GT Cup Round 6 - Knockhill
Fri 18 Sep 2009
The GT Cup enjoyed a superb Scottish welcome at Knockhill with extensive local radio and TV, wall to wall grid girls, our own Pirelli girls, bagpipes, whisky and haggis entrants' gifts and above all some great racing.
As is often the case at Knockhill the weather was ‘challenging' and teams were treated to the sort of rain that gets everywhere! But nothing fazed our hosts and they cheerfully went about their business of making us welcome as if this was perfectly normal. Nothing was too much trouble. This included a generous gift for all drivers of whisky and haggis from our host Knockhill. This set the whole tone for the weekend, the Knockhill team really did their very best to make this a memorable event, all that was missing was a glimpse of the sun!
It isn't until you get to have a close look at it that you realise what an unusual circuit Knockhill is, a sort of mini Nurburgring, with all sorts of blind brows and tight bends, plus quite severe gradients but with some very quick bits mixed in. It's not hard to see why so many drivers from throughout the UK who have competed there rank it as one of their favourite. Small but perfectly formed and very challenging.
Whilst not our biggest grid of the year, the quality was superb and the racing excellent. It was a tough weekend for the teams, their drivers put in miles of testing and the dedication of the teams in getting cars refettled and back out racing was outstanding. With quite so many track miles under their belts the attrition rate could have been much higher. Our commiserations must go to Dave Botterill who knows Knockhill well and was looking forward to a great weekend. After problems with his truck he then had the huge misfortune of having an engine let go on him before he even had the chance to put in a time and get out there racing. On the other hand ‘local hero' Colin Simpson nervously nursed his Marcos through the whole weekend and despite his rear tyres going off in the 100kms he finished both races intact.
Race 1 - Paul Hogarth entered his Lamborghini Gallardo and put it on pole for the first race. Having established a reasonable lead at the rolling start he began to come under pressure from George Brewster in his Porsche 997 GT3 Cup car. Local knowledge was at a premium at this point and eventually on lap six Hogarth went off and the safety car came out while it was recovered. When the safety car pulled off Brewster had the edge on the following pack and was looking safe to win the race but then Ray Dias went off and the safety car was called out again so Brewster's lead evaporated for a second time. Once again at the restart he got it absolutely right and went on to win. Tommy Dreelan came home a well deserved 2nd in Group and Phil Dryborough 3rd.
In Group Three Benjamin Harvey , Jim Geddie and Gary Eastwood were having their own close battle in the deteriorating conditions. After twenty two difficult laps and two safety car sessions Benjamin Harvey won Group two by 0.118 secs ahead of Geddie and Eastwood.
On Sunday the grid build up for The GT Cup Knockhill 100 was very impressive... with the Pirelli girls at the front surrounded by a band of pipers and the local ‘News of the World' girls adding a touch of glamour to the grid, there were cameras everywhere.
Despite not much testing time in the newly built car Paul Hogarth did a grand job putting his Lamborghini on pole ahead of a very experienced group of top Scottish Porsche drivers who know the circuit well. He made up for his ‘over-exuberance' on lap six in race one by taking a well judged overall win in the GT Cup Knockhill 100, which as the title suggests a 100 kms, fifty lap, forty five minute feature race designed to test the water for plans that Bute Motorsport have to hold two or three longer endurance distance races next year.
After the appalling weather conditions which drivers encountered the previous day everybody was relieved that the rain stayed away. During the opening laps George Brewster (#11 Porsche 997 GT3 Cup) did well to stay in touch with Paul Hogarth (#50 Lamborghini Gallardo) more powerful machine, but gradually Hogarth opened up a comfortable lead. Behind them the Porsches of Bob Lyons (#79) and Tommy Dreelan (#56) had a close race and local hero Colin Simpson (Marcos Mantis #16) finding that his rear tyres were beginning to go off only just kept Craig Wilkins (Ginetta G50 Cup #29) at bay. Alex Martin in his Porsche 996 GT3 Cup (#87) was incredibly lucky when his Porsche which ran into trouble on the final lap only just made it to the finish line.
Not everybody made it to the chequered flag; Bertie Carruthers engine let go after 35 laps, Phil Dryburgh had been relegated to the back of the grid but his great drive through the field ended in the tyre wall when he went off after 29 laps. Jim Geddie had problems with his ABS. The ever improving Benjamin Harvey's excellent run ended when his differential failed.
It is impossible to note all the heroics but one man to watch had been Craig Wilkins. He had forsaken his monstrous Viper and instead was giving his Ginetta G50 Cup its first serious outing. It was great to watch round the bends but the ‘grunt' of the Porsches kept him at bay. It was fun ‘spectating' as he began to creep up onto the back of Colin Simpson's Marcos in the closing stages ... all he wanted was about another two or three laps... all Colin wanted was two or three less laps!
All in all a very enjoyable, rather different sort of weekend... Stuart Gray has promised faithfully that when the GT Cup goes back he will sort out the weather if we bring some of our usual Ferraris. Seems a reasonable deal!
Silverstone is now only a few weeks away and the grid is looking very exciting as the season begins to draw to a close leaving only Brands Hatch before we say goodbye to another sensational year of GT Cup racing. A small number of places remain so book now to avoid disappointment.
