BRSCC Formula Ford 1600 Race Report TITLE CHASEbrsccff1600.co.uk/Files/Northern FF 161008.pdf ·...

BRSCCFormula Ford 1600Race ReportSeason 2016 - Issue 13: Oulton Park Intenational Circuit, 8th October

Pre90:Jamie isNorthern

King

Owen’s MultiChampionship Haul

TITLE CHASE

CONTENTS

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BRSCC Formula Ford 1600: Race Report - Oulton Park International Circuit, 8th October

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Meeting Type: Double HeaderCircuit: Oulton Park InternationalCircuit Length: 2.6917 miles

Northern Championship: Rounds 13 & 14

Championship Organisers: BRSCCSponsored by Avon Tyres

BRSCC FF1600 Championship Co-ordinators:Ian Smith (07939 107888)

Words & Editing:Dave Williamswww.gramtext.co.uk

Copyright on Pictures:Philip RainfordIan Cowley

Coming Up:20th November - AngleseyStar of Anglesey: Rounds 5 & 6Trophy Races

Data & Credits

IntroductionQualifyingPre90 Race 1Post89 Race 1Pre90 Race 2Post89 Race 2Trophy Presentations

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Introduction


It was a breathless conclusion to the BRSCC’s Avon Tyres Northern Formula Ford 1600 Championship with the final 6 rounds staged in the space of 3 weeks.The last 2 rounds were staged at Oulton Park’s fabulous International Circuit on 8th October and coming into the meeting everything was still to play for with just a handful of points separating the leading contenders in both the Post89 and Pre90 categories.A busy qualifying session saw 28 cars from all classes leave the Assembly Area before the Post89 and Pre90 runners raced separately.

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After the National Championship ended in mid-September Chase Owen had time to kill before the Formula Ford Festival in late October and so he turned his attention to the Northern title.With a double victory at Anglesey boosting his tally a fortnight earlier, the American arrived in Cheshire with his Cliff Dempsey prepared Ray GR14/15 holding a narrow advantage of just 2 points over local man Matthew Cowley (Van Diemen JL13).Their duel for pole was interrupted when, on his third flying lap, Matthew Round-Garrido lost control of his Van Diemen JL16 on the exit of Cascades, flew across the circuit and slammed hard into the tyre wall that prevents drivers from taking an unplanned dip in the lake. This brought out the red flags.When the session got back underway, it was Luke Williams who topped the timing screens in the Firman RF16 before Owen pipped him to the fastest lap as the chequered flag appeared. But Williams would not be starting from the outside of the front row because the stewards deemed he had ignored the marshal’s warning flags and excluded him from the session. He would be starting from the back of the grid.This meant, having only competed in a Post89 car for the first time as recently as August, Josh Smith would be starting alongside Owen in the Myerscough College entered Van Diemen JL13 having pushed Cowley’s similar car down to third place where he would line-up alongside David McArthur’s B-M Racing run Van Diemen LA10.McArthur reported that he had “made a right hash of qualifying” but the red flags and


In recent months, Chase Owen has been focussing on the Northern Championship

QualifyingBRSCC Formula Ford 1600: Race Report - Oulton Park International Circuit, 8th October

NORTHERN FOCUS

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With all the red and yellow flags, David McArthur struggled to find a rhythm

then yellows at various points on the circuit caused him to struggle to find a rhythm.Having travelled the Globe with his day job as a tyre technician in the World Endurance Championship, Doug Crosbie was back at Oulton setting the fifth quickest time in his Van Diemen JL13.In sixth the first Pre90 car on the timesheet, the Reynard 84FF of Jamie Jardine, had been thoroughly overhauled by Dave Hart since the meeting at Anglesey to banish the clutch problems that had hampered the Frodsham man and had allowed Jaap Blijleven to close within half a dozen points at the top of the Pre90 Northern Championship standings.The Dutchman’s quest to overhaul his rival at the end of a hard-fought season had an up-and-down start during Friday’s test day when he equalled his fastest ever lap around Oulton before running wide on to the kerbs at Old Hall. This caused him to spin into the tyres barriers and damage the right front corner of his Reynard 88FF. The UCLAN Racing team quickly made the necessary repairs and by the end of the day Jaap was feeling confident having set a respectable time on old tyres.Qualifying began really well for Blijleven who decided the best strategy would be to



