Scottish Classic Sports and Saloon Championship 2010

[Malcolm Smith]

The 2010 Knockhill-based Scottish Classic Sports and Saloon Championship commenced on 18th April.
It is a sixteen round series, including two at Cadwell Park in June.
Eligible cars must be road-legal and have been in production prior to December 1979.
There are four classes split by capacity: up to 1500cc ; 1501-2000cc ; 2001-3600cc; over 3601cc

Twenty-six cars, including seven newcomers, contested two exciting rounds in conditions
which ranged from light to torrential rain.

Practice saw several drivers higher-up the grid than normal, due to a combination of car type and driving style.
Nic Boyes’ Mini Cooper, which finished fifth, was the most striking example.

Round one victor was Porsche 911 driver Stan Bernard, who started from pole position, followed by Andrew Smith
and Olly Ross in Morgan+8 and Lotus Europa respectively.

The second round saw a reversal of the first two places, with Smith heading Bernard by seven seconds.
Third place went to the spectacularly-driven Triumph TR8 of Gordon Naismith.

Top saloon car in both races was Tommy Gilmartin’s Capri 3.0S, fifth in race one and fourth in race two.

Rounds three and four in May offer potentially more excitement, with additional drivers due to join the action !

Photos below :
1. Ford Capri #77 - Tommy Gilmartin
2. Porsche 911 # 4 -Stan Bernard, Porsche 911 #41 - Grant Allan
3. Lotus Europa #5 - Olly Ross
4. Triumph TR8 # 71 - Gordon Naismith
5. Mini Cooper # 45 - Nic Boyes, Ford Escort RS2000 #21 - Jimmy Crow, Porsche 924 #36 - David Scott

[andy97]

Looking forward to catching this when I come up to Knockhill in a few weeks time for the British GT round.

[mark garritt]

Be interesting to see what time the guys post at Cadwell!! Must get a bit dull driving the same circuit all the time....

Where can we get entries from, or is it exclusive to the series?

Thanks

Mark

[Malcolm Smith]

The British GT meeting should several additional cars -there is even talk of reserves or races split by capacity to cope with the demand.


There was an Invitation Class during the first three years of the championship, which rarely attracted competitors.
This low uptake, combined with demand from drivers registered for the championship, are likely to have contributed to the Invitation Class being withdrawn in 2010.

Information regarding the Championship can be found in the Classics section of the Scottish Motor Racing Club website :

http://www.smrc-uk.com/competitors/classics/classics.php

[Derwent Motorsp]

I did the series for a couple of years in it's earlier days. It has a wide variety of cars entered but in order to increase entries they moved the cut off point to 79 (or 81 for continuations). This meant some seriously quick cars and last year the leading Morgan Plus 8 was doing sub 58 second laps which on a couple of meetings was actually quicker than the winning car in the Sports and Special Saloon races. As the lead cars are ten seconds qucikers than some others even on their short ten minute races there is quite a bit of lapping. Thanks goodness they have abandonded the reserve grids!
The regs are, shall we say, quite generous, compared to other series and this has sadly meant that many of the 50s and 60s cars that were around when I raced have gone.
Having said that, it's the best supported of the Scottish series now but as has been remarked it's gets a bit boring being at one circuit. I will look forward to seeing them when we are at KH for the Classic SpeedFair with the GTS cars.

[Malcolm Smith]

Scottish Classic drivers enjoyed dry conditions for the third and fourth rounds of the season on 8th and 9th May. Twenty-eight cars contested the first race, with four failing to start the second. There were many close battles throughout the four classes, which featured a wide range of machinery.

An uncharacteristic error by pole position Morgan +8 driver Andrew Smith left him stranded in the hairpin gravel trap during lap one. This allowed Stan Bernard, Porsche 911, to claim the lead, which he held to the end. Willy Toye, Triumph TR8, came 2nd, less than two seconds ahead of John Marshall, competing in his immaculate Escort RS1600 for the first time.

The second race saw Smith start from the back of the grid and storm through the field to win by less than half a second from Bernard. Toye entertained the crowd with a sideways display on his way to finishing 3rd, closely followed by Willie Robertson, Datsun 240Z.

Other drives of note included George Leitch, Mini Ogle, who moved from 21st in practice to finish 12th in race one and Raymond Boyd, Porsche 911, who started from the rear of grid in race two, rising to 10th at the finish.

Photographs :
1. Triumph TR8 #2 - Willy Toye - in second place, beginning of Sunday's race
2. Ford Escort RS1600 # 58 - John Marshall
3. Morgan + 8 # 73- Andrew Smith
4. Saturday's top three - from left to right, Messrs.Marshall, Bernard, Toye
5. Mini Ogle # 6 - George Leitch
6. Davrian # 39 - Harry Simpson, leads Austin Healy Sprite # 9 - Mike Milligan

[John Turner]

Well done, Malcolm, great stuff.

[andy97]

The cars looked great, I must admit. If any of you fancy a trip down south at any time, then maybe you should look in to the planned 6 hour race for club level classic racers (1968-86, < 3.5 litres) at Snetterton on 15 August (see the historic racing thread entitled "alternative 6 hour race). Its planned to be a nt for profit race and would suiy most of the cars in the Scottish series, and a 6 hour race would make the long trip worthwhile.

[Malcolm Smith]

Rounds five and six of the championship were on 5th and 6th June at Cadwell Park.
Fifteen cars took part in qualifying, which was led by the Morgan +8 of Andrew Smith,
followed by John Marshall, Ford Escort and an excellent third fastest for Richard Merrell,
Alfa Giulia GT.

