Britcar Championship headlines Saturday's meeting at Oulton Park 26 Sep 16

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The 1st October sees the final meeting of the 2016 season to be run by the North Western Centre of the British Automobile Racing Club. Running on the Oulton Park full International circuit it is a slightly unusual but very exciting programme with two races for the ever popular CNC Heads Sports Saloon Championship, Britcar endurance racing have a two and a half hour race which includes a fifty minute race for the more production based GT and Production cars, (they also have a separate race run over fifty minutes as well) and there is a batch of races for BSA National F125 Open karts. All this is certain to produce some high speed action from all the races.

The day should give some great spectating at this great circuit and a visit to the paddock for a close look at the cars a chat with the drivers should be very worthwhile. Young people can find their way to the car outside Race Control where they will be given a free disposable camera to take pictures around the paddock and spectator areas besides on the track for the club’s photographic competition. There are prizes for the winners!

The CNC Heads Sports/Saloons Championship

This is the NW Centre’s main interest at this meeting as it is our own championship, and it will certainly provide a varied and full grid of the day. We will be running the final two rounds of the championship and we have a full grid of 38 entries plus reserves. There will be some hectic racing to decide the final championship positions in the classes as well as the overall championship. Some explanation of the scoring may be useful to allow you to understand how the championship may pan out. The second race will be for double points and any remaining jokers have to be played in the first race. Several of the leading overall/class runners still have to play their jokers (these double the points but you must make them count!).

The field contains two types with classes A, B and C being Specials where just about any amount of modification is allowed. Classes D, E and F are Modified where the cars must retain the original body shell. Each of these specifications are split into classes are divided by engine size.

At the top of the overall table is 2015 champion and class C leader Joe Spencer in his Stuart Taylor Locosaki with 88 points. Second with 86 is Paul Dobson (a previous 4 times champion) in his class D leading Mazda RX7 followed by Paul Rose in his class A leading Saker with 83. Any of these drivers can take the title although Joe and Paul have still to play their jokers so they do have an advantage over Paul. I won’t go into all the permutations but suffice it to say the title will probably depend on fastest laps in the second race.

Piers Grange is just leading class E in his very nice Mk2 Escort but is only a couple of points ahead of Steven Parker’s BMW Compact and they are often close on track so watch for a struggle here for class honours. Garry Watson has a commanding class B lead in his Westfield as has Clive Dix in class F in his tidy Ford Puma, although Helen Allen will not give up retaining her class F title just yet.

All the other drivers in the field deserve a mention as most have been battling away all season and are involved in fierce on track competitions just as much as the front runners so please give them all a cheer and a wave. There are several drivers out for the first time today so welcome to Paul Calladine in his Ginetta G50, Tony Hart in his Renault 5, Philip Morris in his VW Golf and our regular safety car driver, Russell Hunter in his MGB. Welcome to all four and we look forward to seeing you again next year.

As explained the calculations will be complex with the double points and jokers to be played the possibilities are endless. We will all have to rely on the championship officials who will be pumping figures into the computer after the first race to see who has to do what to better their final positions.

Britcar Dunlop Endurance

It’s the penultimate round of the Britcar Dunlop Endurance Championship here at Oulton Park this coming weekend, and with a 30-point buffer in the overall standings, Nigel Moore and Phil Hanson, in the Class 1 Tockwith Motorsports Audi R8 LMS, could place themselves in an unassailable position for the title if they can repeat their current run of form in today’s 150-minute encounter. Don’t discount, though, Calum Lockie, who is currently at the top of his game. Partnering the veteran but ever-improving David Mason in the FF Corse Ferrari 458 GT3, the reigning champions’ season got off to a faltering start, but pro-driver Lockie has thrown everything in to take the fight to the Audi. Also in contention will be the Ing Sport BMW Z4, piloted by Ian Lawson and Kevin Clarke; Lawson admitted at Croft that they had no answer for the Audi, but the sweeping undulations in Cheshire parkland may present a different situation. There is, however, an insurgent that could queer the pitch for the regular runners in Class 1 – Martin Short has considerable form for swooping into a late-season Britcar race and nicking a pot. His Rollcentre team took their third Silverstone 24hrs victory earlier in the year, and with current driving partner Richard Neary, Shorty has enjoyed a successful 2016 in British GT, but today they will be keeping the Mosler marque alive, campaigning one of Rollcentre’s rather special machines.

