Oulton Park 20/06/09

WOW
that was a very interesting race to say the least
qualifying was on a wet but rapidly drying track most played safe but i decided to go with slicks and gamble on a late improvement in track conditions
i managed 5th overall and was pretty happy with that considering
the race was a full grid with pole being claimed by a big ginetta G 60 two lotus sevens and a 4wd audi touring car were the line up in front of me
from the start i passed the ginetta,audi and a caterham csr only the other lotus seven was in front and away we went
by the end of lap 0ne there had been two big shunts so we reformed and had a restart
again i got away in front of all but the lotus seven, at the end of lap one the big turbocharged mazda of paul dobson had managed to get past me and i was hard in his slipstream down the start finish straight
going into old hall he went onto the grass and re joined having ripped an oil pipe off
i went to pass him through cascades and hit a patch of the oil he was dropping
the rear of my car started to slide so i had to lift and recover the slide this meant that the big ginetta who was right on my tail collided hard with the back of the mini
totally unavoidable and just one of those things, i ended up on the grass and chris maries,danny keenan and paul wolfitt in a z cars mini shot past
i rejoined in 6th place having lost the rear bodywork of the car completly for the next lap or so i went a little steadily to see if the car was ok, the ginetta was wrecked and i saw the damage to him as he was parked up on the next lap
i thought "jesus whats the back of my car like if his fronts like that"
car seemed ok so i set off hard after paul chris and danny
after a couple of laps i caught paul and danny and followed paul through as he passed danny, now we had to pass paul, took a couple of laps but i managed to out brake him into the chicane
the real fight then was to catch chris maries
for several more laps i crept up to him then we were coming into the last lap, nip and tuck the whole way round and going into lodge for the last time i was right on his rear bumper, got good drive off the corner and alongside as we raced for the line .... he pipped me by a nose what a race even with all the drama i finished 4th overall and we now can lap oulton park in the 1 .32.5 seconds bracket which is again another 1.5 seconds off my previous best time
couldnt beleive the back of the car when i got out no fibreglass left from the centreline of the wheels back
black tyre marks on the roof !!!
other than body damage i just had a dent in the exhaust silencer and a bend in the silencer bracket
the ginetta was well bent, bonnet, screen, rad, tyre wishbones etc etc
she may be small but she is as tough as old boots, the more i drive the car the better it gets, a few more mods for next time now is the ideal time to make a fully removable rear clam for the car so we can lift it off for servicing purposes
im goint to try lighten it some more then put some aero devices on it if i get time
video clips are brilliant and crossed thread is working on them to get them up soonest
chris

Hi all

Here we go: Youtube

and race report here:click

Well done Chris, this just proves what an excellent package the Zcars brand is, with or without body work!!

PS i like your mug shot in this months Mini World

Geoff

Very unlucky to get third! Nice driving