Oulton Park 2026

The Oulton Park Gold Cup meeting was added to the calendar this year to make the championship a 14 race competition covering 7 separate race meetings, instead of the normal 12 race calendar. The opportunity to attend such a historic event was too good to pass up, and it is hoped that the meeting can be a regular fixture even if the championship reverts to its 12 race format as is planned. The weekend was unusual in terms of timetable, as it is a three day event utilising the late summer Bank Holiday to form an extended weekend. The usual 20 minute qualifying on the 2.69 mile International circuit was scheduled for lunchtime on the Saturday with race one on Sunday afternoon and race two on Monday afternoon. A large crowd was expected and the time can be filled in by making the most of the displays, entertainment and full race programme including the Historic F1 cars competing for the Gold Cup trophy. A number of championships had decided they would compete for their own Gold Cup to mark the occasion. The Kevin Griffiths Trophy is awarded annually, usually to the winner of the final race of the season but it was agreed that it would be appropriate to award it to the winner of race one this weekend.

Reigning champion Toby Broome returned to head the entry list in his Revs Italia 4C, and was joined in the Modified class by Barry McMahon’s Giulia, Jon Berry’s Giulia Veloce, Andy Page’s 116 Giulietta, the Fiat Coupe of Andy Porter and the 75 of Keith Waite. In the Power Trophy, the class leader Stacey Dennis in the Bianco supported Giulietta was joined by Mark Purcell in the Talos Motorsport 155 and Graham Seager in the 147 GTA. Turismo class leader George Warren in the GTV was joined by Dave Pickup in his Giulietta, Sam Kay’s 33, Simon Scott’s Alfasud Sprint, Steve Godfrey’s Alfa Workshop supported 156 and the Alfetta of Tom Waite. James Ford’s 156 Twin Spark class car was joined by Garry Jackson in the 156, Ian Fenwick’s 147 , Mark Sullivan in the Bianco 156 and James Millar was driving the number 20 Bianco Motorsports 156 usually driven by class  leader Paul Plant.

QUALIFYING

The weather forecast for the area had indicated a strong likelihood of precipitation on all three days. Sure enough, there was heavy rain during the morning which eased slightly as the qualifying period approached but full wet tyres were certainly required for those cars able to run with them, the Turismo and Twin Spark cars using their normal listed tyres.

Barry McMahon’s Giulia set the running with a 2:12.715 on his first  flying lap which was eclipsed by Toby Broome’s 4C with lap times in the 2:10s over the next couple of laps. Toby’s lap times slowed by a few seconds as he assessed the difficult conditions before recording a 2:08 .879 on lap 8 of 9 that would be good enough to take pole by a couple of seconds. Visibility was very much an issue in these conditions, and after pitting on lap 3, Barry returned to record a 2:10.921 to take second spot on the grid. Andy Page had recorded a 2:13.757 on lap 7 to take third whilst Jon Berry also pitted after 5 laps, rejoining to record his best lap times, a 2:17.431 on lap 8 being good enough for fourth.

Of the non Modified classes, George Warren’s Turismo class GTV set the early pace with a 2:26.336 before Graham Seager’s Power Trophy 147 recorded a 2:24.625 on lap 4. James Ford’s 156 was the leading Twin Spark with a 2:26.785 on lap 2, pulling into the pits at the end of the next lap to clear the windscreen. When he rejoined, his lap times put him ahead in this group, a time of 1:17.631 securing fifth on the grid ahead of Andy Porter’s Fiat Coupe, himself recording a 2:20.820, an excellent time in these conditions.

Dave Pickup in his Giulietta took the Turismo class pole with a 2:21.841 and seventh spot overall. Graham Seager took the Power Trophy pole and eighth with a 2:23.015 ahead of the second placed 147 Twin Spark of Ian Fenwick in ninth and George Warren tenth.

The only other Power Trophy car to set a time was eleventh placed Mark Purcell in the 155, Stacey Dennis’s Giulietta retiring on the outlap with terminal gearbox issues. Another driver failing to record a time was Garry Jackson, having to retire the 156 with throttle issues that would persist over the weekend despite everyone’s best efforts to solve the issue.

