A Specialised Double

The weather forecast for the "Forza Ferrari" day at Oulton Park was dire, with heavy thunder storms being predicted. In the event it turned out much less strenuous but track conditions were still damp and slithery for the practice session, which took place just before 11.00 a.m.

All the cars went out on wet tyres, although slicks would have been quite usable as a drier line appeared, but in the 20 minute practice time there was no chance of making the change.

Given the conditions, it was no surprise to see a trio of 355/Chs at the head of the field but it was a surprise to see David Ashburn on pole in only his second drive in a rented Challenge car. Sharing the front row was Nicky Paul-Barron, a great effort considering his limited season so far, and in third place was another surprise: Robin Ward. The current Ferrari Hillclimb Champion had rented the Martin Barrett 355/Ch and acquitted himself well in his second-ever PMFC race.

The two main protagonists for the "S" class championship, Ian Hetherington (F50) and Alan Cosby (F512M), were next up, ahead of "O" class front-runner Gary Culver (F355), who always goes well under these conditions. Lurking surprisingly far down the grid was Colin Davids in the Zest Testarossa, but two unfortunate non-starters were Andrew Micheals and Andy Christopher, who had withdrawn for the remainder of the season following the engine problems at the previous round.

It was to be a two-heat race, with the grid for the second heat being decided by the finishing order of the first.

Heat 1

The track had dried completely but the weather remained muggy and overcast as the lights turned to green, with Ashburn leading away ahead of Paul-Barron and Hetherington. By the second lap the two powerful 12-cylinder cars of Hetherington and Cosby had hit the front but behind there was an entertaining dice between the three Challenge cars of Ashburn, Paul-Barron and Ward. The latter was gradually dropped but the other two circulated nose to tail, with P-B trying every way to get past the less experienced Ashburn. Finally, when Ashburn fumbled a gear change on lap 11, Nicky squeezed past and immediately began to pull away.

Hetherington maintained his lead to the finish, with Cosby finishing three seconds behind, ahead of the four Challenge cars in the order P-B, Ashburn, Ward and Phil Nuttall. Gary Culver had a lonely drive into seventh place and first in the "O" class, with Richard Stevens (F355) and Andrew Duncan (348tb) coming second and third in that class.

Davids' Testarossa never featured in the race and retired after eight laps.

Heat 2

This time pole man Hetherington made a tardy start and slipped back into fourth place as Cosby, NP-B and Ashburn forged ahead. For the next few laps the cars of Cosby, Hetherington, NP-B, Ashburn and Ward were nose to tail until the powerful F50 finally hit the front and began to pull away.

Cosby's second placed F512M was smoking ominously by lap 6 and as it slowed with transmission maladies NP-B nipped through to take second place and began charging after Hetherington's leading F50.

Suddenly, with two laps to go, the F50's engine began to sound flat and Paul-Barron took over the lead in an instant. He ran out the winner by three seconds, with Hetherington and Cosby in the next two places. Behind, the race-long duel between Ward and Ashburn was resolved in the former's favour by less than half a second, whilst further adrift came the 355/Ch of Nuttall in sixth place overall.

As in the previous heat, Gary Culver took a comfortable win in the "O" class, once again ahead of Stevens and Duncan.

New laps records were established in the "C" class by Nicky Paul-Barron and in the "O" class by Gary Culver but Mike Millard's record in the "S" class still stands - a testament to the superb time he set in his 512 Boxer some years ago.

With the same three people winning their respective classes in both heats the overall winners were obviously Hetherington, Paul-Barron and Culver.

Whilst the points situation in the "O" and "C" classes had already been settled before this race, the top three in the "S" class remain wide open between Hetherington, Cosby and Peter Lowe and it will all go down to the wire at the final two races at Le Mans on 16/17 September.