Flashback to Oulton in 2025
- 15 hours ago
- 14 min read
As we approach Tuesday's entry deadline, for our 'Cheshire Cats' Oulton Park race meeting (https://www.classicsportscarclub.co.uk/oultonpark), let's look back for a moment, to 18th October last year. This meeting finished what had been a hectic season, as such we have never before shown you this meeting report.
18th October 2025: Cheshire Challenge
It might have been a touch chilly but thankfully the rain held off, allowing for a packed schedule to be completed without any significant loss of track time.
For FULL RESULTS, including pit stop times (where relevant) CLICK HERE
David Stallard captured everything, and we mean every car in every session. David has put in the effort to divide his photos per category, saving you time to view and buy the photos you want to see.
To view his galleries, follow the link HERE
Reporter, Mark Paulson was there and captured this summary for us.
It was fitting that the final race of the year delivered a dramatic conclusion, featuring a last-lap lead change and a winning margin of less than a second. Before that, spectators were treated to plenty of exciting action, with the Gold Arts Magnificent Sevens and Verum Builders Open Series starting off the day’s racing.
A healthy entry of 23 Sevens was, as-ever, Caterham dominated although there were three cars not built in Dartford. Simon Gleadall joined Abi Whitt in the Great British Sportscars fold with a second GBS Zero, while fellow newcomer Matt Simpson was at the wheel of an MK Indy R1.
Hybrid Tune’s Steve James set the benchmark in qualifying with his Caterham S3, the mapping specialist more than a second clear of the field as he lapped the 2.69-mile International circuit at nearly 94mph. Tim Davis was next quickest in his Caterham C400, while Steve Nuttall’s Caterham UK Championship-spec 420R separated Davis from Colin Watson’s similar C400.
The Caterham 7s of Jonny Pittard (supercharged CSR) and Andrew Grant completed the top six, while Richard Carter headed the cars on treaded tyres with his Caterham R300. The thin Open Series field was topped by Intersport BMW M3 pairing John Cockerton (E46) and Tommy Grout (E36).
James set a searing pace in the opening 20-minute race and was never seriously challenged enroute to a commanding three-second victory in the S3 he cheekily calls “only a trackday car.” His lead had been nearly twice that, before a brief moment negotiating backmarkers and a minor hold-up behind a slower car in a yellow-flag zone.
Watson quickly cleared BOSS team-mate Davis – still running his spare engine – on his way to an equally comfortable second, with Davis completing the top three. Nuttall drew on his multiple championship-winning pedigree to pip Pittard’s more powerful machine to fourth in a photo finish, 0.025s the official margin. He was more than a minute up the road from nearest class rival Josh Gollin, ninth overall.
Between them were Grant, Carter – who was half a lap clear of the next car on treaded rubber, Robert Forsdike’s class-winning CSR – and Martin Leadbeater, another class winner.
Starting from the secondary grid, the Open-class cars of Cockerton and Grout wasted no time threading through the swarm of nimble Sevens ahead. Cockerton soon pulled clear of his stablemate, powering to class victory and climbing to 11th overall by the flag. Grout looked secure in second until a burst of gearbox oil brought a smoky end to his charge on the final lap.
Steven Routledge (Ford Fiesta ST150) and Oliver Graham (Ginetta G20) thus filled the rest of the Open top three as the only other finishers. Routledge took the verdict by a nominal 0.56s, but only after Graham picked up 15s of penalties for track-limits offences.
James’s relegation to 11th on the grid for the afternoon rematch, by dint of his earlier victory, set up a thrilling contest for victory. He had already risen to sixth when a safety car was called on the second lap to recover Gary Hewson’s Open Series Ginetta.
The train was led by Watson, but only after he had retaken the lead from Pittard – who had slung himself around the outside into an early advantage – with a nice move at Lodge at the end of the opening lap.
James gained another place when Davis retired, a broken A frame in his rear suspension causing a rather wobbly ride. He quickly picked off Grant and Nuttall too. Pittard was despatched next time around, with James then firing in the race’s two fastest laps to reel in Watson.
