The inaugural edition of Touring Car Rewind: North built on the success of previous southern-based festivals to spread the love for classic touring car racing to the popular Cheshire parkland venue of Oulton Park.
A packed day of racing was supplemented by high-speed demos and off-track displays. But it was the on-track action that topped the bill.
Jason Hughes took his Vauxhall Vectra to the honours in the headline Super Tourers contests, where Super Production cars joined the field for the first time. The rest of the regular CTCRC classes also entertained with thrilling racing in tricky conditions.
Super Tourers
In front of a large crowd, local man Jason Hughes extended his Super Tourers winning streak to six with another pair of imperious wins at his home circuit. While a few more cars would always be welcome, those that were there put on a show, and it was great to see Super Production cars make their series debut.
Hughes was comfortably fastest in morning qualifying in his glorious Vauxhall Vectra. Dating from the turn of the millennium, the Triple Eight-built machine represents the ultimate development of the Super Touring concept.
AJ Owen was next up in the ORT Ford Mondeo, delighted to have the Duratec-engined car running well. Owen edged Tony Absolom’s Vauxhall Cavalier in the times, the 1995 car back in the series for the first time since blowing its engine at Brands Hatch a couple of years ago.
Best of the Super Production runners was club committee member Byron Aldous, debuting his ex-Kevin Hicks, Synchro Motorsport-built Honda Civic VTi.
Steve Maude’s BTCC production class-winning Peugeot 306 GTi-6 – which won a race overall at Oulton Park in May 2001 – was sidelined by starter motor failure, but thankfully he had completed enough laps in the morning practice session to qualify him to start.
Pre-war specialist Ross Keeling had his first outing in the ex-Tom Chilton Honda Civic, a BTC-T car more recently seen in Adam Woods’s hands.
A popular lunchtime grid walk preceded the first race, during which rain began to fall. It made for tricky conditions when the lights went out.
However, Hughes was undeterred as he charged into an early lead, chased by Absolom who had jumped Owen.
Hughes was 2.5 seconds clear within a couple of laps before Absolom responded. In a sister car to John Cleland’s 1995 title winner, running in the Mint Motorsport colours of privateer Jamie Wall – who watching from the sidelines – Absolom responded by upping his pace.
Absolom was the only man to dip under the two-minute mark as he put the pressure on. But, as rain returned in the closing stages, Hughes had enough in hand to seal victory by just under two seconds.
Owen’s run was hampered by suffering a puncture which he toured into change. He visited the pits a second time when he smelt rubber but it was a false alarm and he brought the car home safely, banishing the memories of a troubled weekend at Brands Hatch last summer.
It meant that Super Production class winner Aldous was able to finish third overall after a strong run in his immaculate 1.8-litre Civic.
Class rival Maude made the grid thanks to the help of Carl Chambers, who supplied a replacement starter motor. Chambers had hoped to be on the grid himself in the sister HTML Peugeot driven by Roger Moen in period. Blowing a valve on the dyno put paid to that, but Chambers brought the car along to display. He garaged it alongside Maude’s ex-Simon Harrison car, reuniting the pair in their original colours for first time in a quarter of a century.
Neither Maude nor Keeling had driven their cars before the day, so found it tough going in the difficult conditions. But each brought them home safely.
The track was even wetter for race two but Hughes made light work of the conditions. The Vectra simply disappeared into the distance and was 11s clear of the field within three laps before Hughes backed off to bring it home.
Absolom had another good run in the earlier Vauxhall to complete a second 1-2 for the marque. Two second places represented his best return since the series kicked off at Silverstone in 2022.
Owen had to nurse an alternator problem on the Mondeo but was more than happy with a comfortable third, well clear of the chasing Pre-’93 pack.
Aldous again took Super Production honours ahead of Maude, who was happier with the Peugeot after adjusting its anti-roll bar to suit the conditions – despite running 13-year-old rubber!
Pre-’93 Touring Cars
Sharing a grid with the Super Tourers, Pre-’93 honours twice went to champion Ian Bower despite sustained pressure from Will Davison.
Bower’s BMW M3 E36 set the pace in qualifying, just under a second clear of Davison’s similar car which was making its first appearance of the season.
