Oulton Park – 17 August 2024 Race Report, Images and Results

Posted on: August 30th 2024 • Posted in: Race Results

Rounds 7 and 8 – Oulton Park

SRCC Oulton Park U.S. Autoshow 17th August 2024

Report by Alan Jones

An entry of 28 cars was assembled for the one day U.S. Autoshow race meeting at Oulton Park. The quick fire event features primarily races with an American Theme, the feature grid being Bernie’s V8s. However the SRCC Sports 2000 did have pride of place with the exclusive use of the Oulton Park Garages. The day was dry and bright in a week where the area had seen some quite heavy showers in the days leading up to the Race Meeting.

Qualifying

When it came to qualifying the entry had reduced to 26 cars Ben Cater having to withdraw following an incident in testing. The mounting bracket for the fuel rail fractured pulling one of the injectors out and spraying fuel around the very hot engine bay. The following ignition went with quite a bang. The ensuing fire ending any chance of taking part in the event. Andrew Noble being the other withdrawal.
Unusually Tim Tudor would be the sole driver for the UWTSD entry he would normally share with Patrick Sherrington. Bryn Tootell elected to be the mechanic for Alistair Bell in the car they shared at Zandvoort, and Wayne Ridge was suffering with back problems leaving Adrian as the driver. Only James and Tony Barwell would share their car.
Rollo Tomasi took advantage of there being an Allcomers race on the programme to get some extra track time before his qualifying session. In the event, the familiar names of Michael Gibbins and Josh Law topped the timing sheets, with Tim Tudor lining up alongside Colin Peach to complete row 2. Row 3 being James Barwell and Tom Stoten
Colin Peach was not too happy with his car following the repair from the damage at Zandvoort but he was also experiencing gearbox problems too. Steve Ough would withdraw after qualifying with a cracked gearbox casing. Paul Trayhurn had an oil line break so he too would be a withdrawal. Which would leave 24 cars on the split grid.
Roger Donnan came in after a poor qualifying session for him. He had a bad misfire into left hand bands which initially he put down to fuel pick up. The fault was eventually found to be the ignition switch.
Mike Turner felt the great work by many people over the season had finally got his car working well with his P10 qualifying position being the evidence.
In the Pinto classes, Will Schryver in his Royale would be sharing the front row with Mike Dodd, Mike Fry, Simon Aldworth and Nick Bailey completing the Historic grid. Nick used the qualifying session as a re-assimilation process as he gets familiar with being back in the cockpit.

Race 1

Before the race started, Rafe Higson was having a terrible time. A broken ignition switch left him stranded whilst the team diagnosed and fixed the problem so he could start from the pit lane.
At lights out Michael Gibbins led from Josh Law Tim Tudor and Colin Peach. Michael easing out a gap back to Josh who also in his pursuit was extending his lead over Tim Tudor who was finding it more difficult to shake off the attentions of Colin Peach. Tom Stoten held a secure 5th place from the following James Barwell and Ash Law. John Iley in the second University of Wales MCR was closing down the gap to Ash Law who by lap 5, had a little over a 3/10th advantage over Iley.
Rollo Tomasi who had enjoyed a podium finish in the Allcomers race was running in 12th place with Roger Donnan closing in his wheel tracks. This little battle continuing until lap 7 when Rollo went off at Hislops. Rollo returning to the pits once back on track. This freed Roger to pursue Mike Turner whilst behind him John Owen and Andrew Butler were embroiled in a battle.
On lap 9 Roger passed Mike Turner to chase after Clive Hayes. Roger was being hampered towards the end of the race when the gear change cable seized. With the race order seemingly set Colin Peach had a wheel nut fail, luckily the pin stopping the wheel nut coming completely off. Stopping the car from being smashed into the wall. Colin limping the car in to retire.
In the Historic class Will Schryver had a secure lead, from Mike Fry and Mike Dodd. Simon Aldworth found himself trapped behind the Duratec entry of Rafe Higson. The novice utilising the performance of the modern car to stay ahead.
The final result would be another win for Michael Gibbins, from Josh Law and Tim Tudor. 4th would be Tom Stoten, James Barwell 5th John Iley 6th with Ash Law 7th Peter Williams 8th and winner of the DB Class, from Clive Hayes 9th and Roger Donnan 10th who were second and third in the class. With the demise of Colin Peach John Owen in 12th place was the winner of class B.
Alistair Bell had retired on lap 5 with a fuel pump failure.

