MG Trophy Knockhill report

Twenty intrepid drivers and team members made the long trip north to Knockhill for rounds 9 & 10 of this years MG Trophy Championship. Unfortunately 3 others had to drop out for various reasons, sorry guys but you missed a great weekend. Scottish Trophy stalwart Colin Robertson sponsored the event in memory of his late father Stewart Robertson our sincere thanks to Colin and wife Karen for supporting us once again. We had another anonymous donation that we get every time we go to Knockhill, thanks Bob it’s really appreciated! Missing and in our thoughts was driver Andrew ‘Doc’ Martin, who had set himself a target to be well enough to come and watch us, but sadly on the day it was not possible. Report by Pete Macwaters, pictures courtesy of Dickon Siddall.

Testing

There was a track day on the Friday where Lee Sullivan took advantage of learning the circuit, this being his first venture to Knockhill. Driver Paul Luti had arranged a track night on the Friday between 6 and 8pm where I counted 13 Trophy cars on track. Colin Robertson was giving passenger laps to other class A Knockhill novices in his 170 track car and Ross Makar was doing the same in the Booth car to enable them to learn the lines. James Cole managed 3 laps before a clutch change was required, better then than in the race !

On the Saturday morning, Sullivan changed his clutch, Marsh worked on his gear linkage due to selection problems and Doug Cole changed his power steering pump. Sullivan also later found that his steering wheel was cracked, luckily he was able to buy a replacement.

The KMSC had arranged a ‘Warm Up’ practice of 30 minutes on the Saturday after that days racing, switching the direction back to clockwise for the session which saw 12 cars taking part. This allowed those arriving on the Saturday to get a few laps of familiarisation. The session was red flagged almost immediately as Marsh was towed in. The best time was given to Jason Burgess with a 1:01.447, several drivers clocked over 20 laps before the flag at 6pm. Marsh’s problem was a sheared pin on the bottom pulley which resulted in bent valves. A new pulley and replacement head was fitted.

New Drivers

The only ‘new’ driver was returnee Alex Flower out for the first time this season in his 170 car.

Qualifying

All 20 cars were ready for the qualifying session which started at 09:54 on a cool/dry morning. After three laps the order was Sullivan, Campbell, Marsh, D.Cole, J. Cole, Booth, Payne, Burgess and Flower. After six laps it was Robertson, Ross, D.Cole in class A, Sullivan, Luti, Marsh, Campbell in class B and Payne & Gil in class C. With five minutes to go Burgess was into 2nd in class A and Ross 3rd. Luti, Sullivan & Marsh led class B and Payne & Gil were still the class C front runners. With two minutes left on the clock, Ross took the overall pole only to lose it to Robertson on the very last lap with a 59.293, Luti got class B pole on 1:01.363 and Payne class C on 1:03.219. Race two poles went to the same three drivers.

Race 1

The Trophy Championship once again paraded to the sounds of ‘The Final Countdown’ as the cars did their green flag lap.

Class A

Robertson held his pole position with Ross, Burgess and Cole next up, however a mistake on lap 6 at Scotsman left the door open for Ross to grab the lead. Perkins had moved up to 5th overall early on with the last 190 car of Walker struggling down in 10th.

Robertson had a close shave at the chicane passing a class C car, his car almost tipping over, he continued to use all his Knockhill experience to try and regain the lead but despite getting within half a second of Ross, he was unable to get past. Ross held him off to win the race by 2.34s. Burgess, Cole and Perkins were next up, Walker finally finishing in 12th.

Class B

Luti held the class B lead with Sullivan, Campbell, Booth and Marsh next in line. Lap two saw Marsh and Cole move ahead of Booth the remaining order staying the same. Luti succumbed to Sullivan on lap 8 retiring his car at Leslie’s one lap later. The order at the halfway stage was Sullivan, Campbell, Cole, Marsh and Booth. Marsh moved up a place on lap 13 after some close racing with Cole, and Campbell snatched the overall class lead from Sullivan at the exit of the hairpin on lap 16 which he held to the flag.

Class C

Payne lead the class C race with two class B cars between him and Gil in 2nd, Heasman, Webber and Martin following. Martin’s previous gremlins resurfaced and he pulled off after eight laps. Payne took the win, the only class C car to complete 19 laps, Gil held 2nd, Heasman and Webber rounding out the final placings.

Fastest laps Class A was Ross with a 58.944 (n/r) on lap 13. NOTE This beats the ultimate 190 lap record of 59.51 achieved by Anthony Reid in 2003. Class B was Campbell with a 1:01.521 (n/r) on lap 6 and Class C, Payne on lap 3 with 1:03.662 (n/r).

Driver of the Race – Graham Ross Race 2

The Dreadnought team changed the head on the Luti car after discovering zero compression on cylinders 1 & 3. Tim Martin swapped the VVC unit on his car in a desperate bid to rectify his lack of power.

Once more, ‘The Final Countdown’ played whilst the cars completed their green flag lap.

Class A

Robertson lead from pole with Ross, Burgess and Cole completing the top four. History repeated itself as Ross grabbed the lead at Clark’s on lap 3, where he entertained the commentators with more two wheel action later in the race. Despite pressure from Robertson he held station to take the win by 3.13s. with Cole a distant 3rd, Perkins 4th and an off the pace Burgess dropping from 3rd to a disappointing 5th. Walker finished 6th working his way through the pack from his grid position of 15th.

Class B

Luti held the class B pole from Campbell, Sullivan and Cole until the engine let go at Hislop’s on his third tour leaving Campbell in the lead with Sullivan, Marsh and Cole next in line. Cole was out on lap 13 with a flat battery, parking up next to the Luti car on the approach to the hairpin. With Cole out, Harris inherited 3rd place and Boulton 4th. Campbell lost the lead on lap 15 as his engine expired at the hairpin leaving Sullivan to lead the class B race. These positions held to the flag, Sullivan taking the win from Marsh and Harris.

Class C

Payne once again led the class C race with three cars between him and Gil, the next class C car. He continued to race in front of two class B cars as Martin unfortunately had to call it a day after just one lap, again with no power. Payne continued to dominate class C and broke his own race one lap record on his 7th lap. Gil once again took 2nd and Heasman 3rd.

Fastest laps Class A was Ross with a 59.146 on lap 8, Class B, Sullivan 1:01.697 on lap 11, Class C, Payne 1:03.538 (n/r) on lap 7.

Driver of the Race:- Will Payne