2003 race reports archive (by Mike Hogg)

[Catriona]

April 13th, 2003

That was a long winter... A very long winter - but then I say that just after the first round of the SMRC every year. It's great to get back to that small patch of barren land with a couple of green buildings and a 1.3 mile strip of tarmac, the sights, sounds and smells of motorsport. And of course the rain. Except it didn't rain this year! It was a far cry from 2000 when the first round for the SMRC classes was halted by a blizzard - we enjoyed sporadic sunshine and the usual "Knockhill Breeze" (which was chilling to the bone on occasion). In fact the track resembled the Dakar rally more than the usual freezing mudbath at this time of year - dust flew everywhere when cars went off-line. There have been a couple of changes around the facility over the off season with the most notable being the implementation of an interesting looking drainage system on the car park hill. A few new (unidentified) buildings have popped up as well.

***

The first race action of the 2003 season was delivered by the Formula Ford Zetecs - last season was considered a bit dull by most observers although I personally thought the battles at the front of the grid were usually pretty good. Problem was the grids usually comprised of the front of the grid and one or two other entries. This year however the entry list for Rounds 1 and 2 sported the princely sum of 13 cars - almost double the grid size last year. One car did not make the race, George Smith's Swift in fact which could be seen for most of the day sitting in the paddock with heavy rear end damage following a shunt in the practice session.

Race 1 started with the third placed car of Leslie Mitchell failing to complete the green flag lap, promoting 2002 Champion Alan Kirkaldy up one spot after a disappointing qualifying session in his sparkling new Van Diemen. Pole sitter Julian Taylor initially led the way from Kirkaldy and Stuart Thorburn with ex-Fiesta XR2 runner Duncan Vincent surprising a lot of people with his early pace, though he did start to drop back towards the clutches of the following Oliver Mortimer and Derek Butcher. Stuart Thorburn managed to pass his team-mate for second and must have been overjoyed to see Taylor spin his newly liveried white and red Mygale down to fifth, allowing the Graham Brunton Motorsport cars to cruise to a one-two finish, Thorburn staying ahead of Kirkaldy. Taylor fought back in the closing stages, first passing Butcher (who would later lose fifth to Mortimer) and then Vincent into the hairpin on the last lap to take third. Jonathan Adam took the Newcomer class win in seventh overall.

The second race followed in the afternoon with Taylor again taking pole ahead of Kirkaldy, Thorburn and Vincent. Taylor and Thorburn initially led the way from Vincent who started well and passed Kirkaldy. Alan was quick to take the spot back and duly did so, followed through by Leslie Mitchell who was keen to make up for the disappointment of not starting race 1 with a good result this time around. The three of them soon made it a five car train for the lead following Taylor and Thorburn, though a sideways moment across the grass entering McIntyres from Mitchell held up Vincent and spread the field out a little. Kirkaldy managed to catch the lead pair but could not make any moves and the order remained to the end - Taylor taking his first win in six years. Mitchell, Vincent and Mortimer filled out the top six and Jonathan Adam again won the Newcomers class. In the Championship points, Thorburn leads the way on 46 points from Taylor on 44. Kirkaldy is the nearest challenger on 36 with Vincent leading the pack on 26 points.

***

Next out on track was the all-new Scottish Mini Cooper Challenge, adding Scotland to the interesting list of countries running such a series i.e England, Australia, South Africa, Belgium and Japan among others. The cars are race prepared road-legal cars provided by the John Clark Group, a long term backer of Knockhill. The series has been judged in various ways during the off season with some people backing it resolutely and others being merciless in their criticism, durability of the cars themselves being an area of apparent concern. There was also a question mark over the number of entries the series would have, but in the end the field size was quite impressive for a new series - 16 shiny new Mini Coopers lining up on the grid.

The first race got off to a slightly timid start for most drivers, the majority attempting to ensure they got through the first few laps in one piece. As the race wore on, they started to get a bit bolder, hopping the kerbs and looking at overtaking spots. Well, at least until mid-distance that was - Ronald Klos found himself having a massive accident on the main straight just before Duffus which involved his car somersaulting at 90 mph before landing on it's side and demolishing a portion of the tyre wall. Klos was thankfully uninjured but the debris field had to be cleared and tyre wall rebuilt so the red flag was thrown.

When the race was restarted, Alan Keith led away with Alistair McKever in hot pursuit and Michael Connon in a lonely third. McKever took the lead with 2 laps remaining and even pulled away slightly as the chequered flag flew. Behind the top three came ex saloons and sportscars driver Brian Sarafilovic, the celebrity car being driven by Ian Forrest and the two Ecurie Ecosse entries of Alisdair McCaig and Andrew Smith. McKever, however, was excluded from the results later when scrutineers discovered his ABS system had been disabled prior to the race start.

The second race took place later in the afternoon, Alan Keith winning fairly easily from Connon. The Ecurie Ecosse pair of Smith and McCaig were next up followed by McKever who dropped back after an early off. The race was fairly processional, though it is to be expected given the price tag of the cars and the relative lack of experience in the field. There was a lot of promise shown in the first two races of this series and things are likely to improve with time. In the Championship Points Standings, Keith has 52 points, ten ahead of Connon. The Ecurie Ecosse cars of Smith and McCaig are next up on 26 points apiece.

***

The Scottish Legends have long been regarded as a tremendous success story, following their humble beginnings as a six-car field. For the first round of the season, no fewer than twenty of the nimble, motorbike-engined machines took the grid, and this was despite a number of usual suspects being absent - most notably the Caledonian Homes cars of Ian and Caroline McMurdo, Eric McFarlane, James Willis and Jamie Verden-Anderson who has departed for Mini Coopers. Plenty of newcomers are in evidence, as well as some very, how do I put this, "interesting" colour schemes!

The first of the three races unsurprisingly soon found the established fast drivers making their way to the front with Colin Noble, Aly Hunter, Steve Reynolds, Jim Clarke and son Jamie making their way forward. Noble took the win by a miniscule 0.01 of a second from Hunter with a squabbling pack consisting of Reynolds, Ray Davison, newcomer Malcolm Clark and the Clarke Energy/Telecom duo of Jim and Jamie chasing them across the line in a typically frenetic race.

The second heat started with Derek Pierce (his Legend matching the colour scheme of his XR2), Lance Gauld and Ray Davison leading the way but they were soon enveloped by the chasing Noble, Reynolds, Jim and Jamie Clarke and Malcolm Clark. The melee continued for the rest of the race with Davison taking the victory from Pierce who was delighted with his result. Noble took third ahead of an impressive Lance Gauld, Steve Reynolds and Aly Hunter.

The final was arguably the least exciting race of the day but it did have a few highlights, such as Gary Crawford leading the race for a while before dropping back into the field. The winner of the 2002 SMRC "Best Prepared Single Seater" award suffered from various mechanical maladies during the day, the right front inside brake pad seperating from the metal as well as various other niggles. He was happy with his day's racing despite having no testing at all in the run up to the first races of the year. With some of the garish paintschemes on offer it was a relief to see Crawford's fantastic red and white colourscheme again!

Malcolm Clark assumed the lead position in the race and held it to the end to complete a very impressive day, just crossing the line ahead of a charging Colin Noble. Jamie Clarke, Alex Knight and Aly Hunter completed the top five. Lance Gauld was a frustrated 11th after a drive which could have yielded better as he told the ScottishClubRacing forums: "Sadly in the final the red mist came down, after working from 8th to 3rd I started to overdrive the car and had a few comings together that I shouldn't have had. All in all a good day out and it wont take much to keep the car at the right end of the field." We wish him the best with the number 23 car. In the Legends Standings, 2002 Champ Colin Noble leads the way on 555 points followed by Davison, Hunter, Reynolds and Jamie Clarke.

***

Next out were the ever weird and wonderful Saloons and Sportscars - John Muir once again dominated proceedings, originally leading Kevin Adam's ever present Sierra but after a couple of laps he pulled away. The interesting thing to watch was Olly Ross in the Radical - starting at the back with a 30 second penalty (same as last year), he was soon in amongst the rest of the field and he easily picked off a number of cars each lap. Eventually he caught Kevin Adam and soon after being passed, the Falkland Performance car suffered a loud and catastrophic failure on the main straight, depositing all it's oil on it's way to retirement.

Ross continued to reel Muir in but he didn't quite make it - passing the chequered flag 4 seconds behind the Toyota Starlet. 55 seconds behind these two, the battle for third which had been raging all race between Andrew Morrison's MG ZR and the Caterhams of Alistair McKever and Malcolm Johnstone was resolved in the saloon driver's favour. Elsewhere in the field an interesting V8 engined Westfield with full winged bodykit was in evidence (great engine note!) and a race-prepared Volkswagen Corrado with no stickers other than the race number was also out indicating this was a road car up until not long before the race!

***

The Scottish XR2 Championship in association with Kumho Tyres should have opened the day's proceedings with a qualifying race to whittle the field down to 28 starters for the main race but on the day only 24 drivers were in evidence at the track and only one race was required. With no Alan Keith in the XR2s this season, the way was clear for some new faces at the front - Sandy Forrest taking the pole by a fraction from the mercurial Andy Allan. Behind them came Colin Robertson and Nick Sanderson - always not far from each other on track last season, the trend looked set to continue.

When the green lights came on, Allan made a great start to take the lead with Forrest attached to his bumper. On lap 2 a coming together between Sanderson and the Burnbrae car of Dave Colville left a very unhappy NS-R driver embedded in the gravel. He told ScottishClubRacing's forums afterwards: "Then he (Colville) was a bit behind me going into McIntyres - I saw him making a lunge but he was behind so I took a slightly wider line and bang - into the rear side of my car - I caught the initial slide but his car then went up on two wheels and hammered into the front side of my car which speared me off into the gravel."