Third in Turismo and P12 was the Alfa 33 of Sam Kay ahead of the Alfasud Sprint of Simon Scott. The Modified 75 of Keith Waite was fourteenth with James Millar’s Twin Spark fifteenth, Tom Waite’s Alfetta sixteenth and Steve Godfrey’s Turismo 156 seventeenth, having made numerous visits to the pits resulting in just one clear lap. Mark Sullivan hadn’t made the qualifying session and would start at the back of the grid.

RACE 1

With Saturday’s race moved forward to an early afternoon slot, the possibility of rain seemed less likely than the day previous with all cars on slicks or, in the case of Turismo and Twin Sparks, the same as in qualifying! As the lights went out, the 4C of Toby Broome stopped just out of its pit box with what turned out to be a broken drive shaft. The car of Andy Page was immediately behind and ran into the back of the 4C. James Ford’s 156 was the next car behind Andy and Toby and being aware of cars behind taking avoiding action, found himself being passed on the grid by most of the field. Meanwhile, most cars on the left hand side of the grid had a cleaner start with George Warren taking full advantage to take his GTV from tenth to lead into the first corner but the effect of the problems at the start impacted on a number of cars and George found himself with a big lead by the time he approached Hislop’s chicane on the first lap. Andy Page and James Ford eventually got going but were by now towards the rear of the field and set about trying to make up lost ground. Andy Porter in the Fiat Coupe was also a net gainer from sixth and was next on the road ahead of Graham Seager’s Power Trophy 147 GTA. By the time the cars completed the opening lap, George Warren’s lead had been held to just over four seconds with Andy Porter second and Graham third. Dave Pickup was another driver who had benefited from events and was a second behind in fourth while the two Giulias of Jon Berry and Barry McMahon had slipped to fifth and sixth respectively a couple of seconds adrift of Dave’s Giulietta. Mark Purcell was seventh in the Talos Motorsport 155 with Simon Scott’s Alfasud Sprint eighth and the leading Twin Spark of Mark Sullivan in tenth place after starting at the back of the grid. Ian Fenwick in the second placed Twin Spark rounded out the top ten in his 147. James Ford’s 156 was making up lost ground after the problems at the start and was right behind in third place as the cars started their second lap. Unfortunately for Andy Page, his coming together with the 4C at the start had damaged the radiator and he pulled into the pits to retire his Giulietta. Keith Waite was twelfth in his distinctive 75 closely followed by James Millar in the Bianco 156 Twin spark. Next came Steve Godfrey in the Turismo class 156 and Sam Kay in the 33 ahead of Tom Waite’s Alfetta.

On lap 2, Graham put his 147 into second ahead of the Fiat Coupe with Dave Pickup close behind and on lap 3, Dave Pickup put the Giulietta into third spot with Andy Porter dropping to fourth. At the front, an interesting battle unfolded as George Warren’s Turismo class GTV was steadily being reeled in by the Power Trophy 147 with Dave in a solid third just a few seconds adrift. The Giulia cars of Barry McMahon and Jon Berry were both having difficulties, the latter having to retire the car with electrical problems whilst Barry’s car had gone into limp mode on the green flag lap and his problem continued throughout the race. Meanwhile Graham, having reduced the arrears to 2.7 seconds at the mid point of the race, took two and a half seconds out of George’s lead on lap six to put him right on the tail of the GTV and increasing the gap to the third placed Giulietta to ten seconds. Graham was not going to have it easy however and the two had a crowd pleasing, close quarters tussle for a couple of laps but Graham finally managed a pass on lap 8 and was then able to eke out a small lead to take the chequered flag by just over 2 seconds from the GTV in second with Dave Pickup third, Andy Porter fourth and Barry’s ailing Giulia in fifth.

