 Figure 1: The OUMF stand at Bicester Heritage with the Sebring Sprite on display. Last time I wrote a report, it was about the Riley Kestrel 1300, a restoration of a road-going classic car. This time was slightly different. Instead of talking about a car being brought back to life in the workshop, I, and a few others, were lucky enough to spend the day at Bicester Heritage with OUMF, the Healey Drivers Club, and the Sebring Sprite being used exactly as intended.
We arrived at Bicester Motion and set up in front of a row of glorious Healeys, which made a pretty special setting for the Sebring. The sun was out, the airfield test track looked fantastic, and everywhere you looked, there were Healeys lined up with owners who were more than happy to talk about them. Before anything had even turned a wheel, it already felt like a proper event. We had the OUMF stand set up, the Sebring on display, and plenty of members coming over to ask about the car, the team, and what we do.
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 The Oxford Universities Motorsport Foundation has a habit of putting its members in situations they never quite expected. Standing in a professional aluminium fabrication workshop, TIG torch in hand, desperately trying not to embarrass myself in front of a man who makes it look effortless — that is a feeling I won't forget in a hurry.
A small selection of OUMF members were recently invited by MD Andrew Graham to make a trip to his company AlliSport, near Ledbury, which specialises in aluminium welding and fabrication, with two ambitious goals: to learn as much as possible through building a bespoke alloy fuel tank for our MG Midget rally car, and by fabricating an oil catch tank for our Elva Courier racer.  “To bring it, or not to bring it, that is the question". This was the Shakespearean situation facing the Oxford Universites Motorsport Foundation on Saturday, May 2nd 2026. With the clock ticking on when we had to leave the HQ for the Donington Historic Festival, much deliberation was occurring. The weather forecast of potential rain had thrown a spanner in the works. Do we bring the closed top, race-proven and winner, Sebring Sprite? Or maybe stick to the original plan, bring the open top, development car, which has pretty much entirely new systems, an Elva Courier? While I’m making this out to be a very difficult and strenuous decision, it is not lost on me how lucky we are to be in this situation! We have the opportunity to protect our driver from the elements (which were forecasted to be biblical at the start of the week) with the Sprite or, with the help of all of OUMF’s supporters over the last 2 years, take and study the dynamics of an original Goodwood racer.
 The Oxford Universities Motorsport Foundation has been a large source of strange situations in my life. Seeing a GT40 overtake a BMW 3.0 CSL into Copse on the Silverstone GP circuit is certainly another strange situation to add to my tally. To add to this madness, a small cohort of OUMF members and I were helping to run a Morris Minor Traveller! There is really only one event that could put me in this situation, and that is the famous and eclectic ‘Pomeroy Trophy’. Workshop Editor at Practical Classics magazine, Matt Tomkins, is the owner of the previously mentioned Morris Minor, and it is thanks to him that we got to experience the wackiness of the ‘Pom’. Having continually run since 1952, the ‘Pom’ aims to find the best touring car possible based on a series of tests, including braking, acceleration, agility, storage, and, of course, speed. Matt had the task of writing a full 7-page article on his experience competing in the event and wished for us to ‘prepare’ and look after the Morris Minor throughout the day.
 As OUMF does every year, at the beginning of January the students at the Oxford Universities Motorsport Foundation went on another adventure in Action Week 2026. The week started at the British Motor Museum for National Rally Day, on a quite cold albeit sunny Saturday. We were generously given the opportunity to show the 1966 ‘Inca’ Alfa
Romeo Sprint GT Veloce endurance rally car. When we arrived it was placed outside the main door, and quickly became one of the most-admired exhibits in the display of top rally cars in the bright sunshine that bathed the British Motor Museum - on one of the busiest Rally Days ever. It even got its portrait sketched and gifted to us by a talented young artist! The Head of Collections, Stephen Laing, granted the OUMF team free tickets to the main exhibition halls downstairs, and then David Stockbridge gave us a guided tour of the famous road and race cars in the Jaguar Heritage Collection which is housed in a large adjacent building on the same site. We were treated to a beautiful and exotic mix of Jaguars and Daimlers, plus many weird and wonderful BMC prototypes which never saw production.
