As late as the early 1970s, Scotland still had no venue permanently dedicated to Motor Sport. A few disused ex-RAF airfields and the odd Public Park were being utillised on a part-time basis. Dependent on the goodwill of landowners and the need to temporarily link service roads to create a racetrack, the potential inadequacy of such locales was fast becoming evident.

                                          

Enter Tom Kinnaird, a sheep farmer at South Lethans in Fife. Tom was also a fan of motorcycle racing and traveled regularly to meetings throughout the country.

Tom’s farm, in the lee of the Knock Hill and around seven miles from Dunfermline, boasted a narrow farm service track and a disused railway line. His vision was to link these resources to create a demanding road-circuit style track, 1.3 miles (2km) long, and 30 feet (10 m) wide, with a unique series of twists, turns, drops and climbs, varying by around 200 feet (60m) from highest to lowest point.

The gestation period was two years from the initial bite with Tom’s superannuated mechanical digger to the laying of the primary tarmac surface. In the autumn of 1974, the inaugural Motorcycle Race meeting was held at Knockhill Race Circuit. The vast crowds it attracted caused traffic chaos on the surrounding roads and Scotland’s National Centre for Motor Sport was born!

Tom went on to operate the circuit himself for a year, offering midweek testing for bikes and cars in addition to weekend events. At the end of the year it was evident that – if Knockhill were to progress – outside resources would be required.

The next player to take the stage would be one Denis Dobbie. Already active with his DART F3 team, Denis saw the potential in Knockhill and he had the appropriate connections as well as access to finance. A one-year lease – with an option to buy – was drawn up and an ambitious programme of improvements proposed. The ultimate aim was to host a Scottish F1 Grand Prix. This required the extension of the track to 2.3 miles (3.7km), the addition of 40 Pit Garages, the construction of a hotel, chalet lodges, a Kart track, a 4x4 course and Pony Trekking facilities.

                                   

Contractors were engaged to install security fencing, put a second layer of tar on the track, and construct a Race Control Building, as well as a Medical Centre and a spectator footbridge.

Despite the optimism of the plans, by the end of the year the business had accumulated debts of £250,000 and, as landlord, Tom Kinnaird took back the keys to the premises. During the next seven years or so he leased out the venue on a year-by-year basis. 

Coincidentally, around the same time that Knockhill was opening, the young Derek Butcher was indulging his passion for Motorcycle Racing, there and at the other occasional Scottish and North of England circuits. He demonstrated his versatility by riding machines from a 125cc Bultaco to a 975cc Rob North Trident as well as 250cc Armstrongs and 350cc TZ Yamahas. Experience (in the form of over two hundred races) and an understanding of the sport were accumulating.

Contemporaneously this 24-year old – armed with £400 – had set himself up in business as Fife Alarm Services. By 1983 he had installed over 2000 systems and operated a service network with 23 staff and 14 vehicles. But why would a successful businessman with an interest in Motor Bike racing consider gambling his future on something as tenuous as a possible Knockhill revival?

The catalyst came in the form of Honeywell Shield. The multinational corporation planned to fast track itself to a nation-wide position in the Alarm Systems marketplace by the acquisition of a network of locally based enterprises. Fife Alarm Services proved to be an ideal candidate, and the necessary finance was added to Derek’s enthusiasm, business acumen and the opportunity for full-time commitment.

Thus Derek Butcher purchased South Lethans Farm and all its assets from Tom Kinnaird and Knockhill Racing Circuit was born again. At this point Motor Sport fans – if they had realised what was happening – could have been forgiven for shouting Hallelujah!

However, at the time of Derek’s acquisition, the facilities could best be described as primitive. A strip of tarmac wound its way around a muddy field. The Competitors’ Paddock comprised a series of puddles linked together with gravel. A few converted wooden huts provided an Office, Race Control and the Medical Centre. A couple of mobile burger vans offered little in the way of nourishment and the loo facilities (an ex-British Rail Goods van with a partition down the middle!) were a joke – except no one was laughing.

During the period since 1984, the circuit has been fully resurfaced twice and track safety has been brought up to and beyond all the requirements of the RACMSA. Buildings and services have been continually added and partner businesses have successfully established themselves. Catering facilities now offer first-class fast food in the Champions’ Clubhouse, whilst the aptly named Kinnairds Restaurant boasts a Scottish Master Chef in its kitchen. The Circuit itself is a seven days a week operation employing fifty-one full-time personnel. That figure expands to well over a hundred directly employed at major events such as the British Touring Cars Championship, The Scottish MotorFair or the British SuperBike Championship. Subcontractors and participants mean that several thousand people are busy earning their living on the site on such occasions.

The arrival of the British Touring Cars Championship in 1992 marked Knockhill’s acceptance as a circuit on a par with any other in Britain, and with it came Radio Knockhill. That service broadcast commentary on Medium Wave at every event from then until 2005. Its welcome return to the airwaves in 2007 emphasis's the Track’s commitment to providing the best possible communication with spectators. Formula 3, British Championship GT Cars, Rallycross and Superbikes all underline the esteem in which Knockhill is held throughout the UK and Europe. 2004 saw the first Scottish MotorFair, and from 2007 it has SMTA (Scottish Motor Trade Association) endorsement, making it the official Scottish Motor Show. In 2006 the Scottish Classic SpeedFair was inaugurated. That extravaganza displayed much of Scotland’s proud competitive history and many of the people who have made such an indelible impact throughout the world. Thus Knockhill can justifiably claim to bring together the very best in the past and the present while keeping its perspective firmly on the future.

The Circuit takes its responsibilities in respect of its impact in the country at large very seriously. Road Safety is a case in point: for many years Scotland’s ambulance drivers have been trained on the purpose-built Skid Control Area. At the recent launch of the Scottish Centre for Driver Excellence at Knockhill, the Circuit also announced its participation as a co-sponsor in the Fife Safe Drive Stay Alive campaign. In addition, the business is actively investigating – and putting in to practice – ways in which it can reduce its carbon footprint, both on and off the track, thus leading the way in demonstrating that Motor Sport can also be an environmentally responsible activity.

                                       

Derek Butcher in the meantime had got off his motorcycle and in 1983 he started racing cars with a Caterham 7. He then moved on to single-seaters with a Reynard Formula Ford 1600, a FF2000 (in which he won the Scottish Championship), and then back to tin-tops with Cosworth Group A and Toyota Group A saloons, participating in over two hundred motor races. More recently he raced in the Formula Ford Zetec category, although nowadays his horsepower has changed from four wheels to four legs. He regularly competes in British Eventing at the introductory level, as well as drag hunting in the winter months.

A tour around this Web Site (www.knockhill.com) will confirm the vast array of Motor Racing and motoring-related activities available where the public can participate as well as spectate. In addition, state-of-the-art audiovisual facilities in the Business Centre mean that conferences, seminars and team-building activities are a regular feature. Denis Dobbie’s Hotel and chalets may not have materialised, but the Karting and the 4x4 course are there as well as a Rally Stage. There’s no Pony Trekking either, but Derek Butcher’s interest in horses means that the Equestrian world is also remarkably aware of the reality of Tom Kinnaird’s dream - Scotland’s National Motor Sport Centre