- 24,332
- It/It
- GTP_TheCracker
Oulton Park Gold Cup 29-30 August 2010
Got a call from my dad last Monday. Without going on like an Alan Bennett monologue the gist of it was "You have renewed your licence this year haven't you?" Yes, why? "Picking the engine up from a new engine builder tomorrow" Oh, right. "Are you busy this weekend?" No, what's on? "Oulton Park Gold Cup. I've managed to get a late entry today and if we can get the engine installed later this week we're there" Oh crikey, didn't see that one coming. When will you know? "Not sure, depends on how the installation goes, i'll give you a ring when i have a clearer idea"
In the spirit of everything that's gone before i'd still not heard anything when i got home from work on Friday. By the time i'd managed to get hold of my dad it turns out that the rubber fuel line had perished and needed replacing and not all the fuel and oil pipe unions or engine mounts were returned from the previous engine builder and although the engine is now in the car it hadn't been fired up as yet.
An early start for me on the Saturday morning had me shooting up to my dads to lend a hand. When i got there the engine was all connected up and the car was stood on it's nose to encourage the oil in the dry sump (in the boot) to work it's way through the pipes and into the pan before we could try to start it. That done fingers were crossed and we fired it up. It caught first time and sounded good. Things were looking promising 👍
By the time we'd loaded up it was unlikely we'd make it to the circuit in time for the scheduled morning practice sessions and the car would have to be run for the first time in over two years in the afternoon qualifying session. There were still a few things on the car that needed sorting before it could be driven. Over winter we'd changed the front wheels and tyres to some slightly wider and taller ones which required new springs and some adjustment to camber. It naturally ment less space between the tyres and the inside of the outer wheel arch. We managed to get it so the tyres didn't rub when the wheels were turned, but wouldn't really know until it had been on track and some forces were put through the high profiled tyres.
The race was to be a 40 minute event with the option to swap drivers within an alloted time window. The entrants who didn't have a second driver were required to pit anyway and sit there for 60 seconds to equal things out. So when it come to qualifying i let him go out first so any teething (or greater) issues would be on his head. As it was he came into the pit on his first lap around with steam pouring out under the bonnet, after some quick investigation we worked out it was just the excess of an over filled radiator blowing out over the exhaust manifold. He went back out and did another couple of laps before coming back in to swap with me leaving me only enough time to do another 4 or 5 laps before the session end. I've driven Oulton Park on several other occasions but not for perhaps 10 years. It's not an easy circuit to drive but quite rewarding when you manage to unlock how best to take some of the trickier turns and begin to push the amount of speed you can carry through them.
Back in the paddock we were quite pleased to find we'd qualified in 19th (out of 34 and just ahead of ALMS and Le Mans LMP2 regular Liz Haliday in an Alfa GTA.) Neither of us were up to speed after two years away from the wheel and everyone else are well into their grove with the season being in the latter stages and cars well sorted. We'd also overlooked a couple of things in the rush to get the car out in time. The tyres were over inflated at 40psi instead of the usual 34psi when cold. We also had a diff in that is more suited to Snetterton or Barnds Hatch GP then it is Oulton Park and subsequently ment the car was lacking punch out of corners and top gear (4th) was barely engaged before braking at the end of the longer straights, both of which added seconds to the lap times. Tyre pressures could be changed before the race the following afternoon, but we decided to leave the diff in even though we had the shorter geared one in the back of the van, since the car was running well and we didn't really want to rock the boat for what had really become an extended test session.
Photos courtesy of Scott Mallinson
After some torrential rain storms over night the track was thankfully bone dry again by the time the race was due to start on the Sunday afternoon. Dad is known for his good starts so was drafted in to start the race. A good start was indeed made and he was a good five or so places up by the exit of the first turn. His lack of recent seat time in race conditions unfortunately ment he soon began dropping places. At first i thought there might be an issue with the car, but thankfully, for me at least, it was just him losing his mojo a little (he had won overall last time he raced at Oulton!) By the time he pitted the field had spread out considerably and quite a few had dropped out for one reason or another. We also had a longer pitstop than most since we forgot to properly time the length of time we were stood still for and looking at the split times later on we probably dropped another 12 seconds or so to everyone else. I ended up having a quiet race i caught and passed one of the Anglias and a couple more cars whilst they had their enforced stops, also losing another couple of seconds letting the leaders past and fluffing a gear change in the process. Given the time lost i should have really caught and re-passed Liz Haliday and the other Anglia who finished close together about 15 seconds up the road since i was lapping quicker than them but it wasn't to be.