The race continued with the field beginning to spread out a little, Forrest all over Allan lap after lap but unable to get through no matter what he tried. Contact was occasionally made but they held it together each time until the very last lap when Forrest got alongside Allan's green and yellow car leaving the hairpin. In the dash to the line Forrest nosed slightly ahead and took the victory by 0.25 of a second, leaving Allan a frustrated second. Robertson led home a squabbling group which comprised of himself, Alex Knight, Andrew Martin and Ian Forrest in his brand new car to take third. John Swift won the Newcomers Class by half a second from Richard Reed after a hard battle with Ian Milton third in class.

Four drivers failed to make it to the flag with Sanderson somewhat surprisingly (for the XR2s!) the only victim of an off track excursion. Neil Scott of Team Moon River had several problems in the race, initially losing third gear and then struggling to change gear at all leading to an over-revving of the engine and retirement. Derek McDougall had yet another engine problem with his car leading to another failure to finish but he does at least get quote of the day: "Never mind! Roll on the 27th, and you never know, maybe the lighter wallet will make me quicker!!"

In the Championship points, a win and a pole position gives Sandy Forrest a 7 point lead over Andy Allan on 27 points. Robertson, Knight and Martin follow on 16, 14 and 12 points respectively. In the Newcomers Class, John Swift leads on 26 points from Richard Reed's 21 and Ian Milton lies third on 16.

***

The final event of the day was that of the Scottish Caterham Roadsports. Before the start of each new season the hope is that this series will attract a new batch of drivers and will get into double figures as the potential for great racing is clearly there given the battles of old between Ian Cowie, Derek McMillan and Alasdair McCaig. Sadly it looks like this year could be the same old story for the Caterhams with some new names but, crucially, no Ian Cowie or Derek McMillan in the field. In the race itself only 6 cars took the start, Ecurie Ecosse runners McCaig and Andrew Smith leading the field for the whole race with Malcolm Johnstone keeping them honest. McCaig took the victory by 0.18 of a second from Smith having swapped places a few times in the last few laps, Johnstone right behind them in third showing improved pace over last year and the rest of the field spread out around the circuit.

***

Overall, a fantastic day out to blow away the winter cobwebs. The XR2s, Legends and Saloons & Sportscars are continuing where they left off in great style, the Formula Ford Zetecs look set to really take a step forward this year in terms of quality and quantity and the Mini's have the potential to get pretty good. The only weak link at the moment seems to be the Caterhams but as the season progresses hopefully more competitive entries will come forward. It all happens again on April the 27th with the addition of the Historics and the always entertaining Northern Saloons and Sportscars. We'll be in for a feast of motorsport so make sure you're there!

Full results: www.smart-timing.co.uk/Results%202003_files/Knockhill/13th%20April.pdf

[Catriona]

April 27th, 2003

Having been lulled into a false sense of security by the nice (ish) weather two weeks ago, you could have been forgiven for thinking that we had reverted to the well-known soggy Knockhill if the monsoon proportion showers were anything to go by in the morning. Whilst it never rained for long, it certainly put its back into it and hammered down. Thankfully most of the racing was unaffected by the weather, which was a bonus because the on track action was once again excellent.

***

Legends opened the days action and as ever provided some of the best entertainment of the day. The track was in a state of drying off when they left the pits which added to the sideways moments as the field battled like trojans for 6 laps. John Marshall emerged as the winner ahead of Derek Pierce who managed a fantastic (insane?) double overtaking manouvere on the last lap at the hairpin to pass Jim and Jamie Clarke in their black cars. Ross Mickel made a welcome return to the series and followed this group home in sixth. Colin Noble could be seen taking the "leaping gazelle line" across the infield at the hairpin which unfortunately led to his retirement and Gary Crawford had a very competitive race, running well up despite dropping back to tenth at the end. "The car is flying just now, just have to sort out the driver!" he said later.

The second race was relatively subdued by Legends standards with Noble taking a fairly easy win ahead of a battling Mickel, Jamie Clarke and Ray Davison. The final, however, was fantastic with all sorts of antics going on throughout the field. Noble, Ally Hunter and Malcolm Clark initially pulled away with Noble taking the win and Clark just edging Hunter across the line by a whisker. Further back a large group had been battling for the remainder of the top ten finishing positions and delivered some great racing. Hats off to the whole field for a great final. Colin Noble continues to lead the Championship points with Ray Davison and Malcolm Clark next up.

***

A heavy rainshower hit just before the first Caterham race of the day, soaking the track. Alasdair McCaig got past team-mate Andrew Smith at the start and the two Ecurie Ecosse cars swapped positions a couple of times over the next few laps, no doubt assuming this would be a walkover for their dark blue cars. Out for the first time this year though, Warren Dunbar wanted to spoil the party and once he got past third placed Malcolm Johnstone, he proceeded to worry the Ecurie Ecosse cars, eventually taking second spot from McCaig. He dropped back to third at the end behind Smith and McCaig but continued to push all the way to the end, gaining some appreciative applause from the watching fans.

The second race of the Caterham double header at the end of the day was sadly a procession, only really broken up by the fact that McCaig suffered a spin that dropped him to 4th. A gradual comeback saw him pass Dunbar and then Johnstone quite easily but he did not have time to get on terms with Smith who took his second win of the day. Smith leads the points standings on 73 points to McCaig on 67.

***

After lunch came the two races for the multi-class visiting Northern Saloons and Sportscars, always a very welcome addition on the occasions it makes the trip North. In the Class B,C and D race, Steven Ferguson's black Nissan Pulsar took the victory, keeping a fairly constant two second gap back to local runner Andrew Morrison's MG ZR.

The Class A,E and F race was initially a fierce scrap between the gorgeous Marcos Mantis of Colin Simpson and the very powerful Vauxhall Caterham of Robert Pritchard who tried throughout the race to get past the purple GT car through the corners but could never outdrag it on the straights, eventually finishing 0.80 of a second behind. They were followed home by no less than 6 Westfields.

***

The Mini Cooper Challenge once again had a double header of races with the Ecurie Ecosse pair of Andrew Smith and Alasdair McCaig initially heading the field. Alistair McKever was determined to go for glory though and having taken second from McCaig started to pull away in pursuit of Smith. He took the lead at around half distance, holding it to the end to hold off Smith by just over a second. McCaig, Alan Keith and Michael Connon ran in line to take the remainder of the top five placings.

The second race had a jumbled look to the grid with Alan Keith leading away at the start from Ronald Klos, (in a "spare" car after his heavy shunt 2 weeks ago) Connon and McKever. Arthur Forster had a good race and made it up to second behind Keith at the flag with Connon in third. The entertainment from the race came from a four car battle between Klos, Ian Murray, Steve Mitchell and Jamie Verden-Anderson which spread out a little towards the end but provided some excitement at around half distance. The Ecurie Ecosse cars were not a factor in the race after qualifying towards the back of the field. Alan Keith now holds a 22 point advantage over Michael Connon in the Championship Standings.

***

The Saloons And Sportscars race was a cracker, thanks to the return of Tim Bartlett's Porsche 911 GT2. Along with the ever present turbocharged Toyota Starlet of John Muir and the visiting Marcos of Colin Simpson there was some top class machinery at the front of the field. The LM3000 of Brian Sarafilovic also made a welcome return to the paddock but sadly did not run. At the race start, Olly Ross did not get off the line in his Radical and had to be pushed off the track while Bartlett and Muir got straight down to business and started a ferocious battle for the lead, watched by Simpson. A very rough sounding gear change heralded the end of Muir's top race pace and the car toured to the finish, 1 lap down and in 12th.

Meanwhile, Simpson had started to reel in his fellow GT competitor and the two sportscars battled for several laps until a coming together at Clark caused fatal damage to Bartlett's right rear wheel and put Simpson into the gravel with steam and smoke pouring off his car, meaning both were out of the race. This allowed visiting Northern Saloons Westfield driver Malcolm Turnbull to take a somewhat fortuitous win 6 seconds ahead of Kevin Adam's Sierra Cosworth. Ray Pollock took third in his Escort Cossie just ahead of Andrew Morrison's MG which was a story in itself given that the white Ford had been struggling badly in practice.

***

The Fiesta XR2 grid had a very different look to it this time out with Burnbrae's Andrew Martin on Pole and Nick Sanderson a career best second on the grid. Peter Cruickshank and Colin Robertson made up the second row of the grid with the two Forrests on row three. Chaos on lap one at Duffus saw smoke and car parts all over the place and a number of cars were damaged in varying degrees although Dave Colville was the only car to not continue. Andrew Martin however lost control of his car through McIntyre and crashed out leaving Sanderson to take the lead for the first time.

Nick managed to keep a charging Ian Forrest behind him for 4 laps until the ex-BTCC driver fought his way through at McIntyres. Sanderson battled with championship contenders Andy Allan and Sandy Forrest for a few laps after this point but they worked their way past him and took off in pursuit of the leader, leaving Sanderson to fight off the approaches of Finlay Mickel and Peter Cruickshank. It ended in disaster for him a few laps from the end though when Mickel went wide leaving Clark and nudged the number 6 car into a spin. Sanderson found himself stranded in the middle of the track with a stalled engine and the rest of the field streaming towards him though thankfully everyone could avoid him.

