This weekend at Knockhill promises to be an extremely FAST one, as the Super Lap Scotland Championship in association with RA Motorsport Developments and British Sprint Championship competitors embark on two-days of flat out racing, against the clock.
Saturday 19th July will see all the action take place on the Reverse Circuit. Both the SLS and British Sprint competitors will participate in a series of practice and qualifying sessions, before eventually trying to beat the clock and their fellow competitors lap times in the grand final. Sunday’s format will unfold in a similar vein, although all the action will take place on the clockwise (International) circuit.
SLS entrants are all set for Rounds 4 and 5 of the SLS Championship season. Last time out the SLS guys starred alongside the EXTREME Time Attack series and this time, they’ll be looking to out-shine some brutally fast racing machines, all in search of that coveted quickest lap, and in the British Sprint’s case, a lap and a half.
Charile Shaw leads the way in the SLS Pro class in his 900+ bhp Ford Focus. He has a 85 point lead over his nearest rival, Brian Rennie in his Mitsubishi Evo 6RS. Shaw also leads the way in the ‘King of the Hill’ standings, however Class C driver, Keith Cowie is hot on his tail only 18 points behind in his 289bhp per tonne Nissan R35 GTR. Alongside class wins (Pro to E), all the competitors are ultimately aiming to take that ‘King of the Hill’ trophy; which goes to the mot consistent points scoring driver across all the classes. That means, despite the phenomenal power of Shaw’s Ford Focus, he could easily loose out on the title to a lesser powered class E vehicle (150bhp per tonne), making Super Lap Scotland a viable competitive Championship for even the most modest of vehicles, where driving ability and consistency play an integral part in achieving success in the series.
Elsewhere in Class A, David Long and Fiona Kindness have traded class wins all season long and that looks more than likely to continue this weekend. In Class B, Jack Strathdee will be looking to power his Focus Mk1 RS over the finishing line ahead of Adam Kindness and Duncan White. Whilst, Matt Collins will be hoping to out-perform Callum Dryburgh and Frank Ogg in his RA Motorsport backed SEAT Leon Supercopa, for Class D honours. David Herd currently heads the Class E standings on 172 points, that puts him 70 points ahead of his closest Class E rival, Steve King; but more importantly, that also gives him third place in the ‘King of the Hill’ standings, just 23 points shy of Shaw’s total.
With a maxium of 65 points up for grabs for a class win, anyone of the top seven drivers could quite conceivably overall Shaw at the summit of the standings by the end of this weekend.
Also featuring this weekend is the British Sprint Championship, a time trial sprint event featuring some mighty fast racing cars. Race fans can look forward to seeing iconic race machines like Colin Calder’s Gould GR55 single seat racer or even Kurt Ramsden’s Radical SR3 sports car, and all being driven flat out in pursuit of victory during the Twin-Track event.
Indeed, Colin Calder returns to Knockhill as the 2013 British Sprint Champion, a title he claimed at Knockhill following his victory on the Reverse Circuit day of the event last year. Calder also looks likely to be a strong contender this year having secured 7 wins already this year. Hot on his heels however, is his daughter Heather (2nd in the Championship); she became the first woman in 70 years to win a British Sprint event, also at Knockhill last year and she’ll be hoping to win at least one of the event days, if not both, this time around. Interestingly, there is also a third Calder entering the fray at Knockhill. Colin’s younger daughter, Louise will be hoping to showcase the family’s sprinting credentials in her Jedi Mk1 when action starts on Saturday 19th July.
The British Sprint Championship will be one of the fastest 4-wheel Championships to feature at Knockhill this year, sporting cars capable of speeds in excess of 180mph. A number of the cars competing this weekend almost resemble Formula1/IndyCars, with massive wide tyres on the back and smaller thinner ones on the front, but with all of them sharing a common purpose, to be driven at super-fast speeds around both track configurations of Knockhill this weekend.
Tickets for the event can be purchased in advance via the Knockhill website (pre-booking discounts available) and will also be available on the gate over the weekend.
Satuday: Adult £5, Concession £4, Family £14 and under 12s FREE
Sunday: Adult £12, Concession £8, Family £32 and under 12s go FREE
Weekend: Adult £12, Concession £8, Family £24
See the weekend timetable here.
Pre-book tickets now online via the www.knockhill.com or by calling 01383 723337.