OUMF at the 76th GoodWood members Meeting

Image Credit goes to DR Photography, and Chris Gage for the others

The Sebring received the surprise invitation to the 76 th Goodwood Members Meeting just before Christmas,
and no time was lost in accepting this exciting overture. However, there was much that was not known about
the obligations that came with it, and it was on and off several times before we got 100% confirmation at 48
hours notice on the Monday evening prior to leaving for the event – which promoted unique levels of stress!

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 This was not solely mental, as the time and cost involved in prepping the car to Goodwood ‘GTD’ standard –
especially by a student club with no funding - was a major hurdle too. However, after long negotiations and
long hours at the HQ, somehow it all got done, and the OUMF Goodwood race team gathered at our base on
the morning of Thursday 7 th April to complete the checklist and finish loading the van. We thought it would be
wise to take the Sprite for a final brief road test before loading it in the trailer and leaving for Goodwood – but
after pushing it outside and getting oil pressure, it just refused to start. Everything was rechecked. Point gaps,
valve clearances, fuel system and carb - even different plugs were tried - but it still did not run properly;
popping and banging, with lots of black smoke coming out the exhaust. We narrowed it down to an electrical
fault by around 4pm, but as it was beginning to get late, and with a two hour journey still to go, we decided we
could fix it in the paddock the next day. So we crossed our fingers, loaded up the trailer and made our way
south to Goodwood.
We arrived at the Competitors Campsite E around 7:30pm only to be greeted at the gate by a lady official with
an entry list - which did not include OUMF. After some blagging and poor flirting by Dave Sellars, we managed
to make our way into the darkening campsite with a promise that we’d come back the next day and sort the
passes out properly – only to find that Ding, Niki Volkov and Seb Paul in the van had already secured a spot.
While our camp was constructed, we learned that Vlad Ardeleanu and Dom Norman had taken it upon
themselves to stop and buy the three days worth of food for the race weekend on the way down to
Goodwood. When they eventually arrived at around 8pm there was some confusion, as a nearby pub, the
Anglesey Arms in Halnaker, had already been booked for a team supper at 8:30pm. They did not need much
persuading to forego the dubious pleasures of cooking in a dark field, and join the rest of us in the pub…and in
the ‘Tony Hall’ (our all purpose race trailer) when we returned to camp.

Friday 8 th April

A sunny, dry Friday morning opened with a great breakfast cooked on Arran Mcluskie’s griddle/hot plate, with
power that might have been supplied by Rob Todd’s very silent generator. This gave us the ‘ooumf’ to get the
van and the trailer into the pits, off load and thoroughly clean the Sebring, put up our sponsors banners, and
start sorting out the problems with the Sprite. (While polishing the front grille Sam Jones was asked to pose for
a photo by a cameraman. The shot later appeared as the opening of ITV’s coverage of the Members Meeting!)
After double checking all that had been done the day before, Vlad narrowed it down to a bad ground and a
faulty component. Luckily one of our great sponsors, Neil Armstrong of CARTEK in Southampton, kindly
provided the answer - and Arran drove there to collect it. With the new part fitted the Sprite fired right up and
was almost ready to race. However, it was thought best to take it out for the delayed road test first, but as the
wheel nuts were being torqued up, one of the wheel studs pulled clean out of the hub. With the car quickly
back in the air and the hub off it was clear that the head of the stud had just completely fallen off. Tom Grant
and Niki checked the others as a spare stud was being fetched from the campsite, and all were found to be
good. The new stud was fitted and the hub refitted using plenty of Threebond sealant on the O rings before the
car was ready for its road test. Ding and Bobby Bragg ventured out of Goodwood circuit and onto the roads
through the Sussex country side. Thankfully this exercise went well, and no issues were reported, so we gave it
a final check over and left the Sebring looking resplendent in the main paddock overnight, all ready for
qualifying the next morning.
Once back at the campsite, James Martin arrived, beers were distributed and Dave broke out his gas powered
BBQ – whereupon Ollie Raja Brown swiftly took charge. A vat of potatoes where set to boil and he set about
marinating the food with various herbs and spices before taking note of how everyone liked theirs cooked –
paying particularly careful attention to Mr Boston’s order. Once everything was served up, an appreciative
silence spread through our camp as everyone devoured the feast – broken only by Ding’s appreciative murmurs
of delight. It was only at this point that Dom thought it would be a good time to start making a vat of

peppercorn sauce - enough to feed the entire campsite. In went all the milk for the weekend’s tea and coffee
and cornflakes, and the sauce was perfected - just as everyone had finished. Unrepentant, Dom and Vlad set
about it anyway, but quickly got bored and poured it back into the milk carton…for their ‘peppercorn tea’ in the
morning. This level of surrealism was noisily maintained by the team in the ‘Tony Hall’ until well after all the
other lights on the campsite had been extinguished.

