With just a week since our mixed weekend at Croft in the RoadSports Series and 750MC Club Enduro, it was time to get back out in the TT that Luke had built for me for the BRSCC Audi TT Cup Racing, but again in the ClubSport Trophy at Oulton, as we had missed the first TTCR Weekend at Brands, since it clashed with the 750MC first round.

The first time in the TT was also a mixed bag, a comfortable Pole was followed by a 1st lap retirement from the race with a dodgy driveshaft. A pair of new shafts and a few setup changes, we were ready for R2! You can read about R1 below:

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

The TT would be running in Class B - Sport Pro, which is a maximum of 205bhp/tonne with the driver. Class A - Elite is 206bhp to 235bhp/tonne. Tyres are MSUK 1A / 1B/ 1C so I will be using the Yokohama A052 instead of the TTCR spec Nankang NS-2Rs.
Danny also decided to get in on the action, a last minute entry being approved for his MR2 in Class D. He was also going to be running A052s, and we were praying for rain!
The BRSCC uses TSL for all the timing info, so the results can be found using TSL link.

Testing

We did none again!
We arrived at the circuit just after 6pm. No garages this time so we set up the awning, unloaded the car, then headed to BEAR Cafe Bar for some food.

Qualifying

Another step into the unknown, the TT had never driven around Oulton so we needed to get the setup there quickly in Qualifying. I put in a decent 1:55.328 for my first lap, which secured P2 overall behind the E46 M3 of Matt Bolton. He was immediately into the 1:54s and I knew it was going to be almost impossible to beat that.
I found a tenth on my next lap, then pitted to check the pressures. The next few laps were a nightmare with traffic, especially through the slower speed areas where overtaking is almost impossible without compromising your lap. I finally stitched together a 1:54.944, but still almost 0.7s off Pole. It was enough to be 1st in Class B, the next car down the road 0.8s off in Class B also.
Danny had a lot of traffic, but when he finally made a flier it was the quickest he had ever gone around Oulton, a 2:00.780. His next lap was 0.015s slower, then he hit traffic again. This was enough for 2nd in Class D, but a suspicious 1.3s off the leader in an R53 Mini that had dropped from Class C in race 1.

Traffic ruined most of the session, but I think even with the track to myself I would have struggled to get a low 1:54 needed for overall Pole!

In Class B I was in front for most of the session once I had done my first proper flier.

Qualifying Lap

My fastest qualifying lap is shown below:

Race

A second front row start. This time I didn't need to dislocate my neck to see the lights! Danny was back on Row 6, but keen to make a good start with the RWD MR2.

My start vs the M3 was not too bad this time, and I was conscious of keeping Tom in the 328i behind from 3rd on the grid. This worked well and I was right on the tail of Matt into Turn 1. Danny make up loads of places at the start as expected, maybe doing a bit of grass cutting to get there.
It stayed this way for most of the start of the race, until some double waved yellows at Island Bend were missed by the E46 and he went sailing past. Eventually the Safety Car was out, and for some reason, Bolton dove into the pits, despite it being before the pit window opened. I knew he had thrown the race away at this point, so I needed to concentrate on the Scirocco behind.
We did a full lap behind the Safety Car, then it was time to get into the pits. The Scirocco and most of the grid followed! We had to do 2 minutes from Pit Entry to Pit Exit. We timed it almost perfectly to release, then the 23 TT driven by Tim and Chris decided to be pushed out in front of me, and slow me right down as we exited. He was going to be too early so pulled over. My time was probably going to be bang on but ended up nearly 4s over. Danny was the best stopper of the day.

As we came out of the pits, the Safety car was near the end of it's lap and came in, this meant the track went Green while we were coming out of Kinckerbrook. I knew that we needed to stay behind the MX5 until the Start line another few miles away, but Bolton in the BMW, then Bilimoria in the Scirocco and Coomer in the TTCR decided they did not want to wait and overtook us both.
As far as I was concerned then, they were guaranteed penalties. I carried on, managing to catch the TT first, then the Scirocco a few laps later, but being Brake limited (as I am running the TTCR Regulation 312mm Discs and Pagid RS29 Pads) I could not make a clean pass without doing something stupid. I just needed to stay behind to take the win.
Bolton in the M3 was nowhere to be seen, right until the last lap when he had spun off while negotiating some traffic. He ended up with a 30.264s penalty, 30s + the amount he stopped short by, but had nothing for the overtake under double waved yellows, or overtaking under the safety car before the start line. The Scirocco did not receive any penalty for him overtaking before the line either. I was told to go to the Stewards office with my footage if I wanted to protest, but it would not make any difference to my result, since I was 1st in class anyway, and the Trophies had already been handed out.

In the end there was less than 4s separating the top 3 cars, and realistically I should have complained, but why ruin someone's weekend for no gain?

My laptimes were all over the place with the traffic, but consistently quicker than the Scirocco. I was just slower on the straights, as to be expected with less power.

Thanks to Luke and Tom from Area Motorsport who supported the car this weekend, as well as Luke from our workshop for helping out.
Big shout to Luke Handley, who did the majority of the build on this car.
Also thanks to our main sponsor in this car, Partly, who are helping us with fitment data for some exciting changes to the website, coming this year!

Photos courtesy of BRSCC, with extra footage courtesy of PescaraProductions.

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