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Oulton Park

Oulton Park, Cheshire, Great-Britain

Date: 24/3/1978
Track length: 2.662 m
Attendance:
Entries accepted:
Starters:
Finishers:

Pole position: Dron in 1.10,93 (race 1); Lloyd in 1.14,42 (race 2)
Fastest lap: Dron in 1.10,06 (race 1); Lloyd in 1.14,69 (race 2)

Distance: 25 laps
Average speed: 134,77 kmh (race 1); 125,51 kmh (race 2)
Weather:
Ruleset: Group 1B
Car info: 1978 Cars

 

Tony Dron captured pole for Leyland by wheeling the Dolomite round in 1.10,93, just outside his class record. The now Autocar-sponsored Capri of Gordon Spice sat in the middle of the front row with the similar though Faberge backed machine of Stuart Graham bringing up the outside. Jeff Allam (Capri) and Andy Rouse (BMW) completed the first five qualifiers, who were covered by less than one second on the grid.
And it was in grid order that the cars burst into Old Hall for the first time, Dron holding onto a tenuous first place until the fourth lap when Spice crept through for a lead he was never to lose.
In fact the white Capri simply sped away, into the distance to win by 15 sec as those behind occupied themselves in a breathless battle for second place. After being displaced by Spice it looked for a while as though Dron was in trouble for he quickly fell back to a lonely fourth behind Graham and Allam.
Chris Craft, who had an engine blow in practice, started the race in eighth place but was slowly working his way through the field, helped somewhat by Gerry Marshall's gentle excursion into the Knicker Brook armco when something broke at the front of the Triplex Capri. By half distance Craft was up to fifth a little way behind the lonely Dron, but very slowly beginning to close the gap.
Now it began to get interesting, for it was becoming apparent that not only was Craft gaining faster and faster on Dron, but the Dolomite was responding by gaining in turn on Graham and Allam.
With five laps to go, and with Spice 13s to the fore, the second four cars were all but nose to tail, with Craft squeezing through the smallest of gap at Old Hall to take fourth place from Dron.
Two laps later and Allam made his move. Into Old Hall on the inside he dived to take second from a surprised Graham, only to slide wide on the exit. In a flash Graham was back through with Craft, who was now launching his Capri high over the kerbs, tucking in behind to relegate Allam down to fourth.
And that was the order they crossed the line final time, albeit almost line abreast, at the end of a superb motor race.

The second 'half" of the Tricentrol British Saloon Car Championship, for the two smaller classes was totally dominated by the right-hand-drive VW Golf of Richard Lloyd. Right from the word go Lloyd was always in command, pulling out a substantial lead after five laps which he let slip until the gap was a bare two or so lengths between himself and Brundle's Toyota. Try as he might there was no way Martin was going to get on terms with the Golf and they finished just over a second apart after 25 anti-climatic laps.

Touring Cars class C-D
Pos Pos in class # Team / Entrant
Car- Engine		 Drivers, Nationality Engine
vol. (cc)		 Engine
Type		 Group Distance,
time		 Qualifying position Qualifying time Fastest lap Reason out
1 1   Gordon Spice Racing
Ford Capri III 3.0S		 Gordon Spice, GB
 2993 V6 D 25 laps, 29.37,63 2 1.11,01 1.10,31  
2 2   FabergĂ© Racing
Ford Capri III 3.0S		 Stuart Graham, GB
 2993 V6 D 25 laps, ca. 29.53 4 1.11,18    
3 3   Gordon Spice Racing
Ford Capri III 3.0S		 Chris Craft, GB
 2993 V6 D 25 laps, 29.53,45 8 1.12,64    
4 4   BP/Nu Luxe Foam
Ford Capri II 3.0S		 Jeff Allam, GB
 2993 V6 D 25 laps, 29.53,58 5 1.11,53    
5 1   Leyland
Triumph Dolomite Sprint		 Tony Dron, GB
 1998 L4 C 25 laps, 29.54,00 1 1.10,93 1.10,06  
6 5   Carrier Properties
Ford Capri II 3.0S		 Lawrie Hickman, GB
 2993 V6 D 25 laps, 30.08,19 9 1.12,68    
7 6   Esso Uniflo
Ford Capri III 3.0S		 Vince Woodman, GB
 2993 V6 D 25 10 1.12,89    
8 7   BMW (GB)
BMW 530i		 Andy Rouse, GB
 2985 L6 D 25 6 1.11,86    
  2   Hermetite Products
Triumph Dolomite Sprint		 John Fitzpatrick, GB
 1998 L4 C 25 laps, 30.12,67 11 1.13,14    
  3   Ian Bracey
Triumph Dolomite Sprint		 Barrie Williams, GB
 1998 L4 C 25 laps, 30.53,41        
      Browne & Day
Ford Capri II 3.0S		 Brian Muir, AUS
 2993 V6 D 25 3 1.11,09   Accident
DNF   14 Triplex
Ford Capri II 3.0S		 Gerry Marshall, GB
 2993 V6 D 25 7 1.12,11   Accident

Touring Cars class A-B
Pos Pos in class # Team / Entrant
Car- Engine		 Drivers, Nationality Engine
vol. (cc)		 Engine
Type		 Group Distance,
time		 Qualifying position Qualifying time Fastest lap Reason out
1 1   Richard Lloyd Racing Ltd.
VW Golf GTI		 Richard Lloyd, GB
 1588 L4 B 25 laps, 31.48,80 1 1.14,42 1.14,69  
2 2    
Toyota Celica GT		 Martin Brundle, GB
 1588 L4 B 25 laps, 31.49,17 2 1.15,94    
3 1   Patrick Motorsport
Mini 1275 GT		 Richard Longman, GB
 1275 L4 A 25 laps, 32.39,77 3 1.17,07 1.16,82  
4 2   Napolina Alfa Romeo Dealer Team
Alfa Romeo Alfasud Ti		 Rex Greenslade, GB
 1286 B4 A 25 laps, 32.48,26 5 1.19,14    
5 3    
VW Scirocco GTI		 Jim Marsden, GB
 1588 L4 B 24 10 1.23,56    
6 3    
Chrysler Avenger 1300 GT		 John Spiller, GB
 1295 L4 A 24 7 1.20,58    
       
Alfa Romeo Alfasud Ti		 Malcolm Wayne, GB
 1286 B4 A   8 1.20,97    
       
Alfa Romeo 1300 GT Junior		 John Myerscough, GB
 1290 L4 A   9 1.21,75    
       
VW Scirocco GTI		 Brian Pepper, GB
 1588 L4 B   4 1.17,79    
  1    
VW Golf GTI		 Martin Grant-Peterkin, GB
 1588 L4 B   6 1.19,28    
DNS 1    
Ford Fiesta		 Stuart McCrudden, GB
 1295 L4 A   11 no time