5

4 Qualifying Statistics Page: 6 Page: 7

5 Faces of Formula Ford 1600 Page: 8 Page: 9

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7 Race 1 WINNING ON PENALTIES Neil MacLennan was a blur on 3 wheels as he chased the penalised Luke Williams The first two on the grid, Luke Williams and James Roe Jnr, completed the opening lap in that order. They had briefly been split at Old Hall following a great start by Luke Cooper which saw him pass Roe Jnr up the inside but the swift, Swift driver was carrying too much speed for the tight line he was using. The back end of his car stepped out and, in correcting the oversteer, he was taken wide onto the grass on the outside of the corner. Cooper s trip across the green stuff saw him drop to the bottom of the Top Ten. At the same corner a lap later, Jamie Thorburn ceded third place to his team mate, Neil MacLennan, having made a small mistake exiting Lodge. This was to prove crucial to the outcome of this race, and indeed the next one, for Thorburn. When the leaders reached Hislops, Roe Jnr made a move on the outside of Williams under braking but the duo made contact forcing Roe Jnr to take a trip down the escape road. MacLennan nipped through into second but Thorburn had to lift as Roe Jnr re-joined the circuit and Ross Martin, who initially lost places due to a poor getaway when the red lights went out, got the run on Thorburn as they tackled Clay Hill and moved up to third. A few laps later, Thorburn and Martin made contact on the entry to Brittens Chicane. The former retired with extensive damage to the front of his car while Martin continued with a bent rear wishbone. This overly close combat for third left the two leaders with a 4 second advantage. Thus, the battle for the win became a highspeed fight between Williams and MacLennan it really was high speed as they circulated at sub-lap record pace. Williams was using all of the black stuff and abit more. A little too much more in fact as the officials hit him with a 5 second Track Limits penalty. MacLennan therefore was awarded the spoils of victory without having to get ahead on the tarmac. Although Martin was closing in on the leaders despite his damaged suspension, as the 20 minutes drew to a close he showed great maturity by concluding that third would be an excellent result on his National Championship debut and eased his place to bring the car home in one piece. Roe Jnr found himself in fifth following the early race contact with Williams. This became fourth when Thorburn exited the contest. With damaged suspension, the Irishman struggled to find the pace to challenge for podium positions. Michael Eastwell, impressively well up the order so early in his first season in car racing, was closing in on Page: 12 Page: 13

