SRCC News

Oulton Park – 19th August 2023 Race Report, Images and Results

Posted on: August 24th 2023    •    Posted in: Race Results

 

Round 9 – Oulton Park

SRCC U.S. Autoshow Oulton Park. 19.08.23 Race Report Alan Jones

For the penultimate Race Meeting of SRCC Sports 2000 Championship, the drivers headed North to race in the Cheshire parkland setting of Oulton Park. For another well attended Spectator event. No famous racing stars like Valentino Rossi. For this event American V8’s were the stars. You certainly knew when they were on track with the roar and rumble echoing through the trees. Always a demanding circuit Oulton Park with its level changes, technical corners, and grass run offs close to the track can easily catch the unwary.
For those who came to the circuit on Friday for some pre-event testing they were unable to learn much due to the changing weather conditions. Morning rain did eventually dry out, but lingering damp under the trees meant that no one was able to set up their car in time for qualifying on the Saturday. With so many of the test sessions being punctuated by Red Flags, the control team were very frazzled at the end of the day. All hoping that the problems would be gone in the morning.
The original entry of 29 cars for the race was reduced to 27 for qualifying. Keith Mizen who had hoped to be ready had to withdraw. Nick Bailey fired up his car at 08.15 on the Saturday morning to find new cotterpins had damaged an oil seal, which left a nice puddle of gearbox oil with no opportunity to remedy, making him the second reluctant withdrawal.
We were able to welcome back into the paddock Dominic Lesniewski, who whilst enjoying his race day, did have a problem of getting home as his car had expired on the way to the circuit.
With his race car repaired and track tested, Mike Turner was back behind the wheel of his MCR following the Brands Hatch shunt. He reported the leg healed, but shoulders and back would not allow for a long stint in this single 50 minute enduro race. Clive Hayes was happy to step into the supporting role to share the drive.
Grant Gibson would share the race with David Gorst. David being able to have the benefit of Grant’s set up skills, ironing out a few of the problems that had previously held him back. Including tracing a brake bias problem due to a missing grub screw. The familiar team of Jon Harmer and Marc Noaro were sharing the green Tiga SC80, whilst Colin Peach had secured the assistance of Michael Vituli. A new name to Sports 2000. Michael was a former single seater racer, including racing Formula Renault before moving onto BMW for his current racing.In qualifying Michael did the majority of the laps taking the times down rapidly as he became familiar with the car. For the race it would be Colin who started. Asked of his impressions of the Orange Van Diemen. He said the car felt good but a bit too like racing a single seater. They probably have a bit more comfort in a BMW!
In qualifying Michael did the majority of the stint with Colin doing the minimum to qualify.
The last of the two driver teams were the University of Wales pairing of Tim Tudor and Patrick Sherington.

Qualifying

Qualifying was relatively incident free. The green track following the rain did leave the competitors struggling to find grip. Roger Donnan practicing his doughnuts in preparation for a victory celebration for the crowd later did execute a 360-degree spin at Lakeside. He did say afterwards that he thought the tyres might have overheated but more likely driver error – giving concerns for the longer race in the afternoon.
John Owen and Tom Stoten did receive additional scrutiny from the trackside scrutineer. John had been reported to be leaking fluid. This being water which has a tendency to overflow on his car. The problem came later in the qualifying, when the floor that was supposed to divert the overflow was damaged and the water go onto his rear tyre. John could not match Roger’s spin performance clipping a recticel barrier at Knickerbrook as he tried to get the car pointed in the right direction. The bodywork damage was easily repaired prior to the race.
Tom’s problem also saw him requiring some post qualifying work as the front undertray had become detached and was gradually being peeled back. Gary Gunn was able to secure everything in good time.
The two drivers who have been topping the times all year again headed the grid, with Michael Gibbins having probably his largest time advantage of the year over Josh Law in second place.
Tim Tudor and Patrick Sherington in their shared entry was 3rd with David Houghton 4th. The time interval between the trio of 2nd to 4th being just 3/10ths of a second. The question would be was Josh saving his car for the enduro race or had Michael really settled into the Cheshire circuit?
Despite his undertray issues Tom Stoten was 5th quickest with Richard Johnson 6th. Completing the Top ten order were Steve Ough, Ash Law, Dominic Lesniewski, and the circuit Dervish Roger Donnan, who headed the Derek Bell class runners. Charlie Hyett with another fine performance set a time under the class lap record in qualifying to take pole. Making it a Hyett lockout at the front of the Historic grid sharing row 1 with his brother Nick, with the Harmer/Noaro pairing on the second row along with Mike Fry.

