Great day!

After a horrible drive up to Oulton Park (M6 was a 'mare), a great Chinese with the guys, and a lousy nights sleep, I was 'pleasantly' woken up by... a generator! Time to get up then, and sign-on for the race.

Last night I found out that we were running on the island circuit, so having never driven that configuration before, I was racking my brains to think about where the circuit must turn right for the hairpin. The exit I could remember from driving the full Shell Oils configuration, and watching the touring cars.

I ended up going out for qualifying behind Richard Breland (81), and knowing he was local to the circuit (as well as running 3rd in the championship) used this to help make up for missing the test day. To my surprise, I kept up with Richard, with some give and take on various parts of the circuit. Richard quicker at Knickerbrook & Cascades, and myself faster at Old Hall & Druids. After lap 6, Richard pulled over to let me past, and I surprised my self by setting my best time on lap 8, and qualifying 5th.

Race time, and yet again, I suffered with a poor start off the mark. Something I really need to work on if I'm going to race MX5's next year! Matthew Robinson was in front of me by turn 1, and I spend the next lap trying to get back past, having more speed, but lacking the room to get past. Near the end of the second lap I managed to get level with Matthew, and drove around the outside of him at Lodge, getting me back into 5th place.

You can see my first few laps from Richard's video footage:


Oulton Park MaX 5 from Fraser White on Vimeo.


The car was working well, and I slowly manage to catch the lead pack, and then pass Joachim Ritter on lap 5 out of the hairpin. Unfortunately, Joachim managed to get past on the following lap, but then ran out of fuel putting me back into 4th!

At the end of the race I was in touch with the lead pack, finishing just ~2.5 seconds behind the winner, and one of my most enjoyable races of 2008.

Less wind that Anglesey

Late entry for Oulton Park means no testing places available, and the local pub/inn is also full. Revised plan is to drive up on the Friday afternoon, camp at the circuit, and first time out on the circuit will be qualifying.

Back for the final round

After missing Croft and Pembrey due to various work & home commitments, Oulton Park has caught me by surprise. Having already blown my 2008 race budget, I'd resigned myself to my next race being in 2009. However, with Oulton Park being one of my favourite circuits, and Paul Sheard using his excellent powers of persuasion, I'm all booked in for the race this weekend!

International

Day 2 of the weekend, and still worried about the tyres not working. Without another set, there was no other option than to run with the same set and hope that they worked better.

Qualifying started off well, grip seemed good, and I made my way past several people on the first few laps. Problem was, after 5 laps the handling wet away again, and I started lapping some 2-3 seconds slower. On the plus side, I ended up qualifying 6th, so a few places up on yesterday.

I was a little slow off the grid, but managed to hold 6th place for the first lap. I found I was quick onto the straight into the hairpin, but on lap 2 Jonathan Halliwell and myself wanted to same tarmac on the entry to the hairpin and touched. Nothing serious, but slowed my exist and dropped me a place as we turned onto the pit straight, and another before the banking.

The next few laps reminded me of Rockingham with no one nearby to actually race. There was one incident around lap 9 or 10 where the pack in front managed to make a mistake, allowing me to catch the up. I managed to get past Nick Wright, again into the hairpin, but I was now loosing rear end grip. Nick was right behind me in the left hander after the Rocket complex, and I ended up taking too much speed a taking the cones out sideways!

I picked the car back up, and kept my distance from Mark Pierpoint, finally finishing 7th... and later increased to 6th due to a disqualification for Joachim.

As ever, a big thanks to Bob Marsh for the race photos.

Coastal

What a difference a day makes. Less wind, a better nights sleep, and a lovely blue sky. Today should be good.

It turns out that we're using two different circuits over the weekend, with the Coastal today, and the International tomorrow. This means we need to run qualifying sessions on both circuits, so the easy answer is have both a qualifying session and race on each of the days.

Qualifying is late morning, so a fair bit of time to wonder around the paddock and watch the other cars. Dry conditions mean the new tyres were needed, so since they've not been scrubbed in I needed to take the first few laps gently to avoid damaging them. Problem was, when I started pushing the car, the rear end was very loose.... except in the Rocket complex where is just under steered.

The times confirmed the handling problems; my qualifying position down in 9th place. With luck, the fact the tyres have now gone through a heat cycle should mean that they will be OK for the race... so need to get a good start!

Off the line the car bogged down a bit, but I didn't loose too much into the banking. I hooked onto the back of Chris Lovett, but we both ended up off the circuit on the exit; kicking up lots of stones and gravel in the process. After the first lap, the dash started to warn that the water temperature was too high, and a few moments later I spotted a small amount of steam escaping from under the bonnet!

I killed the engine, and coasted into the pits to prevent further damage. On popping the bonnet it was easy to see the problem... there was a massive hole in the radiator. The windscreen also gained a variety of cracks. So my first DNF of 2008, but assuming the engine is still OK, car should be easily fixed for the second race tomorrow.

Wet fun

Not much sleep, but after a coffee and an excellent breakfast, it was time for the new drivers briefing, and then onto the circuit. A 10:00 start made for a relaxed day, and the wet circuit was excellent fun. The weather was horrible when not driving, but the Sheard truck gave us somewhere to stay dry during the rain.

The DL1 data logger was working well, and my times were good against Paul & Joachim. The heavy wet weather called for using the full tread depth tyres, but care needed as the track dried to avoid damaging them.

By the end of the day I was very happy with the car setup, if felt quick; and the circuit fun. If raceday is wet, then I'm all set, if it's dry then it will be a new set of buffed tyres and a guess for the suspension setup.

Windy Wales

I've been to Anglesey once before, a double header trackday at the current circuit with glorious sunshine, and the usual good standard of driving from the BookaTrack crowd.



So when I elected to camp there for the bank holiday weekend, I guess I was expecting a similar weekend. I don't have any pictures from the Thursday evening, but watch the video to see our tents taking a battering from the wind prior to testing on the Friday.