It wasn't all plain sailing at Oulton park. On practice day Riley set out for another session while I disappeared to run an errand. It was only 5 minutes before "Riley" was calling my phone. Now that could only mean one thing he wasn't on track any more and that was not good! The conversation was pretty rapid bit he said he was ok (which was good and my heart started to calm down), but he said the car was being towed back (which made my wallet race for cover). Our race budget is not exactly brimming over, so any damage really hurts.

The offending rear nearside wishbone had as you can snapped and been properly bent. For those non-mechanical there is not a piece missing those two bits are supposed to be joined together...

Below is the moment it "let go" if you fancy watching what happens when you have one wheel facing in a radical direction at 100mph!

What that looked like when it was brought home to the pits could have been a lot worse had Riley not caught it and gone off to the track. Probably should have the save of the day badge for that one!

This is the write up from Funcup :-
​After the disappointment at Brands Hatch, DespatchBay.com bounced back in the best way possible at Oulton.
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The 221 DespatchBay.com car took its, and owner Andy Bicknells, 2nd ever victory.
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Marcus Cluttons win proves that he is now one of the men to beat in FunCup and takes his FunCup win tally to 9
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And this was Riley Phillips 1st win in the Championship, and becoming the youngest ever winner.
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Fastest in the morning Qualifying proved the pace of the trio, drawing 9th in the random grid draw meant that there was a bit of work to do.
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Dropping back a bit after the 1st hour the team pushed and were leading at the 2nd and 3rd hour mark, battling with the Trumans car.
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At the 3rd hour a safety car shuffled the pack and they were back down in 7th place, But some rapid driving from Riley Phillips put them back at the front. Riley didn't quite get the pit stop right and Marcus had to battle back from 3rd to the front. In the final stint Marcus Clutton, had a major battle for the lead being contested by no less than 6 cars.
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with 3 Laps to go it was anyones to lose but two of the leading group collided at Old Hall and Marcus, in the lead at the time, managed to open up a gap which he held to the end putting the DespatchBay.com team firmly back into the title race and the final word goes to the team.
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"What a great Fun Cup weekend at Oulton Park, still so delighted with our first win of the 2019 season, for the 221 DespatchBay.com car!
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Finally, a huge thank you to our brilliant TheTrack.Life team, who worked so hard in the build up to this race & at the circuit. The win would not be possible without you guys! Thank you "

Part of a conversation with Joe Parr of McLaren talking about how he got where he is and what some options might be to fund driving. It is always interesting to hear how people got where they are!

• Joe Parr  Hi Andrew, The key that I’ve seen is doing the dirty work and starting from the bottom. I’m not sure how old your son is but contacting kart teams, touring car teams, Ginettas, F3 anything medium to low level and just wanting to help out will put you in a great place 3, 4 or 5 years down the line. It’s a slow process and competitive but if you’re willing to start at the bottom it snowballs from there. Personally I did a degree in motorsport technology at the University of Hertfordshire but what got me to where I am now started with instructing people on red letter day type experiences and working on motor show events at an entry level. Does he know what area he’s aiming to get into? 
• Andrew Phillips Hi Joe, Thanks for the info. The story in a paragraph is at 7 he got expelled from school, because he had mild Aspergers. We needed something to build his confidence and went to Thruxton kart centre. The quote from the instructor Des was "He can do this you know..." The rest is history and He is now house captain at his school.
  
• He is 16, and been karting since he was 8 seriously from 10. On a budget (I know everyone says that) but lets put it like, a chassis once every 2 -3 years and a second hand one at that. 1 engine and 1 sticker kit. That sort of budget! and he won 4 championships at 2 different tracks and 2 different classes.
  
• He recently moved up to cars last year and did a four races in VW Funcup, He did his first race when he was 16 and 14 days, missed practice due to a GCSE exam and stepped into the race car for the first time on race day and proceeded to set the 10th fastest time out of 80 drivers. This year we are doing the full season and he just won last week (2nd race of this season, after leading the first race for 156 laps) He is looking down the road at Le Mans LMP1, but he would be happy just being a paid driver.  We went to Funcup as you get a lot of time in the seat with 4 to 8 hours races for the money and its very competitive. Also, a lot of teams and drivers do other series like Brit car or GT, so it might lead on to something else. As I said I don't have a big budget so I need sponsorship to continue this. He is studying A levels, but finding that hard because it's not directly relevant. He is looking to do a motorsport degree and work on his ARDS instructor.  Sponsorship seems hard, I am trying to show the value but finding getting sponsors hard! Thanks for any help. Andy
• Joe Parr Sounds like he’s had an excellent start to the career then! At 16 he’s a little young to be in a car with guests on our events but by the sounds of it that shouldn’t be something to be ruled out for a later date. All of our driver coaches are professional racing drivers and coach in between. I’m unsure of the age restrictions but precision driving in films/tv can be a big earner on the side too, a few coaches do that. The motorsport degree was good but if he’s aiming to be a professional driver then it may not be the best route to go down, it’s more designed for the technical side of things. The ARDS instructor course is great, he could always do red letter days etc when he’s a touch older and that’s a great way to network and move up in terms of earning. I’m not sure how I can help you directly just yet but I’ll have a think and speak to a few of the coaches here to see if they’ve got any tips.
  Regards, Joe

4 hours of racing in similar cars and it's nose to tail with a couple of minutes on the clock.... My nerves are shot, but Riley is the youngest winner ever of a funcup endurance race after a mega drive back from 8th to first in his second stint. Marcus Clutton bringing the team home safely with his amazing electric pace. "alien" pace as one competitor stated!! Blessed to be given this opportunity, what a team, still lots to learn in the pits stops that's probably the biggest learning ground. Can't wait for the next round at Croft, but AS level exams are making that a challenge!! Friday practice and an exam in the morning, might work if we weren't 5 hours from Croft!! Anyone, got a practice day at croft in next 3 weeks and want to sponsor to get some serious coverage at the next race!!??? (it's only on Sky Sports so don't put on extra staff!)