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Oulton Park 2nd October 2004
Paul Walton takes the Class B Championship in a dominant
lights to flag 5th win of the season
Race Report from Steve Hare:
Having
been asked in front of 40 people to do a race report, I could hardly say no ! To
be honest though, it is a pleasure as Nick, Nim, Pratibha & I had such a
great weekend. I say race report but really it is more of a race meeting report
as I had a relatively uneventful (but nevertheless enjoyable)
race.
To
say we were excited arriving at Oulton Park last Friday to test would be an
understatement ..... it was eleven months since the RF81 had turned a wheel in
anger, in that time the engine & gearbox had been rebuilt by Steve Patton
& Tony Wilson respectively and URS had fitted new bodywork and some other
bits and repaired damage inflicted by an over zealous King of Kent competitor at
the 2003 Festival. We arrived in time to see the end of the morning test
session, Paul Walton was putting in the laps, on the pit wall Robin told me he
was doing 1 min 35s, this came as a surprise as I thought the CFF lap record for
the Island circuit was low 1 min 50s, Robin shared with me we were on the
International circuit cutting out the Shell Oils hairpin, I was relieved to find
out CFF lap times weren't tumbling F1 style. Nick & I got the car ready for
the three afternoon sessions, I mentioned it would be nice to have two dry
sessions to sort out any niggles then go for a competitive time and a final wet
session in case it rained on Saturday. This was exactly what we got and I was
pleased to get within half a second of Paul & have a go in the wet. I think
the most fun I have ever had in the car is at wet tests, under no pressure &
trying to get the car drifting round all the higher speed corners is fantastic
& probably the closest I will ever get to driving a car with considerably
more power than grip ! Lots of CFF racers began arriving early evening, no doubt
due to the 4am alarm call that would have been required for many to travel to
Oulton for 8am on raceday, most of us were lucky enough to be able to nab pit
garages for Saturday (only my 3rd time in a garage in 12 years of
racing !).
Saturday arrived, overcast but dry. We were to be third
out so were hopeful that the track would be pretty much dry by our session. Only
16 CFF entrants was a surprise, perhaps in part due to Championship positions
being more or less decided and the unpredictable (or is that predictable ?)
October weather. The 16 included a Championship debut
for Graham Legget, running in Paul Smith's Crossle 25F - welcome to the club
Graham. He would be happy to qualify 9th, but a broken throttle linkage in
the race would bring his first outing to an early end on lap 4 - hope to see
more of you next season. Colin Williams and Neil Marshall made the grid courtesy of Bernard's
welding expertise following the Silverstone incident. Dave Lowe had a hectic
time getting the 69 repaired following the same shunt, but was there as always,
albeit with a spray painted front wishbone (tut tut Dave - we expect better of
you !). Light rain appeared 40 minutes or so before we went out, the track
looked damp but I thought friendly enough. How wrong I was ! Two of the fastest
corners on the circuit - Old Hall and Druids were treacherous. Druids in
particular was like an ice rink, every lap the car understeered towards the
grass on the outside, mid session Richard Shelton spun in front of me at Druids
& not wanting to nip past only for his tyre's grip to return as he was
pointing in my direction I decided to use my driving exam emergency stop
procedure, fortunately Paul behind me must have been observing the 2 second rule
as he was able to avoid both of us. Though there were a few spins amongst the
16, there was no damage and everyone completed 6, 7 or 8 laps which was
excellent considering the conditions. Paul comfortably got pole, with me 2nd and
Dave Lowe (complaining that his 69 doesn't go well in the wet) 3rd. David
Penlington and Anthony Wills were an unusually low 6th & 7th due to a
deflating right front tyre & a cracked manifold
respectively.
The afternoon produced warm sunshine, it was actually quite hot
and track conditions were perfect. This had to be an advantage for Paul & I
in the race as the rest of the grid would be reminding themselves in the opening
laps how much speed on a dry track they could carry through Old Hall, Cascades
& Druids, something Paul was to take advantage of more than me. As the red
lights went out Paul took the lead into Old Hall (unfortunately for me, this
time he didn't wait for the green lights as per his Silverstone start), I was
able to stay with him through Cascades and had a look up the inside into the
hairpin at Foulstons but to no avail. That was pretty much the last I saw of
him, as I spent the next 6 or so laps paying close attention to Dave Lowes
desire to wrestle second from me. We had a good scrap, with Dave much quicker
through Lodge, Cascades & Druids and myself through Old Hall and the slower
corners of Foulstons hairpin & Knickerbrook. Dave went passed up the inside
into Old Hall at the end of the first lap, though I managed to repass him into
Foulstons hairpin on the second. It was a pleasure to race wheel to wheel with
someone you trusted wouldn't push you onto the grass - this must be what club
racing is all about. Around lap 6 I assume he had mirrors full of a charging
David Penlington as I was able to open up a bit of a gap, although not as big a
gap as the one Paul had opened up on me who was by now a speck in the distance.
The only way to make a race of it would have been for me to do a lap of the
Fosters circuit ! Paul eventually won comfortably by 11 seconds, David got past
Dave and closed on me over the last few laps to finish less than 0.7 seconds
down on me, Dave taking 4th and the Class A win. Steve Bradley & Chubby were
2nd & 3rd home in class A, meaning the trophies went to 2 Pauls, 2 Daves and
2 Steves ! The only other retirement along with Graham was John Hesp who blew away his hopes for the Novice Championship when he
damaged his engine mid race, giving him a non finish. Jeff Palmer took advantage
to narrow the gap to 1 point with an absent Ollie Robinson. So, Paul Walton is Class B Champion, well done Paul, it's great to see
someone as enthusiastic and long serving take their first Class Championship,
and he heads to Brands 4 points clear of Dave Lowe in the overall
Championship.
So the Festival is in less than 2 weeks,
unfortunately sooner than we were hoping, as we have a Friday afternoon
qualifying slot (don't the BRSCC realise we have to earn money Mon to Fri so
that we can give it all to them to enter their race meetings at weekends ??).
The race is on the Sat afternoon, with our AGM planned for Sat am. I look
forward to seeing as many as possible there, hopefully we will have twice as
many on the grid as at Oulton. Finally, it was great to be back after 11 months
away, it didn't take me long to remember why I enjoy CFF racing so
much.
Cobra Driver of the Day - Steve Hare | ||