8 him until he pushed a little too hard and found himself pointing the wrong way on the grass at the exit of Cascades. On the last lap Roe Jnr was caught by James Scott-Murphy. The pair made contact at Druids. Roe Jnr ended up in the barriers while Scott-Murphy lost a couple of places to Luke Cooper, Jack Wolfenden and Matt Round- Garrido. Cooper was spotted undertaking some pretty daring passes at Cascades as he regained some of the places he lost following his minor misdemeanour at the first corner while Wolfenden s Myerscough College team mate, Josh Smith, was an early retirement due to a faulty ignition coil. Qualifying had been a pretty frustrating affair for Round-Garrido as he set the eleventh fastest time in the B-M Racing Medina Sport JL17 therefore he was delighted to finish sixth. A feature of his progress up the order was a switch-back manoeuvre on Seb Melrose s Graham Brunton Racing Ray GR14 at Old Hall. With greater speed on the exit of the corner Round-Garrido was able to complete the move before the duo reached Cascades despite having two wheels on the grass at one point. talent and spun exiting Cascades. He came to a halt a long way down the Lakeside Straight but managed to get going again to finish tenth. Having earlier duked it out with Round- Garrido down The Avenue, Melrose had more drama at the end of the contest when he had a last corner showdown with Thomas Capezzone in the second Swift SC16 which saw the Frenchman run wide at Lodge and drop two places to the Clubman Post89 cars of Ben Edwards and John Ferguson. Following Ferguson s unplanned diversion on the Lakeside Straight, Edwards was the first Clubman home in his first race of the 2017 season. In the early stages, Nigel Dolan was having a nice little dice with Edwards until his left front began locking up under braking. It later emerged this was due to a slow puncture but the problem became irrelevant when a mount in his left rear suspension failed. Of all places, this happened at Druids and sent Dolan into a lurid, race-ending, high-speed spin. Having started sixteenth a very reasonable performance given that work commitments prevent him from testing on Friday - Henry Chart was in the middle of a huge midfield battle when he got edged on to the grass at Dentons in the Enigma Motorsport Van Diemen RF02 and had a wild ride, spinning like a top down the hill to Cascades. He was very lucky to avoid both the barriers and other cars. He got back on the tarmac and pulled away from Nick Barnes Ray GR08 to claim twelfth. Since debuting the Ray he acquired over the Winter at Oulton in March, Barnes has spent very little time in its driving seat only a morning at Mallory. The desire to create a good impression in a new job prevented him from even taking part in Friday s test day therefore his learning curve continued into qualifying where things were a little hit and miss as slower cars prevented him from getting into a rhythm. Barnes made a great start but ran out of steam as he reached Old Hall losing many of the places he had gained he believes this was due to incorrect gearing. Before his tyres were up to temperature, Archie Hine was able to get ahead of him. They were enjoying a good battle until Hine spun his Van Diemen JL12 at Lodge. The cars ahead of Barnes were then too far away for further progress to be made. Although he had a dreadful getaway from the Clubman Pre90 winner, Mark De Roziareux, leads his team mate, Paul Barnes Scott-Murphy could have lost even more places to the cars that had been following Wolfenden in the early stages these were driven by Tom McArthur and John Ferguson. McArthur was disappointed to qualify down in twelfth having been hampered by experiencing a lack of both grip and brakes on his B-M Racing Van Diemen JL13. Once the race was underway he worked his way up to eighth but in doing so he made excessive use of the kerbs and it caused a toe-link to snap in his suspension which forced him to retire at Hill Top with a couple of laps remaining. Meanwhile, Ferguson was leading the Post89 section of the Clubman Class in the Kevin Mills Racing Spectrum 012 when he ran out of Page: 14 Page: 15

9 grid, Paul Mason (Swift SC94) soon recovered the places he lost. His race was fairly lonely (not that driving at speed around Oulton Park could ever be boring!) until the final corner when Ben Paliwoda overtook him on the grass. The Oldfield Motorsport Van Diemen JL13 driver ran wide however allowing Mason back through on the up-hill section of Deer Leap to claim fourteenth. Paliwoda had made progress from last place in Old School fashion as a failure in his electronic dash meant he had to start from the pit-lane after which he drove by ear and the seat of his pants. Following his spin at Cascades, Eastwell got going again, making up a few places to be classified sixteenth ahead of the Souley Motorsport team mates Paul Barnes and Mark De Roziareux in their Swift SC92 and Van Diemen RF88 respectively. Their dice was very close and at times Barnes feared they may have some explaining to do if team boss Brian Soule had two cars to repair before race 2. Fortunately, no contact was made and Barnes made the decisive pass with a wellexecuted late braking manoeuvre into Old Hall at the start of Lap 9. As Barnes was driving a Post89 car, De Roziareux still won the Clubman Pre90 class. It was only the second time that Paul had raced at Oulton while Mark was making his debut. Another newcomer was Jack Clayton who found the track very daunting at first as it was so fast and technical. His Van Diemen RF89 ran in close company with the Reynard FF84 of Ivor Mairs. Clayton led the battle at first but Mairs was so much faster Jack felt the safest thing to do was to let him go by. When Mairs overtook at Lodge Clayton was able to hold on to him and discovered that his rival from Ireland had greater pace in the first half of the lap but he was perhaps a little faster in the second. The remaining cars who made it to the flag were Andrew Kluge (Van Diemen RF89), former F3 Cup competitor Matt Payne (Van Diemen RF99) and Archie Hine after his spin at Lodge which was followed by an airbourne moment at the first element of Brittens chicane. Race 1 Statistics Page: 16 Page: 17