Returning to the grid after his Donington startline shunt, Kevin Willis’s M3 was third, ahead of the Volkswagen Golf GTi Mk2 of guest driver Daren Scholes.
At start of the first race, Bower ran wide exiting the first corner, Old Hall, but just held on to the lead with Davison in his mirrors.
With both cars run from the same stable, Davison is well aware of Bower’s strengths, and harried the three-time Pre-’93 champion relentlessly. As rain intensified at some parts of the circuit in the closing stages, conditions were particularly difficult to judge and Bower admitted to locking up on several occasions.
Davison appeared to be particularly strong in the drier parts, especially through the double-apex right-hander at Druids. But he was unable to breach the defences of Bower, who hung on to victory by just 0.3s.
Willis’s wretched season continued when he pulled up on the first lap then picked up heavy rear-end damage when his car was collected.
Local man Scholes impressed in the 1.8-litre Golf, getting the better of Graham Myers’ more powerful M3 for third in Pre-’93.
Having been on track in between times in Classic Thunder, Bower had a better idea of the wetter conditions the field faced in race two. That enabled him to open an early gap Davison, which proved crucial.
Davison was up to speed from the second lap, and closed back up to the leader. But again, he couldn’t find a way past and had to settle for second, just over second behind the victor.
Graham Myers got ahead of Daren Scholes at the start and held station to take third in Pre-’93 and keep his points ticking over nicely.
Myers currently lies third in the standings behind Bower and Class D man Mark Fynney and his Vauxhall Astra GTE. Fynney, fresh from a surprise overall Pre-’93 success at Cadwell Park last month, was unchallenged en route to a pair of Class D successes, grateful for the paddock help that ensured he was able to start the second race.
Pre-’03 and Pre-2013 Touring Cars
Also on the grid with the Super Tourers and Pre-’93 machinery were the Pre-’03 Touring Cars, joined by the club’s first Pre-2013 entry. Kam Tunio kept up his fine start to the season with another pair of wins.
Setting the pace in qualifying was Chris Bassett in his Peugeot 306 GTi, returning to the field after being sidelined by alternator failure at the season opener. The Peugeot went half a second quicker than Tunio’s EP3-shape Honda Civic.
Best of the Class A BMWs was champion Dave Cave’s E36 328i. The reigning champion, on his first outing at the circuit, outpaced John Hillyer’s Touring version. Hillyer was making his first appearance of the season, having upgraded his 2.8-litre engine to run on throttle bodies rather than its previous aluminium plenum.
Making history as the club’s first Pre-2013 entry was Mike Greaves in his Renault Clio 197 Cup car from the manufacturer-backed one-make series, having run in Classic Thunder on his CTCRC debut at Cadwell Park the previous month.
Sadly, Greaves saw little racing action. In wet conditions on the first lap, the Clio picked up some hefty damage after collecting Kevin Willis’s stranded Pre-’93 car.
While Bassett appeared to have the edge on Tunio, he was also caught out on the first lap. Under braking for the Hislops chicane, the Peugeot locked up and took to the escape road.
Bassett was quickly back on leader Tunio’s tail before dropping back with another mistake in the difficult conditions. Tunio kept a cool head under pressure to take the win by just over a second.
Likewise, Cave drove to the conditions well as he took Class A honours from Hillyer and first-year driver Tim Tomblin in another E36 BMW.
Tunio had an easier run to victory in the second contest as Bassett suffered with a leaking fuel rail which eventually forced him into retirement.
Tunio remains unbeaten in class this year but, despite playing his double-points joker, with only two starters in class, he was unable to make much of a dent into Dave Cave’s points lead.
Cave finished second in Pre-’03, some 40s down on Tunio, but a convincing winner of Class A. Hillyer suffered a wild spin in the difficult conditions, just managing to keep his car out of the barriers. He recovered well but fell short of catching of catching Tomblin for second in class.
Pre-’66 Touring Cars
Two-time champion James Ibbotson made a triumphant return to Pre-’66 Touring Cars, revelling in the wet conditions to take two overall victories in his little Hillman Imp Super.
