Sale driver competes at Oulton Park (From Messenger Newspapers)

Sale driver competes at Oulton Park

4:30pm Tuesday 10th April 2012 in Sport

SALE’S Andrew Smith took part in the APR Volkswagen Racing Cup at Oulton Park this weekend in his VW Beetle 2 litre Turbo Diesel.

Andrew has been racing since 1992 and this is his third year in the Beetle, which is prepared and maintained by himself with support from the family business, VIS-Tuning, also from Sale.

Rain during the morning qualifying session required caution and unfortunately, the very wet conditions did not suit the characteristics of the diesel engine and he qualified in 18th place for the first race.

In the first race, Andrew had been hoping for dry conditions but the weather did not oblige. When this was combined with an incident at the first corner where several cars rubbed paintwork (including Andrew), he was pleased to end that lap in 17th place.

Caution was the strategy in the wet and difficult conditions, managing to climb up to 15th place by the end of the race with no damage to the car (which was a very positive result).

The second and last race of the day was not to be as successful, though the car was going very well. A detour off the track into the gravel trap reluctantly ended the race though the car was not damaged.