 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.
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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!  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.   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.
The 20th of October marked the final round in OUMF’s 14th year racing in the HRDC. Our Riley One Point Five competing in the ‘Jack Sears Trophy’ and the Austin Healey Seabring Sprite in the ‘Dunlop Allstars’. This event would be impossible without the support of the HRDC’s Race Director, Julius Thurgood; him being a key player into letting us race at some of the UK’s finest circuits. This weekend to many of the new freshers, including myself would be their debut race weekend, meaning Ding had his work cut out to pick out a team with the 92+ different members who had joined the club the month prior. The week of Silverstone a list was organized, being a team of 9 previous members to be supported by 10 freshers to ensure the weekend would run as smooth as possible, along with giving the opportunity to see how the freshers would fit in the team and compare to many professional race teams there that weekend.  The Team and cars in the Silverstone pits
The preparations for me began on Thursday evening when I arrived having been away from OUMF due to the start of my placement. It was good to be back at the barn and part of the team again. The team gathered to give our trusty Riley a final once-over before the big weekend. Everything was looking good and by Saturday morning, the Riley was primed and ready to go. We packed up the van, loaded the Riley, and hit the road at 4 PM, bound for Brands Hatch with excitement and optimism.
 A trailer wheel rolling past the van while leaving the HQ was not the best omen with which to start a race weekend - but luckily the OUMF race team is not superstitious! Attempt 2 to leave went much more smoothly, and the team made their way north-east to the very technical Snetterton 300 race circuit in Norfolk. The team had just returned from Belgium the previous weekend, where we had scored a notable success with a Class win with our rally Riley 1.5 in the FIA Ardeca Ypres Rally. Almost as soon as we got off the DFDS ferry, we had continued the race prep our 1959 Elva Courier, in the hope of running it at Snetterton 5 days later. While it was quite the valiant effort to try and get the ol’ girl ‘good to race’, it was eventually decided to put a much less time-constrained effort in on the car after Snetterton. This meant the team fully committed to taking our Sebring Sprite and Riley 1.5 racers, our tried and tested machines which only required a quick refresh instead of a full buildup!
On reaching the circuit near Norwich, we set up our pit at the track and then made our way to the pub for some grub. However, after previous all-nighter of race prep took its toll on many of the team, and upon our return to the track, a rare occurrence took place…the exhausted OUMF’s were all in bed by 22:00! The OUMF Austin Healey Sebring Sprite had been lucky enough to spend a few months on sabbatical leave at the British Motor Museum in Gaydon – and some readers may have seen it on its own display in the entrance foyer. For us at OUMF this was an opportunity we could not miss; a chance to exhibit the 6 year practical project representing the engineering efforts of 100’s of students. At Gaydon – away from the racetrack - the public could get up close and personal with the car and admire all its beautiful details. Upon collecting our ‘Little BeWT’, a week before it was to be on track at Donington, Jeff Coope (the museum’s MD) kindly took Ding and I for some lunch, over which he described the huge public interest there had been in not only the Sprite, but the overall concept of OUMF and the incredible opportunities it gives us as students. Once we were full of sandwiches and cake, the Sprite was loaded onto the trailer in no time with the help of some visitors, and we set off down the M40, Oxford bound!  The OUMF team’s plan was to leave on the afternoon of Saturday 29th July for Oulton Park’s signature Gold Cup, as our race in the Riley - The Jack Sears Trophy - was on Sunday 30th July…or so we thought until 1pm on the Friday afternoon! At that point it was realised that the race was ACTUALLY on Saturday 29th! Now most of you, I’m sure, might say that once the simple mistake is realised, it's an easy fix: ‘just’ pack and leave immediately for the circuit, right? Well, yes, but at this point the team was heading out to collect a semi-dismantled TVR Wedge that had been
Just a week before these HRDC races, the OUMF team had scored an amazing result at the Ypres WRC Rally support event, which was a round of the Belgian National Rally Championship, by bringing our Riley 1.5 rally car over the Finish Podium in 16th Overall out of 30 entries. Given this was achieved in a car 30-40 years older than the rest of the much more modern field, our team spirit was through the roof! In this mood, progress was swiftly made to ensure any issues that had arisen at the Oulton Park Gold Cup, just before we left for Ypres, were all sorted. Thankfully there were no major issues, and prep was mainly down to returning parts to the Riley racer that had been borrowed for the Riley rally car, alongside our thorough routine maintenance and race checking. The races being held on the August Bank Holiday Monday allowed the team a...
 It was a dry and fair Sunday as the OUMF crew congregated early at the HQ ready for the off to HRDC Castle Combe. After finishing the usual rigmarole of prepping the car ready for race day, and of course hours of intense van packing, the car was loaded and great haste was made so as to not miss…our reservation at the pub later that evening  Having completed all the various improvements the team had decided to make to the Riley racer after Thruxton on June 13th, and ‘fixed’ the Sprinter race van’s vast thirst for coolant, the OUMF team was eager to get back out on track at the ‘Home of Rallycross’ at Lydden Hill on 4th July 2021. This small, twisting and undulating race circuit is the polar opposite of Thruxton with it high speeds, and long fast corners, but both are notoriously hard on tyres, and we were immensely grateful to Phillips Tyres for supporting the team with a fresh set.
 After an unavoidable 9 month hiatus from racing, the weekend of the 12th and 13th of June 2021 saw the OUMF team finally make its long awaited return to the track; with a bustling, atmospheric and extremely warm Thruxton circuit being the venue, with two HRDC races as part of the Thruxton Historic Race meeting.... |
