Optimistic Oulton Park

Only a couple weeks later I was back, at the very well known racetrack, Oulton Park...

After my successful testing at Pembrey circuit with Fortec Motorsports, I was invited to do another day of testing at Oulton Park, In Cheshire.

It was an extremely cold day, grey clouds covering the sky, not a hint of blue in sight. Unfortunately helping freezing weather was the gusty wind, blowing leaves onto the track in every direction, of course when driving, making sure to avoid them.

The track is extremely well known, mainly for it being unforgiving to any driver who makes an error. This is due to it being extremely narrow and tight, barely any run-off areas when a car goes wide, and the constant fluctuation of elevation, creating blind corners.

Like Pembrey, I wasn't given any time to drive Oulton on the simulator, so, for the first session out, my job was to learn the track. It took some time to adapt as it wasn't just me on the track, but many other cars, including four British Formula 3 cars (now knows as GB3), a Lamborghini Huracan GT3, two Radical track cars and crazily enough, a VW beetle.

After my fist couple sessions, due to the sheer coldness, I came back unable to feel my feet, this wasn't an issue as the team have a heater, which looked like an after burner. Aside from the conditions, driving on this open test day was a great experience as I would learn how to navigate through traffic, and to drive on a track with a variety of great corners, such as turn 4 which has banking like a NASCAR track.

Throughout the day, the sitting water on the track was evaporating making it ever so dryer. This allowed me to start pushing for decent lap times, even though I was still on wet tyres. After each session, I was given feedback from the technician for me to improve on different parts of the track.

Overall, the day was a blast and to have that hard learning experience on a fabulous track was great. I took a lot away from that day, and the team and I really enjoyed it.