The East Anglian grabbed the lead from Watson at Old Hall but the BOSS boss immediately hit back out of Cascades to move back in front and clinch the honours, with Routledge’s Fiesta stranded at Lodge bringing about an early halt.
Pittard dropped time in traffic in the closing stages and lost out to Nuttall again, ahead of Grant in fifth. Carter again dominated the treaded-tyre runners to finish sixth overall.
Behind slick-shod Leadbeater, Mark Lanyon and Nat Gollin, Forsdike was second home on treaded tyres. A fantastic four-way battle for third in the group went to Steven Lancaster from Nathan Bell’s similar 310R, Richard Green (410R) and Whitt, the quartet separated by less than half a second.
With both Intersport BMWs withdrawn, the Open section became even slimmer and was won by Luke Plummer’s Ginetta from the similar cars of Graham and Hewson.
Post lunch racing began with the Fox Transport Turbo Tin Tops and WOSP New Millennium series. Fastest by a full 3.2s in qualifying was Mark Smith’s BMW M3 E36 Evo ahead of the E46 M3s of John Cockerton and Matthew Sanders.
Now largely Chicago-domiciled Aussie Dave Griffin returned in his E36 to top Class NM2, fourth quickest overall, ahead of Tommy Grout.
Doubling up from the Open Series bout immediately before lunch, sadly neither Cockerton nor Grout would start the race. While Grout’s gearbox oil leak would have side-lined him anyway, disappointed Intersport team-mate Cockerton was unaware that the afternoon session was running ahead of timetable.
Joining them as non-starters was the Ginetta G55 of Neil and Owen Armstrong, which snapped a driveshaft early in qualifying.
Among the Turbo Tin Tops runners, the VW Scirocco R of John Hammersley and Nigel Tongue was quickest in qualifying by nearly 4s from Carl Chambers (Peugeot 208 GTi). The Ford Fiesta ST180s of Lisa Selby/Toby Harris and Simon Smaile were third and fourth. Two of the Marson family’s little Abarths were next, Richard ahead of David, as March Silverstone winner Andrew’s running was restricted by a mapping problem.
The Turbo Tin Tops started on the lights, with the New Millennium field on a secondary, delayed, start and so it was polesitter Tongue who streaked into an early lead. With a 60s success penalty to serve when the car was handed over to father-in-law Hammersley, Tongue knew he had to put the hammer down. His lead was approaching 20s when he pitted but all was not well. Tongue had already lost fourth gear and, with the trouble worsening, the Fives Garage team called it a day.
Andrew Marson, meanwhile, was flying. He climbed from seventh to second on the opening tour and was in prime position to benefit from the Scirocco’s woes – despite his own 30s success penalty. Chambers was similarly handicapped, and so Marson’s pace meant that his biggest threat came from within the family camp.
After the pitstops were complete, Andrew Marson led Turbo Tin Tops by more than 12s from David Marson’s sister car, with Class D leader Harris a similar margin further back and Donington winner Chambers fourth. They maintained that order to the flag, with Richard Marson making it three Abarths in the top five. Smaile recovered from a couple of spins to complete the top six.
They had all been passed by the leading New Millennium cars, where Smith set a blistering pace en route to victory by more than 40s. Griffin kept up the pressure on Sanders and was lying just a couple of seconds back after their stops. But in his haste not to lose ground in traffic, Griffin committed to a move on a backmarker into the Hislops chicane, only to find himself running out room. A quick change of trajectory avoided a collision but launched the Diet Coke Beemer over the big concrete kerbs. Coming back to earth with a bump, Griffin was left with splitter and rear bumper damage and – crucially – a split radiator. He toured in to retire, leaving Sanders untroubled in second.
Patrick Cresswell anchored the ex-Jamie Sturges VW Golf GTI TCR started by dad Nick to a class-winning third. Danny Cassar did likewise in Nigel Ainge’s Honda Integra, impressing in the two-litre Tin Tops-spec example rather than their currently side-lined more potent 2.5-litre version.
First of the races for older machinery was the Midland Classic Restorations Classic K and Hawthorn Jaguar Challenge.