10 Race 2 Neil MacLennan took his second win of the day SUPER MAC Having been simply brilliant in qualifying, Luke Williams had the misfortune to lose race 1 to Track Limit infringements and his day got worse when he left his awning to take part in the second encounter when his clutch failed. Noticing his absence from the Assembly Area, rival team managers Kevin Mills and James Oldfield dashed over to provide assistance underlining the sporting attitude of those involved in BRSCC Formula Ford Everyone wanted to see this star of the series (of which we are fortunate to have so many this season) out there racing! Williams made it out of the pit-lane just in the nick of time. He was able to work his way through the field on the green flag lap to take his place on the outside of the front row rather than having to start at the back however, in rushing round to the grid, he didn t time to properly warm up his tyres or bed-in his new brake pads. When the red lights went out, Neil MacLennan converted the pole position awarded courtesy of his earlier win into a healthy lead as the field headed down to Cascades. Ross Martin got a mega start to pass Williams and immediately set about chasing down MacLennan. He was soon all over his gearbox but then a missed gearchange exiting Lodge allowed Williams to carry more speed through the TSL Timing beam to take the runner-up position. This was shaping up to be a classic three-way fight but it was over before it began when Williams ran high and wide up the banking at Shell. Martin went for a gap that appeared but it was gone in a flash as Williams regained the racing line. Second and third made contact. Williams was turned broadside as extensive damage was done to his sidepod. Then Martin s Ray lost its nosecone and damaged a pushrod as it rode over the front of the Firman. Martin pitted at the end of the lap but was able to re-join well down the order after the Graham Brunton Racing team had attended to the car. Williams continued in fifth and still had great pace despite having a radiator exposed to the elements where his sidepod once was. He set the fastest lap of the race as he moved back up to third which was enough for him to move to the top of the standings in the National Championship. Up ahead, MacLennan took his second victory Page: 18 Page: 19

11 of the day by a healthy margin as the man who inherited second, Luke Cooper, had to slam on the anchors when Williams and Martin had their coming together creating a large gap between himself and the leader which he couldn t bridge. Although he was sometimes faster than the leader, MacLennan was always able to pull away. Nonetheless, Cooper was delighted to occupy the second step on the podium after all the hard work that had been put in to get his car in a fit state for Oulton Park following the dramas at Castle Combe less than a week earlier. Jack Wolfenden ran third for many laps as he kept Williams at bay but eventually had to let him through. Shortly afterwards Matt Round- Garrido pushed Wolfenden down to fifth. Having forced him to take a defensive line into Lodge, Matt R-G got a better run on the exit to complete the pass using all of the road right up to the pit wall in the process. Wolfenden s Myerscough College team mate, Josh Smith, was plagued by a misfire and didn t complete enough laps to be classified. finished the opening lap in seventh. His rhythm was interrupted when Scott-Murphy overtook him in a grassy manoeuvre, which caused Chart to lose a few places. Scott-Murphy was then involved in an incident which disrupted Chart s race even more. Having charged through from his sixteenth starting position following his spin earlier in the day, Michael Eastwell attempted to take James S-M around the outside at Island Bend but his adversary wasn t yielding despite Eastwell being level. Amongst the resulting spinning cars, flying turf and tyre smoke, Chart had to take avoiding action. He must have had a wild ride as he ended up broadside on the apex of Shell! Jamie Thorburn was also caught up in the incident and punctured a tyre when he took to the grass to miss the chaos. The Scot must have rued his mistake early in race 1 which put his team mate, MacLennan, in position to win that contest and this, while Thorburn became embroiled in the chaos that broke out behind. In eighth was Thomas Capezzone who hopped into his car for qualifying having finished a two week skiing instructor course just the day before. The Frenchman, who contested the full National Championship in 2015, had not driven the car since November therefore to feature in the Top Ten for much of the day was very impressive. Closing in on Capezzone with a few laps remaining was Tom McArthur who was one of a number of front-runners who started from the back of the grid having failed finish race 1. He had gained 11 places before the opening lap was completed and continued to make progress despite a worsening misfire. At the same time as trying to get on terms with Capezzone the Mancunian was also having to fend off Eastwell who was recovering after the incident at Shell. Exiting the two chicanes, Eastwell had a great deal more speed and coming out of Hislops for the ninth time he looked to make a pass on the inside but there was a coming together which saw McArthur end up in the gravel. Eastwell continued to take ninth. He was disappointed not to record better finishes in the two races but took a great deal of comfort from having made so much progress in the month since he made his debut on the National scene a month earlier at Brands Hatch. He is sure to be challenging for podiums before the end of the season. Like Thorburn and McArthur, James Roe Jnr scythed up the order until distributor failure caused him to coast to a halt. It is the third time that component has failed this season. Having left the grid in a blaze of wheelspin, John Ferguson tried to hang on to the coattails of McArthur as he made his way up the order but the Irishman explained, The car and Luke Cooper finished second This put Matt R-G up to seventh in the Championship and close to his goal of finishing in the Top Five. He is only two points away although the next few meetings are at circuits he is unfamiliar with. despite thinking he may not even compete in the meeting earlier in the week Seb Melrose gained ground to complete the opening lap in sixth. He finished one place lower after James Scott-Murphy worked his way up the order after a poor start which dropped him down to twelfth. Both were delighted this was James S-M s best result in the National series while Melrose put in a superb performance on his return to Oulton Park after a confidence sapping crash when testing at the circuit earlier in the season. From twelfth position on the grid, Henry Chart made possibly the best start in the history of motor racing! He charged down the outside of everyone on the run down to Old Hall and Page: 20 Page: 21