On the last lap at the last corner Sandy Forrest amazingly pulled off the exact same manouvere on Andy Allan with which he snatched the victory in the first round, this time grabbing second place behind his father. Mickel and Cruickshank completed the top five. John Swift took an easy win in the Newcomers Class, with Calum Hume, Richard Reed and Ian Milton battling for second spot all the way to the flag. Several cars got to the finish badly damaged by various incidents, Colin Robertson's car especially so - and his day got worse when both himself and Henry Lowson were excluded from the results.

Another incident of note was the harpooning of Ian Mackie's car by newcomer Ross Marshall (son of John) in his first race. Having battled with the Team Moon River cars of Mackie and Neil Scott for most of the race he lost control of his car into the hairpin and collided heavily with Mackie, causing severe body damage and showering the corner with glass. In the points standings, Sandy Forrest holds a ten point advantage over Andy Allan who is a further 2 points ahead of Ian Forrest.

***

The Formula Ford Zetec race had a controversial beginning when poleman Alan Kirkaldy was knocked into a spin at the hairpin by team-mate Stuart Thorburn who was desperately attempting to take back second from Julian Taylor, who had nipped by at the start. Kirkaldy rejoined last, visably annoyed by the move and proceeded to work his way through the backmarkers and into the midfield. At the front, Taylor had pulled away somewhat while Thorburn and third placed Leslie Mitchell spread out behind him.

Taylor's lead was short lived however as his engine blew spectacularly at Clark Corner promoting Thorburn, Mitchell and Oliver Mortimer into the top three positions. Kirkaldy managed to get up to fifth place at the finish just behind impressive Newcomer Class victor Ryan Cannon who had a very competitive race. Thorburn leads the way in the points standings on 71 points to Kirkaldy's 50 and Taylor's 44.

Full results: www.smart-timing.co.uk/Results%202003_files/Knockhill/27th%20April.pdf

[Catriona]

F3/GTs, May 10th-11th, 2003

It was good news to discover that Club Racing was going to have a part to play in the biggest event of the year at Knockhill this season. (Superbikes don't count - too few wheels!) Formula Ford Zetec, Scottish Minis and the Legends were all brought in to fill out the day's program given that the only visiting series that came up with the F3s and GTs was the Tuscan Challenge. Not much of a problem that as in recent years some real dross has made the trip North alongside some of the big series. This made the whole of race day a really good day out with some real racing from the Club boys and the glamour and big cars that come with the visiting International Series!

***

Formula Ford Zetec was the first race of the day on Sunday and the series was rife with controversy all weekend. The second qualifying session was red flagged by the SMRC officials so that the drivers could be given a warning for corner cutting and crossing the white line. A fair point but there are a couple of problems with this - every single driver in every single car in every single series all weekend did this. And only the Formula Ford drivers were victimised for it. As Alan Kirkaldy mentioned to us in the forum - a cursory glance at the pages of Autosport this week showed no less than Nelson Piquet jr entirely over the kerbing and almost on the grass beyond the grasscrete, so far offline was he. The GT Jaguar and Volkswagen Golf can also be seen to be doing so along with various pictures of the Minis and Tuscans doing the same.

Anyway, two rounds of the series took place on the day, with round 1 opening the festivities. The track was just starting to dry after an earlier rain shower, most of the drivers electing to go out on dry tyres due to the strong wind which would no doubt dry the track very quickly. Julian Taylor was on pole for both races and pulled away into the lead leaving Kirkaldy standing, dropping behind Derek Butcher who was just starting what would be a long day of racing for him. Kirkaldy soon passed the circuit owner and was catching Taylor when the red and white Mygale spun at Clarks, dropping him to last place. Leslie Mitchell also fell off just after passing Butcher and was the only retirement of the race. Kirkaldy won easily, ten seconds clear of the battling Duncan Vincent and Ryan Cannon. Butcher finished fourth with Stuart Thorburn suffering a spin at the hairpin on his way to seventh.

The second round was plunged into farce after a crazy decision by the organisers to declare the race "dry" despite a five minute monsoon hitting whilst the cars were in the holding area. Despite the teams running to race control to request a few minutes to change the cars to wet tyres, they were ignored and the race was started on a sodden track with all the cars on dry tyres. Taylor immediately spun at Duffus and dropped a number of places while Kirkaldy pulled away into the distance. Mitchell once again crashed out while Duncan Vincent held off a determined Stuart Thorburn for second. Taylor fought his way up to fourth at the flag. Not a lot of racing went on in this race simply because of the fact it wasn't really possible with zero grip. The drivers were faced with a very difficult decision - retire from the hopelessly dangerous situation as Derek Butcher did in protest or try and prevent destroying your championship chances by holding on and hoping that the organisers would see sense and red flag the race. This never happened, although by some strange blunder they decided to throw the chequered flag at the end of lap 13 of the 14 lap race.... kind of a fitting end given the saga that had unfolded over the weekend. To see some of the driver's perspectives after all this, a visit to the Scottishclubracing.co.uk forums will give you quite an insight.

***

Of the three visiting series on the day, there wasn't a huge amount of Scottish interest in the races. Ex Scottish Formula Ford Zetec runner Andrew Thompson is a regular in British F3 these days and is working his way up from the midfield. He didn't have a great day at Knockhill however - a large shunt in race 1 when he tripped over a stopped car and ripped off a rear wheel meant a hefty repair job before the second race where he battled in the thick of the pack all race, coming home in 14th position - holding off race 1 victor Clivio Piccione all the way to the flag.

The GTs got into the spirit of things, none moreso than the Xero Corvette which had a large saltire painted on the roof! The Master Motorsport Ultima sported a couple of windscreen mounted saltires as well. Local interest however was on the new Glenvarigill Racing Ferrari 360 as run by Club Racing veteran and Glenvarigill MD Tim Bartlett and Irishman Hector Lester on his first visit to the track. They were on form all weekend, taking GT Cup class pole for the first race although a spin into the Clark gravel by Bartlett early in race 1 lost them a number of laps. Race 2 was far better and the squad took second place at the flag behind Neil Cunningham's Morgan. The team hope to be out a few more rounds this year, including the overseas trip to Spa.

Derek Butcher upped the interest level in the TVR Tuscans by taking to the track in one of the factory's own cars as qualified the previous day by none other than Tim Bartlett who had run a one-off weekend in the series at Croft the week previously. Butcher did a sterling job, taking ninth in the first race and looking to be going even higher in race two until an excursion dropped him back to ninth again at the flag - look out for him on the Sky Sports TVR Tuscan programme next week!

***

The Mini race got underway with Alan Keith leading away but Alistair McKever gave chase and on lap seven made the move that would decide the race at the hairpin, taking the lead and holding it to the end, winning by around a second. Jamie Verden-Anderson came in a lonely third with Ronnie "Santa" Klos (you'll know what I mean if you saw the writing on McKever's rear windscreen) in fourth. The battle for fifth was a bruising and expensive mess when on the last lap but one Findlay Crocker instigated a four wide move out of the hairpin that had to be seen to be believed. Cars banged and crumpled and you could almost hear the accountants' calculators clicking as body panels and suspension parts gave way. Steve Mitchell came through the chaos for fifth place followed by Andrew Smith with Crocker plunging to the back of the field and Michael Connon coming out of the carnage worst off with badly damaged suspension.

***

The Legends races were the best of day with Ray Davison taking the victory in the first heat having led practically the whole way. Jamie Clarke took second having fought his way past Lance Gauld on the last lap for second whilst 5 seconds further back Aly Hunter, Derek Pierce, Steve Reynolds and Finlay Mickel all battled for fourth. The second heat was won by Colin Noble who had spun at the hairpin in the first race and had never managed to get back on terms with the other drivers. He led Jim Clarke home with Aly Hunter having another good race to take 3rd. Further back there was a big battle for 4th place that raged for the whole race, John Marshall eventually taking it with Mickel, Jamie Clarke, Colin Atkinson, Pierce and Gauld all chasing him to the line.

The final was full of incident, a rain shower just prior to the race adding to the excitement. Derek Pierce initially led but lost the point to Noble on lap five, holding on to second to the end with Marshall in third place some 7 seconds behind them. Further back was where all the fun was, with Finlay Mickel going off or spinning at the hairpin on almost every single lap and Steve Reynolds plunging through the gravel two laps in a row. Lance Gauld managed to hold off Jim Clarke for fourth at the flag followed by Jamie Clarke and Hunter.

[Catriona]

June 1st, 2003

Good and bad news on the ever popular weather discussion at Knockhill - for the BRSCC/SMRC two day event the weather was scorching. T-shirts and suncream as far as the eye could see, however this does mean that we've had our quota of good weather for this season and we're doomed to race on a tundra landscape for the rest of the year!

***

The front runners of the Scottish Formula Ford Championship had three races this weekend as the visiting double header of the Northern Formula Ford Championship gave them ample opportunity to get in some racing. The first of the races was on Saturday in the first of the Northern events, however the fact that only three or four cars from South of the Border made the trip North meant that the race was an SMRC drivers' benefit. Alan Kirkaldy took the win by just over a second from Julian Taylor, but never really looked in any danger in what was a fairly static race. Stuart Thorburn followed the top two home 5 seconds further down the road, holding off Ryan Cannon and Jonathon Adam who had swapped places just behind him in the dying laps.

The SMRC encounter had a surprise in store... rookie Jonathon Adam took a brilliant pole position and led the race until lap 10 when a lock-up into McIntyre's lost him the lead to Alan Kirkaldy, who went on to win. Stuart Thorburn also managed to pass to make it a Brunton 1-2 but Adam still managed to bring the car home in 3rd for a great result just ahead of Ryan Cannon. Duncan Vincent was a further 10 seconds back in 5th.

