From a circuit where cars come round within a minute to one where the lap time is double that was the change of scene for round 12 of this year's championship. This took us from Kent to the less crowded surroundings of Cheshire. For the specatator, Oulton Park has distinct contrasts. You can get close to the cars at a corner like Lodge or you have the wider view from the bank at Cascades which also allows you look across at the drop from hilltop down to Knickbrook and then up Clay Hill towards the invisible Druids. The International circuit that we were using is 2.692 miles long with an average speed for our fastest cars of around 85 mph. In qualifying for last September's meeting, Tim Lewis had taken pole with a lap in 1'49.099".

The Championship situation after Brands Hatch had left Chris Healey with a 13 point advantage over Andy Inman who, in his turn, led Mel Healey by just a single point. However, both Chris and Mel needed to score in each of the remaining races while Andy still had a useful dropped score to throw away which could be worth a handy 12 points at the end of the day. Oulton produced our best entry of the year with a couple of notable additions. Autosport's Ben Anderson had been entered in Graham Heels' Class E 147, the first time we have seen his car this year and we were grateful for all the support from Alfashop, MMC, the BRSCC, Tyres Southshore, Bianco Auto Developments NJS Racing and Autolusso in getting it there, not to mention Graham's own generosity in making the car available to promote the championship. The other highlight was the first appearance of Louise West's superb looking yellow and black Class A2 33 16v with an engine put together by Peter and Louise with Charlotte Smith in her race engineer role as usual. Louise was going to be using this a test session, the car never having turned a wheel.

It was good to see Andy Page making a reappearance in his now almost venerable Giulietta Turbo, the car looking as though it had received some attention to the paintwork since we saw it at Combe earlier in the year. He was to be joined in A1 by Neil Smith, looking for his straight seventh win with his WTCC 156, and refugees from B, Peter Sloan in Ian Fisher's 156 2.5, Robin Eyre-Maunsell's 75 3 litre and Sam Laird's 75 3 litre that won at Oulton in May. Having missed Brands, Steve Dymoke was back with his 156 and was joined by Chris Snowdon in the Lahoma 33 in A2 while John Griffiths was the only runner in B this time with his familiar white 156. Graham Seager had returned in C to challenge Chris Healey, their GTVs joining Sarah Heels 147 GTA and Andy Robinson's 155. Matt Abell was the only Class D entry, confident that the 33's misfire had now been sorted.

Ben Anderson was looking at some strong competition in Class E, notably from regular winner Paul Plant who was back in the black 156 that had been driven by Chris Finch at Brands. Other 156s were in their hands of class regulars, Andy Inman, Mel Healey and Ray Foley while Andrew Bramah was out again his 147, the engine now rebuilt, and Martin Jones had the only 145 in the entry. Ben and Martin plus Sarah Heels had tested the day before, the 147 2 litre being diagnosed with a clutch that was at the end of its useful life  and which was changed by Harry White on the Friday evening before dark descended.

It was unfortunate that timetable pressures, following an unexpectedly large Formula Ford entry that required two races, meant that we had been requested to qualify with the Ford XR Championship. This was going to mean 41 cars on the track although the intention was that the Fords would start some 15 seconds behind the Alfas. In the end, some of them were slow filtering out of the assembly area and the quicker Alfas were some in amongst them.

Inevitably, it was going to be a question of either put in a quick lap early or be lucky in finding some space. For most people it was well into the session before their best times began to emerge. Neil Smith was being extremely careful given the potential speed differentials but still set some consistently quick laps mid session to grab pole with 1'53.107" although well off Tim Lewis's 2009 time. However, Neil was convinced that he could get into the 1'50s. There was confusion on the first lap when Peter Sloan put his car off the road, happily without damage, at Druids and there was confusion as Sam Laird and Andy Page slowed under yellows. Behind them a group of Fords slowed even more and Chris Snowdon found himself having a really scary moment as, not having seen the flags as he came up the hill, tried to slow, went off the track backwards and kissed the barrier, ending up facing the wrong way. Fortunately, damage was minimal and he was able to recover to the pits and then continue. By the end of the session, Andy Page, Chris Snowdon and Steve Dymoke had set the next best times to Neil, all under 2 minutes. They might have been joined by Sam Laird but he had a misunderstanding with a Ford on his sixth lap and unfortunately landed in the wall with enough damage to the 75 to leave him as an embarrassed non starter.

6th overall was John Griffiths, his Class B 156 just a second clear of the quickest Class C car which turned out to be Graham Seager's GTV, almost a second in front of Chris Healey on this occasion . Graham had set his time early on but Chris didn't manage to settle down until nearer the end of the 20 minute session. Sarah Heels was third in C, wishing she could have been closer to the GTVs and also having Paul Plant's Class E 156 alongside her. Robin Eyre-Maunsell was less happy this time with his 75 and was almost matched by the ever improving Andy Robinson.

Paul Plant's best lap time in E was a 2'06.337", 1.9" quicker than Ben Anderson who was  getting used to the 147 and was very happy to end quicker than class regulars Andy Inman and Mel Healey who remained closely matched as ever, as were Ray Foley and Martin Jones although Ray was disappointed not to be up with his usual rivals, his 156 seemingly not quite at its best. Andrew Bramah was running-in his engine while Louise West was all at sea with her 33. This was her first time on slicks and with what appeared to be a somewhat vicious limited slip she pronounced the car as "undrivable" as she set the slowest time in the session. Not having been able to set a timed lap, Peter Sloan was able to qualify with a lap before lunch and would start at the back of the grid.

