What a super day at Oulton.

Better weather on top of a great night out on Friday organised by Trish and Brian (probably Trish I suspect!).

Delighted to see all the Clubmans cars gathered in one area and even more delighted to see four very competitive races culminating in John Harrison eclipsing Mark Charteris' earlier lap record by a further four hundredths. Alex Champkin dominated the two Cup races and is looking more more like the new Barry Webb of the formula.

Clerk of the Course and Chief Marshall sent their congratulations to all our drivers for their courtesy and skilled driving.

Hear hear Harty!

In addition to everything you mention the excellent Clubmans catering corps are another high point of an already good season.

...indeed Sven, I'll be putting on weight if I'm not careful....

"skilled driving" - guess they couldn't see me at the hairpin then!

Still, I'm pleased to be able to announce that, following extensive exploration and contrary to popular belief, there be no dragons just past Island bend; so it should be OK for BARC to let us race on the International circuit in future.

'roof

..but I do believe you may not have got far enough to find the dragons 'roof!... I seem to recall somebody found them, in the gravel at the hairpin, clutching the remains of sundry motorcycles...

I must say there was plenty of skill shown by a number of racers who managed to miss a Phantom spinning like a top in the first Classic race! I watched John Harrison's on-board footage before race 2 and wished I hadn't!
Despite a good few mechanical failures for us as a group, I thought it was a thoroughly enjoyable meeting, and having been so rubbish on track, I could console myself in a calorific orgy of comfort food under the marquee. Thanks to all those who helped to lay on such a great spread. It was superb.

It was Nigel Corrie and me who tangled at the hairpin two years ago or was it three (or four) and found the motorcycle parts and the dragon. Were you not racing that day Ian?

I submit not just congratulations to Alex Champkin but thanks also.

"Congrats" are in order of course. I spent much of Saturday behind the pit wall because of my gearbox grinding up its front bearing. Alex's turn-in to Old Hall was, every lap, a top-five all time Clubmans memory for me. At an impossibly-late moment Alex turned smartly and braked at the same instant, just a tadge. His and the car's change of direction was explosive. Great credit both to his driving and his car prep and set-up.

"Thanks" because Alex does more to promote Clubmans by his excellence than most other forms of promotion. The article in Autosport this week is an absolute cracker (thanks Paul Lawrence, long-time Clubmans supporter). Did you see it? Read it again as if you were someone looking to come in to motor racing... "latest Clubmans star", "next in a long line of talented engineers and drivers", "self-developed Vision" etc. This sounds like a formula I'm keen to join.

I have scanned the article and put it online in case you want to see a copy:

http://marcusbicknell.co.uk/press/alex_champkin_autosport_19july2012.pdf

Good job Alex. Proud of you.

Marcus

Thanks for the info Marcus!