It has been over 2 months since the last Turismo-X Racing Championship race at Snetterton with the MSV Summer break. But that didn't mean we had a rest! The week after we were over at Spa Francorchamps in Belgium, a few weeks later at Snetterton then on to Silverstone with the 750MC Club Enduro Championship.
Spa went well as we were in the Area Motorsport Golfs, but the two rounds in our own cars proved to be a bit of a nightmare, with various woes. We are confident we will get everything sorted, but it is proving tiresome in the process!
So Round 4 of Turismo-X at Oulton Park took place on the Saturday, then we were staying on the road to travel to Anglesey for Round 6 of the Club Enduro. It was a tall order before all the car troubles we have been experiencing lately!
You can read about the last race meeting at Silverstone clicking the link below:

Below is the layout of Oulton Park, we would but doing the full (International) layout:

Full Race Day Vlog

We have a full Vlog from the weekend, with snippets of the race:

Qualifying

With no time for testing on the Friday, we were straight into Qualifying. The timetable was very tight since the Turismo-X and EnduroKa races were the only ones going on, and a 5hr race right up until the curfew did not give much time for resting between sessions!

Scott Qualifying

The Golf felt pretty good immediately, and I was right on the pace with a 1:54.421, the quickest I had even gone around Oulton! At the time we were P1, P2 and P3. I didn't think that would last though, with a few Class S cars right behind.
I pitted for a drop in tyre pressures and I improved again, settling with a 1:53.306. With only 9 cars on track space was not really an issue.

Ryan Qualifying

Ryan was in a good position from the start, with a high 1:52 before pitting for a few checks. He found more time after that, eventually putting in a 1:49.812, a mega time for the TT and proof we were going in the right direction.

Adam Qualifying

Adam had been out of the driving seat for a few months, so had a bit of rust to dust off. He was still on the pace but lagged a bit behind Ryan, finishing up with a 1:51.541.

This put us P1, P2 and P4 overall. Based on the chassis mods we had done to Adam's car, we were expecting him to be quicker than Ryan, but 10 laps is not really enough time to settle into a car of this pace.

Qualifying Laps

Our 'fastest' laps are shown below:

Super Pole

We all improved a fair bit in the one lap dash, except Ryan so Adam jumped him by 0.25s. Adam would have been much quicker, but a warning light caused him to pull over at the chicane to try a reset. This put him out of sync and he came up against Ryan on his cooldown lap right at the wrong time. Looking at the data, it would not have gained him a position anyway.
The big shock was Darren Goes in the RS3, jumping from P3 with a 1:52.217 in Quali to a 1:49.260 , an improvement of nearly 3s just in 1 lap. The RS3 was going to take some beating in the race.

Super Pole Laps

Our Super Pole laps are shown below.

Race 1

P2 and P4 are the best positions I think at Oulton, as you are on the outside line for Turn 1. Every time I have been on the inside, I've been squeezed into a bad exit.

Scott Race 1

I made a good initial start, but changed to 3rd too early and bogged a little bit, this meant I was side by side with Goes into Turn 1 and got squeezed onto the exit kerb and dropped into 3rd.
Ryan had made a poor start but sailed passed at Lakeside and I slotted back in front of Dylan in the Leon. It was pretty lonely for me until about lap 6. I was pushing really hard to keep a gap behind, but this was hurting the tyres so eventually Dylan reeled me in with the straight line speed of the Super Copa.
I held him off for a couple of laps, but he made a move into Turn 1 and I was defenceless. Immediately I had to turn my attention to Richard Clarke in the Civic TCR as he was right on my bumper and made an attempt at Island Bend.
I kept him at bay for another three laps, then as he went right at Island, I went left but he had just enough momentum to get in front and cut in front. A nice move that demoted me to 6th. I kept the pressure on for another lap but the 40whp/ton difference meant I had no chance of making the place back.

Ryan Race 1

Ryan's start was the quickest of all of us, but the gap between Adam and Darren was not a TTs width, so as he backed out Dylan was able to push in front. He quickly regained the place at Turn 1, then passed me in the hunt for Goes.
As expected, the RS3 was off in the distance within a few laps, so then Ryan and Adam had a little platy with each other, the 11 TT seemingly a bit slower on the straights.
On lap 8 Ryan dropped off massively as the car went into limp mode. It was eventually found to be a faulty Oil Pressure Sensor. Luckily he had enough of a gap to get it reset and get back going without losing any places.
Interestingly, his best lap time in the race was a 1:49.82, exactly the same as his best lap in Qualifying.

Adam Race 1

Adam's start was textbook, straight around the RS3 and over the the left hand side for the best line into Turn 1. He kept Goes behind for a full lap, before the straight line speed was too much and he dropped behind into turn 1.
From there it was a lonely race watching the green car disappear into the distance.

Race one down, we had about 15 minutes to prepare for race 2!

Ryan's lap was 0.3s slower than Goes, and Adams 1.3s so there is a big difference somewhere!

