JOHN COOPER CHALLENGE CUP :: 13 APRIL 2003
KNOCKHILL RACING CIRCUIT

A number of the Scottish MINI2 contingent met up at Kinross and travelled in convoy to Knockhill Racing Circuit arriving in time to see the practise sessions in the morning.

At the entrance to the circuit we collected our complementary passes which rather worryingly were marked "Competitors Pass". We had our own fenced off MINI Parking area.

Weather was bright but a bitter easterly wind blew in the time honoured Knockhill tradition.

We were all given packed lunches as well as coffee and biscuits in the MINI tent, a rarther grand affair. Naturally we all had a good look around the paddock at the Works Cars and spoke to some of the competitors and mechanics about their experiences.

Main work on the cars seemed to involve the brakes which were standard apart from the change to racing pads. There was a lot of brake fluid changing going on after the first practise runs.

A number of the competition Coopers had been resprayed in different colours to the normal BMW ones. I particularly liked the blue that Ecurie Ecosse had used on their two cars.

We positioned ourselves at the end of the start/finishing straight with a good view of about half of the track. As it turns out this was a good choice as a lot of action happened at the end of that straight including the only big shunt that ended the racing day for one poor white Cooper that spun and hit the tyre barrier, losing a rear wheel and having dented every panel on the car except the roof. The driver was unhurt we were glad to see. The race was halted while the car was recovered and the debris from the track swept up and tyre wall rebuilt. This was on lap 2 of the very first race.

The racing was very close and the noise of the normal road tyres squealing on every bend really gave a good impression of the speed, much more so than the other non-MINI races during the day.

The final race went the full 15 laps without mishap with the competitors really being able to show their skills as their brakes and road tyres reached melting point.

We all made a quick exit from the course after that race to avoid the rush and were soon driving along in what seemed like silence compared to roars and squeals of the competitors cars.

Many thanks to John Clark for the tickets and hospitality and of course to the drivers for thrilling and entertaining us.

3GGG aka David Anderson