OULTON PARK 2010

Testing.

Bathed in some serious sunshine, OultonPark this year was a shining example of how good club motorsport can look when you put a lot of brightly-coloured steel on track in the sort of surroundings you get here. Doesn’t hurt that someone had been at the kerbs with a paintbrush.

As usual, some tested, some didn’t. The usual sparring Harrison duo and a resurgent Webster, buoyant after his run of success at Anglesey. But curiously, nobody else. This is OultonPark people, the second-best track on the calendar, what’s up with you?

Perhaps the Jag drivers have concluded that they know this place by now, but it seems unlikely. It is possible that none wished to incur the wrath of the District Judge I happen to know lives within earshot.

One thing that became apparent, as the runs progressed throughout the day, was that the new tyre does make a difference here, and that as he ironed out some of the car’s teething issues, the Bear was very fast here.

Lyddall’s V12 nosed its way onto the track to shake itself down after mid-season repairs, but the driver was conspicuous by the lack of oversteer, leading us to believe that it wasn’t Stewert.

Qualifying.

As usual these days it is a mixed XJS and saloon quali, and as ever, space was important. The Harrison duo led the field out, and after a lap to settle in, Harrison junior pulled out of the slipstream, engaged the secret supercharger, and pissed all over everyone’s chips with a car that appeared capable of space flight.

For some, quali was the first time seeing the track, ever. Richard Coppock has 15 minutes to learn this place, longest track of the year, almost as many corners as Cadwell, speeds that reach near-Silverstone levels, and one of the more challenging corners of the year, Druids. There are other drivers who are ring-rusty here too, so there was a lot of learning going on out here.

Lyddall was on new-old old T1Rs, or at least a mix of completely-buggered and slightly-less-buggered tyres, and after setting a laptime early on, resorted to a game of cat and mouse with Harrison senior in a duel reminiscent of their 2008 playtime. Heavier-than-sin class D on R1Rs v V12 on T1Rs, resulted in a dead heat, and indeed the results sheet would place them 2^nd and 3^rd on the grid.

Pole went to a flying Bear, unquestionably the fastest thing on track by a big margin and swatting other cars like MX5s at a test day, he takes pole by well over 2 seconds.

Coppock’s V12 lies 4^th, proving that power and sticky rubber aren’t enough to put the car on class pole without the practice of test day, and that Lyddall is simply faster out of the box on all the old crap nobody else will touch.

Palmer is crucially 5^th, 3 seconds behind pole and peering round at the other class E cars he doesn’t usually get to see, Ramm and Webster probably not who he planned to have around.

Returning V12s Cliff Ryan and Paul Merrett are joined by new boy Wood, apparently a Formula Ford driver, the big Jag proved something of a learning curve on track, but good to see V12 numbers up. Briefly at least, the Wood machine would not start the race with mechanical woes and clearly needs to go testing before it comes racing.

Class D are a big huddle from p8 back, with the V12s of Ryan and Merrett mixed amongst them, tail end charlies are Beecham and Coppock.

RACE

You know what, this was a good one. Some races are dull, some are chaotic, some full of damage and controversy. This one was a nice blend of everything. There was even some overtaking, Quite a lot of it, actually.

We all assumed this would be determined off the startline, and so it was, but not in the way we thought.

As the lights go out the Bear incinerates his clutch and fails to get the car moving, he drops several places off the line, Lyddall streaks into the lead with Coppock astern, Andrew Harrison takes third.

With the Bear’s poor start, Webster jumps Palmer, and as the red machine finally gets moving there is a class E scrap immediately. Flying down the hill into Cascades Bear slices past Palmer and across Webster’s nose to retake 4^th. Harrison senior locks up to miss Coppock’s early braking for Cascades and loses crucial momentum, allowing his brother to overtake before the race is even 20 seconds old,  and then take a look at Coppock into turn 3.

Encouraged by this onslaught Palmer looks at Webster, and finds the grass on the exit of Cascades as the Bearded One robustly defends his position. Unused to dealing with the ferocity of a defensive Webster it will be a little time until Palmer regroups to try again.

Lyddall is amazingly stretching a small gap on Coppock, who now has a red car swarming all over him, the class E car obviously faster and looking for a way through. Harrison is a solid and unmolested 4^th as Palmer finally battles through past the wide Webster, Harrison senior and Palmer have a long history by now and battle is joined between the pair yet again.

Philip “Felipe” Comer has pulled a blinding start, clearly liking this year’s upgrade to 4 litre AJ16 he powers straight past 6 pot and V12 alike off the line into 7^th place, Merrett, Ryan and Ramm to a man muttering “where did he come from?” And, in fairness, if you have many thousands of pounds worth in your engine bay, you would get cranky when an unmodified 4 litre powering what may be the heaviest car on the grid goes steaming past you.