In the second Northern race, Kirkaldy once again took a convincing victory but behind him was an intriguing battle between Taylor, Thorburn, Cannon and Adam. Although there was no passing to be had, the four car dice was a clean one and good to watch as the driver's contemplated making moves on each other. The train split into two towards the end and they all trailed in behind Kirkaldy who had taken a 100% win rate from the weekend's 3 events. In the SMRC standings, it looks like a two horse (or should that be cow given the Brunton team's affectionate names for their cars!) race at the moment with Kirkaldy and Thorburn on 127 and 116 points respectively.

***

The Legends were the usual top class entertainment, with Heat 1 suffering from a dose of mayhem at Duffus at the start, causing a number of cars to be held up. John Marshall took up the lead position but an off-track excursion dropped him to fifth at the flag. This allowed Malcolm Clark to take his first win of the year, though it wasn't made easy for him given that he crossed the line with Colin Noble, Jim Clarke and Aly Hunter all timed at less than one second behind him. Ray Davison and Jamie Clarke were the only other cars within a few seconds of the top runners at the end.

In the second Heat, Jamie Clarke took the flag after an epic and sometimes three wide battle between himself Noble and Davison with Derek Pierce and Aly Hunter keeping a watching brief. It was a great struggle and places changed hands a number of times. Jim Clarke and Lance Gauld came home next with a further five cars covered by just over a second battling to the end over the last few places in the top ten, Colin Atkinson, Malcolm Clark and the returning Ian McMurdo grabbing the spots.

The final was something of an anti-climax unfortunately, firstly because John Marshall stretched out a healthy lead but secondly due to the red flag being flown for the car of James Wantling who had overturned in the gravel at Duffus having tried to avoid the damaged car of Malcolm Clark. Thankfully Wantling could be found wandering the paddock soon after, dusty but none the worse for wear. His car however was looking a bit bent and will need a bit of TLC before the next round of the series.

The official result showed a top five of John Marshall, Derek Pierce, Colin Noble, Jamie Clarke and Lance Gauld. Fifth place was a just reward for Gauld as he is continuing to struggle with the less powerful 1200cc power unit whilst most of the front runners use the 1250cc engine. However, as he told ScottishClubRacing.co.uk's forums afterwards, he had an interesting Final. "The final went well from seventh, was up to 4th at the end of the first lap including a sweet pass on two cars at the hairpin which raised the pulse a bit" he commented afterwards, refering to a daring dive through the middle of two cars at Taylor's which worked perfectly and looked spectacular. "then raced with Alex Knight , who made a mistake and spun at Duffus handing me third but I could see Jamie Clarke and Colin Noble coming and they both got me on the straight before the red flag."

***

The Caterham race saw the debut of Ian Cowie's brand new car with a striking red colourscheme with cream racing stripes. The race was a procession however with the Ecurie Ecosse cars of Andrew Smith and Alasdair McCaig easily winning ahead of Cowie and Johnstone.

***

The Saloons And Sportscars race was dominated by the visiting field of Crossles, with Ray Moore taking the win. The first non-Crossle to finish was Kevin Adam's Sierra in fifth followed by Jonathon Young's Westfield and Andrew Morrison's MG-ZR. Surprisingly there was no John Muir Toyota Starlet or Glenvarigill Porsche in evidence.

***

The Scottish Mini Coopers once again had a double header, though anyone who was expecting them to take it easy in Race 1 to get their cars safely into the second round as well was in for a surprise. Alistair McKever initially led the field away with Alan Keith, Celebrity Car driver Jillian Butcher, Mike Connon and the Ecurie Ecosse cars, one of which was about to start the chain of bruising events in this race. Coming down towards the hairpin on lap 2, Alasdair McCaig appeared to lose control of his car and he slid down the inside of a number of cars before connecting heavily with Alan Keith who was in the midst of turning through the tight corner. Both cars were heavily damaged in the incident, and McCaig would not be seen again that day, the official reason for the incident being listed as brake failure. Confusion followed as the marshalls were instructed to break out the black and yellow quartered flags, however a number of drivers did not appear to notice them, continuing to race and mixing up the order.

After a lap or two the field had sorted itself out and the majority of the debris field at the hairpin had been cleared so the green flag flew again. Jillian Butcher dived up the inside of Steve Mitchell into Taylor's and tipped his car sideways but he held it and continued. McKever settled into a good race pace at this point however disaster struck on lap 11 and his car ground to a halt coming up the hill towards the pits, the officials deeming it to be in an unsafe location and red flagging the race. This gifted the victory to the ever consistent Michael Connon who was classified three seconds ahead of Ronnie Klos, who was lucky to be racing having rolled his car the day before. Andrew Smith and Jillian Butcher battled to the line six seconds behind the winner, with Rhona Saravilovic taking a great fifth place ahead of Findlay Crocker, Mitchell, Arthur Forster and Ian Murray. National Legends ace Robin Drysdale made a welcome appearance to take the original cream coloured car driven (and sadly badly damaged) by Ronnie Klos in the first round of the series back in April to a top ten finishing position.

The second race was all about Jillian Butcher. To begin with she almost did not make the start given that three top drivers in Keith, McCaig and McKever all attempted to gain the use of the Celebrity Car, as their Minis had all suffered problems in the first round. This seemed to be something of a gray-area in the rules but it was pointed out in the end that the celebrity car was not a series "T-car" but could only be driven by a series regular if given to them by the guest as was the case in the second round of the Championship a month or so ago when the car was offered to Findlay Crocker by the guest at that event. This meant that Butcher would race, but McCaig and McKever would not - their cars not fit to race. Iain Cowie Racing did a fine job in getting Alan Keith on track, fixing the right-rear accident damage from the first race and getting him back on track.

When the race got underway, Jillian Butcher's past racing experience came to the fore and she passed both Smith and Klos before Duffus before taking the lead from Connon into the aptly named Butchers section of the track! Perhaps spooked by the chaos in the first race, the drivers settled down into a rythym and the top four spread out after Klos had moved into second and he ended up 2.2 seconds behind Butcher at the flag and half a second ahead of Connon. Smith followed them home a further second behind. The remainder of the field was a long way back with Arthur Forster taking a lonely fifth ahead of Steve Mitchell. Alan Keith grabbed seventh at the hairpin on the last lap from Ian Murray having started from the back and he retains his lead at the top of the points standings with an 18 point advantage over Connon.

***

The XR2s were as good as ever and another surprise qualifying session threw up Colin Robertson as the pole position man. He was followed by the Forrests (Sandy ahead of his dad), Nick Sanderson (who was delighted to post his first ever sub 65 second lap) and Andy Allan. Forrest Senior beat Junior off the line to follow Robertson into Duffus. Andy Allan eventually passed Sanderson for fourth though he retired into the pitlane not soon after. Things then started happening with Ian Forrest passing Robertson for the lead into the hairpin and Sandy also getting past the Burnbrae Garage car on the next lap. Sanderson was struggling a little and a missed 3rd gear into the hairpin not long after the lead change dropped him behind Alex Knight and Dave Colville. Robertson was not giving up on trying to fight back against the Forrests and proceeded to attempt a pass on Sandy, the two cars touching briefly but keeping going. Ian Forrest eased away from the two behind him to take the victory by a second and a half from Sandy and Robertson.

After the race however, Robertson was disqualified from the result for a technical infringment. This promoted Dave Colville to a lonely third having pulled away from a big scrap between Knight, Derek Pierce, Sanderson and Andrew Martin which finished in that order. Great battles could be found all down the field, even the battle right at the back between Derek McDougall, Alastair Hart, Richard Reed and Simon Laing which occasionally saw pieces of bodywork scattered on the track.

Another notable (and unfortunate at the same time) incident was the debut of John Findlay's brand new car which saw him qualify a very respectable 11th. However his race would be curtailed when he spotted his left rear wheel overtake him through Clarks... to stop the car rolling he headed straight for the tyre barrier but the gravel did its job and slowed him down enough that he didn't connect too hard. His petrol tank had been holed as well however and his car proceeded to bleed to death in the paddock afterwards. Not the best of debuts but the promise is there!

Full results: www.smart-timing.co.uk/Results%202003_files/Knockhill/31st%20May.pdf

[Catriona]

June 22nd, 2003

With this being the last opportunity for the SMRC classes to take to the track for close to 2 months, hopes were high of a good race meeting to keep us going while we waited for August the 10th to come around.

Hopes like that are easily realised when The Legends have two rounds (ie 6 races) on the bill - and as usual they did not disappoint. The first heat of the day was a Clarke Energy/Telecom benefit with the father and son team pulling away to victory after John Marshall spun off at the chicane. Colin Noble pulled off two overtaking moves on the last lap to get ahead of Derek Pierce and Aly Hunter while Gerard McCosh led a group containing the majority of the field from 8th down across the line to help cement his progress towards the "Most Entertaining Driver of the Day" award.

The second heat started with Ray Davison taking the lead whilst right behind him Lance Gauld, John Marshall and Aly Hunter attempted the hairpin three wide - Hunter losing out in the exchange and running through the gravel. Noble then joined the front three and they fought as a group which then grew to five when Pierce joined in. Into Duffus, however, contact amongst the leaders put Davison and Marshall off the track and too the back of the field. Noble grabbed the lead and held it to the end, crossing the line still locked in combat with Gauld and Pierce. The two Clarkes followed to complete the top five.