The Globe Trotting Doug Crosbie

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With so little time remaining, Jaap Blijleven knew he had to be flat out

from the word go. It was thrilling stuff!circulate in company with Jardine – it was almost like a race! He was 3 tenths faster than Jardine when proceedings were halted for Round-Garrido’s accident. Jaap was in two minds at this point – he wanted the session to be abandoned so that he could be on pole and yet he wouldn’t want to claim that prize in such a fortunate way.Such a dilemma was resolved when the officials sent all the cars back out on to the track. With such a short time remaining Blijleven knew he had to be flat out from the word go. It was thrilling, edge of the seat stuff and when Jaap set a time of 1 minute 48.7 secs he thought that would be good enough only to find out Jamie had gone 3 tenths faster.“Man this was quick!” Blijleven mused, “All year (we have been) trying to get below the 50s and now in 1 session we get into the 48s…”The duo were the only drivers from the Pre90 Class to make it into the Top Ten which was completed by a trio of Van Diemen drivers in the shape of Jack Wolfenden’s Myercough College entered JL13, the Class B RF92 of Matthew Chisholm and the JL12 of Martin Short. The latter was struggling to find pace – he blamed it on a “holiday hangover”!



Happy Holidays: Martin Short

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Results



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So the battle for the Pre90 Northern Championship came down to a straight fight between Jamie Jardine and Jaap Blijleven. The duo pulled away from the rest of the field in their own private battle. It was absolutely intense, flat out driving with lap times constantly in the high 1 min 48s or low 1 min 49s – this was one of the fastest Pre90 races of all time! Sparks flew – literally – as the pair got airbourne at Brittens causing their cars to bottom on landing.Jardine led but Blijleven was ever present in his mirrors, never close enough to mount a challenge but always ready to capitalise on any mistakes. When Jamie pulled out a small gap, Jaap was able to close it down again and on the last lap Blijleven was in position to make one final all or nothing effort. He was looking to get a good run out of Hislops to put himself within striking distance but he applied a little too much gas, got sideways and ended up on the grass. He kept going to hold on to second place.With 2 bonus points for pole and fastest lap added to those awarded for his victory, Jardine had one hand on the title. He only needed a decent finish later in the day.Aided by Ian Wolfenden making a slow start in his Reynard 87FF from the inside of the second row, the 3 year older model from the same marque driven by Mike Bibby moved up from fifth on the grid to third at the first corner but soon he had a couple of pacey Van Diemens in his mirrors.Chris Stones felt he had only put in 1 lap behind the wheel of his RF88 that he was happy with during the hectic qualifying session that was littered with red and yellow flags nonetheless he was fourth quickest in Class and by the end of the second lap he


Victory took Jamie Jardine so close to the Northern title

Pre90 Race 1BRSCC Formula Ford 1600: Race Report - Oulton Park International Circuit, 8th October

SOCLOSE

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had demoted Bibby to move into third. He would hold on to that final podium place until the end.Since Anglesey the throttle on Nick Barnes’ RF87 had been adjusted but a lack of funds meant he was unable to take part in Friday’s test therefore the changes were tried for the first time during qualifying when it was discovered only 60% throttle was available – the mechanism got to the point of opening the second choke and then stopped.This put Barnes eleventh on the grid for this race but he benefitted from the poor starts that were made by a couple of drivers ahead of him. One of these was the aforementioned Wolfenden who reached Old Hall in the middle of a sandwich with Matt Thompson’s Reynard 88FF on his inside and Scott Guthrie’s Crossle 25F going around the outside. The latter made contact with Wolfenden causing both to head towards the barriers. Wolfenden was out of the race with damaged suspension although Guthrie, who had not raced a Formula Ford 1600 car at Oulton Park since the early 1990’s, was able to rejoin at the back of the pack.Another who didn’t get away very well at all was Will Alterman. This was annoying as earlier in the day Alterman had been delighted with the qualifying performance he put in behind the wheel of his Reynard 89FF during which he set the sixth fastest Pre90 time.Barnes worked his way up the order, firstly by passing Thompson into Lodge from a long way back at the end of the opening lap. A few circuits later he was into sixth at the same corner after Juiceie Bruceie ran wide in his Reynard 84FF. Next on the hit list was the fast starting Colin Williams (PRS RH01) who was dispensed with heading into Hislops. There was now a huge gap to Bibby but Barnes bridged it and out-dragged him out of Shell 2 laps from the end to be classified fourth.



