Oulton Today

General Meets + Track Day Reports
1

Great to meet up again with David, Andy, John & Nick today [image]http://www.exiges.com/ubb/NonCGI/images/icons/grin.gif[/image]An interesting day to say the least! Upon arrival at 8.30ish visibility was down to 100 yards or so, because of fog.At about 9.15 it was announced there would be a briefing, & that driving would probably start just after 11am. Plan being to have no lunch hour, with driving being allowed continuously to close. The circuit would meet its Local Authority licence conditions on noisey hours per day.Then at about 9.45, the heavens opened, & the fog began to quickly clear. By 10.15 we were back to plan A - track opened, with a 1 hour lunch break between 12.30 & 1.30.With about 40 cars in attendance (an Easytrack first???), the first hour was sessioned into 2 groups. This worked quite well, as it gave the Oulton first timers & novices, a chance to suss out the corners, if not the lines. It continued to rain pretty hard until lunchtime, so although the track was of course slippy, it was predictable. The usual racing line could not be taken through some of the corners, because of standing water! During the lunch break, the rain stopped. From previous experience of Oulton, I knew that the track would be “more of a challenge” as it dried out! This is particularly true of Cascades, Druids, Lodge & Old Hall - in fact every corner becomes incredibly slippy when damp!Regrettably, & most unfortunately, the driver of a 51 plate Cerbera lost it when cresting Deers Leap onto the pit straight, at around 2.15pm. He managed to hit the armco on both sides of the track - first on the left, which then spun him across the track & into the armo just after the pit entry & before the pit wall. Driver & passenger appeared unhurt. But the front of the car was something of a mess, & it ended up facing in the wrong direction on track.After 1/2 hour or so, the marshalls were still repairing the armco & sweeping debris & oil up from the track. The weather began to close in & the atomosphere quickly became damper & damper. Our party decided to jack it in at this point, as we all agreed that although we hadn’t spent as much time as expected on track, we had all learned quite a lot about the circuit in the sessions we had earlier completed.Well, I’m back there again on the 18th December with Bookatrack - fingers crossed that the weather is somewhat kinder then!I think I’m right in saying that the consensus was that an Exiges.com day, at Oulton, must be arranged for 2003 [image]http://www.exiges.com/ubb/NonCGI/images/icons/grin.gif[/image] [This message has been edited by Pesky (edited 17 November 2002).]

2

Agreed Rob !! a 2003, dry sunny Exiges.com day at Oulton is now a must, the track has great er … character [image]http://www.exiges.com/ubb/NonCGI/images/icons/grin.gif[/image]Many, many thanks for having an extra 100kg in your car for the first bit and the instruction ! it was a perfect day for that ( sorry 'bout the standing water episode [image]http://www.exiges.com/ubb/NonCGI/images/icons/smile.gif[/image])and much appreciated.Just 5 mins after you all left Easytrack called it a day anyhow [image]http://www.exiges.com/ubb/NonCGI/images/icons/frown.gif[/image] they considered the track too risky and looking at the crash site there was still alot of oil around and I guess that decision was the best one really.See you all soon …Andy

3

Hi all,We were at Mallory Park for Book a track day, and it seems the weather was slightly better than at Oulton, But lots of standing water from the heavy overnight rain and sudden cloud bursts left it quite tricky!!We have renamed “devils Elbow” to “devils water works” due to the large river like flow of water across the track. But it was still good fun and the cars in one piece.Although there were quite a few other off’s but nothing too major. Comiserations to Jonny(BAT) who’s Caterham ended up 6 inches shorter after another Caterham stuffed it up the rear, under a red flag for another incident.We are going to have a look around the Lotus Parts fair at NAC Stoneleigh Nr Warwick tomorow if anybody else fancies a ride out we will see you there.Martin & Steve.

4

Some pics (not mine)of the day can be foundhere http://statik.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/index.html

5

Great to meet up with Rob and Andy again and meet John and Nick. Seems that my decision to head south after the TVR incident was the right one.Think we should start calling Mr Pesky the rainmaster given the consumate ease he got round the track whilst us new to the track found it somewhat challenging [image]http://www.exiges.com/ubb/NonCGI/images/icons/smile.gif[/image]Totally agree that Oulton would be a great venue for the next big Exiges.com day BUT let’s wait till the birds have returned from the south and the trees have leaves on them (as opposed to the track) [image]http://www.exiges.com/ubb/NonCGI/images/icons/smile.gif[/image]DavidPS Have raised a few issues with Easy Track over the day and will let you know how I get on.

6

quote:Originally posted by Pesky:I think I’m right in saying that the consensus was that an Exiges.com day, at Oulton, must be arranged for 2003 [image]http://www.exiges.com/ubb/NonCGI/images/icons/grin.gif[/image] [This message has been edited by Pesky (edited 17 November 2002).]Briiinnngg it oonnn…

7

[image]http://www.exiges.com/ubb/NonCGI/images/icons/grin.gif[/image]