On 9th March 1982, Good Friday, I raced in a BP Superfind Formula Ford round at the Oulton Park Gold Cup meeting, and for me it was one of my most memorable races...

The year before, I had become an agent for Reynard Racing Cars, selling their new FF82 (yes it was out in 1981 - slightly confusing for some now) Formula Ford 1600 car. I had my own car at the time but is was a rival make, a Royale, and Adrian Reynard told me (quite rightly) "You can't sell Reynards and race a Royale, you need to have your own Reynard". So over the winter Simon Finnis, my mechanic, and I went and stayed in a house in Oxford, loaned to us by one of the guys at Reynard, and worked at the factory in Bicester, building the car ourselves under the supervision of Adrian and his engineers. I couldn't afford a new engine and geabox, so we robbed the ones out of the Royale and fitted those in the Reynard.

Early in 1982 I collected the completed car from the factory and looked at what races I could enter. One was the forthcoming, famous and prestigious Oulton Park Gold Cup meeting on Good Friday. Oulton is my local track and I had been to many Gold Cup meetings and always wanted to compete in one. So, I entered the BP Superfind Formula Ford 1600 race.

The Reynard was brand new and I'd never driven it before, so I did a bit of a shakedown test a few days before the race meeting and all seemed good in the dry.

So, race day came along and it was raining! Back then we were using the short (1.64 mile) "Fosters" layout, not the long International circuit we mostly use today. It's called Fosters circuit because this short layout uses the tight right-hand Fosters corner named after long time circuit manager Ray Foster. The Reynard's design made its chassis very stiff and on top of that it had non-adjustable Bilstein dampers and "heavy" spring rates. The top and bottom of it was, it was way too stiff for the wet. I was on tiptoes everwhere; going over the crest of Clay Hill it was dancing and I was steering with just one finger and thumb of each hand, being careful not to make any sharp movements. Fosters corner proved to be a real problem though. No matter how gentle I was when applying the throttle, the rear broke away and the car spun - every single lap! 

After qualifying I was on the phone to Adrian Reynard and he confirmed the car would be horrible in the wet. We would have needed to fit much softer springs as well as fully disconnect the anti-roll bars. Well we didn't have any softer springs to fit. So Adrian said I'd have to hope it dried out in the afternoon. He said the car would be good in the dry.

As lunchtime came the clouds opened up and blue sky appeared. By the time the lunch break was over the sun was cracking the pavements. It was like summer.

My qualifying fiasco had put me at the back of the grid. I wasn't last, I was next to last - 23 cars formed up on the grid and I was in P22! I remember one of the startline marshals asking me "What are you doing this far back?" and I responded "[hopefully] It won't be for long!"

Some of the detail of the race is a blur now. I got a great start and took a few places before the first corner, Old Hall. I very quickly got into that "zone" which Ayrton Senna once described. It was like tunnel vision. I had already moved up to 15^th before we arrived at Fosters on the first lap. Fosters was one of my favourite overtaking places and I passed a few people there during the race. I could take Cascades flat on this layout and fire the car down the inside of other cars into Fosters, there was plenty of exit space to pull that move off.

One part of the race that is fixed in my memory though was around half-distance when I caught a driver called Simon Wayne. I initially caught him at Fosters but I couldn't do my usual manoeuvre down the inside because he stayed right (see photo above - I'm car 19, black Reynard) so I tried to go around the outside. It didn't work because Simon launched over the kerb, getting airborne alongside me, so I had to back out of it and go wide to avoid an accident. It was shortly after this that things got a little bit dirty! Approaching Lodge Corner I went for the inside to pass under braking and Simon pushed me onto the grass - there was literally rim-to-rim contact! So, I gathered it back together and set off after him. A lap later I was again in a position to pass into Lodge, and he did it again! Now I'm not a dirty driver, but I can give it back when necessary! This time I hadn't lost as much ground as the previous lap and as we crossed the start line and approached Old Hall corner I was alongside him on his right, the inside. But he still wanted to play dirty and literally pushed me wheel-rim-to-wheel-rim into the the pit wall, which back then was made of steel Armco barrier. Enough was enough and I forced him off the track at Old Hall, he hit the barrier and his race was over.

That part of the race out of the way, I got back down to the job of getting as far up the field as I could. I was pushing, in "the zone" I had the large crowd at Lodge corner on their feet one lap when the Reynard's rear end snapped out as I went over the crest and down the dip into Deer Leap at a crazy sideways angle, but I held it and I can remember thumping myself on the forehead (on my helmet obviously) to help me re-focus as I went over the crest and onto the start/finish straight.

The final lap soon came and I was bearing down on another car. As we exited Lodge and headed for the finish line I went to his left and got my nose in front as we crossed the line.

The official results had me in 6^th place and the race report in Autosport magazine said Andy Middlehurst won followed by "x" "x" and "x" and "the battling duo of Stephen Barnes and Tim Arnold in 5^th and 6^th"... however, this was when the official timekeepers were working with stopwatches and their eyes, there was no electronic timing - they got it wrong! I was actually 5^th in reality and that was confirmed by several eye witnesses - my nose (well, the car's) was in front as we crossed the line. Either way it was a very satisfying race. 22^nd to 5^th or 6^th in 12 laps of a 1.64 mile circuit isn't bad going!