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Oulton Park
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31st July 2004
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Formula Vauxhall Junior 1600cc 16V.
(Running in 1800 class with 2000 class) |
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Qualifying
Oulton Park isn't my favourite circuit in the
UK due to its very limited runoffs and high speed corners. These combined mean
that most mistakes are punished by a very big 'off' and major repair bills. With
this in mind, and the fact I was driving the newly rebuilt Formula Vauxhall
Junior owned by Andy Yeomans, I was naturally apprehensive going out for the
irst time in damp conditions for qualifying. The car did not handle well at all,
with very poor rear end grip and a lack of feel for grip levels. It seemed like
I had only done a couple of warm up laps when the chequered flag came out for
end of qualifying. I hadn't yet attempted a flying lap, so was not surprised to find
myself in 22nd out of 24 cars, although 4th in class. After qualifiying, we
noticed that the left rear suspension was loose, causing a '3 wheel steer'
effect whenever I applied power or lifted off the throttle. |
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Race
In the race, I got a reasonable start,
narrowly avoiding a startline incident with Doug McLay, whose nose cone flew
over my cockpit into the pitlane. Most of the race was spent examining the
gearbox of Geoff Fern, and trying to keep Doug McLay and David Richardson's
Vauxhall Lotus's behind me. My defensive maneouvering caused me to fall back from Fern, and there were a few exciting moments as we swapped
positions several times. Finally I got clear of them and caught up with Geoff
Fern on the last lap, but not close enough to pass, finishing 1/10th of a second
behind him for 4th in class, 18th overall.
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