Well, after countless hours of work in garages up and down the country, the wraps finally came off the Super Lap Scotland competitors cars as round one exploded into action at Knockhill today (Sunday 20th April). Some of Scotland’s most highly-tuned vehicles, spitting out upwards of 900bhp, took to the track in search of SLS glory this afternoon; all in search of one simple thing – a perfect lap.
Fake Bake Score Angels send the SLS competitors out for qualifying
To explain, SLS is simply – man and machine against the track and clock. Competitors complete two warm up sessions to perfect their lines and tweak their set ups ahead of qualifying. In qualifying competitors get a couple of attempts at topping the timesheets by completing 2 flying laps, with the top 5 times in each class progressing to the SLS Final; where one lap, that’s right, one single lap decides it all. And on today’s performance, the phrase: “win it – or bin it”; just about sums it up!
There are six classes, all based on the power-to-weight ratio of each car; which allows even the most modest of road cars the opportunity to compete against the super-tuned monsters out on track; with points awarded for qualifying positions and overall finishing positions in each class. Meaning that, a class E competitor (least powerful) could easily take the overall Championship title from a Pro class competitor (most powerful) by scoring more points throughout the season, giving us an overall “King of Knockhill”.
Shaw and Davidson battle for space on track
Back to proceedings on track today, and as expected it was Pro class competitor Charlie Shaw with his super-fast Focus, and Graham Davidson in his Noble M400 that topped the timesheets for most of the day, swapping places on numerous occasions at the top of the timing screens. However, the challenge of Super Lap was summed up in less than 50 seconds, as Davidson’s car flew off circuit at Clark’s corner effectively ruining his chance of victory in today’s Pro final. That said; both Charlie Shaw and Andy Napier still had to produce solid laps to earn victory. Ultimately, Shaw powered his Focus to his quickest time of the day, with standing all the pressure, to claim the outright Super Lap win. As for Napier and his RA Motorsport Team (Super Lap Scotland’s title sponsors), he to posted his best time of the weekend to claim a welcome second place and some valuable Championship points, safe in the knowledge that there is still more to come from his car as the season progresses.
There were also close battles between Fiona Kindness (Subaru) and David Long (Caterham), and Jack Strathdee (Focus) and Duncan White (Ferrari) in classes A and B respectively. And in White’s case a stunning Super Lap of 56.906s, in a standard road going Ferrari, brought him not only victory in class B; but the Track Scotland Driver of the Day Award along with it. Fiona Kindness eventually edged out David Long for class B honours; whilst, Keith Cowie (C), Matt Collins (D) and Allister Philips (E) took the remaining class wins.
Duncan White on track with his Ferrari 458 Italia
Full class honours are as follows:
Pro:
Charlie Shaw – Ford Focus (1st)
Andy Napier – Subaru Impreza (2nd)
Class A :
Fiona Kindness – Subaru Impreza (1st)
David Long – Caterham R400 (2nd)
Class B:
Duncan White – Ferrari 458 Italia (1st)
Jack Strathdee – Ford Focus (2nd)
Class C:
Keith Cowie – Nissan GTR (1st)
John Wilson – Ford Focus Mk2 (2nd)
Andrew Christie – MK Indy (3rd)
Class D:
Matt Collins – Porsche Cayman Cup (1st),
Frank Ogg – SEAT Leon Supercopa (2nd)
Callum Dryburgh – Subaru Impreza (3rd)
Class E:
Allister Phillips – Honda Prelude (1st)
David Herd – Ford Fiesta Mk2 (2nd)
Craig McDowall – Renault Clio 172 (3rd)
Other winners on the day included John Wilson who walked away with the KMSC Willie Brown Spirit if the meeting award and Charlie Shaw also claimed the Driver of the Day award. Elsewhere today, we saw around 48 Hot Hatch drivers take to the track in between SLS sessions and hopefully, some of them might be convinced to have a look at Super Lap Scotland as the next progressive-step in their motorsport activities.
Super Lap Scotland comes back to Knockhill on Saturday 24th May for round 2, and the following day; Sunday 25th May for round 3 – where the Super Lap boys will also be joined by Time Attack and Modified Live. Creating one of the BIGGEST modified events we’ve seen at Knockhill in recent memory. Make sure you book tickets for this modified fest via the Knockhill website.
Thanks also, once again, to all those officials, marshals and medical teams who devote so much time to ensuring we can enjoy motorsport events like today.
For all the results and in-depth reports from today, make sure you hop on over to the Super Lap Scotland website or give their Facebook page a like ahead of the next event.
See you all at Knockhill very soon!