The Round 1 Final started with Malcolm Clarke and John Marshall leading away whilst the other fast runners had to work their way through from the back. Soon after Ray Davison took the lead, Alex Knight had what has to have been the biggest mechanical failure ever on a Legend, when his engine grenaded itself at the hairpin and he went off backwards into the gravel, and then unwisely regained the track and emptied his oil sump all over the racing line all the way up to the pitlane entrance. Legends speared off in all directions on the oil with Lance Gauld getting beached in the gravel. As this had happened behind the leaders they were not aware of the situation but as seems too prevalent in motorsport as a whole these days, they did not seem to take full heed of the yellows and red and yellow striped oil flags and proceeded to fly off the track into the hairpin gravel on the oil. The red flags were then thrown and a lengthy halt was called while what looked like several tonnes of cement dust was laid down on the slick. A 3 lap restart followed with Clark leading Davison away. Davison took the lead again just as Hunter retired into the pitlane with yet another mechanical failure in what was proving to be a surprisingly bad day for reliability with Marshall also pulling off. Davison took the win from Clark, both Clarkes once again and Pierce. Noble was next up with Gauld taking an excellent 7th despite having been stuck in the gravel.

But we weren't finished. The first heat for the Second Round of the day was led initially by Pierce though Davison took over the point on lap 5. A move to try and get the lead back at the hairpin saw Pierce lose a spot to Malcolm Clark though an excellent move by Jamie Clarke saw him pass both of them at Duffus for second. Noble also worked his way past Pierce at the flag.

The second heat saw Colin Noble lead the whole way despite mounting pressure from the Clarkes towards the end with Jim finishing ahead of Jamie. Derek Pierce was the only other driver in sight of them at the flag with Gerard McCosh taking a well driven fifth place to lead home Davison.

The Final started with the usual battles all the way through the field as the fatser drivers worked their way forward, although Lance Gauld found himself in the gravel and out of the race following a coming together with Alasdair Thom. A lot of shuffling of positions took place as a large group fought over the lead for the entire race. It all came down to the last lap at the hairpin with Colin Noble, Malcolm Clark and Derek Pierce going through three wide. They crossed the line in that order, all covered by half a second with Jim Clarke right behind them. A second or two back, Alex Knight, (amazingly back out again after a lot of work no doubt!) Davison, Roger Quinn and Gerard McCosh all crossed the line tied together to end a breath-taking race. The multi-round Legend SMRC meetings are usually brilliant and this one was no exception. In the Championship Points, Colin Noble has a healthy looking lead over both Clarkes and Davison.

***

The Ecurie Ecosse cars proceeded to dominate the early stages of the Scottish Caterham race, though once Iain Cowie had worked his way past George Brewster he managed to force Alistair McCaig into making an error that promoted him to second. A brave move by Malcolm Johnstone saw him pass McCaig into the hairpin and they drove through Duffus side by side, the orange machine emerging ahead. The two continued their battle to the end with McCaig passing, only to be passed back though he got a run on Johnstone which saw him manage to take third again at the flag. He finished 5 seconds behind Cowie who in turn was five seconds behind race-long leader Andrew Smith.

***

The visiting Pickup trucks were a very welcome and extremely exciting addition to the racing, and although Kevin Clarke won each of the two rounds with relative ease, the racing further back was absolutely fantastic and was very much like the Legends with the large trucks going through the hairpin two wide on several occasions, though almost always with next to no contact.

Battles raged throughout the field (sometimes anything up to 12 trucks fighting over one position!) with very good racecraft and straight-forward clean racing entertaining the crowds.

Forget the BTCC - this is what we want to see back at the track next season!

***

The first of the day's Mini Cooper Challenge races started with Michael Connon leading away from a well deserved pole-position followed by Alistair McKever and Alan Keith. On track confusion allowed Andrew Smith to get past both of them on lap 3 and he followed that up with a great overtaking manouvere into the hairpin to take the lead. McKever then got into gear and after dispatching Connon for second then hunted down Smith to take the lead away. An effort to get the lead back didn't come off and Smith had to settle for 2nd at the flag ahead of Connon. Keith finished in a lonely fourth with Steve Mitchell and Ronnie Klos taking 5th and 6th from the back of the grid.

The second race proved to be a procession with Keith passing Connon for third on the line. McKever took the victory ahead of Andrew Smith once again. Connon, Smith and Keith are all tied together within a few points at the top of the standings.

***

The first start in the Scottish XR2 race was aborted following a heavy crash for John Swift who was thankfully unhurt. At the second time of trying, Colin Robertson made an excellent start to pass poleman Ian Forrest and the two of them pulled away a little from Sandy Forrest who soon found himself a little lonely in third with a big battle for fourth raging a little way behind him. He started to catch the leaders once again though and just after Forrest Snr once again took the lead, Sandy forced his way past the Burnbrae car to take second from Robertson. Some cars had pulled away from the battling midfield and Robertson found himself being passed by his Burnbrae team-mate Dave Colville though the two of them would pass each other a couple of times in the coming laps. Andy Allan also got involved in their melee and got past Colville right at the end.

The Forrests crossed the line covered by 0.29 of a second with Ian taking the win from Sandy. Robertson, Allan and Colville crossed the line in that order 4 seconds behind the leaders but covered by half a second. Peter Cruickshank took a lonely 6th spot with a long term battle between Alex Knight, Derek Pierce and Nick Sanderson over seventh finishing in that order. A six car battle over 11th went in favour of Finlay Mickel just ahead of the Newcomer Class top 3 in Ian Milton, Callum Hume and Richard Reed. Sandy Forrest and Ian Forrest are now separated by one point but are well clear in the points.

***

The Formula Ford Zetec race saw Alan Kirkaldy lead away from pole with Stuart Thorburn taking second from the impressive Oliver Mortimer with a daring move at the hairpin on the first lap. Behind them a fierce battle between Ryan Cannon, Duncan Vincent, Jonathon Adam and Julian Taylor saw three wide moves into the hairpin and all sorts of impressive moves.

It couldn't last forever though and Cannon went off at the hairpin. A pitstop for repairs saw him rejoin later. The field spread out slightly with Vincent and Taylor fighting very hard over fifth until Taylor spun it away at Duffus. A last gasp effort for the lead around the outside at the hairpin came to nothing for Thorburn and he dutifully followed Kirkaldy across the line for second with Mortimer some four seconds further back.

***

The Saloons and Sportscars race was something of a procession from start to finish with John Muir taking the win by 12 seconds from Kevin Adam who in turn was some way clear of Jonathon Young's Westfield.

Full results: www.smart-timing.co.uk/Results%202003_files/Knockhill/22nd%20June.pdf

[Catriona]

August 10th, 2003

Sunday the 10th of August has gone down in history as the hottest day ever in the United Kingdom and that wasn't restricted to the South Coast. It took a while to appear, but when the sun found its way out from behind the clouds we soon found out that the week long heatwave hadn't come close to ending. Though if it was a tough day beside the track for the spectators, on track it was twice as difficult - especially for the drivers of of the assorted tin-tops and sportscars in the baking conditions.

***

The Legends were the first of two races out before the lunch-break, and at this stage of the day the weather was cloudy and warm but not too bad. Colin Noble led the field away originally but he usually seems happier in a pack of weaving Legends than he is on his own on track and went off course briefly, rejoining in the midst of the midfield battle. Jamie Clarke and Ray Davison battled it out for the win over the remaining laps but Clarke was always in front and duly took the victory just ahead of the 88 car. Four seconds further back Malcolm Clark led home a big struggle between himself, Jim Clarke (nice and easy for the commentators with three Clark(e)s in the top four!), Lance Gauld and Noble who had briefly grabbed fifth only for Gauld to pull one of his trademark late braking moves out of the hat at the hairpin on the final lap. Gerard McCosh was a creditable 7th.

Gauld was in fine form for the second heat, taking the lead from fourth at the start. Along with Jamie Clarke and Derek Pierce he started to pull away. As if it wasn't baking enough at this point, things got even hotter for Jim Clarke when he left the track backwards at full speed and collided with the tyre barrier, bursting into flames briefly as his fuel cell ruptured. Mercifully he was uninjured but the car was done for the day and possibly forever. Distracted by the yellows, Gauld slowed a little too much and soon found himself in third as Clarke Jnr (the irony of the circumstances leading to him taking the lead of the race...team orders?!) and then Pierce found their way by. Colin Noble and Ray Davison closed up to the top three at the end but could not mix it with them while Gerard McCosh had yet another impressive race, a three-wide move at the hairpin on the last lap gaining him 6th place.

The final started with Colin Noble doing a passable impression of Lance Gauld's first lap in Heat 2 by going from fourth to the point in the space of the first lap, taking the lead from Colin Atkinson who was starting from pole after a truly terrible day. Jamie Clarke stuck to Noble like glue, determined to take the unique prize of winning all three Legends races in a day. He never had the chance to try however as the red flag was thrown after 6 laps following a very large incident at Duffus and the result was called with Noble classified ahead of Clarke, Aly Hunter, Pierce and Daniel Clark who had an impressive race. The accident itself occured when Roger Quinn, Ian McMurdo and Alistair Thom all entered the dip but only McMurdo came back out again, sporting a very large gash up the left rear of his car. Thom arrived back in the pits with his car on a tow truck and some very broken suspension pieces. Sadly Roger Quinn was not to be found back in the paddock as his car had suffered some severe damage and had clearly been end over end given that every single part of the car was damaged. Quinn was taken to hospital for a CAT scan and despite heavy bruising seems to be otherwise unhurt. Thanks to Lance Gauld for the update and the following quote which summed up the day quite well: "Another crazy weekend on the Legends funny farm!"

