If Ross Curnow believes in fate, he must be wondering what on earth he has done to deserve the cruel luck which descended on him at Oulton Park, the scene for Rounds 9 and 10 of the 2005 Formula BMW UK Championship on 18^th and 19^th June. The 2004 Rookie Champion, regarded as a strong contender for outright honours this year, has had a bizarre season with some very strong drives interspersed with disappointing showings owing to technical problems. And Oulton Park was to produce further challenges for the Promatecme/Soper Sport team which kept them working flat out all weekend.

Two test sessions of an hour and a quarter were scheduled for the Friday, giving a good opportunity to develop a competitive set up, the team not having run here since March. 10 laps into the first session, Ross was running second fastest when the red flag came out. After the restart, his engine developed a serious misfire which forced him back in, not to return before the session ended. The team changed the crank sensor and a range of electrical ancillaries but even with the involvement of BMW engine specialists, were unable to locate the problem with certainty. The second session started only three quarters of an hour later and by the time Ross was ready to go out, the session had been red flagged and the pit lane never re-opened. BMW continued to give support and after a new ECU had been fitted during the afternoon, they gave the team a special concession and allowed Ross a couple of laps out on his own to try the car. As far as he could determine in the limited time available, it seemed to be running well……..

Qualifying was held on what turned out to be one of the hottest days of the year and in the first session, Ross’s engine seemed fine but he suffered severe understeer. This saw him post slower times as the session progressed while everyone else got faster and he finished a disappointing 12^th. The set up was changed for the second session which improved the handling but he lost straight line speed and this put him back to 17^th by the end, the lowest qualifying position he can remember.

Timing data showed he was very slow through the speed traps, suggesting the engine was down on power, and a decision was made to change the engine for the first race. This was a bold decision because, unusually for the Formula BMW schedule, this was to be run on the same afternoon - a change forced by TV schedules for the British Touring Car Championship event. With only two hours available, it was a tough (some would say impossible!) challenge and led to frenetic activity under the Promatecme/Soper Sport awning. Everyone around with a pair of hands became involved with Ross himself working on one end of the car while the team swarmed over the other. Hydraulics were being bled as Ross climbed in but it had taken 2 hours 10 minutes, by which time the race was well underway. He joined 3 laps from the end - enough to find that the engine seemed better but was not sounding right.

There was further deliberation overnight but Ross’s grid position for Race 2 was clearly not going to give him a chance of a good result, however well the car performed. As it turned out, he again struggled with straight line speed, particularly on the hill up to the hairpin, but picked up a few places to finish 12^th.

This was a harrowing weekend for Curnow and painful for observers who had to watch him fighting in the mid field, knowing that he is capable of challenging at the front. “The team has worked so hard,” said Ross afterwards. “Everyone has pulled together well and it is such a shame that we’ve been plagued with these problems all weekend. We’re now half way through the season and not where we should be in the championship standings but we have 4 weeks now to look at the data and see what’s wrong. We’re determined to show that we can be up there in the remainder of the season.

The next two races will be at Croft on the weekend of 11^th and 12^th July with testing on Friday 10th.