In addition to Sam Laird, we also lost Matt Abell and Ray Foley after qualifying due to engine problems. Front disc changes seemed to be necessary on the Class C GTVs while Chris Snowdon was seen busily rebuilding the 33's front spoiler and taping up the torn rear bodywork. It was a relief to arrive in an assembly area that was minus Fords and they probably felt the same about us!

Oulton has a different arrangement to many circuits, in that the lap from the assembly area exit situated at the end of the pit road to the grid is also the green flag lap. Therefore it is all attention for the 5 second board and the lights when cars arrive for the start. Someone always gets lightly caught out, and this time it was Steve Dymoke (yellow flags began to wave) and Graham Seager who admits he "just didn't see the lights". The fraction of a second was enough to let Chris Healey assume the Class C lead while Sarah Heels was delayed in front of Ben Anderson who immediately dropped two places behind Andy Inman and Mel Healey. Meanwhile up at the front, Neil Smith had quickly assumed his usual position at the head of the field with Andy Page and Chris Snowdon closely matched behind and then a 3 second gap to Steve Dymoke at the end of lap 1.

John Griffiths and Chris Healey were closely matched but already 7 seconds behind and were being chased by Robin Eyre-Maunsell who had jumped ahead of the delayed Graham Seager while Paul Plant had made his usual flying start and was on the tail of the GTV although he knew he would quickly lose out to the 3 litre cars extra power. Andy Robinson had also got away well and was holding 3rd in C in front of Sarah Heels. Louise West had quickly come up from the back and was lying between Andy Inman and Mel Healey with Ben Anderson a frustrated 4th in E, 1.6" behind Mel. However, it looked as though Class E times were about all Louise could manage and this was going to have a major effect on the race as it developed.

Although Neil Smith went ahead on his own mission to break the Alfa lap record, there was an excellent battle behind Andy Page and Chris Snowdon in two cars that have very long championship histories but still give of their best. On laps 3 and 4 Chris got very close to the back of the Giulietta before dropping back fractionally on lap 5, anticipating another effort before the end of what should have been an 8 or 9 lap race. By the end of lap 3 John Griffiths had pulled away slightly from Chris Healey who had a 5 second advantage over class rival Graham Seager, with Robin Eyre-Maunsell in between them. Paul Plant was having a lonely race leading Class E while Andy Robinson, Sarah Heels and Louise West passed the pits all together with Andy Inman and Mel Healey close behind. Ben Anderson had moved to within a second of Mel and looked as if he would mount a challenge on the two Class E cars ahead.

Lap 4 at Knickerbrook was crucial to the race as Louise West's torque steer caught her out and the slightest of contacts with Andy Inman sent her sideways and then hard into the barrier. Mel Healey had been almost alongside Andy but didn't get involved was able to take advantage while Ben Anderson had avoided the mayhem and closed on the now 3rd in E Avon 156 as they surged towards Druids.

Untroubled by all this, Neil Smith finished lap 4, 20 seconds in front of Andy Page and Chris Snowdon, and it looked as they went down to Cascades as though Chris was preparing to mount an attack. Steve Dymoke was still 4th, a further 6" down. Chris Healey had closed on John Griffiths as he realised that Graham Seager was now running quicker and fancied another class win. On their own were Robin Eyre-Maunsell and Paul Plant with the next group headed by Andy Robinson.

Everyone knew where Louise West's car was under yellow flags and the race continued apace with particular attention on the efforts of Ben Anderson to wrest away at least a podium place from Andy Inman and/or Mel. Then it all changed as a safety car appeared, somewhat unexpectedly by that stage, from the pit road to pick up Neil Smith as he started his 7th lap. Everyone slowed accordingly around the track although Andy Robinson appeared not to see the "SC" boards and was reprimanded later by the Clerk of the Course. For those who were not lapped, the gap from front to back gradually decreased and everyone imagined that we would at least get a final "sprint" lap to settle the results. Especially hopeful was Ben Anderson who now felt he had a great opportunity. But it was not to be. The race disappointingly ran out for the first safety car finish that we can recall. Neil Smith had been hoping for a run at the overall race lap record before the finish but he was to be denied, his best of 1'50.589" just falling short of the 1'50.107" set by Tim Lewis last September as he fought off Adie Hawkins.

The top four remained Neil Smith, Andy Page, Chris Snowdon and Steve Dymoke (1st and 2nd in Class A2) with John Griffiths, the only Class B car,  5th overall leading home the Class C battle of Chris Healey and Graham Seager. However, Graham did take the race fastest lap (as well as class pole) from Chris, 2 points which could be crucial by the end of the season. Paul Plant was untroubled in Class E while Sarah Heels led home Mel Healey, Andy Inman and Ben Anderson after Andy Robinson had dropped back but would finish in front of Martin Jones, Andrew Bramah and Peter Sloan whose 156 2.5 just wouldn't run cleanly all race. Robin Eyre-Maunsell pulled into the pits at the very end and was not classified.

There was a feeling of anti-climax as everyone came back to the paddock and later we shared Louise West's sadness at the damage sustained by her 33 which had started the day being admired by so many people. Let's hope that she can resurrect the project before too long.

The trophies were presented by Linda Robinson and the MMC Motorsport Insurance Trophy was awarded to Andy Page. Andy had a double success after the original winner of the free entry, Steve Dymoke who already had one to use up, put his entry win back in to be drawn again.

Chris Healey came away from Oulton with his championship lead now 16 points from Mel who had reversed her one point disadvantage to a one point lead over Andy Inman after dropped scores had been deducted. Sarah Heels and John Griffiths shared 4th place from the fast closing Neil Smith.

Our thanks to the BRSCC North West section for an efficiently run meeting in nice end of summer conditions and we now move on to Silverstone for our visit to the Bridge GP circuit as part of the Britcar 24 Hours weekend on October 1st / 2nd.