Photos courtesy of Scott Mallinson
We finished 11th overall and first in class, but there was quite a high rate of attrition with 12 starters not finishing. A Fiat Abarth span on the run down to the Shell hairpin and collected a Mini in the process. The lead Ford Falcon span coming out of Druids and couldn't get the warm engine started again which brought a yellow flag out. The subsequent leading BMW 1800 then either spun out on someone else's dropped oil or retired leaving the oil itself which caused another couple of spins. We were fairly lucky not to get caught up in any of this and finishing the race with the car still running well is a refreshing change and bodes well for what's left of the season.
Photos courtesy of Scott Mallinson
With the engine going sweetly now, we can finally do some much needed development. The temperature of the brakes at the end of either session was similar front and back which means it's still braking too much at the rear and therefore not efficiently enough at the front. We certainly were not able to brake as late or hard as some of the other cars on track. The ride height at the front is now a touch too high with the new front tyres although this means nothing to the car aerodynamically, it can't be running with the suspension angled to it's best. Little issues like the position of the seat in the car being too high and the bonnet threatening to pop open at any time may now also get looked at too.
Unfortunately i'll probably only get one more run in it this year. There's a non-championship race at Spa in a two weeks time followed by a couple of races at Dijon the following weekend that we had planned to do in a week-long trip over to Europe with some of the other competitors, but a holiday i had already planned for the week before slightly overlaps it and also makes it difficult for me to get the time off work so i'll have to give those a miss. The next championship race is at Brand Hatch that my step-bro will do, followed by the season final at Silverstone in October that i'll do. I've usually done pretty well there so i'll be well fired up and looking for a good result. Watch this space.
In the rush to get ready i forgot to charge my camera battery so have no pictures of the event myself. I've nicked these two from another forum and found others on Flickr, but i'm never sure how it works with copyright so i'll leave those out for now (although one of them is now the signature image on my profile page
)
My dad coming through the chicane at Knickerbrook
Me giving it a 'dab of oppo' exiting Knickerbrook
Got a call from my dad last Monday. Without going on like an Alan Bennett monologue the gist of it was "You have renewed your licence this year haven't you?" Yes, why? "Picking the engine up from a new engine builder tomorrow" Oh, right. "Are you busy this weekend?" No, what's on? "Oulton Park Gold Cup. I've managed to get a late entry today and if we can get the engine installed later this week we're there" Oh crikey, didn't see that one coming. When will you know? "Not sure, depends on how the installation goes, i'll give you a ring when i have a clearer idea"
In the spirit of everything that's gone before i'd still not heard anything when i got home from work on Friday. By the time i'd managed to get hold of my dad it turns out that the rubber fuel line had perished and needed replacing and not all the fuel and oil pipe unions or engine mounts were returned from the previous engine builder and although the engine is now in the car it hadn't been fired up as yet.
An early start for me on the Saturday morning had me shooting up to my dads to lend a hand. When i got there the engine was all connected up and the car was stood on it's nose to encourage the oil in the dry sump (in the boot) to work it's way through the pipes and into the pan before we could try to start it. That done fingers were crossed and we fired it up. It caught first time and sounded good. Things were looking promising 👍
By the time we'd loaded up it was unlikely we'd make it to the circuit in time for the scheduled morning practice sessions and the car would have to be run for the first time in over two years in the afternoon qualifying session. There were still a few things on the car that needed sorting before it could be driven. Over winter we'd changed the front wheels and tyres to some slightly wider and taller ones which required new springs and some adjustment to camber. It naturally ment less space between the tyres and the inside of the outer wheel arch. We managed to get it so the tyres didn't rub when the wheels were turned, but wouldn't really know until it had been on track and some forces were put through the high profiled tyres.
The race was to be a 40 minute event with the option to swap drivers within an alloted time window. The entrants who didn't have a second driver were required to pit anyway and sit there for 60 seconds to equal things out. So when it come to qualifying i let him go out first so any teething (or greater) issues would be on his head. As it was he came into the pit on his first lap around with steam pouring out under the bonnet, after some quick investigation we worked out it was just the excess of an over filled radiator blowing out over the exhaust manifold. He went back out and did another couple of laps before coming back in to swap with me leaving me only enough time to do another 4 or 5 laps before the session end. I've driven Oulton Park on several other occasions but not for perhaps 10 years. It's not an easy circuit to drive but quite rewarding when you manage to unlock how best to take some of the trickier turns and begin to push the amount of speed you can carry through them.