Ibbotson, who missed the opening two weekends of the season, was late to qualifying after making a late call to change tyres. But he still had enough time to record the fourth fastest lap, well clear of his Class E rivals.
Ahead of the Milton Keynes man on the grid were Piers Grange in his mighty Ford Falcon and two Lotus Cortinas. Local man Grange was a second clear of 2024 champion Ian Thompson, whose late improvement just edged teenage star Oliver Law off the front row.
The top six was completed by the Cortinas of Peter Smith and guest driver John McGurk.
The weather had taken a significant turn for the worse by the time of the afternoon’s first race. From the outside of row two, Ibbotson made a typically electric start to briefly take the lead. But Grange’s powerful V8 helped him back in front by the first corner at Old Hall.
Ibbotson reclaimed the lead by passing Grange cleanly into Lodge at the end of the lap. But another lap later it was Grange back in front as Ibbotson took a trip through the gravel.
Grange began to pull away with a couple of fastest laps before Ibbotson responded by going quicker still. Sadly, the chances of a grandstand finish were extinguished when Grange ploughed into the gravel at Lodge and smoted the barriers, bringing out the red flag.
As the cause of the stoppage, Grange was removed from the result, giving Ibbotson his first overall win for three years.
The racing behind was just as exciting. While the likes of Law and Mini man Barry Sime struggled for grip on the wrong tyres, the Ford Anglias of Ed Gibbs and Billy Kenneally were on a charge from mid-grid.
Both found their way past Smith, while a couple of mistakes from Gibbs allowed his fellow Sheppey resident Kenneally to get ahead and run fourth. But 2023 champion Kenneally’s bad luck returned when his alternator failed under the strain of wipers, heater and lights and he was forced to pull off.
The retirements of Grange and Kenneally promoted Gibbs to third overall and, for the first time, Class C honours.
Smith was fourth, ahead of two more well-driven Imps piloted by championship leader Brendan Rooney and Adrian Oliver.
Despite a trip through the gravel after hitting oil at Druids late on, Jake Swann was credited with seventh overall on countback. It was a fine reward for an excellent drive from the back of the grid after a pulley failed in qualifying, leaving him needing to complete a couple of out-of-session laps to qualify on a circuit where he had never raced before.
The second race was the last of the day and brought another stylish win for Ibbotson. Having played his double-points joker at the event, a maximum 56-point haul brings him back into title contention, albeit still with plenty of ground to make up.
Thompson was passed by Gibbs at the start but quickly got back in front. He just about kept Ibbotson in sight but was unable to challenge for victory, content to take Class F honours in second overall.
That almost became third thanks to another superb charge by Keaneally. From row 11 of the grid, Kenneally scythed through the order and had reached sixth position as soon as lap two by passing Swann at Druids.
He then picked off Rooney and closed up to Gibbs and a back-on-the-pace Law as the pair battled. The Kent driver executed the pass of the day when, with Gibbs slightly baulked by a backmarker, he overtook the pair in one move into the Shell Oils hairpin.
On the final lap, Kenneally caught Thompson and tried an outside move at the last corner, Lodge. Getting sideways on the exit, the pair made contact and Thompson held on by just 0.09s.
Law got the better of Gibbs for fourth, with the latter surviving a last-lap spin at Druids to hold off Rooney for sixth.
While not quite as eye-catching as earlier, Swann again ran strongly to finish seventh, third in class, the day after losing his grandfather.
Having borrowed some tyres from his friend Steve Murphy, who had his own Mini on display, Barry Sime was back on the pace en route to eighth overall ahead of Bob Bullen (Anglia) and Steve Platts (Singer Chamois).
Class D honours in both races went to the Austin A35 of Charles Norris. Having made a wise choice to play his joker, Norris takes over the points lead in one of the CTCRC’s most hotly contested championships.
Pre-’83 Group 1 Touring Cars
Three weeks before they return to the circuit in support of the British Touring Car Championship, a decent field of Group 1 machinery was in action despite a few late withdrawals. Nic Grindrod stamped his authority on the championship with a pair of convincing victories.