 Some race weekends begin with excitement, this one began with urgency, exhaustion, and the quiet hope that all our late-night efforts would finally pay off. On the evening leading off a sunny October 18th Saturday, the last race of the HRDC season approached, we set off for Silverstone Circuit with two of our race cars in tow. The drive toward the massive Silverstone complex carried routine for regular members and an insightful look into what OUMF does for the 2025 freshmen.
It was the morning of Saturday September 20 th , the day before race day, and not one idle hand could be seen at the OUMF HQ as we were preparing for… The Annual Freshers BBQ! Though this may have appeared to be typical OUMF last minute antics, but for once, we were prepared, and far from the last minute. The Riley 1.5 and Sebring Sprite had been spanner checked and were ready to hit the west country track before the weekend had begun. The BBQ commenced with some members scurrying to make their very own pop-up restaurant while others undertook the ferrying of between 100 - 150 freshers from pub to HQ for a day of socialising, eating, and most importantly, recruitment of future race engineers! The end of Ding’s ‘Kings speech’ to the newcomers marked the start of our race weekend. As freshers walked on down the drive feeling enthusiastic at the prospect of joining OUMF, we got to work packing our showcased projects away, loading the two race cars onto their trailers and sorting who was to go in who’s car to get to Castle Combe circuit before dark…but only just! Arriving at the circuit at sunset, we had to hurriedly unload the trailers and promptly set off to make it to the Bell Inn in time for the team dinner. Afterwards, with our stomachs full and aching from laughter, we headed back to the circuit to unload some of the van to make room for Ding to sleep in it, and pitched our tents, ready for a 6am wake up. Though most voted against it, Eddie Scheer, Evan Dunbabin-Wray, Christos Karakitsios and myself honoured our tradition and embarked on a windy track walk to partake in certain superstitious rituals en route to ensure race day was as fruitful as possible!   On a wet Wednesday afternoon, the OUMF team departed for the Goodwood Motor Circuit, with the Riley 1.5 trailered securely behind Ollie’s dad’s Land Rover Defender. The journey was made in persistent rain, which seemed to be following us down south. Upon arrival, the team established their base at the campsite, marking out the OUMF area before erecting the Le Mans tent. This task was made more difficult by frequent heavy downpours, leaving most of the team drenched by the time camp was fully set up. The paddocks were then organised into a functional workshop space, with tools, equipment, and spares arranged for use over the coming days. With the essentials in place, the team headed to a nearby country pub for a well-earned dinner, which provided a chance to dry off, warm up, and discuss the plans for the weekend ahead.
 0. Introduction
Data Logging... a 1950’s sportscar... Top gear... University?! All these seemingly unrelated things have come together for us lucky members of the Oxford Universities Motorsport Foundation over the last 2 months. My last report/update was written just after the Donington Historic Festival where the extremely kind people at Haltech and Race Winning Brands sponsored the team with a Haltech Nexus S2 and the climb up the Data Logging/Race Engineering learning curve began. The push to install sensors and study the produced lines has not slowed any. But I will pick up where we left off and even though this story starts quite similarly to the last one it definitely does not end the same.  After the exciting ‘high’ of getting the V8 engine rebuilt, reinstalled and hearing it fire up for the first time in years, everyone thought we had earned a breather. But in true project car fashion, that moment of triumph was just the beginning of the next wave of work. The first start revealed an engine that was running rough, something that was expected on a freshly rebuilt engine with a new increased airflow intake manifold and a fully stripped down and rebuilt carburettor. The first tweaks involved getting the timing right, so the team cracked on, timing light in one hand and workshop manuals in the other, chasing the sweet spot where the idle would hold steady and the throttle response would come alive. This combined with the fine-tuning of the mixture and idle screws on the carburettor provided a healthy sounding engine ready for its first full heat cycle. As the team found out, getting a newly built engine to behave is not just a technical job. It is part science, part instinct and experience, and in our case, a shared determination not to settle for “good enough”.