12 me combined are nearly 50 kilos over the weight limit! The majority of it me!!! Nonetheless, he finished tenth and won the Clubman Post89 Class in the process. The other occupants of the Clubman Post89 podium finished some 8 seconds further back. They were Ben Edwards and Nick Barnes. The latter had made another getaway that he wasn t satisfied with and Paul Mason was able to beat him to Old Hall although Barnes had the pace to retake the place on the exit of the corner. He then reeled in Edwards with whom he battled for the rest of the race. Possibly had they worked together they may have been able to catch Ferguson. As the smoke was clearing after the incident between Scott-Murphy and Eastwell, Barnes passed Edwards at Island before the places swapped back again a few laps later at Lodge when Edwards came through on the inside as he caught his adversary by surprise. Although having to be content with third, Barnes felt he had got a better understanding of his car during the course of the day and has plans to fine tune the set-up in the months ahead. After a race that was probably a little too exciting for his liking, Chart was classified thirteenth. This season he is benefitting from the excellent driver coaching from the Enigma Motorsport team and we will watch his future development with interest. Next home was Nigel Dolan who had screwed his suspension back together after his first race retirement. He had great fun in the early stages working his way through the order but, after things settled down, he found himself running alone with the Edwards/Barnes battle 100 yards down the road, tantalisingly out of reach. Dolan had a great weekend overall and was pleased with his performance but you always want to do better, he later reflected. Despite a poor start, Paul Mason was able to renew his battle from the very end of race 1 with Ben Paliwoda but as his rival was clearly Page: 22 quicker, Mason didn t put up too much resistance and allowed Paliwoda through after he got a run on him exiting Cascades. He was then in position to take fourteenth at the flag. Having ceded the place, Mason focussed on watching the skills of the faster drivers who were coming through from the back. He was able to pick up a fair few tips. With his damage repaired by the Graham Brunton in the pits, Ross Martin re-joined to claim seventeenth ahead of Archie Hine who gained a far few places following his dramas in the earlier contest. There were battles everywhere you looked including a four car duel for Clubman Pre90 honours between Jack Clayton, Ivor Mairs, Mark De Rozarieux and Paul Barnes. Initially, Clayton made a great start and by Hill Top he was well ahead of his Class mates but after they reeled him in, he started driving as fast as he could until a little too much kerb was used on the entry to Hislops they are the biggest he has ever seen and Clayton ended up broadside across the track. Mairs and Barnes managed to make it through but De Rozarieux ended up on the green stuff. Clayton was unable to restart his car and so the marshals pushed it to safety next to the barriers while De Rozarieux continued but then lost third gear. He was happy to get to the finish as the last car home just behind Barnes who had worries of his own with an engine that was losing power and then an error at Hislops on the last lap caused him to spin after he had been leading the Pre90 Class in the closing stages. This meant Mairs won the category to be the early leader in the Pre90 Tourist Trophy while the man who finished runner-up to the Irishman, Andrew Kluge, moves to the top of the Pre90 table in the National Championship. When the flag came out, Kluge was separated from Barnes by Matt Payne. Race 2 Statistics Page: 23

13 Trophy Presentations Page: 24 Page: 25

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