The 19-car field was headed throughout by Donington Park and Brands Hatch winner Will Linley in his Lotus Elan – despite coming to grief late on. Linley was fastest in qualifying from the Mark Campell/Ben Ferguson Triumph TR4. Andrew Tate (MGB) and Chris Blewett (Ginetta G12) were next of the Classic K cars but they were outpaced by the leading Hawthorn entry. MG expert Tom Smith was joined in the West Riding Racing Legends Jaguar Mk1 by British Touring Car Championship star James Dorlin to go third quickest overall, while the similar car of Toby Smith split Tate and Blewett on the grid.
Linley was 1.95s quicker than the TR4 in qualifying and, set to serve an extra 20s in his pitstop, his target was to repeat that sort of advantage in the race. That’s exactly what he did, opening a lead of 16s in nine laps before Campbell brought the TR4 in. Linley was one of the last to stop and, when he returned, he still had around a dozen seconds in hand over the second-placed Triumph, now with Ferguson at the wheel.
So far, all was going to plan. Linley’s big scare, however, came on the penultimate lap. Approaching Graeme Brown’s similar Elan to put a lap on it, Linley was caught out by Brown’s speed through the fast double-apex right-hander at Druids. The North Yorkshireman had to check up mid corner and that sent his Elan into a wild spin. After completing a 720-degree double pirouette while avoiding the scenery and any other cars, Linley gathered it all together and reeled off the remaining couple of miles for his third win of the season.
Campbell and Ferguson were a class-winning second, while Brown held off a fast-closing Blewett for third in Classic K. Sebastian Perez’s MGB took Class M, fifth in Classic K, after Tate hit trouble and retired.
It proved to be a very attritional race for the Jaguars. First to suffer was Nigel Webb’s Mk1, which had hit trouble in qualifying when it broke a half-shaft. With differential replaced, Webb took his place on the grid, but was suffering a heavy vibration and called in early. A damaged propshaft or an issue with the replacement diff was the suspected cause.
Bruce and Darren McWhirter’s brakeless Mk2 also had to park up, while Patrick Doyle’s Mk1 faded before expiring in the closing stages.
But the two quickest of the big 1950s saloons also ran most reliably – at least until the closing stages. Tom Smith led the first two laps, with Toby Smith on his tail before the former suffered a momentary cut-out after clobbering a kerb, and Toby nipped past.
The 40-minute race took its toll on the leading cars too though. With his brakes providing increasingly limited stopping power, Toby Smith was having to slow the car down with its engine and gearbox. In turn, the ‘box felt the strain. He lost fourth gear completely and eventually had to nurse the car home, second in the Hawthorn Challenge.
When Dorlin took over from Tom Smith, he soon discovered he was also lacking brakes, taking to the escape road at Hislops. But that was his only real mishap, bringing the car home safely – albeit in an entertaining sideways style – to win the category and third overall in the race. It hadn’t been easy, but the grins on both drivers’ faces told their own story.
Third in the Hawthorn Challenge section was Guy Connew’s Mk2. The 2023 Jaguar champion didn’t have a drama-free race, with a malfunctioning rev-counter, a spin at Cascades and a 30s penalty for stopping outside the pit window among the hurdles he faced.
A 30-car combined field of SuperPro Modern Classics and Advantage Motorsport Future Classics included a first appearance for the V12-powered Jaguar XJS of Tom Butterfield, newly imported from Germany, that had previously been raced in this country by Warren Dunbar. Running in largely Group 1 specification on 15-inch wheels made it eligible for the earlier Future Classics set, which comprised marginally more than half the entry.
Cadwell Park Future Classics winners Russell and Elliot Paterson enjoyed a sizeable 3s advantage in qualifying over Modern Classics top dog Dave Griffin. The Ginetta G20s of Nick Hamilton and Luke Plummer were next quickest Modern Classics entries, albeit separated by Tom Butler’s Futures BMW 325i E30, ahead of Luca Masarati going solo in the family Porsche Boxster.