Back in the paddock we were quite pleased to find we'd qualified in 19th (out of 34 and just ahead of ALMS and Le Mans LMP2 regular Liz Haliday in an Alfa GTA.) Neither of us were up to speed after two years away from the wheel and everyone else are well into their grove with the season being in the latter stages and cars well sorted. We'd also overlooked a couple of things in the rush to get the car out in time. The tyres were over inflated at 40psi instead of the usual 34psi when cold. We also had a diff in that is more suited to Snetterton or Barnds Hatch GP then it is Oulton Park and subsequently ment the car was lacking punch out of corners and top gear (4th) was barely engaged before braking at the end of the longer straights, both of which added seconds to the lap times. Tyre pressures could be changed before the race the following afternoon, but we decided to leave the diff in even though we had the shorter geared one in the back of the van, since the car was running well and we didn't really want to rock the boat for what had really become an extended test session.
Photos courtesy of Scott Mallinson
After some torrential rain storms over night the track was thankfully bone dry again by the time the race was due to start on the Sunday afternoon. Dad is known for his good starts so was drafted in to start the race. A good start was indeed made and he was a good five or so places up by the exit of the first turn. His lack of recent seat time in race conditions unfortunately ment he soon began dropping places. At first i thought there might be an issue with the car, but thankfully, for me at least, it was just him losing his mojo a little (he had won overall last time he raced at Oulton!) By the time he pitted the field had spread out considerably and quite a few had dropped out for one reason or another. We also had a longer pitstop than most since we forgot to properly time the length of time we were stood still for and looking at the split times later on we probably dropped another 12 seconds or so to everyone else. I ended up having a quiet race i caught and passed one of the Anglias and a couple more cars whilst they had their enforced stops, also losing another couple of seconds letting the leaders past and fluffing a gear change in the process. Given the time lost i should have really caught and re-passed Liz Haliday and the other Anglia who finished close together about 15 seconds up the road since i was lapping quicker than them but it wasn't to be.
Photos courtesy of Scott Mallinson
We finished 11th overall and first in class, but there was quite a high rate of attrition with 12 starters not finishing. A Fiat Abarth span on the run down to the Shell hairpin and collected a Mini in the process. The lead Ford Falcon span coming out of Druids and couldn't get the warm engine started again which brought a yellow flag out. The subsequent leading BMW 1800 then either spun out on someone else's dropped oil or retired leaving the oil itself which caused another couple of spins. We were fairly lucky not to get caught up in any of this and finishing the race with the car still running well is a refreshing change and bodes well for what's left of the season.
Photos courtesy of Scott Mallinson
With the engine going sweetly now, we can finally do some much needed development. The temperature of the brakes at the end of either session was similar front and back which means it's still braking too much at the rear and therefore not efficiently enough at the front. We certainly were not able to brake as late or hard as some of the other cars on track. The ride height at the front is now a touch too high with the new front tyres although this means nothing to the car aerodynamically, it can't be running with the suspension angled to it's best. Little issues like the position of the seat in the car being too high and the bonnet threatening to pop open at any time may now also get looked at too.
Unfortunately i'll probably only get one more run in it this year. There's a non-championship race at Spa in a two weeks time followed by a couple of races at Dijon the following weekend that we had planned to do in a week-long trip over to Europe with some of the other competitors, but a holiday i had already planned for the week before slightly overlaps it and also makes it difficult for me to get the time off work so i'll have to give those a miss. The next championship race is at Brand Hatch that my step-bro will do, followed by the season final at Silverstone in October that i'll do. I've usually done pretty well there so i'll be well fired up and looking for a good result. Watch this space.
In the rush to get ready i forgot to charge my camera battery so have no pictures of the event myself. I've nicked these two from another forum and found others on Flickr, but i'm never sure how it works with copyright so i'll leave those out for now (although one of them is now the signature image on my profile page
)
My dad coming through the chicane at Knickerbrook
Me giving it a 'dab of oppo' exiting Knickerbrook
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Hope it goes well at the other meets and for you at Silverstone.
