The Vintage Festival held at Oulton Park was a great opportunity for classic cars aging from Edwardian era machinery to inter-war period racing cars to regain their youthfulness.
On 21 May, the Westbourne Motorsport awning was transformed into the scenes from yesteryear with a collection of Austin A35s, a Mini Cooper S and {enter Duncan’s other car}. The drivers were not short of competition at this event with previous BTCC champion Andrew Jordan on the track for the first time this year.
Despite the competition, James Colburn successfully achieved pole position in qualifying after battling with Andrew Jordan in the HRDC Austin A35 Academy series separated by just only 0.2 seconds. James Dorlin continued to fight for top three positions but just missed it, qualifying in P4.
Further back on the grid, there was plenty of activity between Ben Colburn and our guest driver for the weekend, Duncan Pittaway. Both drivers were determined to complete qualifying in the top ten which brought a lot of action to the track! At the end of qualifying, Duncan Pittaway qualified in P9 and Ben Colburn just behind in P11.
As well as our Austin A35 cars competing, Richard Dorlin drove his Mini Cooper S in the qualifying session. This was the first time that Mini Cooper had entered a race before which meant that the car’s potential was still unknown. However, Richard Dorlin pushed the car to the limit during the qualifying session and successfully managed to finish in P4
There was a long wait until the race which gave the drivers time to revise the footage from qualifying in order to make improvements before taking to the grid, meanwhile the mechanics worked hard during the break to make small adjustments to the cars but also assisting with other race teams when needed; creating a friendly atmosphere in the paddock.
Family and friends gathered in support for the drivers in the awning which just added to the positivity in the paddock.
The cars entered the grid, the lights went out and the racing begun!
Both James Colburn and James Dorlin made good starts sandwiching Andy Jordan for the first lap.
Meanwhile, on the first lap, a car in front of Ben Colburn overturned and went off the track suddenly, bringing out the safety car. The overturned car looked likely to take Ben off the track too but he successfully regained control of the situation which allowed him to continue the race. The safety car lights went out and the racing continued but a slow starting but faster Austin A40 somewhat spoilt the party when he spun in front of James Dorlin who had to take avoiding action and dropped away from the lead battle.
The race was throwing every challenge at our drivers and sadly, Richard Dorlin was forced to retire from the race as the Mini Cooper S had overheating problems.
James Colburn led every lap of the race until the penultimate lap when the same A40, regaining ground after the earlier spin, passed both Colburn and Jordan in a very late effort into the first corner forcing Colburn off the track, enabling Jordan to get the run out of Cascades bend. Some side to side action, ensued but the race finished prematurely when the unfortunate John Cleland rolled his Austin at Shell bend. After a lot of action, the checked flag was raised with James Colburn in P2, James Dorlin in P3, Ben Colburn in P9 and Duncan Pittaway in P11. A fantastic result for all our drivers!
During the award ceremony, Richard Dorlin achieved a consolation prize for his efforts in the race. As you can see in the pictures below, James Colburn and James Dorlin were given trophies for their podium positions.
James Colburn also achieved the fastest lap time setting a new lap record with a time of 2:18.01.
We are looking forward to our next HRDC race meeting is 11 June at Snetterton Race Circuit.
James Colburn receives his award
James Dorlin receives his third place trophy