Sadly, Griffin wouldn’t get the opportunity to add to his Donington and Silverstone successes after damaging his BMW M3 E36 Evo in the New Millennium race. He was joined on the sidelines by Multimatic Motorsport boss George Howard-Chappell and his Lotus Esprit. Masarati was also an early casualty after the Boxster’s driveshaft failed on the second lap.
Without Griffin in pursuit, Paterson Sr quickly opened a gap at the head of the field, while Hamilton held off Butler. Treating the event as a test session didn’t stop Butterfield enjoying a lively opening few laps in the XJS. Quickly making progress from his mid-grid start, he began hounding Michael Atkinson’s XK8 for fifth overall with Ieuan Spooner’s six-pot XJS also joining in. After a few lockups and taking to the escape road at Hislops, Butterfield parked up with clutch failure before Ben Walker could have a go in the 5.3-litre machine.
A gravelly moment for novice racer James Ford’s smart Mazda RX-7 caused a Code 60 period and unfortunately that precipitated a mid-race safety car when cars checking up on Clay Hill led to David Hinde’s Triumph TR6 smiting the barriers.
Most took the opportunity to pit, with Hamilton assuming the lead thanks to the Patersons’ 20s longer stop for their Cadwell success. When racing resumed with less than eight minutes remaining, the leading trio of Hamilton, Butler and Eliot Paterson were all together on the road. Paterson Jr wasted little time in powering ahead and set the fastest lap as he pulled away to an 11.9s victory for the Revolutions Morgan, this time not just in Future Classics but overall too.
Though racing in separate categories, Butler still gave it everything to pass Hamilton but could not find a way by, the pair separated by little more than a third of a second at the flag. First in Modern Classics at least brought Hamilton closer to brother Roger’s tally of two wins this year.
On his first outing since putting a rod through the block at Silverstone in June, Spooner had a strong run to overhaul Tim Speed (in the Porsche 911 started by Paul Winter) and claim a class-winning fourth overall, while Chris Boon (XK8) also kept the Dorset Sports Cars Porsche in sight.
Behind Plummer’s Ginetta in seventh, Daren Scholes and Steve Roberts went well in the Advantage Motorsport VW Golf Mk2 – having changed its starter motor after qualifying – for a class-winning eighth overall, just holding off David Sharp’s more modern Lotus Elise. Nick Rinylo’s lovely Porsche 911 SC completed the top 10.
The largest field of the day was in the Adams & Page Swinging Sixties, with 42 entries accepted and 41 cars in attendance. Thanks to the usual attrition, the track’s 38-car limit ultimately wasn’t tested in the race, which saw Dean Halsey claim his second victory of the season—this time alongside driver coach Scott Gillam.
A late-night gearbox change on Halsey’s Datsun 240Z proved worthwhile when Gillam put the car on the front row of the grid, just 0.7s slower than Connor Kay’s Mg Midget. Chris Watkinson (Austin Mini) and Jon Crayston (Lotus Elan S4) provided a nicely varied top four. A-Series motivation in the hands of Nik Aveyard/Rob Sinclair (Midget) and James Hughes (Austin-Healey Lenham Sprite) fractionally got the better of straight-six power in the Triumph TR6s of Bailey Mountain and David and Monty Hinde to fill row three of the grid. The Hindes, though, were unfortunate non-starters after David’s Future Classics mishap.
Gillam powered past Kay on the Island loop to lead the opening lap of the 40-minute race. Kay was quicker on the next two laps as he kept up the pressure, but the Midget was unwell. Large plumes of smoke were billowing out, seemingly mainly under braking, and the black-and-orange ‘meatball’ flag was inevitable. Kay came in to retire, later reporting that what started as an oil leak had caused a brake fire.
Snetterton winner Crayston was another relatively early retirement when his Elan was walloped by Ben Walker’s Jaguar XJ Coupe at Hislops. The resulting Code 60 period coincided with the pit window opening which made for a busy pitlane as most of the rear half of the field pitted together.