Race

In the briefing a special reference was made regarding penalties and pit stops. The total Pit Stop interval from timing line in to timing line out would be 2 minutes. It is set this way because it can be recorded easily using the timing loops. So, no question there is a recorded time in and a time out. This did mean a little bit of maths would be required by the teams. If you drove down the pit lane at the max speed of 60 Kph, it would take 11.9 seconds. Your target stationery time would be 1m 48 seconds. There would be a Stop Go penalty for anyone who made a short stop whilst an unsafe release, speeding or releasing belts prior to coming to a halt would incur a drive through penalty. Covering all bases there was also a plan for a Red Flag situation, which was avoided.
The day had been full of incident prior to the race. Cars requiring recovery and in the preceding race, there was an oil spillage that left the track a little slippery in parts. A dark cloud did hover over the assembly area as the drivers waited to go on track, but it passed and the sun returned for when the cars commenced their rolling start procedure for the 50 minute race. This unusually for MSVR was 20 minutes later than timetabled.
Those with driver changes had already practised their handovers all being happy that the pit stop window gave them plenty of time to secure everyone in safely before restarting. Two cars would potentially refuel, these being the Van Diemens of Joshua Needham and Colin Peach. This would be dictated by the amount of safety car intervention. As it happened the safety car driver was kept quite busy.
It was a well disciplined pack that crested Deer Leap approaching the timing line. Race control was already busy. Patrick Egan had pulled off at Knickerbrook out with Clutch issues. He had placed the car close to a relief road. Prompt action by the Marshals ensured the race was able to start without a second formation lap.
At the lights Michael Gibbins led from Josh Law, with David Houghton slipping past Tim Tudor to take 3rd place. Richard Johnson had slipped past Tom Stoten to take up 5th place, Ash Law 7th, Steve Ough 8th, Dominic Lesniewski 9th with the top 10 completed by Joshua Needham. Both Joshua and Colin Peach having passed Roger Donnan who had made a bad start.
Charlie Hyett was leading the Historic race from Jon Harmer the pair having a great dice. Nick Hyett held a watching brief in 3rd place. The Historic entry having lost Patrick Egan was further depleted by a spin from David Williams. David deciding the Marshals at Knickerbrook had made such a good job of clearing Pat Egan, he would give them a little more work. David spun and stalled leaving the car half on half off the track.
Some excellent work by the Marshal team had the car cleared swiftly. Some considerate driving by the drivers ensured the race was able to continue safely whilst the officials got David’s car to a safe place.
With no time to catch our breaths, attention was quickly focused on Lakeside. Andrew Butler thinks he tried a slightly different line into Cascades, which caused him to put a wheel onto the grass. Later reports indicated that area was a little slippery. Either way Andrew spun out of Cascades onto the grass at Lakeside collecting the barrier heavily. This was lap 3.
Andrew was out of the car promptly, but unfortunately the damage to the car was extensive. Lap 4 and the first safety car intervention for the race whilst Andrew’s car was lifted clear and the tyre barrier restacked. Lap 3 had also resulted in side by side contact between Charlie Hyett and David Gorst. Both cars coming into the pits, David continued but Charlie retired to the paddock. The Historic race was really suffering from attrition.
The safety car controlled the race for 5 laps coming in as the pit window opened. Josh Law dived straight into the pits to make his stop. A lap later Tom Stoten and Jon Harmer did the same, before the major flurry commenced. Jon had seen his 9 second lead eliminated by the safety car. In an effort for Marc to restore that gap they pitted for the early advantage. The race was now led by Michael Gibbins with David Houghton maintaining 2nd place with Tim Tudor 3rd, Richard Johnson 4th. Ash Law 5th with Joshua Needham easily leading the Van Diemen race in 6th place. Nick Hyett as the sole remaining family member in the Historics race was leading Mike Fry with Mike Dodd in 3rd place. On lap 10 Ross Hyett had retired at Lakeside with a mysterious misfire. After the event the boys at Pegasus restarted the car, but once up to 2,500rpm the misfire came back. One of those mysteries that will take time to cure.