Saturday 9 th April
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With qualifying at 11:00am, we were able to have an indulgent breakfast on Saturday morning with bacon and
egg rolls all round, washed down with cups of black tea and coffee. The milk carton of cold pepper corn sauce
remained untouched. When we reached the pits, Seb ensured the sponsors banners went up and the Sebring
got a comprehensive final check over before going to the refuelling area. The petrol tank was drained and
refilled with enough fuel for the 20-minute qualifying session.

This being the Sprite’s first proper outing in the dry, the team was anxious to see how the car performed, and the session started off well with Ding steadily shaving down his lap times as he got used to the Sebring’s handling. All went well until the last few minutes of qualifying when the Sebring failed to emerge from the chicane as expected. We all waited nervously in the pits to see what had happened, and as the rest of the field filed off track into parc ferme, they were followed by a tow truck with our ‘Little BeWT’ on the back. Ding reported that the’ idiot light’ indicating low oil pressure had come on, and he had immediately lifted off and parked the Sebring on the grass on the inside of Madgwick corner. When we were able to open the bonnet in the pits it revealed a shimmering engine bay - with
everything dripping in oil. It soon transpired that we had lost nearly 4 litres of Fuchs Titan Race oil into the
engine bay. The team dived in armed with sheets of blue paper roll and brake cleaner, and quickly cleaned up
the mess to allow the problem to be pinpointed and diagnosed. There were no loose lines or fixings, so we
topped up the oil, took out the plugs and turned the engine over to try and make oil pressure. We very quickly
spotted a stream of oil coming from the oil filter, and found it had worked itself loose until the seal failed.
Luckily we were able to source a new one that fitted from our great sponsor Jim Morris of Lifeline in the
paddock, which saved going all the way back to camp. With that in place, and new oil added, the engine turned
over well, with healthy oil pressure, and there seemed to be no apparent damage. With a sigh of relief, we did
another spanner check of the car before spending the rest of the day learning as much as possible in the
paddocks, chatting with kind supporters like Bill and Michelle McDonagh, and Neil from Hardy Engineering. We
were also delighted to see Jochen Mass again after his drive in our Riley at the 2021 Revival, and to finally meet
Craig Venn and Hamish Horsburgh from Goodwood’s Motorsport Content team, and to thank them both for all
the help and support they had given us in enabling the team to gain such valuable trackside experience. We
were also able to enjoy some great races on track, and I know the highlight demonstration for many was the
stunning sight and sound of the Le Mans Porsche 962’s and 956’s out on track, with headlights ablaze as the
sun disappeared below the horizon.
As dusk fell, we headed back to camp for an early dinner, and to prepare for the night’s festivities…the
Members Meeting Party. As the team showered and changed, the BBQ was fired back up for an impressive
range of burgers, kebabs and sausages to fuel us through the night. At around 9pm we walked across the
infield of the track towards the blazing lights, marquees, and loud music to find thousands already gathered
around a stage with an impressive brass rock band performing. Weaving through the crowds were fire dancers,
tree people (yes, literally, people dressed as trees), a percussion band and other different types of live acts. As
the second headline act came on stage, a spotlight suddenly focused on a trapeze artist doing handstands
across a tightrope high above our heads, and his partner spinning in the air. For the great majority of the team
this was their first Members Meeting, and so we were all very impressed by the stunning spectacle, and
especially, as the evening drew to a close, the ‘Grand Finale’ - a huge fireworks display to music. Standing right
in front of a giant speaker I could feel the base shake to my bones while taking in possibly the best fireworks
display I’ve ever seen. After it wound down and the rest of Goodwood headed to bed, the party continued for
the OUMF team as we gathered once again in the Tony Hall trailer, to enjoy some interesting music being
played - from country to Slavic bass – and so we continued, laughing into the night…