Grindrod didn’t have it all his own way in the dry qualifying session as fellow Ford Escort Mk1 man Tom Harvey got within 0.04s of his early benchmark.
Next up was the first of the bigger Class B cars, Jerry Bailey’s Rover SD1, ahead of Jonathan Corker’s Datsun 510. Don Hughes (Volkswagen Golf) was quickest of the Class D runners, fifth overall, while local driver Neil Philpotts put his Mitsubishi Lancer turbo sixth on the grid. Jared Knight (Escort Mk2) and Malcolm Jeffs (Class C Golf) completed the top eight.
There were welcome returns for a number of drivers and one completely new face to the grid. The latter was Sam Fish with his beautifully prepared Alfa Romeo Alfasud. Returnees included Nic Strong (Ford Capri Mk1), Mark Osborne (Triumph Dolomite Sprint), and Duncan Leftley and Simon Jeffs, who made it a trio of two-litre Golfs from the Thames Valley region. Unfortunaely, Jeffs didn’t make it beyond free practice in his Akai car, which blew its gearbox.
A sluggish start for polesitter Grindrod, combined with a lightning launch by Philpotts, brought the two together on the run to Old Hall. And, when Philpotts ran wide on the exit, the pair came together again as the tail-happy Lancer rejoined.
Grindrod shrugged off the incident and settled in behind Philpotts as the pair charged back past Corker on the Island loop. The Escort then picked off Philpotts’ squirelly Lancer into Lodge at the end of the lap.
The West Midlander’s next target was race leader Harvey who had the ShellSport Escort well hooked up. Once Grindrod hit his stride, he had pace to burn and made light work of Harvey after getting a better exit from the Shell Oils hairpin next time around.
Harvey instead had to turn his attention towards fending off Philpotts, with the Lancer getting fully onto the grass up Clay Hill as he tried to find a way through. Later, when Harvey had a moment exiting Cascades, the Lancer was sent bouncing over the grass on Lakeside.
The pair were reprieved when red flags came out with Hughes beached in the gravel at the hairpin, and so were classified second and third (first in Class B, as Bailey slipped down the order) on countback.
Running a less potent cam on his rebuilt engine after timing chain failure at Cadwell Park, Corker finished fourth. Knight was classified fifth after using his rallying skills to get back on the circuit when Hughes locked up trying to pass at the banked curve.
Malcolm Jeffs was sixth ahead of Osborne who had passed at Cascades, only to lose out on countback.
With Hughes in the gravel and James Dunkley’s Ford Fiesta having expired at Hill Top, there were no finishers in Class D.
Just how treacherous the conditions were for race two were demonstrated by Duncan Leftley’s exit on the green flag lap, leading to a delayed start and shortened duration.
Grindrod was again beaten away by both Harvey and Corker but charged back in front on Lakeside and was untroubled thereafter en route to his fourth consecutive win and a huge lead in the championship points.
Corker squeezed past Harvey into second at Hislops and the Kent driver lost third at the same corner a lap later to Jeffs and his front-wheel-drive Golf.
But the man making the fastest forward progress was Nick Williamson. A gear selector pin failed on his Rover SD1 in qualifying and forced him to miss race one with his gearbox in bits. But Williamson persevered and came up with a brilliantly inventive fix using a drill bit to get himself onto the back of the grid for race two.
The Rover was a sight to behold as it charged through the field. Williamson set the fastest lap and, despite the shortened distance, dived past Jeffs to secure third overall (and first in class) behind Grindrod and Corker on the final bend.
Jeffs had to be satisfied with fourth and Harvey fifth. Hughes won Class D in sixth overall after Knight was hit with a 10s penalty for a jumped start. It was a little harsh on the Devon driver who clearly moved but had stopped again before the lights went out.
Knight’s penalty dropped him to eighth, behind Fish, who drove his underpowered Sud well to seventh overall.
Classic Thunder & Historic Thunder
Having come close to winning at each of the first two race weekends of 2026, Joe Collier broke his duck at Oulton Park. In Mike Cutt’s absence, Collier’s two wins have propelled him into the championship lead.
