The Taxman Group Racing Team, which included Mark Shapland and Richard Schwartz, took off on March 14th with high hopes for the beginning of the 2024 racing season. It had been 7 years since the last time we raced at Hallett Motor Racing Circuit and there have been quite a few improvements to this fabulous 1.8 mile, 10 turn Road Racing course. Located in the rolling Osage Hills of North Eastern Oklahoma, this track is a true gem. It’s about 35 miles west of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Hallett has over 80 feet of elevation change and is Technically Difficult. It has wide, grassy run-off areas and zero concrete or Armco barriers, which is makes it a very safe tract on which to race. Hallett is unique in that it can be run in either clockwise or counter-clockwise directions making it two completely different race courses. For over 30 years, Hallett Motor Racing Circuit has played host to Auto Racing, Motorcycles and High-Speed Go Karts. For this race weekend, we ran Counter Clockwise, which means more left hand turns where we usually have more right-hand turns. This puts more onus on the left rear wheel instead of the right rear.
This weekend of racing was put on by Corinthian Vintage Auto Racing, CVAR, which sponsors races in Texas and Oklahoma. They have 320 members and are a really nice group of vintage racing enthusiasts. We arrived at the track about 5 pm, and set up our paddock in their newly installed covered Race Port. The Friday schedule called for 4 practice sessions which would be a perfect opportunity to relearn a very technically demanding track as well as get used to #2 after a five-month lapse since October. For the first time, we didn’t have to do any work to the Jaguar during the winter.
Hallet is in the middle of no-where, Oklahoma. No grand resort, great restaurants, and or spa. We stayed 12 miles from the track at the Budget ZZZZ Motel. Many of the racers either camp out at the track or bring their RVs. The Two Stevens brothers own and run the track and have implemented some great changes. They have 30 newly installed Race Ports and have built a tunnel that goes under the track, so cars and trucks can come and go while cars are on the track.
CVAR had 100 cars registered for the event, with 21 cars in our race group. Our race group included 4 Mustangs, a BMW 2002, 3 Corvettes (including a split window Stingray, a Camaro, 2 XKEs (Richard Wright in a 1962 OTS), a Dodge Dart, 3 Shelby 350 Mustangs, 2 Porsche 914s, 2 Porsche 911s, a Sunbeam Tiger, and a Lotus Elan. That’s a lot of cars on a 1.8 mile fairly narrow road course. I was a little tense at the beginning, but the butterflies go away very quickly with the roar of high-performance engines.
Friday morning was cold, breezy, and overcast. We got ready to go out on the track for the first time. I was going pretty slow as I worked on figuring out the lines and had a best lap time of 1:53. The 2nd was more learning the rack and my best lap time was again, 1:53. I improved a bit in the 3rd session as it warmed up a bit, with a 1:51. A Shelby Mustang driver, Steve, came over and introduced himself to me and said to follow him for 5 laps and he would show me the proper race line. This was a great aid in getting comfortable with Hallett. In fact, several other drivers gave me some great tips on how to master the track. I improved to a 1:41 fast lap time. On the 4th practice session of the day, I improved even more to a very respectable 1:37! We treated ourselves to a well-deserved steak dinner at Mugsy’s Grub House in Yale Oklahoma. Mugsy is quite a character and a great host! WOO HOO!
The straightaway is short and you can accelerate deep into the 1st turn and apex late. You then accelerate hard uphill, which is totally blind, leveling out before Turn 2. Turn 2 is a giveaway switch back turn which is taken slow with a very late apex as it is 165 degree left hander. Turns 4 and 5 if taken correctly feel like an uphill slalom. You need to do a very late apex at turn 6 to set up properly for the next 3 turns. You accelerate hard staying on the right. At turn 7, you accelerate hard as you head uphill. After turn 8, the elevation drops dramatically and if executed properly you end up in a depression where you down shift, late apex 9, and then drift to the left under full power. This took quite a while to figure out. You again accelerate hard up to the turn 10 sweeper where you stay in the middle of the track, late apex, drifting to the right under full power. If you do all this correctly, a good time is 1 minute and 35 seconds. The fast cars with experienced drivers are 9-12 seconds faster.
Saturday was a little overcast in the morning, but the afternoon was sunny with warmer temperatures. The XKE was running good. In my first session, which was a qualifying run, I was timed at 1:37 for my fast lap. This was followed by our first Sprint Race, where I came in 13th overall, 3rd in class, with a best lap of 1.37. The 2nd sprint race was held after lunch, where I came in 11th, 3rd in class, with a best lap time of 1:39. It was a good day of racing followed by a BBQ night put on by CVAR where we spent a wonderful night with all the other drivers.
Sunday brought the best weather of the weekend. Sunny and 72 degrees. Perfect racing weather. In the first Feature race before lunch, I came in 12th, 3rd in class, with a best lap again of 1:39. At the BBQ Saturday night, Steve, the Shelby Mustang driver, told me I needed to TRUST MY CAR MORE. My goal was to take his advice and keep my foot off the brake. I was now using 4th gear down the main straight, again up Cimarron Straight towards turn 2, then heading toward turn 7 on Cannonball Baker Straight and finally after coming out of turn 9 on the Martin House Straight, where previously I had stayed in 3rd gear. The track and weather warmed up for the 2nd Feature Race after lunch. It was during this race I put it all together. I finished 6th overall, 3rd in class, with my best lap time ever at Hallett of 1:35. The time difference between 4th place and my 6th place was 1 second. It was the three of us side by side at the finish line. I more lap and I would have come in 4th!
Once again, I can’t thank Mark and Richard enough from keeping the Jag “race ready” the entire weekend. It’s a ton of work and they really gives it 100%. The only real issue we had was a broken wheel stud, which we were able to replace in about an hour and didn’t miss any track time. It was a Fabulous Weekend of Racing!
These are our planned next racing dates. Hopefully, a few JAGSL members will come and cheer us on.
May 10-11 World Wide Raceway, St. Louis
May 17-19 Road America, Elkhart Lake, WI
June 14-16 Blackhawk Farms, S. Beloit, Illinois
Philip Taxman