This leaves Ramm trying to find a way past the D machine, with Ryan’s V12 in pursuit, and Simon Seath doing a sterling job of fending off Merrett’s monster 6 litre, Chris Boon actively seeking a way past the big-powered but perhaps mishandling V12 for a chance to chase down his class D rivals.

The twenty second delay before release of the saloons is not enough to prevent the tail end XJS being swallowed up on lap 1. Richard Coppock, ahead of Bob Beecham’s Generally Orange car has two saloons a quarter second behind him and one three tenths ahead at the end of lap 1 alone, the resulting very kind and courteous getting the hell out of the way rather spoiling his first-lap chase of the older and perhaps wiser Crossley. We said “perhaps,” mate, don’t get too excited…

As the cars enter Old Hall for lap 2  Lyddall goes off-line and defensive, running wide on the exit of the corner and dropping his wheels onto the grasscrete, allowing Coppock and Harrison to streak past. As they fly into Cascades again the Bear is caught out by the v12’s need to brake far earlier than the 6 pot machine, and there is contact as the cars dive down the hill. Only gentle, it is enough to break the front pair of pins securing the Kutuka car’s bonnet, and it’s game over for the red car, bonnet pointing skywards and into retirement.

With Lyddall losing time with his minor excursion, that’s all that Coppock needs to make his break, and to play the R1Rs in even as Lyddall’s T1Rs go off.

Harrison’s D car is now promoted back up to third, with Palmer’s much more capable machine 4^th, this pair will now settle into a race-long fight for 3^rd. How hard Palmer is trying given he has just inherited the class lead is anyone’s guess. Harrison too has his class lead, the two of them don’t need to race at all, but they never do seem able to just settle down and collect their points. This is a discrete, private fight, the best class E car v the best class D, the two championship contenders locked in their own individual contest as Harrison seeks the big scalp of the class E champion, and Palmer hopes he can scare his title contender off the road.

Ramm makes it past Comer, but the duel has been fierce, and they have dropped 7 seconds behind Webster already. Webster, sitting pretty for p2 in class with the Bear’s retirement, has a comfortable cushion, which was his undoing, because a comfortable driver can fall asleep. Sadly for the Bearded One, Palmer is 5 seconds ahead, and he has mentally already decided that Chris is uncatchable. With nothing in the mirror that phenomenon we have noted before occurs, the Hairy-Faced Berk drops his pace.

Merrett burns past Seath, but the temperature gauges have not been kind to that V12 this season, and it is going to be a repeat today, this early pace won’t be sustained, and though he now sits a very close 4^th in class off Ryan’s bumper, it won’t last forever. With the V12 buffer gone, Seath is now a target for Boon, who has closed to under a second adrift on lap2 and closing very fast.

Crossley has now been swamped by the saloons, and in the chaos of ten battling Jags flooding past, Coppock junior is now on his tail again, and there are still more cars to come. Allowing faster cars by whilst having your own duel is an impossible task for any backmarkers, and the opportunist pursuer will always make hay under the blue flags.

Beecham too is pushed off the chase by the lapping cars, gentlemanly behaviour is certainly his forte, but it costs him dear.

Lap 3, and a little stability briefly creeps in. Coppock leads a still-sideways Lyddall by 3 seconds, Harrison very defensive a smidge under 3 seconds back with Palmer only 4/10ths off the bumper.

Webster is now 9 seconds back, but Ramm is now closing. It’s only ever an 8-lap race here, but he had 7 seconds in the bag, and Ramm’s Kawasaki-throttled E machine is closing him down at over 2 seconds per lap…

Comer has the lead saloon in the mirror, and it won’t stay there long enough to stave off the attentions of Ryan’s V12 now that the overheating Merrett has had to back off the pace to save his engine. With no pressure astern, Ryan is hunting the D car, and the gap narrows inexorably.

Seath has now caught Merrett again, the V12 a brief roadblock, allowing Boon to swarm all over the back of him, a quarter of second in it, and the overtake surely just a question of when rather than if. Sure enough, lap 4 produces a Chris Boon special, and Seath is relegated a place, Boon steals the last class trophy. For now…

Coppock2 takes his moment in the saloon swarm, and Crossley watches the blue veteran class D steam past to mug him for the place.

