The Oulton Park Gold Cup 2023

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

languishing in a local lock up for many years.  

Not a team to shy away from a challenge, we ignored the deadline and headed off instead on our special military operation to extract the TVR! A set of castor wheels were lashed underneath in place of the missing rear axle and suspension, and various planks of wood were laid across the gravel driveway as the severely compromised TVR was heaved and pushed onto the lane, up to the main road, and into the back of the covered trailer. This operation showed how important teamwork and clear communication is when moving uncooperative vehicles. It also showed us that no Buddleia is safe around Thomas Grant when he’s given garden clippers. There was nothing left standing, and we sincerely apologise to the local bin men who had to collect an entire (but deconstructed) Buddleia tree the following day.
   
The TVR was successfully brought back to HQ as frantic calls went out to other OUMF members about the date mix up and the Team got to work loading up the Sprinter race van. Once this was done we rapidly dispersed to get food, overnight bags, showers etc. before meeting back at HQ for a 9:30pm departure North. 

The journey to Oulton Park at this late hour proved to be relatively smooth sailing aside from a few service stops to clear error codes on the Sprinter’s dash as the limp home mode was cutting out the turbo and changing the Mercedes Sprinter to a Crawler. One of these reset stops was interrupted by a salami ambush on the van by a car load of other members in a lorry park. Dave Sellars and his entourage were heroically fought off - and we Sprinted away again. On our approach to Oulton Park, my brother Will and I were given a demonstration of what it's like to be onboard in the Riley as the van proceeded to take the racing line on every roundabout in Cheshire, and as on track, not a single apex was missed. Van, Riley, and team all arrived in one piece at 12.30am, and we quickly parked up, and set up camp immediately, as we had a 6.30am start.

I arose in the morning to familiar northern sounds. No, not thick Liverpudlian accents, but rain hammering on my tent. A short break in the deluge allowed me to emerge from my tent and head over to our paddock HQ to join the rest of the team. I took up position underneath the Riley for a spanner check and some much needed shelter from the elements. When all was thoroughly checked over, my brother and I decanted our kind sponsors Motor Spirit 98 0E (zero ethanol) into the belly of the beast for qualifying. Having quenched the thirst of the Riley, and borrowed wipers from Daryl Davies at Motobuild and Richard at Westborne Racing (Thanks again chaps!), we sent Ding out on a soaked track for qualifying and eagerly awaited his return to see what new race driver excuses he could make! The track began to dry as cars went round  (and yes, there were many spinners too!) and by the end of the session we found ourselves P2 in Class.

A quick debrief detailed how the wipers had not been effective as they hardly touched the screen, but thankfully this turned out to be the last of the bad weather.

Upon further discussion and spanner checking it was discovered there were issues with the front right wheel hub bearing and it was in need of some new race grease. This task led to the incorrect grease being applied with red rubber grease being applied instead of red race grease. It does not help that they are in similar pots and near identical colours and that most of us engineers are heavily dyslexic. Unfortunately, this mistake was noticed far too late to change before the race. Since this report though, the hubs have been correctly machined and regreased, and the red rubber grease has been sent to the darkest depths of the barn in the HQ to prevent this mix up from ever happening again.

With the car fixed up and refuelled, the driver was given the old “don’t bin it…please” and sent off to the collection area.

Race start
The track had now completely dried out and the grid was packed, thanks to a dozen or so Lotus/Ford Cortinas which spearheaded the field. The race began and the battalion of Cortinas led everyone into T1, an unfortunate bog down off the line relegated the Riley to 3rd in-class behind the two Speedwell A40’s that we were racing in our Class. Once a wild Volvo Amazon had been dealt with and a Mk2 Jaguar that was on the limit of adhesion around every single corner had been passed, Ding found his groove and set his sights on the first of the A40’s.

A few laps later and a lock up by the Riley-harassed red A40 into the first chicane clearly indicated the beginning of the end. This small driver error meant that on the approach to the 2nd chicane the mighty Riley was breathing down its neck, when another mistake into this chicane sealed the A40’s fate. Despite Robert Burdett’s best efforts to hold onto P2 he could not steady the restless A40 and on the rise to Clay Hill the Riley had completed the move.

