FFord Winter Series - How The Scots Fared.

[Mike Hogg]

Round 1 was at Snetterton in very wet conditions. Qualifying for the first race finished up like this for Alan Kirkaldy and Stuart Thorburn, 27th and 30th out of 35 drivers, around 3 seconds off pole:

27 7 Alan KIRKALDY Van Diemen RF02 1:27.031 2.824
30 2 Stuart THORBURN Van Diemen RF01 1:27.413 3.206

In the race both drivers finished on the lead lap with Kirkaldy 50 seconds behind the leader and Thorburn 70 seconds down.

18 7 Alan KIRKALDY Van Diemen RF02 20:51.583
22 2 Stuart THORBURN Van Diemen RF01 21:11.354


Race 2: Started 18th and 22nd as per the race one results, however Kirkaldy does not show up in the final race result at all which must indicate a non-start. A large pile up at the first start caused a red flag and around 5 or 6 cars did not restart and I'd assume Alan was one of them. Thorburn finished 33 seconds behind the leaders after the race was again red flagged after 8 laps.

20 2 Stuart THORBURN Van Diemen RF01 11:58.991

[Mike Hogg]

The second and final round was held at Brands Hatch on the Indy Circuit. For Race 1, both Kirkaldy and Thorburn qualified just over a second off the pace in 21st and 23rd of 30 drivers.

21 7 Alan KIRKALDY Van Diemen RF02 49.256 1.045
23 2 Stuart THORBURN Van Diemen RF01 49.396 1.185

In the race, the two of them seem to have circulated in close company as they recorded finishes of 15th and 16th - just over a second apart and around 25 seconds off the leaders.

15 7 Alan KIRKALDY Van Diemen RF02 14:55.186 16 23.726
16 2 Stuart THORBURN Van Diemen RF01 14:56.999 16 25.539

They then lined up 15th and 16th for Race 2 and both finished the race, despite seemingly losing positions during it. Kirkaldy did finish just ahead of established FFord racer Suk Sandher though whilst Thorburn came home 19th.

16 7 Alan KIRKALDY Van Diemen RF02 13:23.462 16 22.859
19 2 Stuart THORBURN Van Diemen RF01 13:29.976 16 29.373


Anyone with any other bits of info as to how our guys got on, please feel free to chip in.

[speedyV]

Good performances from both given lack of track knowledge/acquaintance time - do any of them have a national budget available for next year though (the cost of FFord at the moment is on the steep side)?

[Catriona]

Hope Kirkaldy at least can get the budget together - it'd be great to see him (and Thorburn/Taylor, if possible) at a higher level next year. They're all well capable of running with the national guys, so fingers crossed that at least one of them finds the cash