29th June 2001 - Oulton Park

Drove up from London the evening before and stayed with some friends who lived on the outskirts of Chester. Much more civilised than camping or sleeping in the back of the van. As I hadn't seen them for almost a year I was expecting some late nights catching up rather than getting the sleep I needed to survive the weekend.

Never having been to Oulton Park before I thought attending the practice day would be useful so that I at least had a vague idea of where the circuit goes. At first glance this looked like being one of the scariest places to race due to the number of hills and blind corners topped off with a very bumpy surface.

The first session was spent just working out where the track went. Having studied the layout I thought I had a vague idea but nothing prepared me for the number of blind corners or the sheer changes in height of the different parts of the track. The thirty five minute sessions were rather long but towards the end I started putting in lap times in the region of 2:10s which were on a par with some of the other Rookies who were there for the first time.

I was planning on putting on a new rear tyre at lunch time as I expected the one that I had to be on it's last legs come race day. As it was I had completely destroyed it by the time the second sessions ended. I was beginning to work out where the track went and started getting used to how fast some bits of the track were. Despite being really cautious in to corners such as Old Hall and Cascades I was gradually getting faster through them as the session progressed. The place where I was having problems was at Lodge corner which is very fast but turns back on itself slightly after a blind crest. If you run wide or turn in too early you'll find yourself on the grass. Got my times down to 2:00s which was a good improvement.

I had the new tyre put on during the lunch break which took a while due to the very long queue of people who had the same idea. I didn't even get a chance to put the tyre warmers on before the third session was called. I started off fairly gingerly as I've no idea how long these things take to scrub in. About half way through the session Mandy Wheeler came by so I took the opportunity to gradually pick up the pace to stay with her. By the end of the thirty five minutes I was confident the tyre was up to speed so went past and tried to put in a fast lap or two. I was rewarded with a low 1:58 which I was well pleased with.

Just before the final session of the day a couple of the Team Mojo guys pointed out that my rear wheel wasn't straight. Sure enough when I checked the wheel alignment marking one side was a good 4mm out on the other. I quickly lined things up, well, as best you can when relying on the markers on the swing arm rather than those nice laser alignment gadgets the SuperSport boys use. I managed a couple of laps and noticed that it did indeed feel rather different although whether it was a change for the better I couldn't tell as it soon started raining. I decided to call it a day and get ready for the next day.

A quick check of the oil level showed it needed topping up. As usual I overdid things and then had to pump some out which rather wasted half the evening. Never mind, a quick run through scrutineering saved me getting up too early on race day. A warm shower, a guided tour of Chester and a really good meal rounded off a pretty good day.