Colin Williams had a great start to this race

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Scott Rawlinson had a dramatic FridayBibby claimed fifth ahead of Alterman who got involved in a huge battle with Thompson and Williams in the closing stages. The former came out on top to finish seventh while behind him Williams had the consolation of winning Class E.Rounding out the Top Ten were Bruceie and the recovering Guthrie.Andrew Kluge (Van Diemen RF89) and Patrick Humphreys (Van Diemen RF86) enjoyed their race-long battle over eleventh. The last meeting at Oulton was Humphreys’ first for 3 years and, since then, he had found more pace.Behind of the wheel of a PRS RH02 that used to be driven by Simon Merriman, Oliver Chapman was in the thick of the fight with Kluge and Humphreys but he tried too hard to put the power down exiting Old Hall and spun into the barriers on the inside of the track. Chapman is the nephew of Colin Williams.Scott Rawlinson had a dramatic day on Friday when it was discovered that a crack had developed around his front suspension pick-up point. Fortunately, thanks to a recommendation from Paul Crosbie (Dad of Post89 racer, Doug) his team manager, David Bailey, was able to take the car to a facility in Knutsford to get it repaired and enable Rawlinson to race for the first time at Oulton. He lapped over a second faster than he had previously managed to annex thirteenth ahead of our final finisher, Steve Nixon. Both were driving Van Diemen RF86s.



Juiceie Bruceie (33) leads Nick Barnes (105), Matt Thompson (21) and Will Alterman

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Results



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Just like at Anglesey 2 weeks previously, Chase Owen converted pole into the lead of the race. In his mirrors however he had a stream of cars as he stormed around the Oulton Park International Circuit.Keen to make amends for not doing as well as he wished in qualifying was David McArthur. He swept around the outside of Matthew Cowley the first time they tackled Cascades to move up to third and then repeated the manoeuvre on Josh Smith the second time they attacked this spectacular corner.Clearly the fastest car on the track, McArthur now put Owen under pressure. With the American having to defend his position, he slowed both himself and his pursuer bunching up the front of the field. With Doug Crosbie latching on to the back of Cowley’s gearbox we had 5 duelling for the victory – brilliant!Cowley and Crosbie started battling amongst themselves. The latter got ahead between Shell and Brittens after which the duo repeatedly tried to outbrake each other into Hislops – with Cowley being forced on to grass and having to take to the escape road at one point. There was quite literally nothing between them as they flashed past the finishing line. TSL Timing said they were separated by just a thousandth of a second – they smallest margin their systems can detect – with the verdict going in favour of Crosbie netting him fourth in the final classification.On lap 9, McArthur went for victory with an attempted pass around the outside of Owen at Lodge but, to his frustration, ran wide. Smith seized the moment to claim the runner-up position as McArthur recovered to take the final place on the podium.


Post89 Race 1

Running as Number Zero, Chase Owen holds off David McArthur (15)


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HEROZERO

McArthur went for victory with an attempted pass around the outside at Lodge but, to his frustration, ran wide

Behind Jack Wolfenden, Luke Williams came through from the back of the grid to take seventh.Class B winner, Matthew Chisholm, held off Martin Short in the early laps before pulling away in the later stages. Rory Smith completed the Top Ten in his Wayne Poole Racing Van Diemen JL15 while Andrew Thomas recovered from a spin at Knickerbrook to be the final classified finisher in his Van Diemen RF91.



Josh Smith (124) holds off Matt Cowley

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Results



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A storming getaway from pole by Jamie Jardine gave him enough of an advantage to be able to move left on to the racing line into Old Hall however since the Pre90 cars had been out for their first race of the day, the circuit had become much more slippery to the extent that Jardine almost went off at the first corner. This didn’t prevent him from holding on to his lead.Jaap Blijleven knew he needed Jardine to fail to finish to stand any chance of taking the Northern title but as he thought that was unlikely to happen, his goal was to win this race to end the season on a high but it was not to be. The Dutchman joined his rival in having a huge moment at Old Hall which allowed Jardine to pull away to claim the Pre90 National Championship in fine style. He also scooped the Class D and Pre90 Champion of Oulton titles as Blijleven took Class C.With Jardine and Blijleven performing a Bambi-on-Ice routine at the first corner Nick Barnes was able to get a better run down The Avenue enabling him to draw alongside Blijleven heading towards Cascades but, as he was on the outside line, he was unable to overtake. Not able to match the pace of the pair ahead of him, he came home a very secure third as mayhem had broken out behind on the run down to the first corner.A tap from a rival as he sped from the grid caused Colin Williams to lose control and resulted in a collision with Mike Bibby. Williams headed towards Old Hall broadside with Will Alterman unable to find a way past. As Williams fought for control inches from his nose, Alterman was almost stationary. Williams’ broken PRS eventually came to a halt on the grass next to the turn-in point for Old Hall.Despite suffering a damaged chassis in the impact, Bibby held on to fourth position for


