Dzenis/PSP
A LAP OF OULTON PARK WITH...
FRANK WRATHALL
BY MATT SALISBURY Next stop for the BTCC is one of the most popular circuits on the calendar; the challenging and undulating Oulton Park in Cheshire. The circuit has a mixture of high and low-speed corners and numerous elevation changes as it winds around the natural contours of the land on which it was built . Oulton Park will be the home circuit for a number of drivers, including Dynojet Racing’s Frank Wrathall who talks us though a lap of the track…
“Oulton Park is a real drivers track and the undulations make it very challenging. From the start/finish straight, you have Old Hall which has quite a late apex and there is a bit of a dip so it is important to hit the apex and then use all of the kerb on the exit to get a good run down to Cascades. “Cascades is probably one of the best corners on the calendar because you can really commit to the entry Inside BTCC 24
and the camber of the turn means it sucks you in. You can go in from the middle of the road and it will pull you tight into the apex. “It is difficult part of the circuit because you are braking while coming down the hill, which is probably why I stick to the middle of the track as it’s the safest place to be! It’s a case of hitting the brakes and then easing off again to run the speed into the turn and you can carry a lot more speed through that corner than you think. “Then there is the small straight up to Island Hairpin, which is a difficult corner to get right. It’s 100 per cent about the exit because it is so slow and so tight. It’s a case of squaring off the corner and getting the power down as early as you can without getting any wheelspin. Off the hairpin, you got up hill then there is another downhill braking zone into the Chicane, which is quite hard to judge. “The fact there are tyre stacks on the inside of the
corner removes the margin for the error and means you can’t use the kerb as much which is unfortunate, but you have to drive to your surroundings. You do aim for the tyre stacks as you go into the chicane but you have to make sure you brush past them rather than drive into them! “The Chicane again is all about the exit. You need to run the speed through the left-hand part of the chicane to then position the car correctly for the right-hander and the run up Clay Hill. It’s a brave part of the circuit as you momentarily go blind going up there. There is a left-hand kink that you have to back off for in the wet, but in the dry you are going flat out. You have to be brave through that kink, and then brave through Druids which is a double-apex right-hander that have to try and take as if it were just one corner. “On the exit of the corner there is a slight rise, and that was where I had my first crash. The barrier there was the first barrier I went into and it was because of
that bump in the road. I’m always wary as a result and make sure that the car is in a straight line before I commit to the power. In the dry it isn’t so bad but in the wet it can catch you out when the car goes light and you lose grip. It’s a tricky feature of the circuit. “The final corner is a late apex again and it’s another tricky one because of the undulations and the camber of the circuit as it drops away from you on the exit. It is hard to judge the correct speed to go round there but when you get it right, it feels mega and you can carry a lot of sped back onto the start/ finish straight. “I think the Toyota has the potential to be quick everywhere now and we’ve made good progress with it in the events at Donington Park at Thruxton, so I see no reason why we cant now go to Oulton Park and be challenging towards the front.”
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