The famous Gold Cup weekend marked OUMF’s return to the spectacular Oulton Park circuit after two years - and the racing was as exciting as ever. The beautiful thing about racing historics is its like hopping into a time machine and travelling back to the golden age of racing. We took our Riley racer to compete in the Jack Sears Trophy, and “Little BeWT” the Sebring Sprite in the Dunlop Allstars. Of course, the mighty Ding Boston in the driver’s seat.   At 8am on June 23rd 2025, the team of 13 left the barn, bound for the 12:50 DFDS ferry departing from the Port of Dover. After a very straightforward and comfortable journey, we docked in Calais and drove in the direction of Kris and Patricia's house in Hollebeke, Belgium. Upon arrival, we were greeted with a very warm welcome and plenty of cold Belgian beers. Those who took the generous offer of staying in a real bed, unpacked their bags from the cars whilst everyone else headed to the campsite. A delicious dinner was had at a restaurant in Ypres town centre, consisting of meats hanging from sticks, huge bowls of carbonara, and Ollie and Ding sharing what looked like half a cow! The team relaxed after a long day of travelling and a stressful week of engine rebuilding before.
The following morning, everyone gathered at the Total Energies petrol station, where we thanked Katrien for kindly providing us with some fuel cards. Both the Riley and the Volvo were topped up before heading to the next destination: Pieter-Jan’s workshop. There, the Riley was carefully unloaded from the trailer and settled into what would be its home base for the next few days. A thorough inspection of each corner of the car was conducted, then Pieter-Jan delivered a valuable hands-on lesson in carburettor tuning. He noted that the Riley was running slightly too rich and demonstrated how to adjust the settings for optimal performance. At 5pm, Ding and Sean left the workshop in the Riley, with its newly tuned carburettor, to head into the town centre, and they returned a couple of hours later with the road book and tracker.  1. Acquiring A Data Logger
Data Logging has become one of the most important aspects of modern motorsport and being quite keen on becoming a race engineer I thought it was high time to dive into it. Looking around the HQ of the Oxford University Motorsport foundation I saw two primary forms of acquiring data: 1. The Vbox which only outputs video and speed via a gps and 2. A Motec data Logger from 2003 that sadly no longer fully functions. Not letting myself be defeated so soon I went to Ding with my query and he duly reminded me that I may have an opportunity to get a new data logger at the race retro motorsport show. Upon looking at the list of stands at race retro my ambitions to acquire the squiggly lines was re-lit with Haltech being in attendance. At race retro we were met by Martin Stelleman and Mark Luney who both jumped right on board in my quest to learn proper race engineering and graciously allowed OUMF to ‘have a play’ with a Haltech Nexus S2. Not getting too personal, but my excitement was through the roof. 11 analog inputs! 6 SPI’s! A MAP sensor!?!? Once the Haltech (which is what I will refer to the Nexus S2 as from now on) was with us we put it on display at the Practical Classics Restoration Show at the NEC with many ooo’s and aahh's from not only the students in the club but many a show goer. I was just ready to crack on and get the thing into one of our cars!  In true OUMF last-minute fashion, the weekend kicked off with an email sent out at 10:39, requesting the team to gather for an 11:00 start at the barn. As cars rolled down the drive and students poured out, a warm blanket of sun saw the team don sunglasses, hats, and suncream – a welcome change from the dark, wet evenings we had all grown used to while working on the projects over winter. As the first race of the season – and the first ever race for some of the lucky freshers to make the team (myself included) – a buzz of excitement filled the barn and yard during the final preparations before departure. We secured the race cars onto the trailers, shut the van doors for the last time, and all piled into the convoy vehicles (smallest person goes in the middle seat!), stopping briefly before the circuit for a Sainsbury’s pit stop for some student essentials – beer, energy drinks and sweets.
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