James Ford, after having made up a few places on lap one, continued his progress by getting past the leading Twin Spark duo of Mark Sullivan and James Millar to take the class lead on lap 2 and moved ahead of Simon Scott’s Alfasud Sprint on the same lap. He then had Mark Purcell’s Power Trophy 155 between himself and the leading group and by lap 4, had made up the ground and took the Twin Spark into the top six, albeit a daunting twenty plus seconds behind Barry’s Giulia which, despite its problems was still lapping at more or less the same pace as the 156. Simon Scott unfortunately had to retire the Alfasud with fuel system issues on lap 5, Mark Sullivan retired his Twin Spark on the same lap with ecu problems whilst Steve Godfrey retired his 156 with fuel supply issues on lap eight. James Ford took sixth place with Mark Purcell the second Power Trophy finisher in seventh. Ian Fenwick was eighth and second placed Twin Spark, Sam Kay took the third place podium spot in the Turismo class in his 33 with Keith Waite taking the third place podium spot in the Modified class and rounding off the top ten. James Millar brought his 156 home in eleventh ahead of Tom Waite’s Alfetta.

Race 1 Results

RACE 2

All six retirees from race one would line up on the Bank holiday Monday afternoon to complete a grid of eighteen cars for the start of race two in dry and bright conditions. Barry Mc Mahon had made a good start this time and soon assumed the leading position from George Warren who had also made a good start to head the pole sitting 147 of Graham Seager. Toby Broome started at the very back of the grid but stormed through the field and was already up to fifth when the safety car was deployed due to Andy Page going off the circuit at Old Hall corner and coming to rest against the wall. As the cars lined up behind the safety car for a couple of laps, Dave Pickup’s Giulietta was in fourth with James Ford behind Toby in sixth ahead of Mark Purcell, Ian Fenwick, Keith Waite and Jon Berry making up ground in tenth. James Millar’s 156 was eleventh, from Sam Kay’s 33, Andy Porter’s Fiat Coupe that had dropped nine places in the first few corners, Simon Scott’s Alfasud, Steve Godfrey’s 156 and Tom Waite’s Alfetta. After the safety car had peeled off, Toby continued to make progress immediately passing Dave Pickup into fourth then overtaking Graham’s Power Trophy 147 and George Warren’s GTV on lap 4 to lie just over a second behind Barry’s Giulia. On lap five, Toby took the lead from Barry whilst Graham’s Power Trophy 147 eased past George’s Turismo class GTV to move into third. Andy Porter’s Modified class Fiat Coupe had also started to recover positions to lie in eighth spot by the start of lap 6 ahead of Mark Purcell’s 155 and Ian Fenwick’s Twin Spark.

On Lap 7, however, Steve Godfrey went off the circuit at Old Hall corner  into the gravel and, with less than 5 minutes on the clock, brought out the red flag to stop the race with the results being declared at the end of lap 6.

Toby Broome’s 4C had crossed the line ahead of Barry by seven seconds but had picked up a ten second penalty, his overtake on Dave’s Giulietta at the end of the safety car period deemed have taken place before the start finish line, therefore Barry’s Giulia was declared the winner with Toby second ahead of Graham’s Power Trophy 147 taking third place. Fourth and fifth places went to George Warren and Dave Pickup, the pair taking first and second in the Turismo class. Less than a tenth of a second separated Jon Berry’s third in class Giulia from the class winning Twin Spark of James Ford, in sixth and seventh respectively, with Andy Porter’s Fiat Coupe in eighth overall and fourth in class, some fourteen seconds adrift. Ian Fenwick’s 147 Twin Spark was classified ninth overall and second in class with Mark Purcell’s 155 the only other Power Trophy runner rounding off the top ten. Sam Kay was eleventh and took the third podium spot in Turismo with Simon Scott’s Alfasud Sprint fourth in class. Keith Waite’s 75 was fourth in the Modified class, James Millar took the third podium spot in the Twin Spark class with Tom Waite’s Alfetta fifth in Turismo.

The Driver of the Weekend award went to James Ford reflecting his qualifying performance in the very wet conditions followed up by two class wins.

Dave Pickup established the lap record for the Turismo class of 2:03.054 but the existing lap records of Jamie Thwaites, Toby Broome and James Ford remained largely untroubled in the changeable conditions despite the absence of the forecasted wet weather. Leading the championship with just two rounds to go at Silverstone in October is Dave Pickup from George Warren and Stacey Dennis, although the application of dropped scores gives George Warren the advantage going into the final rounds. George has already been confirmed as Turismo class winner but all other class awards have yet to be decided and are all are subject to the application of two dropped scores rules.

Race 2 Results

Photos: Guy Swarbrick