Saturday 24th July saw Vaughan Fletcher and his race prepared Impreza RA head off to Oulton Park in Cheshire, to take part in two rounds of the AAA Saloon Cup.

Built into the natural contours of the Cheshire countryside, Oulton Park's combination of stunning scenery and spectacular racing make it one of the most picturesque and cherished circuits.

Situated in the grounds of what was once Oulton Hall, the circuit is a popular circuit for both racers and spectators alike.

With a length of 2.692 miles, the circuit is one of the longest dotted around the UK, and it would certainly test the cars and their drivers.

With a good day forecast, it looked like a good day was going to be had.

The car had been quickly checked over, and had a new rear differential in the week since its last outing at Lydden Hill.

With a last minute dash to sort the tyres, the car was ready and the team headed off on Friday evening.

Race Day:

Oulton Park was revved up for its annual visit from the Formula Palmer Audi Championship.

As well as three exciting FPA races, there was also competition from the AAA Saloons, Golf GTI Championship and the SPEED and BESCR endurance racing series.

Qualifying:

GpB of the AAA’s consisted of:

01 Roger Green (Guest) Mitsubishi Evo VIII 2000 cc
(Evo Magazine Features Editor)
14 Angus Gorringe Audi S2 2200 cc
15 Vaughan Fletcher Subaru Impreza RA 2000 cc
22 David Harries Subaru Impreza 2000 cc
33 Dominic Barnes Mitsubishi Evo VIII 2000 cc
44 Ian Froggatt Subaru Impreza RA 2000 cc
75 Martin Thomas Mitsubishi Evo VIII 2000 cc

The number 66 car of Steve Liquorish blew up in testing at Oulton the day prior to racing, and the Mitsubishi GTO of Malcolm Stevens was a no show.

Running on slicks, and at one of Vaughan’s favourite circuits, we were confident of placing well on the grid. Having run slicks for the past 5 years, Vaughan was familiar with how they behaved, and what a difference they make to his car.

It was hoped that this knowledge and track day experience of Oulton would give him a bit of an advantage over the guys used to running Toyo’s and the like.

Running in Group B of the AAA’s meant we were up against cars running up to 400BHP, a distinct disadvantage against our 300bhp, but it created a challenge, and that’s what Vaughan relishes.

The car was scrutineered and noise tested prior to going out on track. We added the new “AAA” and “Goodridge” vinyls.

The suspension was adjusted to match the circuit, but this would be checked when the car came in from the qualifying session. As there are a lot of long sections at Oulton, the camber set up would be critical, as too much and we’d wreck the tyres during the race, and not enough and the cornering would be compromised.

Out on track, and on cold slicks, Vaughan took his time to generate enough heat in the tyres before starting his quick laps.

When qualifying was over, we checked the tyre temperatures and the tyre pressures to check the car was running true on circuit.

Running slicks we needed to create the best tyre to tarmac contact. The weather would play a big part in the tyre set up, as the compound of the BTCC Dunlop slicks would take some time to get up to optimum temperature and make them stick, without them going “off” before the end of the race.

When the results came in we were really pleased to see that we were 4th on the grid, ahead of the Grp A Evo of Launch Motorsport. All 3 cars ahead were all running around 700 bhp!

Qualified 1st in class
Qualified 4th overall
Fastest lap: 1:55.386 sec on lap 7 of 7
Quickest Impreza in Grp B

Race 1:
Round 7
Sunny/Dry

David Harries had failed to get his Subaru back up and running following his isues in qualifying, so the grid was down to 10.

On the warm up lap, all cars followed the safety car out, for the 2 green flag laps.

Starting from 4th on the outside of the grid, all cars got through the first corner cleanly and Vaughan held his place.

With the power of the Grp A’s showing their superior straight line speed, Vaughan settled into leading the chasing pack. With a comfortable lead on Grp B, and a solid 4th place overall everything was going well. On lap 4 on the run up “Deers Leap” there was a noticeable “lurch” and the car’s engine died.

When towed back to the paddock, our initial fears of a blown engine were thankfully unfounded, as it turned out to be the fuel pump that had failed. With a spare to hand, it was swapped over so that we could get out for the second race.

With the endurance race to run before our next track session, we had plenty of time to complete the job, and check the rest of the car over.

Fastest lap: 1:54.764 sec on lap 3 of 4




Race 2:
Round 8
Dry

In between races, the heavens opened and caused the cars on track to pit for wet tyres.

Watching the skies, we were unsure if we were to change to wets for our race, but in the end the call to parc ferme made the decision for us. On the slicks we used for race one, Vaughan headed off to prepare for the last race of the day.

Laurie Kilby in his AJEC Evo was unable to make it out for race 2, so the grid was reduced to 9.

Starting from 9th on the inside of the grid, and on the back row, there would be a lot to do to get up front and challenge for the Grp B lead.

The track was drying, so the choice to stay on slicks was the right one.

Roger Green, the guest driver from Evo Magazine was soon out of race two, and was followed shortly after by Gary Prebble. Richard Jones in the 3rd Evo to retire helped move Vaughan up the pack to 5th overall, but the front running pack of Norris, Froggatt, Thomas and Barnes had pulled out a gap to wide for Vaughan to close up.

When the car returned to the paddock it was clear that Vaughan had driven the tyres of the Subaru (Literally), and also discovered that there were no rear brakes left!

Result

Finished 4th in class
Finished 5th overall
Fastest lap: 1:55.422 sec on lap 7 of 12

The car will now be checked over in preperation for it's next race at Cadwell in August.