Oulton Park Report-May 20

Oulton Park - May 19/20

Team:-

Andy Scott	Tim Sopp
Gary Scott	Andy Lofthouse
Will Scott	Martin Dickson
Phil Belcher	Chris Duckett (Sunday)
Rob Coombs (Sunday)
Transporter Driver:	Jack Hobbs

Saturday May 19
Saturday was cloudy and dry but warm with the sun always threatening to break through the clouds. As with previous rounds, there was free practice, lasting 45 minutes, in the morning and qualifying in the afternoon, slightly earlier than usual at 1.45.

The suspension had been revamped since the disappointing test session at Donington. The handling characteristics of the car were not right and changes needed to have been made to the Accord, as Oulton Park is not too dissimilar a track to Donington.

Free practice was at 11 o'clock. Unfortunately it was soon over for the Synchro team. The Accord developed fuel problems on the out lap and Dave Allan brought the car immediately back to the pits for checking. Dave returned to the track after fourteen minutes but to no avail and he had to immediately return to the pits and retire from the session, a disappointing start to the weekend. The free practice is important to iron out any small glitches as well as providing Dave with important time in the car. None of these objectives were met.

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The Accord was sorted in time for the qualifying, which started on time. Dave progressively improved his lap times and, by the time he pitted for a tyre change, his best lap was 1m 35.521, which put him sixteenth of the twenty Super Production drivers that started qualifying. He needed to improve by a further second at that time to get amongst the main pack. He did go into the 1m 34's but then went irretrievably into the gravel at Cascades after the rear brakes has started to snap on, in a similar fashion to Brands earlier in the season. There was only about five minutes of the session left but Dave's qualifying session was effectively over. He would start the race tomorrow on row seven of the grid, in fourteenth position.

Sunday, May 20
Sunday, weather wise, was very like Saturday, perhaps a little warmer. The Sprint race was over fifteen laps and, once again, the Tourers would be starting first followed by the Super Production cars ten seconds later. The Tourers, however, would have to complete one more lap. The race started eleven minutes late at 1.06.

Dave made a good start and was up to eleventh place by the end of the first lap. He stayed around this position for most of the race, moving up to tenth on lap 13. A top ten place was short lived, though, as Mat Jackson, who had been charging up the field after a false start penalty, made what seemed a desperate manoeuvre on Dave at the Knickerbrook chicane. There is not sufficient room for two cars through here and Jackson's Focus plummeted into the side of the Dave's car, pushing the Accord head long into the tyre barrier. Dave managed to get back on the circuit to complete the last two laps and finish in thirteenth place in the Super Production class.

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Side panels on the Accord had been badly damaged and would need replacing before the Silverstone night meeting in two weeks time. The team did a good job, though, straightening the panels so that the Accord still looked reasonably tidy for the feature race later that afternoon. The drive shaft had also been damaged in the incident and had to be replaced if Dave was to be in the line up for the Feature Race.

Dave did make the line up with the cars retaining the same grid positions as the Sprint. The Feature Race, Round 6 of the Championship, was over thirty laps of the Oulton circuit. It started almost twenty minutes late at 3.48. Dave quickly settled into a mid order position in the race but was unable to push as hard as he would like as the gearbox linkage seized early on in the race. This made each gear change a challenge, as the box became very stiff. Dave also had to hold the car in gear to prevent it jumping out, which meant he effectively had to drive with one hand. His efforts though were rewarded with another good result for the team. He finished seventh in the Super Production class and eleventh overall. He also managed to lower his best lap time for the meeting.

It had been another learning weekend for the Synchro team. The handling on the Accord is still unpredictable and work will take place in this area before Silverstone. Nevertheless, the results were again good under the circumstances and another boost for the team.

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