BRSCC Formula Ford 1600 Race Report Season 2015 - Issue 10: Oulton Park International Circuit, 22nd August STOUT DEFENCE Crosbie holds on at Oulton Brilliant Drive by Pre90 Winner Cowley
CONTENTS Page Introduction Qualifying Race 3 4 7 Supporters of the Northern Championship Data & Credits Meeting Type: Double Header Circuit: Oulton Park International Circuit Length: 2.6917 miles Northern Championship: Round 10 Organised by BRSCC Sponsored by Avon Tyres BRSCC FF1600 Championship Co-ordinator: Ian Smith (07939 107888) Words: Dave Williams Editing: Dave Williams www.gramtext.co.uk Copyright on Pictures: Bourne Photographic www.bournephotographic.co.uk Next Events: 13th September: Knockhill National Championship: Rounds 13 & 14 26th/27th September: Anglesey National Championship Finale! Northern Championship: Rounds 11 & 12 Page: 2
Introduction The BRSCC s Avon Tyres Northern Formula Ford 1600 Championship contenders convened at Oulton Park on 22nd August for the tenth round of their series which was staged on the majestic International Circuit. A free practice session at the start of the day was welcomed by many. For some, it gave them the cost saving of not having to test on Friday. There were further financial benefits as once again a generous prize fund was on offer courtesy of Gem Trailers. The first four home in both the Post89 and Pre90 categories received cash as did a lucky loser who was drawn from the remaining drivers during the podium presentations. There was plenty of bonhomie in the paddock. Even a driver who wasn t racing due to his car not being repaired after an accident during Silverstone s National meeting the week before was present to enjoy the craic. John Wilkinson at speed in the park Page: 3
Qualifying BLIJLEVEN BLITZ Jaap Blijleven blitzed his final flying lap to take Pre90 pole There was a surprise name at the top of the timesheets at the end of the free practice session. During a camping holiday the previous week, John Murphy made a spur of the moment decision to take part in this meeting having he realised it could be his only opportunity to race this year. He certainly made an impact by setting the fastest lap at the start of the day with his Class E Merlyn Mk20A being particularly well suited to the damp conditions however as the track had dried out for qualifying he had to be content with occupying the thirteenth grid slot in the afternoon s race having not shown as much speed as expected. The dry conditions enabled the Post89 cars to excel in qualifying. In fact there was one particular Van Diemen JL13 in the hands of one particular driver that excelled on one particular lap! Doug Crosbie was the driver and his penultimate lap was more than 6 tenths faster than his next best time and 0.59 secs faster than anyone else could manage. He was the only person to dip below 1 min 49s. After qualifying, Crosbie just chuckled to himself when asked where that mega lap came from but he assured everyone it wasn t because he had taken a short-cut through Fosters Corner. Rumours were rife that Doug is taking the James Hunt approach to motorsport and a Sex Breakfast of Champions T-shirt may have been the appropriate attire for him. Page: 4
Leader of the Champion of Oulton series, Josh Fisher (Wayne Poole Racing Van Diemen RF99), would occupy the outside of the front row and he was just 0.074 secs ahead of Tom McArthur who was the only representative of the McArthur clan as his brother, David, was on holiday. As leader of the Post89 Northern Championship, Tom was determined to race his B-M Racing tended Van Diemen LA10 at Oulton and scraped together the extra budget to do so. The first Pre90 car would be on the outside of the second row. This was in the hands of Jaap Blijleven who felt the stars were aligned for him after he had shown great pace during testing on Friday. Since the last Northern rounds at Anglesey, UCLAN Racing had repaired the crack discovered in the chassis of his Reynard 88FF and then the team s chef cooked his speciality chicken curry on Friday evening therefore the Dutchman was ready to fly on Saturday. He certainly revelled in the damp conditions at the start of the day when he set the second best time of free practice. This led to some disappointment that the track had dried when qualifying began and Blijleven was initially a second away from the Pre90 standard setting Jamie Jardine in his Reynard 84FF but he kept chipping away and there was joy for him and the team when his final flying lap was a couple of tenths better than the mark Jardine had established earlier in the session. The latter was on quite a big downer after he was pipped such are the highs and lows of motorsport. The third Pre90 runner on the grid would be Calum McHale in his Van Diemen RF89 but he was separated from the first two in this class by the Post89 Van Diemens of Martin Short (JL012K), Matthew Chisholm (RF92) and Nigel Dolan (JL012K). In tenth, Hamish McAllister was grateful to be racing at all as a clutch seal problem during testing on Friday gave his Pure Pace Racing team plenty of work to do to get his 1991 Van Diemen ready for action. Unfortunately this meant there was no time to prepare the ex-jardine Reynard 84FF in which Josh Jones son of team owner Stuart was due to make his debut. John Murphy enjoyed the wet conditions of free practice Page: 5
Results Ian Parkington was fastest in CLass E Page: 6