Gillam chose not to come in until much later, and had built an 18s lead over Watkinson when the Mini pealed in. When the Datsun stopped and returned in Halsey’s hands, Watkinson quickly closed in and seized the lead with four laps remaining. The Kent driver pulled away from his Essex rival to take the chequered flag more than 20s to the good – but any celebrations were short-lived: Watkinson was slapped with a one-minute penalty for pitlane speeding, leaving him classified sixth.
So Gillam and Halsey inherited victory, while the fight for what became second went down to the wire. Having dropped to the lower reaches of the top 10 on the opening lap, Hughes mounted an impressive recovery drive. He reeled in Ben Ferguson’s Triumph TR4 in the closing stages and dived ahead at Shell Oils hairpin on the final lap to snatch the position.
Behind that pair, Mountain had picked up a misfire on his TR6 and slowed in the closing stages, which allowed a charging Claire Norman to grab fourth in the BMW 2002Ti started by father Charles Tippet.
Midget Challenge champion Hugh Simpson was seventh, ahead of the Class L winning Lotus 7 of Niall Sinclair, Ian Staines (Midget) and Graham Wilson (TR6).
The day concluded with typically frenetic action from a busy field of Co-ordsport Tin Tops and Puma Cup cars.
Four of the top five on the grid were all facing extended mid-race pitstops as a result of their previous wins. The handicaps therefore looked set to cancel each other out unless either Jon and Tom Dee (Honda Integra) or Steve Papworth (Honda Civic) could keep them in sight.
In reality, such was the pace advantage of Adam Brown (Ford Fiesta) and Danny Cassar (Integra) it was always going to be a two-horse race, with car owner Nigel Ainge aiming to keep the Integra in contention before handing over to hotshoe Cassar for the second half.
Brown’s mission was to build as big an advantage as possible in the first half of the race – and he did so in impressive style. He surged past Ainge into an early lead, with Shaun Ely (Peugeot 205) also jumping into second before a safety car neutralised the action.
Once racing resumed, Brown pulled away at an astonishing rate — six seconds per lap faster. building what appeared to be insurmountable lead. Cassar had other ideas. Octogenarian Ainge had dropped to a net sixth when he pitted but, by the time the stops were completed, Cassar had already risen to third. He then picked off Papworth and set about hunting Brown down. Catching at a rate of 2s per lap looked set to put Cassar right onto Brown’s tail by the end of the race and set up a grandstand finish.
For a few moments, those hopes were dashed when Ian Howard’s Ford Puma had another excursion and brought out the purple Code 60 flags; Cassar was going to run out of laps. Then the situation changed again as the Code 60 was upgraded to a full safety car. Now the gaps would be eliminated and Brown could end up a sitting duck.
The race restarted with two minutes on the clock – just enough for two laps, rather than the one Brown would have been hoping for. The Lichfield racer put up a valiant defence and kept Cassar at bay for a whole lap, but the Londoner squeezed past as they ran alongside the pitwall to start the final lap.
Job done, Cassar brought the Hillwood Autos car home 0.7s ahead of Brown’s Fives Garage machine. Papworth was another 13.6s back in his A1 Gearboxes Civic. Ely pounced on Tom Dee at the restart to snatch fourth and just held him off to the tune of 0.17s at the flag.
Scotsman Richard Fowle managed sixth in his Renault Clio 172 Cup car, while Blair Roebuck (Civic) pipped Thruxton winner James Wilson’s Peugeot 306 to eighth. Entrusted with his dad’s MG ZR 190 for the first time, last year’s MG Trophy champion James Cole anchored Doug to ninth ahead of Matt Churton (Clio 182).
There was a late twist in the Puma Cup when leading pair Gareth Cotgrove and James Clare spun on the penultimate lap, letting Marcus Williams in to take the honours.
Looking to the future, you have until end of play on Tuesday 4th August to get an entry in for our 8th August, live-streamed meeting. https://www.classicsportscarclub.co.uk/oultonpark
The timetable, final instructions, early entry list and more area available on the above linked event page. Adams & Page Swinging 60s did have 7 reserves at one stage, all now have a place, so we have re-opened online entries for this series if you'd like to join us.
