BRSCC 2024 OULTON PARK SUMMER RACE DAY

Making our third visit of the 2024 season so far, the BRSCC is back at Oulton Park on the full International circuit on Saturday, with another fine mix of series and championship competing over the day. SuperSport Endurance Cup brings the longest race of the day for long-distance fans, while Formula Fords, Metros, Fiestas and Evolution Trophy all bring the sprint action in what’s sure to be another great day of entertainment on track.

The PBS Brakes SuperSport Endurance Cup brings the headline race of the day with two hours of multi-class club endurance racing visiting Oulton Park for the very first time. So far the grids have been impressive in every race they’ve contested and this Saturday’s entry is no different with 32 cars set to line up at the time of writing. With a spread of six classes based on power to weight ratio, pit stops, driver changes and refuelling, there’s plenty of strategy at play over the course of the race.

All six class leaders are out to defend their respective points leads, with the Mazda MX-5 Mk3 of George Grant, Rob Boston and Abbie Eaton continuing to head the overall table. George is set to run solo at the time of writing and will be hoping to top the class and retain his current advantage. Favourites to win the race outright include the BMW 1 Series of Keir McConomy and Bart Horsten, Matt Spark’s Porsche 996, and the M3s of Kevin Clarke & Aldo Riti, the trio of Tom Evans, Ben Hudson & Matthew Parkes, and Peter Moulsdale & Stephen Kent.

Tin-top action comes in the form of the Vinyl Detail Fiesta ST150 Challenge with Mike Blackburn currently looking good to take his second title in three years after winning six of the first eight races so far. This included a clean sweep of both races at Anglesey where he was comfortably the fastest driver across the weekend from start to finish and on the championship’s first visit to Oulton Park this season, a circuit that’s always a favourite with most, it’s another chance for him to carry on extending that lead.

So far in the 2024 season, the wins have been shared by Blackburn and Sam Watkins, with Sam particularly prolific in the partially reversed grid third races on triple headers. Alongside that, this year’s grid has shown to be especially competitive with no less than eleven different podium finishers to date, and Oulton Park could certainly add even more to this tally.

Fancy some single seaters added into the mix? You’ve got it – Oulton Park also marks the second visit of the season for the Super Classic Pre ‘99 Formula Ford Championship which will transport fans back to the glory days of the much loved Formula Ford category. With this championship’s previous roots set in the prior days of Northern Formula Ford, Oulton Park is always a venue that produces a great spectacle.

Tom Hawkins is proving to be somewhat unstoppable in the last few races in Super Classic A, having taken wins in the last four across Mallory Park and Donington Park previously. He will continue to hunt down class leader Richard Freye, while Christopher Stones looks set to continue as Super Classic B leader and both Paul Britten and Oliver Buckton will wish to remain in command of Super Classic C and Super Classic D respectively. Also keep an eye out for one or two cameos on the grid, including former regular Northern FF racer Jaap Blijleven of the Netherlands.

The variety of machines usually present in the dedicated BRSCC Evolution Trophy development series is always a pleasing sight to see, especially as it’s another circuit which the series is yet to have visited since it began last year. On this occasion, cars that are present this time will feature from the Ricci Concept Classic VW Cup, the Finsport Renault Cup and the BMW 1 Series SuperCup.

The Classic VW Cup features its usual great mix of Volkswagen and VAG Group cars within its line-up, featuring familiar front runners such as Nick Sanderson’s SEAT Leon Supercopa, Paul Bancroft and Paul Hoggins in their pair of Audi TTCup cars, Pinnacle Racing’s trio of Audi A3s and VW Golfs from Donald Dewar and Adam Marshall to name a few.

The Renault Cup will see David Mycock and Robert Buckland in their Clios joined by the Clio Cup Car of Richard Clarke making a welcome return, while you’ll be seeing double with two BMW 1 Series SuperCup cars on track together this weekend too. Stefan Oates returns in his, joined by Chris Coomer who first sampled the at Croft last season.

It’s also looking very interesting in the current early battle in the Hickford Construction MG Metro Cup, as current leader Robbie Kenning had to settle for second best in both races at Donington Park. Those races went to Jack Ashton as his cameo appearance netted him a pair of wins, while Kenning failed to finish race two but still managed a second place to take away.

Now going to Oulton Park, he has both Jon Moore and Dick Trevett snapping at his heels, with Jon yet to have won a race so far but consistently kept on finishing on the podium or in the top five, while Dick took a victory all the way back at Brands Hatch. Also watch for 2023 title contender Mike Williams, who is also a race winner this year from Snetterton and will certainly be hoping to score another.

Written by Scott Woodwiss