It was up to the much-loved and picturesque Oulton Park circuit in Cheshire for the next race in what was turning into a keenly fought series between season campaigners Gary Culver and Graham Reeder, both in 328s. There was a good 18-car entry and it was nice to welcome two newcomers, Fred Honnor in the ex-Peter Allard 308 GT4 and erstwhile hillclimber David Hathaway in the ex-Mike Haigh 328 - a well known and much campaigned race car. Also gracing the mostly 328/308 based field were the lovely 275s of Steve Tandy and Ross Warburton and Colin Campbell's Dino had returned to the fray after its minor conflagration at Donington.

Early morning practice, held in cloudy but dry conditions, inevitable saw the quickest times set by Culver and Reeder, both of these nearly three seconds ahead of Nick Taylor's Mondial and William Jenkins' 308, but then there was a very tight bunch of seven cars covered by less than three seconds. Of these Richard Allen (328) was the quickest just ahead of the similar tipo of Mike Spicer and a delighted Pauline Goodwin slotted her 328 in amongst this bunch of much more experienced racers.

The race meeting, organised by the Classic & Sportscar Club, was running nicely ahead of schedule and it was not long after the lunch break that the Ferraris were called to the grid. Poor David Hathaway didn't get very far when his car refused to start in the Collection Area and brought an end to his first attempt at a circuit race.

As the lights when out Reeder edged into Old Hall just ahead of Culver, with Taylor, Jenkins, Spicer and Allen next.

The two at the front pulled out an immediate lead over the rest of the field, with Culver trying everything he knew to get by Reeder, not an easy thing to do at this tricky circuit. By half distance the two of them were nearly ten seconds ahead of Taylor, who now had Jenkins right on his tail looking for a way past. Spicer was just behind them with Allen and Atkinson-Willes nose to tail ahead of another interesting battle between John Swift (308) and the raucous Testarossa of Ray Hanson. Behind them Steve Tandy had a lonely race in 11th place and he was followed by Peter Moseley (308), who had Pauline Goodwin looming ever larger in his mirrors looking for a way through.

On lap 7, the penultimate lap, it all started to happen. Culver got the run on Reeder round the outside of Island Bend and squeezed Reeder up inside a backmarker and slipped through. There was some minor contact between the cars but Culver was able to hang on to take a narrow win by less than a second. Similarly, William Jenkins made a determined attempt to pass Taylor but the latter robustly defended and sent Jenkins into a spin, which pushed him down into seventh place. Taylor was therefore secure in third and Mike Spicer moved up a place to finish fourth ahead of old protagonists Allen and Swift - who flashed across the line just a second or so apart to finish fifth and sixth, ahead of the recovering Jenkins and Steve Tandy, who had driven another great race in his 275.

A few cars suffered the odd problem; Ray Hanson had to drop back from his battle with Swifty because the brakes were gradually fading away, Sam Whitman stopped out on the circuit on the second lap when the engine inexplicably cut out - possibly due to lack of fuel, and Peter Hitchman's Mondial dropped a few cylinders but he carried on regardless.

It's only a fortnight to the next race, this time at the completely different Castle Combe circuit - fast, bumpy and open. It's also Graham Reeder's home circuit so Gary had better be on form.....

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Reeder out-drags Culver from the start - again

Are two 275s the same as one 550?

Newcomer Fred Honnor exits Lodge in the ex-Peter Allard 308 GT4

Jenkins recovered to finish seventh

Another great race by Tandy in his 275GTB, finishing eight O/A and winning Gp. 1

Spicer was fourth

Taylor muscled his way onto the podium and won Gp. 2

Graham Reeder led for most of the race until...

...Culver forced his way through on the penultimate lap

pics by Simon Cooke