***

The Scottish Caterhams have had a hard time of it this year with occasionally sparse grids, despite off-season promises of large numbers of the speedy single seat sportscars, and a large gap in the relative skill and experience levels of the regular drivers usually leading to something of a procession. That the Caterhams produced one of the best races of the day then was something of a surprise, albeit a pleasant one. A fabulous five-car battle for the win raged for the whole 15 lap event, with it being anyones guess as to who would come out on top.

Crowd favourite had to be George Brewster who fought his way to the front with some demon late-braking moves and he swapped the lead with Ian Cowie a number of times in the early laps with the Ecurie Ecosse cars of Alistair McCaig and Andrew Smith watching and waiting, having lost the front two places early on. Brewster dropped back towards the end and the Ecurie Ecosse cars pounced on Cowie when the ICR chief had a brief off to take the one-two for the team. Amazingly the finishing order (McCaig, Smith, Cowie, Brewster and Malcolm Johnstone) was identical to the starting order despite the huge shake-up in positions during the race. It was a joy to watch the Caterhams going into the hairpin three wide and more of this in the future would be a very good thing!

***

The visiting Northern Saloons and Sportscars as usual brought a number of weird and wonderful cars to the circuit and the grid was split into two different races. The Class B, C and D race was a Scottish runner benefit in the main with Allister McMillan taking a great win in his Escort Cosworth, ahead of Tony Caig's Fiesta and Andrew Morrison's ever distinctive MG ZR.

Ray Pollock was next up in his Escort Cossie. Robert Pritchard's Vauxhall Caterham won the Class A, E and F race by a country mile from John Muir in his Toyota Starlet who worked his way up from last on the grid. David Bone led the Westfield pack home in third.

***

Ryan Cannon and Jonathan Adam did a good job of shaking up the establishment in the Formula Ford Zetecs by locking out the front row of the grid. The two ex-karters are pretty much tied at the top of the Newcomer standings and looked set to make the race their own. They originally pulled away from the pack with Oliver Mortimer continuing his recent impressive form by working his way past Julian Taylor.

A battle between Duncan Vincent, Derek Butcher and Sarah Playfair ended in disaster, however, when a late braking move by Vincent caused him to lose it at the hairpin and he spun lazily into the path of Playfair, the resulting incident causing a fair bit of damage to both cars and sending Charles Glancy Senior (in his first race standing in for his son) across the gravel. The track was blocked so the red flags flew while the wrecks were recovered while Vincent and Playfair walked off up the track, Vincent no doubt pondering his worst racing weekend in some time following sections of his car being run over earlier in the weekend (hence large quantities of blue tank tape in evidence) and other parts of it being fire damaged as well.

Jonathan Adam took the lead from Cannon at the restart and as the entire field tried to fit through the hairpin together, Cannon clipped the back of another car and took off briefly, going wide and losing a number of places. A trademark move by Alan Kirkaldy on the last lap around the outside of the hairpin compounded Cannon's misery and dropped him to fifth at the flag just ahead of Stuart Thorburn as the top six crossed the line together.

This wasn't the end of it though. An old controversial subject was re-opened when Mortimer, Taylor and Cannon were docked 10 seconds for corner cutting meaning the result was transformed into a Jonathan Adam win ahead of Kirkaldy, Thorburn, Butcher and George Smith.

***

The Scottish Mini Cooper Challenge made its last visit to Knockhill this season with Alan Keith and Alistair McKever as usual making the pace. The two of them pulled away from the chasing scrum initially with around ten cars battling over third place until the field started to spread out. Steve Mitchell and Ian Murray started to inch away from the rest of the field and a forceful move by Murray at the hairpin at around mid distance saw Murray take a third place which he would keep to the end. Michael Connon pulled away from the field to catch up to these two but was unable to make a move in the time remaining, taking fifth at the flag.

Keith took the win from McKever at the end despite close attendance by the driver of the silver car while Murray was a delighted third having completely destroyed his car on the Jim Clark Rally (end over end followed by five barrell rolls apparently!). Rhona Sarafilovic took a great sixth spot, holding of Jamie Verden-Anderson to the end whilst Derek Butcher jumped straight from his Formula Ford Zetec into the Celebrity Mini to come home in ninth, just behind Ronnie Klos and just ahead of Alastair McCaig.

***

The XR2s took to the track when the weather was at its hottest and poleman Sandy Forrest immediately took the lead ahead of Nick Sanderson who had qualified a great second. Colin Robertson made it past Sanderson in the run to Duffus while Dave Colville made a demon start and passed both Ian Forrest and Sanderson on the first lap to take third. While Sandy pulled away, Colville took second place from his Burnbrae team-mate while the top four started to leave the rest behind, Ian Forrest trapped behind Peter Cruickshank after a poor getaway.

After getting past the similarly coloured car, Forrest Snr started to pull in the top four, who were holding themselves up in the battle for the lead. Passes on Sanderson and Robertson saw him finish third at the flag though he could not make any further progress as winner Sandy Forrest and Colville had pulled away. Sanderson took fourth from Robertson in the closing laps to record his best ever finish although he had to defend hard to repel a last lap charge by the Burnbrae car. Cruickshank was next up, shadowed to the line by Andy Martin and a further five seconds back Stewart Scott held off Newcomers class winner John Swift for eighth. Alastair Hart and Henry Lowson followed Swift home to complete the Newcomer top three. The no-show of Andy Allan this weekend has elevated Sandy Forrest even further in the Championship Standings, so he is looking increasingly difficult to catch. It gets very busy for the XR2 drivers from now on, with both of the remaining SMRC meetings having double headers.

***

The Scottish Saloon And Sportscar race was dominated by Robert Pritchard's impressive Vauxhall Caterham which took the victory by twenty three seconds from Olly Ross in the Radical. The result could have been different had Ross not suffered from an intermittent gearing problem which often saw him floundering out of the hairpin with no-drive. Despite this he took second place. Kevin Adam finished third with John Muir fourth after a long battle with Jonathon Young's Westfield. A new car of interest was the large yellow open-topped Triumph TR8 of David Gray which made a fantastic throaty rumble with it's 4000cc powerplant.

Full results: www.smart-timing.co.uk/Results%202003_files/Knockhill/10th%20August.pdf

[Catriona]

September 14th, 2003

The unusually good year of weather at Knockhill continued for this meeting; despite some drizzle dampening the track in the morning practise sessions, it held off on a day in which Touring Car stars would grace Scotland's Motor Racing Centre, an unexpected Demolition Derby would take place and, most importantly, the king of the Legends for 2003 would be crowned in the last three races for the series this year.

***

The Scottish Legends have (as usual) had a stellar year - and this season has without much doubt been easily the best in the series' four year history. Coming into the final round of the year Colin Noble and Jamie Clarke were separated by a tiny points difference and it was all to play for. Would Noble win it yet again or would Clarke finally knock the master off his throne?

22 of the cars lined up for the first heat of the day with a number of new faces taking up the rookie spots at the back of the field. Indeed, a number of regulars elected to start in the "midfield" to avoid what was likely to be some very serious racing at the front. All eyes were on Noble and Clarke at the start and they duly made their way to the front of the pack. Once Clarke was in front he showed his class by keeping his car there for the remainder of the race and he led Noble across the line by a second and a half at the flag. Twelve seconds down on the title protagonists, Derek Pierce finished a lonely third, four seconds ahead of the battling Jim Clarke, Steve Reynolds, Malcolm Clark, Ray Davison, Ian McMurdo and Alex Knight who all indulged in a hefty wheel banging match up to the end - it was clearly the last day of school! All the cars finished the race except for the unfortunate Lance Gauld who had been showing good pace until a sheared half-shaft saw the end of his race. Returnee Gary Crawford also suffered with a mishandling car and dropped to the back towards the end.

In the second heat, Derek Pierce took an immediate lead which was never to lose - pulling away from the battling pack almost straight away and crossing the line 10 seconds clear of second placed Lance Gauld who, after getting clear of the battling pack, was able to keep a constant 2 second gap to a pack which got more ferocious every lap. Colin Noble made to the front of this group after Jim Clarke and Malcolm Clark had a fairly hefty incident at the hairpin, dropping both to the back. Both Noble and Jamie Clarke passed Colin Atkinson on the last lap to finish third and fourth. Ray Davison and and Steve Reynolds led a huge group across the line for the minor placings.

The final can be considered the first race win of the year for ScottishClubRacing.co.uk! (Not counting Alan Kirkaldy who joined our forums having already won multiple races, of course) Lance Gauld (regular contributor to our forums) took the lead early on and kept his car on the road to take victory by a couple of seconds from the battling group of Derek Pierce, Malcolm Clark, Ray Davison and Jim Clarke - all of which were covered by two seconds at the chequered flag in a desperate battle. So what of the title contenders? Unfortunately fate got involved in the title battle and after a brush with the tyre wall at the chicane, Colin Noble suffered broken suspension at the hairpin which pitched his car into the gravel backwards. Having no doubt seen this, Jamie Clarke kept out of trouble and came home just behind the battling group at the front to take 6th place and the 2003 Scottish Legends Championship. Whilst Clarke took the spoils of victory, Noble immediately busied himself in the damaged suspension pieces to no doubt take his mind off the disappointment of losing the title in such a fashion.

So it's a very well done to Jamie Clarke for taking the Championship and to Lance Gauld for taking his first race win. That's it for the Legends in 2003 as a number of them are heading Stateside next month for the World Series of Legends. Farewell little cars - see you in 2004.