With Josh and Tom both having pitted the next tranche of runners from the leader board made their stops. Tim Tudor came in to hand over to Patrick Sherrington, he was followed by Richard Johnson Colin Peach who handed over to Michael Vituli their stop lengthened by the need to refuel puttiing them a lap down. Mike Fry from the Historic Classes also came in on this lap. For all of them the following lap was to prove a disaster for their race strategy.
Michael Gibbins remained in the lead until Lap 12 when we had the next safety car intervention. Clive Hayes had spun at Shell beaching the car in the gravel trap. This would be a difficult retrieval as the ideal method would be to block the track. Effectively calling for a red flag. Another problem for Race control.
The plan for Marc Noaro to gain an advantage had been wiped out by the second safety car as the others were able to pit and not lose anytime. The same being true for all of the others who had stopped in the in the earlier period Michael staying out had given him a huge advantage.
Clive Hayes was finally extracted from the gravel trap and he was able to return to the pits. The complicated procedure involved closing the pit exit temporarily so that there was a single pack passing the incident giving the crew sufficient time to remove the trapped car. The delay impeded the exit of David Muse. David retiring as his car had overheated sufficiently to blow his head gasket. A miserable end to his race.
The second safety car and the surrounding pit stops do make for confusing reading. It is the advantage of pitting under a safety car period that enables you to make the stop without losing time and position. Being the U.S. Autoshow this is a strategy so often played out in the Indycar and NASCAR Races stateside. It was almost as if fate had written the script for the event.
On lap 16 with the race now free to run to the end, Michael Gibbins led from Dave Houghton Roger Donnan and David Williams. The race for the Derek Bell Class now being for the final place on the main podium. The pit stops had also produced some penalties too, with Ash Law and Steve Ough both receiving Stop & Go Penalties, and Tom Stoten a drive through penalty.
On lap 16 David Houghton’s race ended with a drive shaft failure the car having gone so well up until then. The following lap Michael Vituli brought the Van Diemen in with the car screeching in gear. A suspected bearing failure in the gearbox prompting their cautionary retirement.
The next retirement would be Tom Stoten in the Gunn. It was becoming one car per lap. At the front Michael Gibbins was having a relaxed race whilst Roger and David were building up for a race to the line. Mike Fry and John Owen would be the Final retirees. John retiring to the pits when an alternator plug became detached. John was disappointed as he had been enjoying his dice with Grant Gibson who was actually a lap down on him. Not that either really cared they were enjoying themselves. Mike Fry had pulled off on the grass opposite the pits when his clutch failed.
Peter Williams and Roger Donnan closed the race in a dramatic finish with Peter taking second place from Roger in a dash to the line which started from the exit of Lodge. Michael Gibbins secured the win in a quite confusing race for those following. Timing having played out in his favour in a race that had been run necessarily for lengthy periods under a safety car.
Dominic Lesniewski on his return finished 4th ahead of John Iley and Ashley Law, with Steve Ough 7th Joshua Needham 8th winner of the DB class. Josh Law was 9th with Tim Tudor and Patrick Sherrington rounding out the top 10.
Nick Hyett upheld family honours in the Historic Race from Mike Dodd and Marc Noaro. Marc having had to nurse the car home with brake issues at the end. The presentations were made by club Chairman Nick Bates, Claire Wood Assistant Clerk thanked everyone on behalf Terry Scannell and the MSVR Team. Peter Williams was awarded Driver of the Day for enlivening the finish for the spectators. The last tyre draw of the year was made as we await confirmation of the specification for 2024.
A race of attrition that certainly ran against the current form book to produce in part an unexpected result for Peter Williams and Roger Donnan, certainly a day to remember.
Donington, including the Grand Prix loop concludes the U.K. Championship in September.
Whilst a trip to Dijon for a non-Championship series of three races on the weekend will conclude the season.
Results are available via the Results Page. Here


Race Images

Below are some images credit to KJG Photograpy. To view the full set or purchase copies visit https://www.kjgphotography.co.uk

 

Duratec Podium: 1st-Michael Gibbins. 2nd-Peter Williams. 3rd-Roger Donnan.
Historic Podium: 1st- Nick Hyett. 2nd-Mike Dodds. 3rd- Jon Harmer/Marc Noaro