It's fair to say the PistonHeads Racing Team was pretty excited by the prospect of the weekend's five hours at Oulton Park. It's arguably the best circuit that the EnduroKa series races on, the full international circuit giving plenty of variety and challenge - even in a car with 70hp. Combine that with a day that promised to be bone dry, in total contrast to last year's deluge and seemingly rare for a summer's day in the north west, and we were more than a little eager.
With a Ka expertly repaired and back to its best after my indiscretion at Snetterton (thank you Racing Pete!) and drivers fuelled with whatever the café has to offer, Team PH was ready to race. But not before qualifying, of course. It was the job of yours truly to get half a dozen laps in first, immediately ruing not being able to make Friday's track day; because Oulton is a wonderful circuit, but there's so much to learn, and there was precious little to take from last year's running given the drastic change in conditions. My best was a 2:25.01, which I thought would make consistent 2:24s a realistic aim in the race - especially with Pete's advice, whose lap in the 2:23s secured us a top 10 start. How innocent an aim that now seems.
Handily, Pete and the field of 35 made a clean start at exactly 1:30ish, somehow avoiding any contact through Old Hall and Cascades - both notorious for their early lap skirmishes. It didn't long for drama to unfold, however, with a safety car called before 10 minutes of the 300 had run. A few of the leaders dived in for the pits, promoting Pete higher up the field and allowing him to lap swiftly, seemingly without any drama, for the entirety of his stint.
Learning from Snetterton and keen to save time, we wanted to pit only when safety cars were called if possible. With a little more than an hour and a quarter gone and Matt Dell cheerily chewing on a Nakd bar, that was the time - a safety car was called, and Pete was getting out.
The plan for wing commander Dell was simple: keep him in the car for as long as possible. He'd had the least time driving at Snetterton, and the most to learn about Oulton. Given the pace of some Kas in the field, it was deemed the best way for him to learn the track (and improve our position) was to try and follow a fast Ka around. Easier said than done, sure, but our strategy didn't really extend any further. Yet again, Matt did an admirable job, gradually improving upon his qualifying times and - crucially - staying out of trouble. He even led the race for four laps, which isn't a bad effort in only your second race. Were it not for a technical problem with his hue tag - the device that registers you to the car during your stint - he might have done better, the mishap requiring a pit stop that cost valuable time. Then it was my turn...
Climbing in to race a car that you damaged last time out, that's been repaired by your mate on his drive and which your two teammates have kept pristine is an experience fraught with emotion. I wouldn't like to think of my prospects on Team PH - leave alone my bank balance - if the Ka was biffed up again. It wasn't helped, either, by seeing two written off cars from other series during the day; it's seldom that you ever have a small crash at Oulton.
That said, I still had to race, and there remained a top 10 finish to think about. So, I did what I always did when there's some pressure on in a race car, and massively overdrove it. Braking points were missed, apexes too, tyres howling as I desperately tried to find the Ka sweet spot - where it's rotating to defeat the understeer, but not wasting momentum with oversteer - and so miserably failed. For a race car with so little power, the Ka remains a challenge, its operating window even narrower than I remember. They make quite the sight when driven properly, though, quicker cars seeming only to pivot this way and that through Oulton's fast stuff.
Initial laps were seconds off even my qualifying pace, any chance of building speed up then stifled by a safety car. Which was the worst possible situation, bunching cars up being exactly what I didn't want given the confidence my overtaking had taken after a hefty knock for the poor Ka at Snetterton. At the restart I felt swamped, so desperate not to damage the Ka that overtaking opportunities came and went, usually along with a couple of other cars, too.
That said, one or two did happen without incident, and there really is no feeling quite as good as side-by-side racing, and the lap times came down a tad as well. And then I was given a black and white warning flag for track limits, which I mistook to mean a penalty. And then forgot to scan my hue tag on the wasted pit stop, meaning an actual penalty and two unnecessary pit stops. Cross would have been an understatement.
So, hot, bothered and more than a little disappointed, I never did get close even to the 2:24s, frustratingly, which was an eminently achievable aim. Given competitors were regularly lapping in the 2:22s (and even 2:21s), I left the car - during a safety car period, of course - dejected and upset. I hadn't had very long in the car, and I really hadn't done very well at all. There really is nothing quite so competitive as one-make racing, nothing that promotes a surfeit or talent - or exposes a dearth of it - anywhere near, as well. Bother. Still, at least I could hand the Ka over in one piece this time.
Pete finished the race as he started it: quickly and without incident. Only he hadn't seen the black and white flag given to #98 when I was driving, so when he pushed track limits he got the stop-go penalty. D'oh. Every team was required to make three pit stops during the five-hour race; we ended up doing seven. You don't need to be Ross Brawn to figure out that this doesn't do much for the chances of a decent finish.
However, an underweight car higher up the grid meant our eleventh-placed finish became a tenth, which is more than pleasing given our lack of experience at the track, bare bones three-person team and - bluntly - our own silly errors. It's always a shame not to have fulfilled potential, though it's clearly a much more competitive field in 2020 as well; a top 10 finish is more than good enough. We were the highest placed with seven pit stops, too.
The reduced calendar of events for EnduroKa 2020 means Team PH might not be back in action until November's Indy 500 at Brands Hatch. However, there are sprint races there next month, which could be handy for learning how to race (and overtake) a Ka there. Or it could be chaos, as everyone lunges for overtakes in races less than the length of a typical stint in these Kas. Certainly, if the #98 isn't diving up the inside at every opportunity, it'll be clear who's driving. We'll keep you posted.
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