***

The visiting rounds of the MG Mayflower Trophy brought a touch of class to the circuit with MG Works Touring Car drivers Anthony Reid and Colin Turkington taking part; Reid in a Works liveried MG ZR and Turkington trying out one of the open-topped MG TFs. Front runner Barry Benham had written off Reid's chances in the races but was made to eat his words with the Scot winning both events with some ease - all the more impressive given that after a poor start in the first race, a coming together with another car put Reid in the gravel. He mounted a great comeback and fought his way back to the front to take the victory with Turkington in second. A simple win for Reid in the second race followed with Turkington failing to finish due to mechanical problems. The races were also notable for the inclusion of one David Coulthard in one of the MG ZRs!

***

The Caterham race was a close fought battle at the front between three cars, Andrew Smith initially taking the lead and keeping it until around half distance when Ian Cowie took the point in a brand new Caterham which he is attempting to sell on. Alistair McCaig watched proceedings just behind them in third, never quite able to make a move and despite a lot of pressure right up to the end, Smith was unable to get past Cowie - finishing 0.22 seconds down. Malcolm Johnstone was a lonely fourth with Alan Keith making another start in the category in fifth.

***

The Fiesta XR2s get a double header in the last two meetings of this season and this was the first of them. To say the first race was utter chaos would be something of an understatement, and a lot of drivers came away from it wishing they "had stayed in bed" to quote one Nick Sanderson. Finlay Mickel took pole position in the drizzle stricken qualifying session followed by the Forrests and the impressive John Swift - easily the best Newcomer Class qualifier.

At the start, Mickel immediately threw his car off the road in his typical flamboyant way and ended up in the mid-pack. Sandy Forrest took the lead whilst intense and sometimes expensive battling went on through the field. Andy Allan worked his way from tenth on the grid up to second and took the fight to Forrest until the black and yellow chequered flags came out to remove a number of damaged cars from dangerous positions. This included the jinxed car of John Findlay which was sporting severe damage caused by running into Nick Sanderson's spinning car and then being harpooned in the rear by Peter Cruickshank. Findlay has had nothing but terrible luck with his new car ever since he got it (some people have pointed the finger at its bright yellow interior!) but this was the final straw. The car was very badly caved in at the back with severe damage to the right front and it remains to be seen if he will race again this year. Cruickshank's car took a good bit of damage to the left front side while Sanderson's driver door was punched in and there were fears for his rear axle.

At the restart of the race, Sandy Forrest suffered a rare mechanical failure and dropped out, Allan taking the lead until a heavy off which ended up with his car resembling Sanderson's with severe driver side damage. With Ian Forrest dropping back, Finlay Mickel somewhat amazingly found himself back in the lead once again and he kept the car on the black stuff to take the win. Colin Robertson and Dave Colville both had spells at the front but in the end had to settle for second and third places with Ian Forrest and John Swift completing the top five. To complete the rolling wrecks gallery, Derek McDougal was punted off into the tyres leaving the hairpin and despite a mangled looking front end he still managed to make it to the flag.

The second race sported a depleted grid of only 22 cars and started as the first race finished. This meant that Finlay Mickel would start from pole but retirees such as Sandy Forrest, Andy Allan and Alex Knight would be forced to start at the back. Mickel led away again but within a few laps left the track and didn't rejoin this time. This left Dave Colville in the lead and he made the most of the chance, pulling away slightly from Ian Forrest and his Burnbrae team-mates Colin Robertson and Andrew Martin. An off for Colville soon dropped him back to fourth however and he stayed there to the flag behind the front three. Alex Knight had the best race of the quick runners having to come through from the back and he took fifth place with Sandy Forrest six seconds back in sixth place. John Swift took seventh to take his second Newcomer Class victory of the day with Richard Reed second and Derek McDougall third in class. McDougall especially had his best showing to date running well up in the top ten until a couple of mistakes dropped him down the field a little. Ian Forrest now leads son Sandy by 20 points going into the last two rounds in October so it looks difficult to see how Sandy could catch Forrest Snr but time will tell!

***

The Formula Ford Zetec race wasn't without incident either. Series standouts this season Ryan Cannon and Jonathon Adam once again made up the front row and at the start they maintained that position. Alan Kirkaldy made up for a poor starting slot by passing Adam for second and an attempt by the Newcomer to take the place back again backfired and he dropped to fourth behind Stuart Thorburn.

An attempt by Thorburn to pass Kirkaldy on the outside of the hairpin ended in disaster for the team-mates when Kirkaldy drifted high into the black and white car and they locked together, Kirkaldy going off course and losing a sidepod. A pit stop for repairs lost him 3 laps in the pits and he was classified as the last finisher. Thorburn's left front suspension eventually collapsed and he attempted to tour to the finish, not quite making it and ending up one lap down in seventh. All of this allowed Cannon to run to an easy victory with Adam in second. A superb battle for third place lasted for much of the remainder of the race with Derek Butcher eventually finishing ahead of Neil Fisher, Sarah Playfair and an off-pace Julian Taylor, the four cars covered by under a second at the line.

***

The Saloons And Sportscar race was an easy win for John Muir in his Toyota Starlet after the ex DTM Sierra of Barclay Dougall dropped out. The LM3000 of Brian Sarafilovic started from the pits and carved it's way through to second place, suffering a misfire on route which prevented it from going for the race win. The quite incredible Daimler Soverign of Richard Carr made its debut, Carr switching from his usual Fiesta. The car resembles an aircraft carrier in size and clearly has road-going suspension as it bounced around all over the place when bumping over the kerbs but for sheer entertainment value it was hard to fault, despite being easily the slowest thing entered in the series for quite some time. Kudos to Carr for being brave enough to run it!

Full results: www.smart-timing.co.uk/Results%202003_files/Knockhill/14th%20September.pdf

[Catriona]

October 19th, 2003

This has been an astonishingly short season - well, not really, it just feels that way... Seems like only yesterday that we arrived back at the track in April for the first races of the year to the chorus of voices saying "Where's the rain?" (Incidentally, it made an appearance both early and late on Sunday but at least the races were dry!)

***

The Saloons and Sportscars were having their turn at a Double Header meeting this weekend and in Race 1 John Muir ran out a convincing victor with an eight and a half second lead over Kevin Adam's Falkland Performance Sierra. Raddy Saravilovic once again brought the purple Crossle out to play and took third place for his efforts. Olly Ross in the Radical and Tony Caig in his Fiesta (you know the one - white and orange and shows up at Knockhill once or twice every season!) took fourth and fifth despite contact at the hairpin when Ross tried to go three wide with Caig and a lapped car, removing a winglet and light covering from the nimble single seater, which he picked up from the marshalls after the chequered flag! The only other cars on the lead lap were Andrew Morrison's MG ZR and Jonathon Young's Westfield.

The second race victory was taken by Saravilovic after Muir's Toyota Starlet expired at McIntyres (in a sad twist of fate, right in front of his family). Olly Ross managed to work his way up to second at the flag from his usual starting position in the pitlane with a time penalty given to all purebread Sportscars. Kevin Adam was third and could be seen making some choice gestures to Warren Dunbar in a Caterham on the slowing down lap so one can only assume the Sierra was held up by Dunbar at some point during the race! Morrison, Caig and Young completed the top six. Also notable was the reappearance of the Ecosse C2, once again driven by Alasdair McCaig and although it failed to finish in both races, it was nice to hear the distinctive rattling roar of the car's motor running through the gears all the way down the pit straight in the crisp air.

Jonathon Young's consistent run all season has made him top the overall standings in his yellow and black Westfield - not bad for someone who only does the series for "a bit of extra practice"! Andrew Morrison's popular MG takes second with John Nathan's distinctive Mk 1 Escort in third. They are followed by John Muir and Kevin Adam which proves that consistency and a bit of luck is definitely what you need to succeed in this gruelling series!

***

Despite the fact that the Legends season officially finished last month, a number of the drivers couldn't bear to not have a race and thanks to Aly Hunter and the McMurdos, a three heat event was added to the race day schedule. Only seven cars were able to make the event (Lance Gauld, Gerard McCosh, Alex Knight, Ian McMurdo, Caroline McMurdo and necomers Kevin Hepburn and Calum Hume who was trying something other than a Fiesta this weekend) but Legends are all about quality over quantity and that is exactly what was had. Aly Hunter had originally intended to be running but an accident had left him with a cracked cheekbone and he could not get his helmet on comfortably, so no racing.

The first heat began with Gauld and Knight battling over the lead. Into the hairpin for the first time, however, Knight misjudged his braking point and connected with the rear wheel of Gauld, spinning them both. Ian McMurdo and McCosh took to the front with McCosh soon getting past the Caledonian Homes car. Gauld managed to fight his way past MCMurdo but McCosh had an unassailable lead and he won his first race in a very long time with Gauld second and Knight third. The second heat was won by Gauld who led from start to finish with Ian McMurdo initially in second though he was soon passed by Knight and McCosh. McCosh then worked his way past Knight but Knight fought back, the top three crossing the line covered by 1.5 seconds. The final started with possibly the move of the year - Gauld passing both McCosh and McMurdo in a three wide move around the OUTSIDE of the hairpin! Gerard McCosh confirmed he was having a really good day by taking over the lead on the second lap. The two passed and repassed each other a few more times in the remaining laps with Alex Knight joining in the fun. Gauld took the win with the top three covered by under a second this time. For something that was only meant to be a bit of fun, this ended up being the best racing of the day and we salute all involved. Good luck to the runners who are taking part in the World Championships in California and we hope to have them all back for the new season.

