Knockhill Report

[S2T]

On the weekend of 7/8 September competitors in the Westfield Speed Series gathered at Knockhill, literally from all points of the UK, from the south coast and Essex to the North of Scotland. On the Friday before the event cars were put in the pitlane garages alongside all the British Sprint competitors and once the afternoon test session was complete, it was an opportunity to walk the track and in some cases twice. The event was part of a multiple race weekend with over 150 cars competing

Saturday morning dawned to a low mist, so dense was it that the first corner, the hairpin, couldn’t be seen from the pitlane, a short delay ensued hopefully to allow the mist to burn off. At the drivers briefing for all sprint competitors it was emphasised that none of us should fall off the track, thus causing a delay to the race programme as we wanted to be invited back.

On the Saturday the anticlockwise configuration was run, which entailed starting in the pitlane and completing 1.75 laps. After a 30 minute delay it was deemed safe for the sprint to commence, even though the hairpin wasnt 100% visible all the time. Steve Arkley at least had local advantage as he knew where the track went and was significantly faster in practice than the others. However as the day morphed from mist to blue skies, the visitors soon found their feet and started to put in competitive times. Significantly it was important to pick your braking spot going into the hairpin at the end of the fastest part of the track coming down from 120+mph. Times dropped and although there were insufficient numbers to have separate classes in the Westfield Sprint there was good competition between all the cars. Fastest was Dave Smith running 1b tyres, followed by Steve Arkley, Michael Skidmore having a close battle with Mick Dent and Harry Moody. The Westfield Sprint entries from British Sprint saw Pete Goulding take a 1st and a 2nd and John Loudon who felt his car wasn’t as lively as usual and managed two 4th places

Unlike many sprints the Westfield Series attends, because the Knockhill one is part of a comprehensive race programme with all day commentary there was always the ‘danger’ of having a microphone thrust into your face after each session, to provide context to the spectators as to what was going on, after awhile we got used to it, even though David Smith tried to hide each time the interviewer was heading in our direction.

So after a good days competition the visitors retired to a local restaurant.

The next morning the mist was thicker, so there was a longer delay, this time we were using the clockwise layout with the infamous Duffus Dip corner at the end of the pit straight, which is totally blind and drops from the apex, so again getting breaking points and line is crucial for a good lap.

After a 2 hour delay and a comprehensive programme reshuffle, which to the credit of the organisers meant the whole of the race card got a fair days racing, practice got underway but meant there were to be only two timed runs. At the end of the day David Smith was quickest by 3/10ths of  a second from Steve Arkley with Mick Dent just faster than Michael Skidmore with Harry Moody just behind. In BSC Pete Goulding got two 1sts but John Loundon finished with a 5th and 7th due to a misfire which was later identified as injector problems.

Once again a visit to Knockhill was warmly received by the competitors and although nothing could be done about the mist which was impacting large parts of eastern UK overall an enjoyable weekend was had by all.

[Smudge62]

Great write up Steve, I am already looking forward to 2025 and I intend on travelling up to do a track day at some point prior to the sprint weekend as there is definitely time to be found with more track knowledge. Dave

[Julie Hall - WSCC AO Representative]

Excellent write up and, I know that most photo's were professional ones, but great photo's too. Is this the replacement for Tel's Tales? perhaps S2T's Speedy Stories?

[IanD]

Brilliant write up. Great that you got the garages 

Really sorry I wasn't able to make it. (hardy done any events this year). I will be back if we can get it on our calendar again.

 

Great to see you all had a good time.

 

Ian