The first round of the season and a nervous FW Racing team traveled to Oulton Park following over a year away from the racetrack. The previous year had been spent rebuilding the car and as a result the Sierra now featured a completely rebuilt engine, fully re-wired electrics and a brand new brake system. The nerves were predominantly because none of us knew how the new systems would perform or affect the setup of the car. The only bonus was that the race was at my favourite UK circuit and the same place that I had last finished a race in the car.
Sensibly, we booked on the test day the Friday before the Saturday race meeting, which would allow us to shake the car down and remind the driver where the track goes. We traveled on the Thursday evening and despite sitting stationary on the M6 for 2 hours it was a great feeling to have Stuart, Simon and myself together sharing banter and focusing on the days ahead.
Friday morning turned out to be a chiller and it didn’t take long to be convinced (a threat of tools down from the lads) to pay the money for the use of a garage for the day (we later were told we could stay in there for the Saturday which was a real bonus). The morning sessions were used to bed the brakes and get used to the new engine performance. Revisions to the engine mapping had changed the character of the engine and this would require some changes in driving style to get the best from the car.
The afternoon sessions were used for suspension setup and unfortunately there was a little bit more than some fine tuning required to get the car ready. Following the 3rd ride height change the boys were starting to lose their sense of humour, so I decided that it would be a good idea to concentrate on improving my driving rather than the car. Throughout the afternoon sessions there were 2 issues which started to get progressively worse. Firstly, there was brake judder starting to develop from the new brakes. Secondly, the car would not track in a straight line. There was little we could do about the brake system, therefore Stuart and I proceeded to tackle the tracking. After 3 hours and what felt like 50 runs up and down a pitch black pit lane, we finished at nine o’clock and rushed to the pub to grab some dinner before the kitchen closed. It was a very long day!
A wet start to race day and without any prior testing in wet conditions, we really didn’t know what to expect. The plan for qualifying was to build up gradually and hope that our 18 month old tyres would work in the wet conditions. Everything was going fine and then I was woken up by Roger Stanford who blew past me as if I was stood still! Clearly I was going to have to pick up the pace considerably if I was to keep him in sight. For the next 5 laps, that is exactly what I tried to do, but we were still 1 second behind Roger’s best time and a few tenths behind Len Simpson in his front wheel drive VW Vento, which was clearly suited to the conditions.
Qualifying position 3rd - 1:54:366
In the afternoon the weather had cleared up and by the time of the race the track was nearly completely dry. I was confident that the Sierra would have some pace over the Vento in the dry, but no idea if we could get near Roger in the M3. Then just before we left the assembly area Roger came over to tell us that he would not be starting the race. He had developed an engine issue on the last lap of qualifying and following further inspection it turned out to be a dropped engine valve. Now the pressure was really on!
A traditional Jamieson start meant that I had to slip in behind Len through the first corner, but in front of us, David Howard in his Jaguar had burst through the middle of the field and was now leading the race. Down into Cascades for the first time and I could see two E36 M3’s breathing down my neck and I knew had to make sure I covered my lines, otherwise I was going to fall back rapidly into the chasing pack. First time through Druids and I took a large chunk out of the gap to Len and was right on his rear bumper for the remainder of the lap.
On the next run through Cascades I was much quicker than Len and managed to get alongside him on the run to the hairpin, but I was on the outside so I had to tuck back in behind him. I continued to apply pressure through the next few corners and I managed to get a much better exit out of Knickerbrook and by the time we reached Clay Hill I was right on Len’s bumper. As we came to Druids Len moved to the left to get the best run through the corner but this gave me enough room to slip up the inside under braking.
Up to 2nd position and I could see David Howard ahead. I put my head down and over the next few laps managed to reel him in. Once I caught up with him I could see that he was starting to struggle as the big Jaguar was working its tyres very hard. The Sierra felt good apart from brake judder and some power on oversteer out of the slower corners.
I managed to pass David with exactly the same move I had used on Len into Druids. He moved left before the right hander and I slipped by up the inside under braking. For a few laps David tried very hard to stay with me, but I set a new lap record for Pre-93 whilst keeping him at bay. Eventually he made a mistake and he out-braked himself into Lodge Corner, going straight on into the gravel trap. With the pressure off, I was able to enjoy the last few laps and wind the pace right back, before taking the chequered flag and first race win in the Sierra.
What a weekend! We may not have finished with the win if Roger had been able to start the race, but that certainly did not take the shine off the weekend. It was a tremendous effort from the team and Karen, Simon and Stuart were as important to making it happen as I was behind the wheel. Needless to say, we did some celebrating that night!
Race Result – 1st with new Pre-93 lap record for Oulton Park - 1:39:869
by Craig Jamieson
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