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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... week to catch up on some rest after Ypres, and luckily Castle Combe is one of the closest race circuits to Oxford.
Unfortunately, due to the summer break, the OUMF team was smaller than usual and our second tow driver was not available on the Sunday evening to join the team in convoy to the circuit. We were very grateful to Dom Norman for collecting the Riley 1.5 race car at noon and delivering it to the paddock ready for the team to arrive later in the day and set up ready for the race on Monday. After further preparations were completed, the team set off for Castle Combe with the Sebring Sprite at 16:00. Thankfully the hour long trip to the track only required two stops to reset the Sprinter with the OBD to get it out of ‘limp mode’. Reaching the track in daylight allowed the team to set up in the paddock quickly, in plenty of time for dinner at our regular local pub in the village, called the Bell Inn. Good food and drinks with excited company for the races to come meant that the evening was great fun and thoroughly enjoyable, especially as most of the team tucked into a roast lamb shoulder - which is not on a standard university student’s dinner menu. The well-fed team returned to the paddock for the evening, and the Drivers Briefing and the timings for the next day were discussed and the schedule written on the white board. The team were amazed to find another team using their trailer as a screen for a projector and this got the team considering how to improve our own entertainment systems for future evenings in the race paddock. Many plans were discussed before the team decided to head to sleep for the busy day ahead. Shortly afterwards, the team members who were sleeping in the trailer heard a rumble in the distance. The noise got louder over the next few minutes as it approached, which is when they realised it was fellow OUMF member Jalal Mehdizada arriving from London. Hearing his loud MX-5 arrive, the team thought that he would just quickly park up and adjust his fine parking in the morning – but no, Jalal had other intentions! He decided that midnight in a race paddock was the perfect time to perform what one can only assume was the most intricate parking manoeuvre ever, taking at least 10 adjustments, or he was just letting us know he had arrived… The following morning started with the team inspecting Jalal’s parking, which did not look to have been as difficult as it had sounded the night before. Shortly after this we were graced with the arrival of Robert Bragg, who had been working until 3am at Reading Festival. He looked very tired but said he was ready for the day ahead and he just needed a cuppa to kick-start himself. Both cars passed Scrutineering with no issues, which meant the team could do final spanner checks and begin the pre-race procedures. The Riley was out first on track at 09:25 for Qualifying, so we made sure that we had oil pressure and had warmed the engine ahead of time and sent Ding out at 09:20. Qualifying ended with the Riley in 19th overall and P4 in class with a time of 1:29:814, just 1.455s behind the car that was 3rd in class. But it was noted that the Riley was feeling unsettled at the rear, with the back end kicking out. This was expected as we had sent him out on a set of tyres that were suitable for a qualifying session but not for the race, so before sending the Riley back out the tyres were changed, courtesy of the Dunlop HP Tyres stand at the track. (Later, back at base, removal and close examination of the Panhard rod assembly revealed hairline cracks in the chassis mounting and a worn pivot tube - allowing the axle to move laterally under heavy cornering loads, and to be the reason the back end felt unstable.) The Sebring Sprite was out next in the ‘Allstars’ qualifying session at 11:25, and we fuelled the car with petrol, and Ding with coffee before sending them on their way on being called to the Collection area. Some of us were still busy with the Riley, swapping tyres and fixing any minor issues that had been mentioned after its Qualifying session. The Sebring Sprite took to the track with ease, and qualified P11 Overall and P3 in Class – just 0.153 seconds behind Andrew Somerton in his Lotus Elan S1 who was P2 in Class - so our target was set ready for the race. The first race of the day for us was after the lunch break, with the Riley in the ‘Jack Sears Trophy’. This was the normal format of Lights out at 14:05 for a 45-minute race, including a pit stop for a driver change. Off the line the Riley kept position and was challenging for places going into the first corner as the pack squirreled around for position. The pressure was applied, but the car had dropped a place at the end of lap 1. Then on the second lap a very serious racing incident occurred involving an Austin A35 cart-wheeling end over end out of the first corner which resulted in a red flag, before the race was suspended. The accident left everyone in shock as the incident required 2 medical helicopters and multiple emergency services to extricate the driver of the stricken car, and give the appropriate treatment at the scene. Thankfully we learned later once the driver had been transported to hospital that while the injuries sustained were serious, they were not life-threatening, and we all wished him a safe and speedy recovery. Once the vehicle and debris had been removed, and the driver was safely on route to hospital, the race was restarted – but it was truncated because of the delay in order that all the other races could be run. At the restart, Ding maintained position through the next few laps and pitted for the driver change on lap 6. This was an excellent call by the team on the pit wall, as it was the lap after the pit window opened for the driver change, when the pit lane immediately got very crowded and hectic. Teams were getting stuck waiting for cars in front to leave, and many got boxed in and lost track position as a result. Thankfully we waited until the following lap when the congestion had largely cleared, and Robert and I assisted with the driver change in the pit lane. It went very smoothly despite our lack of normal practice beforehand, as Ding was talking to sponsors and having lunch. The Riley emerged from the pits 2nd in Class, so making a place simply by good team tactics and strategy. Following the pit stop, the Class leader was the very quick MK1 Jaguar driven by Pearson/Dorlin – but this suddenly developed a reliability issue and retired during lap 7, which left the Riley 1st in Class. Ding then set his best time on lap 8 - which may have been down the excitement of seeing the P1 sign on our pit board! However, during the race, the team on the pit wall did notice a blue plume of smoke from the Riley’s exhaust on braking/deceleration which definitely warranted further investigation back at base. Despite this concern, the Riley held on and finished with a great Class win. Following this triumphant finish in the ‘Jack Sears Trophy’, the team were full of optimism for the prospects of the Sebring in the ‘Allstars’ race. This started on time at 16:50, but only because another race before it had to be cancelled to keep the day on schedule. This half hour race did not have a driver change, so all the moves had to be made on track - and Ding did not disappoint. An incredible launch off the line and run into the first corner saw the Sebring emerge 2nd in Class - ahead of the Lotus Elan. A ding-dong battle then ensued between them which lasted throughout the rest of the race, as the Lotus tried everything to take the place back. Then, on lap 4, the class-leading Lenham Sprite driven by Ben Colburn retired, handing our ‘Little BeWT’, the Sebring, P1 in Class. Lap after lap the Lotus hung on to the coat-tails of the Sebring, but it was unable to make a move to overtake - and nothing was going to stop Ding bringing over the line ahead of the Elan, and so delivering P1 for both cars. The exciting finish saw the Sebring take the flag with the Elan only 0.740s behind – with huge cheers from the team watching, as we had just secured two wins in the two cars for the first time this season. Post-race, Andrew the Lotus driver explained how he had to take alternative lines and to get creative to try and keep up with Ding, but had found he didn’t have enough power to make any moves stick. He congratulated the team on building such an impressive car to race against. So the weekend ended on a real high for the OUMF student race team, with victorious top place podium finishes for both cars – and a further wave of enthusiasm to carry us all through to the next event, the HRDC ‘Season Finale’ at Silverstone GP in October. It also provided a truly great story to tell the new OUMF members who would be joining us in September when the new university term begins. As always, the last words must be a massive thank you to Julius Thurgood and the HRDC, and the massed ranks of our wonderful sponsors and supporters, for enabling this ambitious ‘shoe-string’ team to experience such great events, super-exciting racing – and on this memorable occasion - to punch way above our weight! Tom Grant. 4th year Engineering at Oxford Brookes Comments are closed.
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