Sunday 10 th April

The Weslake Cup was the first race of the day so we were all up early, and regardless of the ice on the tents
and frost on the grass, the clear blue skies above promised a good day ahead. Some of the team were a little
delicate from the previous night, but a visit to ‘Vlad’s Pharmacy’ helped to get them across to the pits and
through the morning. With all preparations 99% completed the day before, we were soon able to push the car
to the Collection Area where we received a sticker of the Ukrainian flag to put on the back of the Sebring as a
mark of respect and a show of solidarity with the people involved in the tragic war that is going on there. While
Ding made himself comfortable in the car, Tony Hall appeared and amused the team by relentlessly taking the
mickey out of him! After what seemed like an age, the gates opened and the cars roared away for the
formation lap, quickly followed by the green flag lap with many cars swerving from side to side to warm up
their tyres in the cold sunshine. As they came out of the chicane, the glittering array of ‘A’ series powered cars
took up their positions on the grid, with our Sebring in 20 th position and ready to go: it was all up to Ding now…
He got off to a cracking start, immediately overtaking 2 cars off the line as the 27 cars sped away up the pit
straight into Madgwick corner, jostling for position for the 20 minute race. The Sebring was going really well for
the first few laps, with Ding taking more and more places. However, he noticed the oil temperature starting to
creep up over 130 degrees and climbing. He was considering all options when, in a stroke of luck for us, the
leader spun off and the safety car came out. Now lying in a comfortable 12 th position, he put it straight into
fourth and cruised round at lowest possible revs in an attempt to get lots of airflow to cool the engine as fast as
possible. The Safety Car allowed the following pack to close right up on him, but the oil temp slowly came
down to 95 degrees. With 8 minutes left on the clock, the Safety Car pulled off and the green flags sent the
pack flying again - but Ding knew that 8 minutes at race speed was guaranteed to overheat the engine. But
then, in another wonderful twist of fate, car number 28, just in front of our Sebring, lost it and span out of the
chicane right after the restart. Ding avoided the incident and piled on the speed, pulling away to create a huge
gap between him and the rest of the pack - before the Safety Car came out for a second time while car 28 was
recovered. This allows him to catch up to ex-OUMF Charlie Clegg in his Sebring, car number 1, while also
allowing the engine to cool again during the further several laps behind the Safety Car – so many that an extra
three minutes are added on to the race. With just under 6 minutes left the Safety Car pulled off and again our
Sebring surged away from the chasing pack to put as much distance as possible between it and the pursuers
before the engine temp got too high again. It had pulled out around half a lap advantage before the temp
gauge read close to 140 degrees, and there no choice but to back off from full race pace and nurse it through
the last couple of minutes to save the engine. With barely a minute left, and the pack behind closing fast, our
Sebring was still battling with Sebring number 1 of Charlie Clegg, who was also driving defensively to block
attempts to overtake. However, on the last lap Ding spotted smoke from his bonnet and, suspecting Charlie
also had a mechanical problem, Ding was able to find a way through, fly past and took the chequered flag in
11 th  place. It was an extraordinary achievement for the team, with cracking driving from Ding to keep the
Sebring going to the flag without over-stretching it.
After the jubilation in the paddock after the race, and a through inspection and assessment of the Sebring, we
could relax for the rest of the day, and focus on some really enjoyable and exciting races. Of these, ex- Brookes
student Olly Bryant’s Lola T70 Spyder battling with Rob Hall in his McLaren M1A in the Surtees Trophy was the
most nail-biting, with Olly pulling a superb move at Lavant on the last lap, squeezing through on the inside and
taking the chequered flag by 4/10ths of a second. Yet another fantastic memory of a wonderful and awesomely
inspiring weekend, and one that will definitely become part of the fabric and history of the OUMF student
team.

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We all owe a huge debt of gratitude to the Duke of Richmond, Halls Garage, Phillips Tyres, Robin Vincent,
Aldon Automotive, Owslebury Crankshaft Services, EnginePartsUK, ACL Bearings - and the host of other OUMF
supporters and sponsors – far too many to name here - who made our participation in this amazing event
possible.
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Goodwood is a legal class A drug – and like the rest of the team, I can hardly wait until I can afford to become
totally addicted…soon, and for life!

Ollie Raja Brown – 1 st Year Motorsport Engineering, Oxford Brookes