Those of you who have been following OUMF recently will have seen that we now have a current project in the form of a Riley Kestrel. This has been on display to the public at the NEC Classic Motor Show in November 2022, and many will have seen it in a particularly sorry state… body panels missing, half painted, no interior - the list of things that were missing or badly damaged was probably longer than the list of what was present. Some of you may wonder, what prompted this departure from the dedicated competition car projects to date, and where did this car come from?

However, before I address these questions, I should first say that – possibly to the surprise of many - this wasn’t how we got it, even though it was fully running and driving when it arrived! So, how on earth did the car end up in the state that is in now?

​The problem that we had with the 1968 Riley Kestrel project arose only after painting the interior of the shell and then comprehensively lining the floor, doors, and other panels with a sound-deadening product called Kilmat. This is a butyl rubber backed foil, similar to other products like Dynamat, and is a dense, malleable sheet - very like the bitumen panels found on older cars - that absorbs drumming, and drivetrain and road noise very effectively. Once the lengthy process of cutting it to shape, sticking it down, and thoroughly rolling it into place is completed, it is extremely difficult and very messy to remove. The Kestrel came to us following extensive renovation of the floor, including replacement of the sills and much of the floorpan. We stripped the floor inside back to bare metal and it was very sound prior to painting with Rustbuster epoxy mastic , and top coat in body colour. The underside had been finished with a coating of black ‘schutz’ type underseal which was lavishly applied and did not appear to need further attention - all of which gave us the confidence to apply the Kilmat.

It was at this point that two issues arose in quick succession. The first was that we were kindly donated an LCB manifold and pipework by John Ashley Exhausts, and Joe Ellis at BTB Exhausts generously offered to help by undertaking various modifications in the course of making it fit as snugly along the underside of the car as he could. His artistry resulted in there being very little clearance between the stainless steel silencer boxes and the walls of the tunnel - which looked fantastic, but spelled big trouble for the very meltable Kilmat now glued just above it. The second problem was the chance discovery that the schutz underseal had been applied to bare steel – without any signs of... 

Firstly, I’d like to take a moment to say a big thank you to all of our sponsors and the individuals who made this week possible. Without you, this would not have been feasible and we are all better off for experiencing this opportunity.

​Welcome to the latest OUMF update - and the most important news is that we are still going! -
despite the best efforts of Covid, Putin, and the economic downturn to kybosh this amazingly resilient &
resourceful student initiative. This edition of the OUMF Newsletter reflects one pithy bit of feedback
about previous ones: “Nobody wants to read a telephone directory of thanks you’s. We all know you’re
grateful! Just give us the highlights – and make it snappy!” Wise advice, acted on, and we hope you enjoy
the shorter, clearer, more digestible result! If your appetite is not appeased, and you find yourself hungry
for more, please see our OUMF website for further news, detailed race reports, great photos, the roll of
our many great supporters, and much more. So here goes…

​Given that time has passed, and exact recollections of this event will soon become hazy, it is
with some urgency that this report has been compiled in order to document that great Silverstone
weekend.
The latest intake of new students meant that our team was not short of members, with us
committing ourselves to a team of about 30. With 9 tickets in hand, this was already set to
become quite the logistical challenge.
On the evening before, we made our way to the track with six drivers - myself, Wesley Thung,
Bobby Bragg, Tom Grant (in Ding’s XC90), Ollie Raja-Brown towing the Riley in his Defender,
and the LWB (or FL) Sprinter race van towing the Sebring Sprite. Ollie went ahead to get
ourselves a favourable space in what was expected to be a packed paddock (119 cars over the
weekend), whilst the rest of us pulled over outside the circuit to rearrange ourselves in a more
ticket-friendly fashion…
We had made our way through security with a heavily packed van and four empty cars trailing
close behind, all of us repeating the usual ‘I’m with him’ as we breezed through, somehow not
rousing any suspicion on the way (how they didn’t question this, I don’t know). We practised our
racing lines around the service road (sensibly!) until we reached the Silverstone ‘Wing’, and the
van could finally unload itself outside of the pit garage Ollie found us.
Pit garage?! This was certainly my first time in a pit garage with OUMF, I almost felt jealous of...

​Given that time has passed, and exact recollections of this event will soon become hazy, it is with some urgency that this report has been compiled in order to document that great Silverstone weekend.
The latest intake of new students meant that our team was not short of members, with us committing ourselves to a team of about 30. With 9 tickets in hand, this was already set to become quite the logistical challenge.

The National Classic Motor Show, which takes place at the NEC Birmingham exhibition centre, has invited OUMF to stage their own 80 square foot stand at this years exhibition. The show plays host to a great many orginisations and clubs of classic cars, and most importantly multiple different orginisations that are integral to OUMFs mission and provide invaluable support for our multitude of projects. 

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...

The annual ‘Historics on the Hill’ at Lydden is always a cracker, and it is exclusive to members of the
HRDC (Historic Racing Drivers Club) of which OUMF is an invited founder member thanks to our
magnanimous patron Julius Thurgood. The layout of this wonderful little track means that spectators
have unobstructed views of every inch of the racing action, and also the limited number on the grids
translates into a great deal of time spent out on track.

​This year the OUMF team brought both the
Sebring Sprite and Riley 1.5, resulting in 8 sessions in five and a half hours between the two cars!

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!

Shortly after the completion of the now well-known and successful 1959 Riley 1.5 race car by OUMF students in 2014, they appealed for a new project on their stand at the NEC Classic Motor Show later that year. Several interesting classics in various states were offered by visitors, and amongst these kind folk was long-time OUMF supporter Bob Kemp of the Austin Healey Club, who suggested his early Sprite 838 BWT as a candidate. It was in a bad state, and well beyond his means or capabilities to restore - but it was complete, and he was happy to donate it to a good cause. OUMF members were excited both by the idea of an 'A' series-engined race car project, and by Bob's photos, and so despite the clear challenges posed by its advanced delapidation (due to long storage in the open) Bob's offer was quickly accepted.

​​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.