OUMF races in the HRDC ‘Allstars’ and ‘Touring Greats’ in the Riley 1.5 at Thruxton Circuit24/9/2016 We had successfully signed on a happy bunch of students by mid-afternoon, so Iury and I ‘wobbled’ over to our idyllic Oxford countryside HQ (aka ‘the barn’) in the back of Dominic’s ‘road racing’ Morris Minor…having hot-wired it to get in going. Safely there, we swiftly completed the race preparations as the rest of the team arrived, loaded the Riley racer onto its aged trailer transport, and packed the van with way more than needed before setting off at 7pm – almost as planned!
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It was late and dark on Friday night at the barn when we eventually left for Castle Combe… We had aimed to leave at around 3pm but after re-installing the Accu-sump after lunch, the racing Riley would not register any oil pressure.
On Monday May 2nd, the OUMF team raced in both the HRDC ‘Coys Trophy BTCC Celebration’ and ‘Touring Greats’ races at the beautiful Donington Park circuit. This was a splendid opportunity to use the straight through side pipe specially made for us by BTB Exhausts, as the Donington Classic has no noise limits due to being under the flight path of East Midlands Airport. We had only had the opportunity to use the side pipe once before – at the same event in 2015 - where it had received a great reception from spectators, and we hoped that this year would be no different. We were also testing the modified adjustable front lever arm adjustable dampers, which we hoped would give us an edge by significantly reducing the unsprung mass of the car.
After leaving the HQ late on Saturday afternoon, the team quickly set up in the paddock and headed off again for dinner at a nearby pub. We then retired to our tents to escape the chilly April night.
We rose early to find bright sunshine and set to work checking the car. After finding no issues, the car was taken to scrutineering and approved for racing on the day. A quick clean was all we had time for before sending the car out for qualifying. The Riley’s times fell throughout the session as the track warmed up, and our racer qualified 6th on the grid and 2nd in Class, auguring well for the race later in the afternoon. On the 2nd April, OUMF fielded the Riley 1.5 racer in the first race of the HRDC season at Silverstone GP circuit. Everybody was expecting a great race, mostly due to the 47 cars which were racing (the largest HRDC grid anyone could remember) but also due to the power of some of the cars lined up….e.g. E Type, TVR Griffith, Lister Jag, 7 litre Ford Falcons, Galaxies and Mustangs, etc.,
A cracking first attempt at Novice clues for co-driver Andy Parsons on the last great rally of 2015 last night. The fast, open, drovers roads north of Oxford, with their sweeping corners and wide verges made for a real thrash to end the year.
The Golf's 'tread challenged' TOYO 888's would not perhaps have been most peoples' choice - especially on the damp and muddy sections - but it proved as sure-footed as usual, and after its recent head fettling by Dave Crisell, it's engine is going better than ever! There were several exciting sections where 3 or 4 cars were 'moving along briskly' in convoy, with the Golf giving no ground at all to the 4 wheel drive Subaru's. It was a very exhilarating, close and hard fought rally, and while we think we may have finished in 8th place (easy when we somehow missed no less than 5 codeboards!) the 3 way tie for first place gives you an idea of how hot the competition was out there! All in all, a really great night out (Including the drive to the start at Brackley - and back!) and just a shame that nobody was out with us, or in the rear race seat to share a very memorable experience. The meeting for this ill-fated rally was at Gipsy Lane for 6:30pm, with myself, Ben Harvey, and Ding in the TOYO Golf and James Martin, Andy Doyle, Yadash Suresh, and Joe Pearce in the Clio Cup. Our convoy swiftly took the A34 to Newbury, then onto the starting point for the rally: The Craven Arms in Enborne.
On arrival we attended the drivers briefing and were warned about the tricky road conditions caused by the near torrential downpour that had recently fallen. After a few preparatory Jaffa Cakes, we lined up in the car park, with the Clio as Car 10 in the novice class, and the Golf - as one of two beginners - lining up as Car 12. The rally started poorly with Ben and I directing Ding the wrong way almost immediately, but after a few more wrong turns we arrived at Time Control 1 (TC1). However, we were so late that the control had already decamped and left. Another competitor told us that the control had closed just before we got to it, so we pressed on to TC2 in an attempt to regain some ground. Luckily this was successful and we made the checkpoint whilst it was still manned. By this point, we were starting to get into the swing of things, and excluding the occasional wrong turning we were slowly but surely making up time on the subsequent stages. Saturday 19th September was a great success for our annual Oxford Brookes University freshers BBQ. This year, OUMF saw a massive interest of young engineers eager to gain the hands on experience that is lacking in their university course. The hunt is now on in earnest for our practical project for this year!
Our HRDC Brands Hatch team - and all members of OUMF - are all delighted and very flattered to be featured in the excellent Octane magazine - reproduced here with their permission. We thank all our sponsors, and supporters and followers for the positive feedback we have received - and of course for all the assistance they have given the students in the many different ways that continues to help them to learn, experience and achieve so much. We do feel in retrospect it was wishful thinking to invite Octane to try and condense and fit all our supporters along the bottom in a strap line. They did what they could, and it was a kind and noble effort! - but when you look at our Supporters page you will see the challenge they faced! So we would like to reassure all those not mentioned directly, that we are no less grateful for their support. They know who they are, and you can find out too - by clicking on the OUMF Supporters tab now. It is a pantheon of the best companies in the country, with world-beating products, and a shared concern to see the UK engineering and motorsports flourish in the future. OUMF could not continue without them donating their tangible, concrete help - which enables it to best prepare all of the boys and girls in the team for careers that will maintain the tradition of 'hands on' British engineering excellence through the coming years. We thank you all for your foresight, and for your generosity. The ‘Twisted Arms’ Autotest and barbeque was organised by Oxford Motor Club, and held on a grass airstrip on Pusey Farm on Sunday 19th, and it certainly required the twisting of some OUMF arms to assemble a few crews to join in the fun! The temperature was already climbing in the hot sun as the four OUMF entrants, in 3 cars, met at the HQ in the morning to put a few things in the van, and Phillips Tyres signs on both sides, before setting off for the venue some 20 minutes away down the A420 towards Swindon. Ahron was driving his Toyota MR-2 with Sally in the passenger seat, Dom was in his Morris Minor, and I was in my 1 litre, 3 cylinder Corsa, and was to be sharing the driving with Ding who led the way to Pusey in the van.
OUMF’s first race of the 2015 season was the HRDC Easter weekend races on the International Circuit at Silverstone. Tom and Bruce Maitland, Dom Norman, Andy Parsons, Ahron Becquart, Ding and Jimmy Allen packed and loaded at the HQ before the team left on the Friday evening and arrived at the track in time to find an unoccupied pit garage in the new Wing pits - which was a great relief given the heavy rain! We immediately unloaded, set up the pit with all our kit, tools, and sponsors banners - and our flashy new NGK chairs! - and got the Riley ready to run for first thing in the morning. In the course of this, a fuel leak was discovered from the Riley’s fuel tank, but this was quickly sorted in time for the team to head off for supper at the famous Green Man pub nearby with fellow racer Tony Hall - who very kindly bought us all drinks!
As the first event of the HRDC 2015 season approaches the students are putting the final touches to the Riley Racer after the long winter of development. The latest additions are a KA Sensors steering wheel position sensor coupled with a Racelogic Mini input module and OLED PLT Display to allow us to monitor more input channels and give the driver more feedback during track time, a huge thank you must go to both KA Sensors and Racelogic for all their help and support with this new frontier for OUMF.
The Steering Wheel Position Sensor set up and new Racelogic additions can be seen below... |
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