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A bright, sunny day greeted the drivers who ventured up north to Oulton Park. Those who made the trip were rewarded with a race on the full International circuit, a rare treat indeed. As an experiment, the Euro Saloons and Road Saloons were combined into one race giving us a total of 16 drivers split almost evenly between the two series.

The entry list was even more varied than usual - the Arrowpak team had brought out both Nissan Primeras (ex BTCC Supertouring cars) and Tony Soper had made a last minute substitution of his Harrier LR9 as the Alfa Romeo GTV's engine had expired earlier in the week. There was a welcome return to the series from Chris Brogden in the Uno he and Alan Bates should have raced last year, save for a testing accident. And very smart it looked too. Trevor Nicosia finally turned up for a race in a car of his own, giving his Lancia kappa its race debut. Among the Road Saloons, a collection of VW Golf GTi, along with a Honda Civic, Vauxhall Nova and a Renault Clio continued the varied theme.

Practice was early in the day, but delayed due to the usual carnage amongst the FF crowd. Once on the way, all drivers took a tentative out lap, having been warned in the drivers' briefing that timing would not start until they passed the start/finish line over two miles from the entrance onto the track. For most, this was a first time out on the International circuit and it showed as the cars at the front all missed the chicane at Knickerbrook.

For most, qualifying ran smoothly - but the two Primeras were in trouble with the noise police and restricted to 5 laps, there were be frantic activity as their crew packed the exhausts to quieten them down before the race. Trevor Nicosia's qualifying session came to an early end with a puncture after 2 laps, Roger Donnan's Stratos replica was locking wheels everywhere and Tony Soper's Harrier suffered intermittent electrical problems. Perhaps predictably, the two Primeras of Peter Challis and Derek Hale headed the qualifying times, but Tim Lewis and Tony Soper were within touching distance of the second Primera. From the Road Saloons series, Paul Connell (VW Golf GTi) and Ian Kirk (Honda Civic) were comfortably ahead of the rest of the pack, but with 2.5 seconds separating the next 7 cars, some close racing looked to be in store.

The Race
Under the regulations, the combined series race continued with the rolling start, to the credit of the Road Saloons series who were more used to standing starts, the start went well with no incidents, but the sight of 16 cars rushing into Old Hall sometimes 2 and 3 abreast still made for a good spectacle. With such a long lap length (2.7 miles) and the difference in speed of the cars, it was inevitable that the cars would become spread out, but all along the circuit were clusters of cars battling in close formation. Up front Tim Lewis had split the Primeras at the end of the first lap in his Alfasud Sprint, with Tony Soper in close attendance. Tony started putting the pressure on and moved up a position on laps 3 and 4 to move into second place. At the head of the Road Saloons series Ian Kirk and Paul Connell were in close formation for the first couple of laps until problems caused Paul to slow and fall backwards down the order until he retired after 6 laps. Further back there were pairs of cars having their own private battles, Jim Mepham (Golf) v Simon Jackson (Nova), Daniel Davies (Golf) v Neil Threadgill (Clio) and Trevor Nicosia (kappa) v Julian Brown (X1/9). Along the way we lost Daniel Davies, and then series returnee Chris Brogden as the head gasket expired on the Uno.

The remaining contenders carried on, slowly beginning to spread out as each battle pair was being won. Up front, the race was won by Peter Challis from Tony Soper and Derek Hale, Tim Lewis and Roger Donnan completing the top five. The Road Saloons race was won by Ian Kirk with a class win for Jim Mepham. A good clean race, with plenty to keep most of the drivers and the spectators interested in what was going on.

Report by Trevor Nicosia, Car 10
 

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