Smith won race one, followed by Marshall, with Stan Bernard, Porsche 911, finishing third.
Jim Grant came fourth, a mere two seconds behind.

The second race was won by Mark Campbell, Triumph TR5, making his first appearance in this series since 2007.
Marshall again finished second, heading Smith in third place and Bernard fourth.

No photos from the event (poor planning on my part) - a few archive shots of Cadwell competitors at previous Knockhill events :
#96 Mark Campbell
#29 Richard Merrell
#46 Robin Benn
#22 Jim Grant #15 Donald Laird

Next Event 26 & 27 June – Knockhill Speedfair.

[Malcolm Smith]

June 26 / 27 saw the largest ever entry of Scottish Classic Sports and Saloon cars, at the Knockhill Speedfair meeting . The total of thirty-eight cars meant that seperate races were required, due to the limit of thirty-two per race. Competitors in classes A&B were grouped, as were those in C&D, with two races for each group during the weekend.

Classes A & B

The top four in classes A&B were the same in each race, with fastest qualifier John Marshall (Escort RS1600) heading Olly Ross (Lotus Europa), Jimmy Crow (Escort RS2000) and Donald Laird (Lotus Elan).
Many exciting battles were fought throughout the field, resulting in some cars being less than a second apart from their nearest rival at the end of the race. Of particular note,was the competition between Ian Longford (Escort RS2000), Richard Merrell (Alfa Giulia) and Harry Simpson (Davrian). A similarly epic struggle occurred between Andy Walker (Triumph Special), Nic Boyes (Mini) and Kieron baillie (Escort), with Boyes victorious.

Photographs

Ross & Marshall
Longford, Merrell, Simpson
Walker, Boyes, Baillie
Liz Swan , Renault 8
Christopher Pass, Lenham GT
Crow

[Malcolm Smith]

Classes C & D

The familiar pairing of Andrew Smith (Morgan +8) and Stan Bernard (Porsche 911)finished first and second respectively in each of the two races.
Third place in race one went Gordon Naismith (Triumph TR8). Barry Riddell (TR8) started at the rear of the grid in race two, rising to third at the end. The TR8 model was well represented, with six starting each race.
Top saloon car in race one was Tommy Gilmartin (Capri) and in race two, Mike Connon (Lotus Sunbeam).

Photographs

Early action Saturday
Robin Benn (Capri) leads Warren Dunbar (Jaguar XJS)
Willie Robertson (Datsun 240Z) ahead of Gordon Naismith
Mike Connon being pursued by Raymond Boyd

[Malcolm Smith]

Classes C&D Sunday

Andrew Smith heads the field
Barry Riddell
TR8s : Shonny Paterson (88), Ross Murray (75), Roy Smith (57)
Willy Toye (TR8) leads Mario Ferrari (Ferrari 308GTB)

[Malcolm Smith]

A reduced entry, due to holidays, meant a return to the traditional format of all four classes competing together, during the meeting on 25th July.

Both races saw regular podium visitors Andrew Smith (Morgan +8), John Marshall (Escort RS1600) and Stan Bernard (Porsche 911), finish first, second and third, winning Classes D, B and C respectively.

Top class A winner (up to 1500cc) was Ian Morton (MG Midget) in race 1 and Nic Boyes (Mini Cooper) in race 2.

Despite a smaller turnout than the bumper June event, close racing was evident throughout the field. At the front, John Marshall finished closer than ever to Andrew Smith, with only a 1.5 second gap at the end of race two.
Race one ended with four cars 3 seconds apart – Kenny Allen (Lotus Elan) finishing fifth, ahead of Jimmy Crow (Escort RS2000) , Raymond Boyd (Porsche 911) and Donald Laird (Lotus Elan) .

The next two rounds are on Saturday 21st August.

Photographs :

#8 Mark Reid
#58 John Marshall following # 4 Stan Bernard
#14 Tim Reid
#11 Ian Morton pursued by # 45 Nic Boyes
# 31 Kenny Allen
#49 Raymond Boyd

[Derwent Motorsp]

Quite a few "dodgy" cars though. A "modern" Morgan V8 and a Mk1 Escort with a BDG engine, that reputedly cost over £100k to build being the worst example. Sadly the lack of keeping to the technical regs is driving folk with genuine historic cars away.

[Malcolm Smith]

Saturday 21st August – two races, all classes combined.

The return of one of last season’s front-runners, Russell Paterson (Morgan +8), competing in his first round of the championship in 2010, led some onlookers to think that a change of winner could occur. Alas, for Russell’s sake, this was not to be.
Having qualified fourth in practice he failed to start either race.

Andrew Smith (Morgan +8) and Stan Bernard (Porsche 911) continued their domination of first and second place respectively, in both races.
Third place in each race went to Shonny Paterson (TR8), his best results to date.

John Marshall (Ford Escort) was the highest place saloon car in both races.

Class winners

A BOTH RACES Harry Simpson (Davrian)
B RACE ONE Olly Ross (LotusEuropa) RACE TWO John Marshall
C BOTH RACES Stan Bernard
D BOTH RACES Andrew Smith

Gallery :


#88 Shonny Paterson
#12 Warren Dunbar
#47 Kieron Baillie
#36 David Scott
#9 Mike Milligan

Next two rounds, 19th September.