Race 2

Following Race 1 the Colin Peach garage was very busy. Colin stepping out of the car looked at the problem and felt his day was over. However the team thought otherwise. There had been damage to the wheel so that would require replacing along with the problem of the failed wheel nut. Rick and Andy, Colin’s mechanics, weren’t too quick to give up, they managed to borrow a wheel nut from a fellow Class B racer Bryn, a welder from a random team in the paddock, swapped the slick on to a wheel they use in the wet and took some drive pins out of the other 3 wheels. Colin had the chance to be out again for race 2. Alistair Bell however could not resolve the Fuel pump issue and he was finished for the day.
Roger Donnan had his garage full of UWTSD students who lended a hand swapping his gear change cable so he could get out to race.
At the start Tim Tudor set off like a rocket passing both Michael Gibbins and Josh Law before Turn 1. Michael finding himself back in 3rd place. Whilst behind in the Historic class the front runners attempted to emulate the start of the Duratec race Mike Fry, Will Schyrver and Mike Dodd going three abreast into the first corner.
At the end of lap 1 it was Josh Law leading by over 2.5 seconds with Michael Gibbins in second place Tim Tudor third, then Tom Stoten, Ash Law, Peter Williams and Roger Donnan. Island Bend on the first lap had been chaotic with cars spinning everywhere. Tony Barwell, Clive Hayes and Mike Turner being the cars caught up in the incident. Mike having to take to the grass to avoid contact dropping to the back of the field 6 seconds adrift of Nick Bailey his closest competitor.
The chaos had been a welcome opening for Colin Peach, who starting from the back had made a gentle getaway not to put too much stress into the repair from 17th he had gained 5 places to be 12th.
For the first five laps Josh continued to maintain a gap back to Michael Gibbins, but with each lap Michael was inexorably drawing onto the tail of the Law MCR. Tim Tudor was looking secure in 3rd place with Tom Stoten 4th. John Iley and Ash Law were running close together. On lap 4 Andrew Butler came into the pit to retire.
He would be followed in by Clive Hayes who would retire two laps later with a rear wing that had been damaged in the first lap incident and was increasingly looking like it was in danger of collapsing.
On lap 5 Rollo Tomasi had a brief excursion at Hislops which did not cost him any places but left him with a lonely race.
John Iley’s race against Ash Law ended on lap 6 with a spin, allowing Ash to come through in 5th followed by Peter Williams and the on form Roger Donnan. John IIey would be next with Colin Peach following in 9th place.
In the Historic Classes after the start Will Schryver soon established himself at the head of the field, drawing away from the battle behind. Mike Dodd was holding second in the Historics with Mike Fry dropping down the order. Simon Aldworth however was catching him and once the earlier Duratec spinners had passed them, Simon was able to get his head down to close onto Mike.
On lap 7 the contest between Simon and Mike resulted in Mike being beached off circuit and the safety car was called Josh Law’s lead that had been decreasing all the time looked to be perilously in danger. Michael taking the lead just as the safety car was about to be deployed .The question was would the race finish under the safety car as the recovery took place the chequered flag was getting closer or would Josh have a final run to retake the lead.
With the pack released for two laps Michael held off Josh to win by 4/10ths of a second. Tim Tudor would be 3rd, Tom Stoten would be 4th just ahead of Ash Law, Peter Williams would be 6th winning the Derek Bell class from Roger Donnan following in 7th. Colin Peach would be 8th winning class DB from John Owen following in 9th. John having been very difficult for Colin to pass. John certainly giving Colin a lesson in strategic car positioning around the complex circuit. Adrian Ridge completed the top 10 celebrating the anniversary of the first trip made by Wayne and Adrian to Oulton Park last year when they decided to race in Sports 2000.
The final laps after the safety car were the literal undoing of John Iley’s race when the rear suspension mount undid itself leading to John retiring on circuit. Will Schryver, Simon Aldworth and Mike Fry completed the podium for the Historic Classes. Nick Bailey completing the class HC Podium. Nick having been followed closely over the line by Duratec novice Rafe Higson who had his first taste of Oulton Park.
Nick Bates was on hand to present the Trophies with Driver of the Day going to Tim Tudor. On the day Michael Gibbins affirmed his winning streak by announcing his engagement to Isobel.

Race Report by Alan Jones with especial thanks to all who contributed to this piece your personal insights are greatly appreciated.

Full results are available via the Results Page. Here

Race Images

Many thanks to Kevin Gibson of KJG Photograpy for these Images from the event. To view the full set or purchase copies visit https://www.kjgphotography.co.uk