Open road lay ahead for the Riley and the hunt was on for the next A40 which had pulled out a class lead of 7 seconds. The laptimes got faster and faster as the gap slowly started to trickle down. Soon the mandatory pitstop time had arrived, and this is a crucial part of the race which could make or break our winning chances. The pitstop was left in the careful hands of our part time gardener Thomas Grant, and frequent gym-goer Robert Bragg. The smooth and professional 25 seconds pitstop meant that when the black A40 came in for its stop we had inherited the lead!!! The pitwall was ecstatic as we watched the A40 emerge directly behind the Riley. We had done all we could, it was now all in the experienced hands of Mr.Boston.

Unfortunately an oil slick covering the entry into Knickerbrook corner and one of the MANY Cortina’s finding the gravel at Druids, meant the safety car was brought out to allow the recovery of the stricken car. Thus the small gap that we pulled out on the A40 had been reduced to nothing.

Safety Car came back in and the race was back underway. The next challenge the Riley faced was being lapped by a swarm of colourful Cortinas that enjoyed spending the majority of their race on full opposite lock, nose to tail with each other. Once free of all this lapping traffic the A40 sat directly behind us, and was not satisfied with its 2nd place. This was very apparent when the driver took the kamikaze approach and sent one up the inside of Ding and a battling Alfa 2000 GTV midway through T1! Having taken our earlier advice about ‘binning’, Ding yielded the position allowing both the Riley and A40 to remain as two separate vehicles on track and not one large mangled wreck on the exit of T1. Relieved of P1, and probably needing a change of racesuit, Mr.Boston embarked on a counter-attack. However, these plans were quickly extinguished as soon as they had begun as the Alfa was then placed between the Riley and the A40 - mainly due to the A40 launching another move into the Shell Oils Hairpin that the Japanese Empire would’ve been proud of back in 1945. 

Despite Ding’s best effort he could not find an opportunity to get around the Alfa until the last lap as it was slower in the corners but much faster than us on the straights.

The chequered flag fell and the Riley took the P2 honours.   

With the Riley returned to the paddock a post-race inspection of the car took place revealing that the inspection cap butterfly on top of the Weber carb had dislodged itself, but luckily the lockwire proved its worth as it was still tethered to the carb and hadn’t been ejected out on the track. A quick look at the hubs showed that the greasing mistake hadn’t caused any evident damage but needed to be inspected and rectified once we returned to Oxford.

Prize giving began but not before every OUMF member's jaw had dropped at the sight of an original Mini body sitting on top of a reversed V8 Buick drivetrain. You can only imagine how much torque steer that thing would have had! Julius and Ding acted out their usual dissing and banter as Julius yet again had to witness him taking home more of his silverware.

The rest of the day involved packing up the van and the traditional exploration of the paddock to see what classic machinery we could witness. I also explored the drivers clubs area where I met the owner of a stock Riley 1.5 that gave me an idea of what our Riley might have looked like if it hadn’t fallen into the oily little hands of OUMF!

As the sun began to set, we headed home to Oxford’ happy with a great race experience and with our spoils from the day. A quick stop at Warwick motorway services offered a bit more drama to the day as Will and I got to witness Ding chase a rat around the picnic benches in the car park. I must say I have never seen someone leap through bushes and move with such athleticism even though I am a 100m sprinter myself...

Karma for the rat harassment was the (other!) Sprinter going into ‘limp home’ mode again. Those of you familiar with the commute from Warwick to Oxford will be aware of the large elevation changes all the way into Oxford. The lack of a turbo had brought us to a 50mph crawl in certain areas. Thankfully due to Mr. Boston pinning the throttle to the bulkhead, and my brother, Ding and I all rocking back and forth we had enough momentum to get up to a more suitable speed. For those of a legally sensitive nature, I shall not disclose the actual speeds achieved but it was definitely fast enough.

The final piece of drama for the Oulton weekend came when we were back at the HQ, as the mischievous Dave Sellars struck again. He managed to back his VW Golf into my parked car - despite having a million different parking sensors. The bill will be heading your way Mr. Sellars! 

As always, we owe a massive thanks to Julius Thurgood and the HRDC, and all our wonderful sponsors. Attending amazing top race events like this, and gaining precious trackside experience with this great team simply would not be possible without their constant backing, support and generosity.

Sean Harvey - Battery and Electrical Engineer WAE