***

The Fiesta XR2s once again had a double header but it was a slightly depleted field this time around with several drivers not entering. Two examples of this were Nick Sanderson and John Findlay who suffered season ending shunts at the last meeting. Unfortunately, at the end of the day there were several badly damaged cars once again this time around, meaning a costly winter for a number of drivers.

The first race saw championship rivals Ian and Sandy Forrest line up on the first row of the grid, Sandy trailing a little in points and needing a bit of luck if he was to overhaul his Dad in the points race. An impressive performance saw two Newcomer Class runners on the second row, Ian Milton ahead of John Swift. At the race start, Sandy took the lead from his Dad whilst Milton lost control of his car and dropped off the track. With Ian following his son closely (not too closely!), Richard Reed, Andy Allan and Swift had a tough battle over third. Allan took the spot from Reed and proceeded to catch the Forrest Championship battle.

Chaos followed soon afterwards though as Milton reappeared in the midst of the midfield, now a number of laps down. Perhaps suffering from a little red mist, he rear-ended Bill Carr hard into the hairpin, sending Carr into the back of Alistair Hart, who spun accross the road. With cars scattering in all directions, Milton rammed Hart in the drivers door at full speed, a further impact behind leaving glass all over the hairpin. With several cars taking to the gravel and grass to escape, it was a scene of real confusion but eventually all cars involved got going again, Milton heading straight into the pitlane to retire. At the front, Ian finally made his way past his son, who immediately developed a mechanical problem and his car plunged to the back of the pack, eventually taking 13th at the flag but it was all lost for him now, his father taking the win and the Championship. Allan ran him close at the end but settled for second with Swift, Alex Knight and Reed completing the top five.

The second race unfortunately started with carnage of a very expensive kind. Sandy Forrest did not make the start, presumably the mechanical problem could not be fixed in time for the start. With the race starting in the finishing order from Race 1, Ian Forrest led away but had a bad first lap, dropping to fourth. Things got far worse as a major pileup ensued when a number of cars went off track, Barry Holmes going for a piece of track that was soon filled with Richard Reed's spun car. The collison between the two was fearsome, Holmes suffering major damage to the front and rear of his car. Colin Robertson and Dave Colville also went off track, Robertson retiring to the pits and Colville rejoining, though a collision with another car on the pit straight ended his day a lap or two later.

Forrest made his way back to the front but a piece of bumper lodged itself in an unfortunate part of his car and it soon gave up the ghost for the day, leaving Andy Allan a free run to the flag ahead of Alex Knight and John Swift. The remaining Burnbrae cars of Andrew Martin and Stewart Scott completed the top five. Henry Lowson suffered a big accident at the hairpin with a lap to go having run in too fast and he piled into the tyre wall, caving in the left front of his car and requiring a squirt of fire extinguisher to put out a brief fire in the engine compartment.

All in all it's been a very expensive season for the XR2 drivers, with several cars being either written off or badly damaged this year. Ian Forrest weathered the storm though to run out a convincing Series Champion - he has now won a Championship in his twenties, thirties, forties and fifties, and to accentuate this he was presented with a zimmer frame at the end of the day! Sandy Forrest, Andy Allan, Dave Colville and Colin Robertson completed the top five at the end of the day. The Newcomers Championship was convincingly won by John Swift who has become a real threat to the leaders. Calum Hume, Richard Reed, Alistair Hart and Ian Milton are all covered by 30 points in the final standings.

***

Caterham Roadsport grids have been increasing of late, and with eleven entries on the grid for the final round of the year we had the first double figure field of the season. When the race got underway, Andrew Smith pulled into the lead followed by Alasdair McCaig with Ian Cowie jumping from sixth to third on the first lap. Having passed McCaig, he and the Ecurie Ecosse driver reeled in Smith and a furious three way battle raged for a number of laps, Cowie taking the lead when Smith made a mistake and dropped off the lead group to finish in third. A couple of attempts to catch Cowie were tried by McCaig but he just couldn't get alongside the silver Caterham and Cowie took the win. Other cars finishing on the lead lap were George Brewster, Malcolm Johnstone, Alan Keith and Donald Laird. The Championship goes to Andrew Smith having had a more consistent season than second placed McCaig. Malcolm Johnstone finishes in third with Cowie fourth in the Standings after a late start to the season.

***

The Formula Ford Zetec race once again showed Jonathon Adam and Ryan Cannon (complete with snazzy new paint scheme) to be the class of the grid, the two ex-karters locking out the front row. Alan Kirkaldy and Stuart Thorburn made up the second row, no doubt hoping to avoid the kind of incident that ended both of their races last time out. The first start was aborted due to a startline incident for Neil Fisher, but when the race got properly underway, Adam, Cannon and Thorburn led the way. Kirkaldy and Julian Taylor fought in close company for fourth, Taylor seemingly back in his older car which seemed to be helping bring back his old pace. The Newcomers were untouchable though and Adam pulled away to win by three seconds from Cannon. Two seconds further back, Thorburn, Kirkaldy and Taylor all crossed the line covered by less than half a second in a high speed duel to the flag. Sarah Playfair caught and passed Derek Butcher in the closing laps for sixth place with Charles Glancy Snr the only other finisher. Alan Kirkaldy is the Champion for the second year running with Thorburn in second. Adam and Cannon are next up and you can't help but be seriously impressed with both of them this year - having worked their way to the front in their first year on car racing. Indeed, in the Newcomers Cup they have finished joint first on 220 each with five wins each!

Full results: www.smart-timing.co.uk/Results%202003_files/Knockhill/19th%20October.pdf

[Catriona]

Oops, missed the test day report/season preview! Here it is:

Test Day, March 30th, 2003

With the first rounds of the SMRC classes due off on Sunday the 13th of April, the last major test day before the season took place on March the 30th. Various competitors showed up to shake down their machinery and all the main categories were represented on the day.

As ever, the Fiesta XR2s are looking strong, with more than 30 entries prior to the season getting underway and more are expected to show up over time. Split qualifying (the odd and even numbered approach) is likely to be on the agenda again, along with the ever popular qualifying races for those who have qualified outside the top ten.

Hoping to continue his run of top ten qualifying performances is Nick Sanderson, whose NS-R car has returned with old and new sponsors alike along with his new number 6 following his finishing position in last year's standings. He was happy with his morning's testing despite running on aged tyres. Ian Forrest makes a full time return to the series this year after a few outings last season, only this time he brings a shiny car with a new shell and rollcage. Details on his upcoming involvement with an XR2 show on the Discovery Channel have been sketchy but hopefully some concrete news on that will be available soon.

Derek McDougall was also on track, his car now up and running again after a serious engine problem towards the end of 2002. The very quick Andy Allan has apparently been dipping below the track record with alarming regularity as well and should be right up there with Forrest, Sanderson, Sandy Forrest and Burnbrae's Dave Colville. Good news for everyone (in the nicest possible way!) and that includes the spectators is the fact that Alan Keith has switched to the Minis for 2003 which means an open and exciting XR2 season is in prospect.

A number of the new Mini Coopers were on track, getting ready for their first races. For those who have been on Mars for the past 6 months, the series revolves around the latest Mini Coopers all supplied by the factory in identical road going specification and running in circuit races (mostly at Knockhill), hillclimbs, sprints and competing in the Jim Clark Rally. Depending on who you listen to grid sizes vary quite wildly but the general concencus is that there should be around 15 on track. Most of the XR2 drivers were linked with this series at one point or another over the off season but most have elected not to do it and see how it goes in it's maiden season given the costs involved. Alan Keith will be the favourite of course but Ecurie Ecosse also have one of the cars. Jamie Verden-Anderson has also been seen in one of the Minis.

Of the other series, hopes are high of increased grid sizes. The Legends should be as healthy as ever (despite some suspect paint schemes being in evidence at the test day!). The Saloons and Sportscars will host a number of the usual suspects in assorted weird and wonderful machinery - a new addition caught on camera at the test day being a Scottish built Corum Automotive car. The SMRC Caterhams are likely to break into double figures this year. Ian Cowie Racing will no doubt be running the majority of the field as usual though the man himself is not likely to be racing this year. Ecurie Ecosse will run two cars for Alasdair McCaig and Andrew Smith in both the SMRC Caterhams and the top Class A Caterham Roadsport Challenge at tracks across the UK.

Formula Ford Zetec is also likely to have an increased grid over previous years, Champion Alan Kirkaldy and his team mate Stuart Thorburn remaining in the SMRC series whilst running in the Northern Formula Ford Zetec Championship as well. The pair had a great start to the season in that very series at Donington with second and fourth place finishes. Mygale runner Julian Taylor also ran well and will hopefully re-appear in the SMRC series. Former XR2 "front of midfield" driver Duncan Vincent makes the curious switch to single seaters and should be interesting to watch.

The big questions before this Sunday are generally "How big will the fields be?" (No way of knowing until race day if previous race day entry lists are anything to go by!) and "What will the weather be like?" (I think you can probably guess!).

One thing that is easily predictable is the fact that this looks like a vintage year of SMRC with a lot of interest in all of the classes. Like rough and tumble close racing with a number of potential winners right up to the line? The XR2s are for you. Like 12 car slipstreaming battles and three wide action all the way? The Legends will deliver. Something sporty, full of variety and just downright different? Caterhams and Saloons And Sportscars is what you want. Prefer your motorsport to be of the single seat variety? The Formula Fords are looking good this season. There is something for everyone and it's almost upon us.