Race CROSBIE: THE ULTIMATE DEFENCE Doug Crosbie just held on to take victory Before the opening lap was completed the Safety Car had been scrambled after Hamish McAllister spun exiting Island Bend and was clipped by the Van Diemen JL013K of Jack Wolfenden. The latter was turned sideways and slammed into the barriers that prevent out of control cars from ycollecting those who are negotiating the Shell Hairpin. It was good to know the driver was unharmed. The field were unleashed at the start of the third circuit. When the red lights had gone out earlier, Doug Crosbie converted his pole position into the lead but once everyone was back up to racing speed he had Josh Fisher and Tom McArthur all over his gearbox but Crosbie knew exactly what to do to keep his pursuers at bay to take the win. The front trio were never closer than at the end of lap 6 when they crossed the start finish line 3 abreast. During this melee McArthur was able to move up to second. Due to the slow laps behind the Safety Car, only 9 laps were completed in total. With the combined grid, 23 cars had come under starter s orders and just about everyone seemed to have someone to race with, none more so than the Pre90 frontrunners who were contesting fourth overall. Jaap Blijleven was disappointed to see the weather was so much better than in the morning. The sun made an appearance and it was a lovely afternoon to watch motorsport. The Dutchman made a great start and hoped that, once the green flags waved, the 3 Post89 leaders would help pull him away from the rest of the pack however with Jamie Jardine trying everything possible to demote him, Blijleven soon Page: 7
had to drive very defensively rather than take the optimum line. This pair were not alone... as Martin Short, Calum McHale, Nigel Dolan and Matthew Cowley made it 6 cars fighting over fourth. Cowley had made a great start in his Renyard 88FF. With John Murphy electing to start at the back, Cowley started from thirteenth on the grid after a puncture slowed him during qualifying and he now really was a young man on a mission. By lap 6 he was up to fifth and taking the fight to Blijleven who was still hogging the inside at all the main overtaking areas. Cowley had the answer however with a sublime move round the outside into Hislops. It was a fine way to cap the drive of the day and win Pre90. After a few too many events with no one to race with, Martin Short has revelled in having all the classes running together at the last two meetings. At Oulton he was a little nervous about affecting the Pre90 Title battle and was happy when fellow Post89 man, Nigel Dolan, overtook him (is this the first time in the history of motorsport that a driver has been happy to have been overtaken?). Short now had the opportunity to become embroiled in a duel without restraint and claimed seventh round the outside at Old Hall with McHale the last of this fabulous six car train to take the flag. This could have be a seven car battle but Matthew Chisholm lost places at the start when a clutch problem prevented him from using maximum revs although had he left the grid at his usual rate of knots he may have been in a position to get caught up in the McAllister/Wolfenden incident. Chisholm had an enjoyable race with Class E winner Ian Parkington (Royale RP26) who he eventually out dragged along the Lakeside Straight having got a better run out of Cascades. Behind the Reynard 89FF of twelfth placed Ben Tinkler, Colin Williams PRS PH01, was in something of a David Bailey Motorsport sandwich as their two Reynard 89FFs Matthew Cowley (77) goes wheel to wheel with Jaap Blijleven (43) ahead of Jamie Jardine (28) Page: 8
finished in front and behind him in the hands of Ian Ellis and Will Alterman respectively. Team principal Bailey had a very busy weekend. He arrived at Oulton Park on Friday afternoon just to set everything up in the paddock but got involved in helping Pure Pace Racing to deal with Hamish McAllister s clutch problem and didn t leave the circuit until well into the evening. Prior to free practice on Saturday morning there was a problem with Ellis engine warming up but with the help of Jamie Jardine s mechanic, Dave Hart, a slight kink in a coolant hose was discovered which was easy to resolve. As soon as the first session of the day got underway Will Alterman suffered a clutch seal failure. This was a major job to fix as the rear of the car had to be removed but thanks to help from the close-knit Formula Ford 1600 community in the shape of Colin Williams, Ian Parkington and his dad, Fred, Alterman was able to start from the back of the grid after the team s sometime third driver David Billington stepped in to run Ellis in qualifying. It was a close call to effect all the repairs and Parkington was being called to the Assembly Area for the race as he was helping to complete the job of putting Alterman s car back together. Bailey was multi-tasking after qualifying as Ellis chassis needed a worn clutch ring replacing and a handling imbalance that was generating slow corner understeer correcting. John Murphy was nervous about becoming involved in a first corner incident when starting from his allotted thirteenth grid spot therefore he decided to start from the back. Despite the Safety Car period limiting the number of racing laps and Murphy consciously taking things steady, he still worked his way up the order to finish sixteenth ahead of Andrew Kluge. The latter was running as car 0 after a refresh of his Van Diemen RF89 s livery saw it appear as number 50 instead of 40. As 50 was being used by Ian Parkington, the 5 was covered up. When Stephen Bracegirdle s Van Diemen RF89 ran wide the fourth time he exited Cascades, Nick Barnes nipped through in his RF87 model to take eighteenth. John Wilkinson (Van Diemen RF86) was the final finisher after Andrew MacGregor s RF87 example coasted to a halt at Hislops. It was a busy day for David Bailey Motorsport. Here their man Ian Ellis tackles Cascades Page: 9
Results Page: 10
This report was produced by www.gramtext.co.uk & Visit www.bournephotographic.co.uk for hundreds images from this meeting!! Please note: The images in this report are all low resolution. High quality pictures from the meeting - in hard or soft copy formats - can be obtained from Bourne Photographic Page: 11