Race 2

Race 1 results determines the starting order for Race 2, so I was on row 3 behind Dylan and Ryan. Adam was at the side of Goes.

Scott Race 2

I had a start that was comparable to Goes and the TTs, but Dylan had a monster and jumped right ahead of everyone. The two TTs went around the RS3 but as Ryan went down the inside of the Leon, the gap closed and they touched, sending Dylan into the grass and nearly taking out Adam and me in the process!
The TTs and TCR disappeared as I did a repeat of Race 1, pushing as hard as possible to get the gap to Clarke behind. It took him until lap 7 to get close enough to try a move into Old Hall but I had the momentum to stay in front.
The next lap he had the run on me out of Lodge but outbraked himself into turn 1, nudging my back end in the process. Luckily I kept it under control to survive another day.
On the last lap I had a bad exit out of Druids. Clarke was alongside but on the outside line so I just managed to keep it in front around the last corner and across the line to secure 5th.

Ryan Race 2

Ryan learnt from race 1 and went down the right hand side instead of trying to go through Darren and Adam. The Supercopa was on the charge around the outside, but cut right across and braked early into turn 1. Ryan had gone down the inside into a gap that quickly disappeared. They touched and Dylan was sent into the path of me and Adam then the grass.
Ryan held off the TCR for the full lap, then through Lakeside he was passed and down into P2. Braking into Hislops, Ryan left it as late as he dared and nearly torpedoed into him.
As the RS3 disappeared again, Adam was looming in Ryan's rear view waiting to pounce. A few laps later, Ryan outbraked himself and Adam was able to pass as they went over Hilltop.
A couple of laps later, braking into Cascades the car understeered and drifted onto the grass. Trying to get back onto the track, the car spun across it and went as close to the inside barrier as you could without touching it! That is one of his 9 lives gone!
With enough of a gap, he was able to turn it back round and stay just in front of me, then get to the chequered in 3rd place.

Adam Race 2

After not having the best launch, he just missed the spinning Leon at turn 1. With Goes already ahead it was going to be an uphill battle. After passing Ryan at Hilltop, he kept the RS3 in sight but did not have the straight line speed to get close enough for a pass.
Adam's fastest lap was within 0.03s of his best in Race 1.

A P2 and P3 for the TTs was as good as we expected considering the pace of the RS3. The Golf felt great, so it was a shame there were not more in our Class to have a proper battle with!

Oulton Park always seems to give varying laptimes. So much can be gained or lost on the long corners that lead to the straights so it is more difficult to be consistent.

Adam is holding on to P1 overall, but Ryan is in P5 as he missed Snetterton. I'm down to P4 as Goes took over the 3rd spot. Counting a dropped score, there is only a couple of points between Darren and Adam for P1 overall.

EnduroKA

After our 2nd place at Anglesey in the KAs in the first 24hr race for the EnduroKA Series, we followed it up in the 9hrs of Snetterton with a win! This time it was a much shorter 5hrs race, but with 3 mandatory stops required. Adam decided to sit this one out, so it was me, Ryan and DannyDC2 in the driving seat.
Qualifying went pretty good, we were dancing between P1 and P3 for most of the session, before Danny sealed P2 with a 2:18.765, 0.045s off Pole and 0.031s in front of P3.
All 3 of us were very close in laptimes, so it was clear we were in with a good chance.

Danny started and was solid in P2 for the first 5 laps until there was a safety car. Our plan was always to take an early one so he pitted and I jumped in. We came out in 16th position, but by lap 20 we were in 3rd and lap 27 I was in the lead. Around 90 minutes into my stint, there was an incident that I knew would cause a short safety car. I radioed to Mathisse for me to hand over to Ryan, but he was at the toilet! As expected, the safety car was only 1 lap so we missed out chance.
The positions stayed the same until Lap 57 when I pitted to get Ryan in the car (and for me to set off the the Mrs' party in Bakewell!)
Ryan came out in 5th but dropped behind the 18 car of Axia pretty quickly as he was trying to sort his harness out, that had twisted during the pit stop. He stayed within 1s of them for most of his stint, until lap 88 where he dropped off. He handed over to Danny 11.7s behind the leaders but still in P2.
We were a lap down until the Axia guys pitted on lap 105. They did a lightning stop and managed to keep the lead, this time with a 56s gap. Danny chipped away, even when he had a drive through for track limits (I had used all the lives up, sorry!) he only lost 8s. It looked like we might have caught them, as the Axia car had slowed massively (we found out later that their wheel bearing was hanging off!) but they finished 2.492s ahead. We had to settle for P2 again!

Thanks to all the guys for this weekend. It was mental doing 4 races in 2 days and 2 different tracks, they worked flat out to make sure the cars were as competitive as possible. We couldn't have done it without them!

Photos courtesy of Mark Lees and MOTORV8MEDIA.

All the details and dates for future races we are entering can be found on the Darkside Motorsport Page.