Father and son pairing Mike and Anthony Wilds currently head the Class 2 points table in the FF Corse Ferrari 458, but today the class honours will rest upon another family duo, Peter and Mark Cunningham, who have had a torrid year so far in the SG Racing Porsche 997, sidelined in the early season with a gearbox issue, followed by a heavy and faultless impact at Silverstone.

Class 3 is where the close action of the race is likely – thus far Jacob Mathiassen’s Century Motorsport Ginetta G55 has battled gamely in the opening stint of races with Jonny Cocker’s Whitebridge Aston Martin Vantage, leaving the “gentleman” drivers of these cars - Steve Fresle and Chris Murphy – to capitalise on the placings, hence the closeness in the points standings, with Century nursing a three-point advantage over Whitebridge as the championship gets down to the short strokes. Fabio Randaccio and Nick Randall seem to have sorted the Hoffmans of Henley Lotus Europa now, and the class is boosted by Chris Headlam/Joey Foster in a Lotus Exige, and Graham Roberts is joined by Britcar’s own Rob Hedley in the Track Torque Chevron GR8.

Class 4 sees the Geoff Steel Motorsport BMW M3 of Sam Alpass and Lee Atkins make inroads to Moss Motorsport’s class points lead, while the Synchro Motorsport pairing of Alyn James and Martyn Byford would welcome competition for their Honda Integra from the Woodard Racing Mini Cooper.

Britcar Dunlop GT/Production

The penultimate rounds of the Britcar Dunlop GT & Production championship feature an innovative departure from the usual format this weekend; Race 1 will feature the traditional 50-minute race, but the second counter will run within the 150-minute Britcar Dunlop Endurance race, with the GT and Production contenders being flagged-off once 50 minutes of the race has elapsed. This will add an extra dimension for the protagonists in both championships, and test the skill of the organising team.

This may challenge some of those competing in both championships, notably David Mason and Calum Lockie in the FF Corse Ferrari 458 GT3 (Class 1GT), and current runaway GT points leaders Whitebridge, with Chris Murphy and Jonny Cocker in the team’s Aston Martin Vantage; both teams will need to exercise some careful race management. Lone driver Jonny MacGregor has excelled in this shorter race format, with his self-built MacG Racing Taranis taking some recent well-deserved overall victories this season, though the Mson/Lockie Ferrari will be a strong contender too in Class 1GT, and in Class 2GT we see once again the Track Focused Porsche Cayman GT4 of Rick and Brad Nevinson.

Joining the Whitebridge Aston in Class 3GT is the Bespoke Racing Porsche 997 of old hands Marcus Fothergill and Dave Benett. This long-standing driving partnership have proved the worth of their considerable experience of late, and are realistic bet for class honours.

Del Shelton, driving a Geoff Steel Racing BMW M3 E36 in Class 1 Production currently heads the Production points tally, but the formidable pairing of Mike Moss and Tom Howard in the Moss Motorsport BMW E46 are turning out here at Oulton Park, and could well close the gap on Shelton’s 24-point lead as the season draws to a close. Lance and Alistair Gauld, in the Cloud Cover IT Porsche Cayman complete this competitive class, while in Class 2 Production, the enthusiastic Team Lizard / Abbey Motors squad have Steve Burke and Mark Gillham in a Nissan 350Z.

As this is the final meeting of 2016 to be run by the BARC NW Centre, we would like to say a big thankyou for the support given this season by spectators, marshals and officials. We hope to see you once again in 2017.