• rob_4ucz0g4c
• | September 20, 2014
• | Races 2014
• | No Comments

Oulton Park International – 2014

Arriving at Oulton Park with our confidence high, after the last outing at Castle Coombe where we won our class,  we woke to find the track very damp and were looking forward to seeing how the new Yokohama Road Tyres were going to fair in the wet.

Qualifying was the 3^rd class of the day and everybody went out carefully to start with due to the still damp conditions, especially around Druids under the trees. After gaining more confidence in the car and tyres Rob was able to start getting faster with each lap, putting in his fastest qualifying time on his last lap, out qualifying two Porsches in the process with a time of 2.26.58 not much slower than the previous year’s time in the dry which was a good sign things were getting better.

Come the race and the track was now perfectly dry and Rob was so looking forward to putting in some even better times than he had previously. The start went well and all cars made it to the first bend this time, as last year there was an unfortunate accident on the start line which meant the race was halved.

Keeping up with a Porsche, an S2000 a Scooby and ahead of another Porsche and an MX5 Rob drove the wheels of the car keeping ahead of the others and keeping up with those in front for a couple of laps whilst putting in a very good time of 2.18.985 on the second lap, being 7 seconds faster than he had lapped at Oulton Park previously. Unfortunately, on the third lap, the Intercooler hose blew of and Rob had to limp back into the pits, where John was able, with the use of some tools gratefully lent to us by a Marshall, put the hose back on enough for Rob to go back out into the race. Even with a slight boost leak, Rob still managed to put in some 2.20 minute laps with a last lap of 2.19, winning his class again and with the car running better than it has ever, looking forward to the last race of the season at Snetterton on October 18^th.

Both the 451 and the Forfour are being raced at Snetterton with Rob in the 451 in the Modern Classics and Matt (from Corbeau) in the ForFour in the Modern Classics and Rob will also race the ForFour that day in the Sports and Saloon Car Race.