Knockhill 26/27th June 2010
After many promises to repay our Scottish contingent with a visit to Knockhill we finally made it 7 years after the last Trophy visit, and what a great weekend it was. We nearly had 20 cars present but 17 was more than I thought would make the long trip north and it was great to see you all there on what turned out to be a dry race weekend although the ‘wets’ made a brief appearance on Sunday before being put away again. We were very fortunate to have a last minute sponsor for the Saturday race in the shape of Bob Masterton who’s company www.FiresandHeatingltd.co.uk sponsored the sun strip and Colin who was very generous with the Sunday’s race title sponsorship in memory of his late father. Big thanks also to Brian and his wife for the Saturday evening BBQ that was enjoyed by all. For those of you who couldn’t come for whatever reason, you missed a real treat but I have a feeling that we may well be visiting again !
Testing
Testing on the Friday saw all of the 17 cars out on track including Phil in Zak’s car again with a hastily delivered engine by yours truly. As usual, testing was with a mixed bunch of cars but our guys certainly put the wind up the Mini Coopers that were present and showed them how to do it. I only stayed for the first of the early evening test sessions and clocked Chris on 1:02.6 and Paul S on a creditable 1:03.6, the later session had the Scottish contingent out but I don’t have any times, needless to say a sub 1 minute was the target to achieve for pole on Saturday. I wasn’t aware of any testing problems so all bode well for the Saturday race.
Qualifying
The Trophy qualifying on the Saturday was a 20 minute session commencing at 10:48. The early order was Paul L, Graham, Colin, Ben and Chris, no surprises there considering who had sneaked an additional test session on the Thursday as well! At 5 mins Paul L was the only one under a minute on 59.9s, Colin also getting under this at 7mins with a 59.88 as Paul improved further. At 10 mins it was Paul, Colin, Graham, Chris and Ben, diito at 15mins and at the flag. Paul took pole with a 59.689 and Colin still the only other sub minute with his 59.88s. Oliver took the Class C (no class D cars present) honours with a 1:02.379 just pipping Paul S. I won’t mention who was behind them in a class B car !
Qualy dramas included Gary with a disintegrated power steering tensioner on lap2 but he was able to continue to the end of the session. Ross had a duff alternator, Phil with a slight cam seal leak, Paul L with a leaking crank seal and Paul S with a leak from the thermostat housing, so, basically everything was OK !
Race 1
The day stayed fine and all 17 cars took the start of our first race at 3.45. Ooops a few thought the green flag lap was the start of the race, I won’t embarrass anybody by naming names here ! The actual start saw Paul L take an immediate lead (maybe we should take a leaf out of the BTCC and alter his 1st gear ratio !) followed by Colin, Graham, Chris and Simon, Ben dropping 2 places to 7th. This order stayed the same until the hairpin on lap 5 when Colin, Graham and Chris tangled the end result being Colin on the grass as the rest streamed by, Colin rejoining in 10th place. Colin proceeded to work his way back through the pack, picking off places from lap 9 onwards. Andrew was off on lap 9 whilst in P7 dropping back to 13th but recovered to finish 10th. Colin got back up to P5 by the last lap knocking Simon down to 6th. Chris had got up to P2 on lap 6 but Graham squeezed by on lap 10 to hold it to the flag. Doug had another good race to take 4th having initially started in 7th place on the grid. At the flag it was Paul L 1.5s clear of Graham then a gap to Chris, Doug and Colin. In his charge back through the pack Colin took the fastest lap with a 1:00.108s.
In the class C race, Dan had forgotten to select 1st gear at the start meaning he brought up the rear for the first 5 laps, however he passed Julia by lap 6 and Charles by lap 9, Charles retook him on lap 12 leaving Dan to finish 16th. Oliver held off Paul S until lap lap 19 when Paul finally clinched the class C honours in P12, Oliver having run as high as 10th in the middle part of the race. Fastest lap went to Ross with a 1:03.163 on lap 10 pipping Paul s by .001s. Julia was suffering and went back to the hotel after the race feeling decidedly unwell, however, hats off to her for finishing the race, she’s a plucky lass ! Driver of the race was awarded to Colin for his fight back from 10th to 5th and for his fastest lap.
Post race problems included body damage for Graham following his tangle with Colin, Simon with a split oil cooler on his slowing down lap plus the dreaded hgf and Paul L with an oil leak.
Race 2
The Sunday race sponsored by Colin had a slightly rushed start catching out several drivers who weren’t quite ready. The Luti car was still on axle stands with gear selection probs as the race was called just making it in time to take his pole position for the warm up lap. Doug in his hurry to do up his race suit busted his zip meaning a quick dash back to change into his spare suit which meant he had to work back through the grid F1 style to take up his position for the start. Graham made an awful start failing to find second gear and lost several places, however a tangle at Duffers saw Charles in the gravel resulting in a red flag and the elimination of Charles as a starter. More drama followed as a fuel leak was spotted under Dan’s car at the restart leading to his car being pushed off the grid much to Dan’s disappointment. The restart therefore dropped the grid down to 15. Graham was lucky as he was able to take up his 3rd place slot and have another go. Once again Paul L held his pole lead with Colin, Graham and Chris in tow, these positions held until lap lap 7 when Graham dropped back to 5th as Doug moved into P3 Chris still holding 4th. Lap 10 saw Graham back up to 4th demoting Chris then into P3 on lap 12 demoting Doug. Bad luck struck on lap 17 as Graham suffered a broken hub flange eliminating him from the results, leaving Paul to take his 2nd win with Colin and Doug taking the other podium places, Colin nursing a holed rad for the last 3 laps ! Other race dramas saw Gary out on lap 8 with no clutch, Oliver in a puff of smoke on lap 10 when a holed rad, following a nudge with Paul S, resulted in the inevitable. Joining him, also on lap 10 was Robin also with a broken hub flange. Fastest lap went to Colin once again with a 59.808s.
Class C was down to 4 starters with Dan a non starter and with Oliver’s engine blow up after leading the class, left 3 drivers competing. Paul S took the win from his class C pole slot and fastest lap on his 9th tour with a 1:02.642, Ross was 3rd and a slightly better Julia 3rd. Driver of the race was awarded to Doug for his P6 grid to P3 finish.
Paul S still leads the championship with 148 points from Chris in second on 136 and Colin third on 125.