Pre90 Race 2

Pre90 Champion of Oulton, Jamie Jardine


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KING OF OULTON

A tap from another driver sent Colin Williams into Mike Bibby which pitched

him broadside approaching Old Hallalmost the entire contest until he was overtaken by Ian Wolfenden on the last lap.In the opening stages, Bibby had pulled away from a huge battle between Juiceie Bruceie and Matt Thompson. This ended when they had a coming together at Lodge. Having been one of those affected by the Colin Williams incident at the start, Chris Stones’ progress was once again interrupted by the Bruceie/Thompson clash. In this instance he had to come to a halt and select reverse to find a way around the melee allowing Scottt Guthrie to get ahead of him.With Williams watching the race alongside the marshals at Old Hall, Guthrie was able to take the Class E honours in sixth overall. The absent Ian Parkington took the Northern title in the category.Having survived the first corner schmozzle, Will Alterman finished eighth. Neither start had gone well for him but Will enjoyed some great racing each time he worked his way up the order.Andrew Kluge and Steve Nixon completed the Top Ten while Patrick Humphreys was thrilled to have someone to dice with in this race as in the first – on this occasion it was Scott Rawlinson. The latter came out on top having got ahead on the last lap and had a 6ft wide grin when he got out of the car. At the end of only his second meeting, Rawlinson could not wait to come back and race with us next season.



A sideways Nick Barnes chases the two leaders

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Results



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Ahead of the final Formula Ford 1600 race of the season at Oulton Park there were a number questions to be answered.Would Chase Owen make another great getaway and claim the Northern Championship?As was the case earlier in the day, would David McArthur have the greatest speed and be able to convert it into a race win this time?Was there anything Matthew Cowley do to salvage his title hopes from fifth on the grid?Many of these questions were answered as soon as the red lights went out. Owen took the lead while McArthur fluffed his start and dropped to fourth behind Doug Crosbie. Worse fortune befell Cowley who completed the opening circuit in sixth behind Luke Williams.Cowley got ahead of Williams on lap 4 – the latter would retire in the pits shortly afterwards – but by that time he was out of touch with the quartet of cars contesting the lead and had to be content to finish fifth.This meant the Post89 Northern, Champion of Oulton and Northern Class A titles went to Owen. Josh Smith finished as the runner-up in this race and was delighted to finish just over 2 seconds behind the highly rated winner.Crosbie is such a master of defensive driving that it took McArthur until lap 7 to get ahead of him. Once more it was a move around the outside, this time at Lodge. This was the tenth anniversary of Crosbie’s first race. He felt old!!! Especially when he ran out of energy and couldn’t keep pace with McArthur during the second half of this contest.After a slow start, Jack Wolfenden came through to finish sixth after a superb battle with


Post89 Race 2

Texan, Chase Owen, races alone as he zooms into the distance as the star of this race


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THE LONE STAR

Rory Smith entertained the crowd with some aerobatics. He achieved “lift off”

when he ran wide at CascadesMatthew Chisholm – the latter capped a superb season by winning Class B of the Northern Championship.Martin Short completed the finishers after Rory Smith entertained the crowd with some aerobatics. Battling with Wolfenden during the early stages, he ran wide exiting Cascades and achieved “lift off” on the uneven ground. He got so high that he must surely have been picked up by Air Traffic Control at Manchester Airport! Inevitably, his Van Diemen “’plane” got damaged in the heavy landing causing retirement on the Lakeside Straight.Before the red lights had gone out, we were one car down when Andrew Thomas’ car blew a radiator in the Assembly Area. His Pure Pace Racing team believed this was due to damage sustained when he spun at Knickerbrook in the earlier race.



Josh Smith leads Chase Owen’s pursuers

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Results



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TROPHYPRESENTATIONS

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