It was Dave Farrow in Rick Kerry’s V8-powered BMW 1 Series that set the pace in qualifying, lapping the undulating 2.7-mile circuit at a shade under 90mph. Collier’s BMW M3 E46 was seven tenths slower, well clear of the next Classic Thunder entry. That belonged to James Janicki, making his seasonal debut in the Jimboformance Nissan Skyline R32.
Having a very busy day, doubling up from Pre-’93 Touring Cars, champion Ian Bower (M3 E36) was fourth in Classic Thunder. Next was series newcomer Nigel Beardsmore in his Ecoboost-powered SHP Escort RSR.
Simon Collier, father of Joe, completed the top six Thunder runners in his Honda turbo-powered E46.
After an early safety car period, there were around seven minutes left on the clock when racing got back under way for real. Having shaken off Collier Jr’s immediate attentions, Farrow looked set for victory until his right-front damper snapped and forced the 1 Series into retirement.
A grateful Collier swept through to take a clear victory, some 10s clear of Class C winner Bower. Third in Thunder was Janicki, just losing out to BOSS runner Mike Manning on the road.
Beardsmore’s impressive debut was rewarded with fourth in Thunder, ahead of Voycetune duo Kevin Denwood (BMW E46 Compact) and Colin Voyce (Ford Escort Mk1 turbo), the leading Historic runner.
While drizzle had made conditions tricky for the slick-shod cars in race one, the track was fully wet for the sequel. But with Farrow having to start from the back of the field, and running less suitable dampers sourced from a 116 Trophy car, the way was clear for Collier to take an untroubled victory.
It took Farrow less than three and a half laps to catch and pass Bower for second in Thunder as they exited Cascades, but he wouldn’t have had the pace to catch Collier even if the race had run its full distance.
As it was, with Denwood in the gravel at Lodge, an early halt was called. Farrow could count himself unfortunate to be demoted to fourth in Thunder (second in class) on countback.
Bower, who always runs treaded rubber on his Class C E36, was at less of a disadvantage than usual and was classified second in Thunder, albeit half a minute behind Collier. Just behind him, and first in Class A, Simon Collier completed a good day for the family.
Janicki and Beardsmore slithered their way to fifth and sixth, ahead of the leading Historic car of Voyce.
Blue Oval Saloon Series
Joining the Classic Thunder cars on track were the all-Ford BOSS category, whose ranks were swelled by guest entries for northern-based Lucas Dryden (Fiesta Mk2) and Leslie Chapelhow (Fiesta Mk6). Mike Manning was also back in action, having skipped Cadwell Park, and took his Sierra RS500 to a double win.
Three-time BOSS champion Piers Grange brought his Smith & Jones-powered Escort Mk2 for its first outing in BOSS this season on his local circuit. He promptly went quickest in qualifying, four seconds faster than Manning.
With Martin Reynolds (Escort Mk2) still plagued by the gremlins he suffered at Cadwell, it was Dryden’s XR2 that was third fastest in qualifying, ahead of the more modern Mk6 Fiestas of Will Hunt and Todd Hawkins.
Having switched from Avon to Hoosier rubber this year, Grange was caught out on cold tyres at the start. The back end of his Escort stepped out at Old Hall and sent him spinning rearwards into the barriers, causing a safety car period.
When the race resumed, Manning enjoyed a tussle with Thunder runners Nigel Beardsmore and then James Janicki. But he was unchallenged from the BOSS ranks en route to a comfortable victory.
Non-scoring guest Dryden impressed on his way to second in BOSS, a few seconds clear of Hunt, who held off Michael Rudge’s Mk2 Fiesta for Class D honours.
In the much wetter race two, Manning’s wet tyres served him well as drove serenely to another victory, repeating his Donington double in March. Having made a good choice to play his joker, the success also lifts him atop the championship standings.
With Reynolds still off the pace, the battle for Class D honours was also for second in BOSS. This time it was Hawkins who triumphed from Rudge, who was another to made good use of his joker as he jumped to third in the points behind Hunt.
Full results are available via the TSL website.
Images courtesy of CTCRC official photographer Steve Jackman/Eat My Pixels (SJ) and Jamie Peters-Ennis (JPE)