Lap 4, and Lyddall is still gamely hanging on to Coppock out front, but there are no reserves left to throw and no fairytale intervention coming. Palmer is still a rear bumper ornament for Harrison, and Webster continues to be reeled in by Ramm, but the midfield is where it gets interesting. Ryan makes his move to dispatch Comer, there is only so much a class D can do against 6 litres of muscle.

This leaves the ever-faster Boon closing on Comer for that 2^nd in class spot, fast, over 2 seconds on lap 5 alone…

Merrett has tumbled down the order now, Seath has cleared him, and the saloon swarm has consumed him as he cruises the steaming monster to the finish.

Crossley and Beecham, each hampered by the saloon flood, are now out of sight of their respective targets and settling in for a personal challenge, even with no other car to chase there is the ever-present quest for better laptimes, and it is worth noting that both will pick up the pace further as the race progresses.

Lap 6, ¾ distance, and the chase for the lead is over, Lyddall has nothing but smoking black circles for tyres, and the gap to the leader a now-unassailable 5 seconds. Third place is only 3 seconds back, and with his rubber shot Lyddall’s only hope is that the 3^rd place duel will occupy itself.

Harrison’s third place disappears as his car runs out of reserves, the tyres cannot cope as well on a D car as an E at the same pace and lurid slide through Druids loses critical momentum. Palmer cruises past on sheer power down the pit straight to claim the final podium slot. The cranky D driver will give pursuit, but with grip gone Palmer eases clear, and is quickly on the tail of the slowing Lyddall.

Webster fails to notice the approach of Ramm until it is almost too late, one of the features of Oulton’s many curves and dips is that a chasing car can be almost upon its target before it is noticed, and in a single lap Ramm strips the last 2 seconds off Webster and passes his target without breaking stride. Webster loses his 3^rd in class and will curse his complacency loud and long in the paddock debrief.

Boon’s chase of Comer is similarly swift, he too tears that last 1.5 seconds off Comer and blows straight past him to take p2 in class D, but this duo aren’t done yet. With Seath only now 4 seconds behind and closing in, neither are safe.

Merrett is still cruising in, the times faster now that the car has cooled, or at least settled sufficiently to be sure of making the flag, but the time damage has been done, and he won’t catch the D duel again.

Coppock2’s fleeing from Crossley takes a hit this lap with a lairy moment of grasstracking, the lost time putting his pursuer perhaps back in contention, but credit to him for managing an off at this notoriously difficult track without taking any damage!

Into the closing stages and the only place to watch is the class D melee, as Comer fights back. Always faster in pursuit than defence, he slices back past Boon with one of his do or die specials, the fight costing such time that Seath is now directly astern of both, waiting to pounce.

And pounce he does, because Boon fights back on Comer as he gets it out shape down Cascades on the last lap, trying a brave wall of death round the outside, and inevitably down the grass as the pair run out of road. Seath slides past with what must have been a chuckle worthy of Syd James to go from 4^th to 2^nd in class D in one corner.

As the cars flash to the flag it is Comer with an easy 4 second lead to take the win, his third of the year, and possibly his most unexpected. As the cleanest of the front runners, the respect afforded this difficult track rewarded him with his win.

Lyddall has suddenly got his mirrors full of Palmer, who without Harrison to hassle him is able to mount an attack to close the gap to a second, but with no time to turn it into anything like a move they take 2^nd and 3^rd, Harrison falling off from the pair by some 3 seconds as brake fade compounded overheating tyres.

Ramm takes p5, 20 seconds adrift, but 2^nd in class E, Webster 3 seconds back and a very cross Beard.

Ryan takes the last V12 “podium” some 52 seconds behind the leader, Seath takes 2^nd in D, another 10 seconds back, a great result.

Comer leads Boon home for 9^th and 10^th, Merrett survives to take 11^th, Coppock2 from Crossley and Beecham the last finishers.

WINNERS AND LOSERS

Coppock and Palmer - on a day that they were comprehensively out-qualified by their class rivals in inferior machinery they still took class wins. Calmer heads and driving well within the limits of the machinery pays dividends here.

Andrew Harrison - class win by nearly a minute and full points on a day that Palmer doesn't score perfection.

Simon Seath - another calm head comes through to collect the spoils.

Kutuka Motorsport. 1,2 and 3 on the grid with 3 cars in 3 classes. Which means they put their slowest car ahead of the fastest of every other.

LOSERS

Alex Harrison. - fastest by a mile, and managed a little over a lap. Doh.

Roger Webster - we have lambasted him long enough already, but a final kick I think is needed. Go faster.

The D class tail-end train. Are they getting what they paid for? Trying to race each other whilst watching the mirror all race must be more exciting, but they pay the same fee, and have the same right to a clear, unmolested race as the winner.