Knockhill Report-July 22

Knockhill- July 21/22, 2001

Team:-

Andy Scott	Tim Sopp
Gary Scott	Martin Dickson
Will Scott
Transporter Driver:	Ken Sly

The Synchro team arrived at Knockhill, situated a few miles north of Edinburgh, on Friday around midday. The afternoon was spent setting up the awning in readiness for the weekend racing. Dave Allan also took the opportunity to walk around the tricky circuit, as this was his first visit to the Scottish track. It would be important for the Accord to be set up correctly.

Saturday, July 21
It was raining heavily when the team arrived at the track on Saturday morning. The Free Practice was scheduled for 10.30. Although the rain had started to ease by the time it started, the track was still very damp. Dave put in a good 45 minute session with one pit stop approximately half way. He had just one slight overrun at the hairpin, Taylor's, but managed to get back on the track. Dave finished fifteenth of the eighteen starters but this result was clouded slightly by the fact that many of the other drivers took the opportunity to change to slick tyres just before the end of the session.

The qualifying session was at 2 o'clock. The weather had improved but still remained cloudy. The settings on the car had been changed to dry. Qualifying was, though, a bit of a washout in more ways than one. On the third lap, a red flag situation brought all cars back to the pits. They returned around four minutes later. On his second lap back out, Dave put in a 60.694s lap and things looked promising. This was just 1.5 seconds slower than last season's best lap in the Class B Touring Class by Alan Morrison in the Peugeot 306. However, on the very next lap on the approach to Duffus Dip, Dave hit what appeared to be oil and spun quite viciously off the circuit. He was lucky to escape unscathed. As his tyres were flat spotted in the incident, he returned to the pits for a tyre change. Things did not improve when he returned to the track as it immediately started to rain. Again he had to return to the pits but his chance of a good time had now gone as a result of the rain. With only a few minutes left of the session, there was little point in going out again. He finished fifteenth of the eighteen cars. In a way, this may be a blessing in disguise as tomorrow's Sprint Race may well result in a lot of carnage.

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Sunday, July 22
At 9.45, both the Tourers and Production cars had a 15-minute free practice. Once again, in true style for this weekend, the rain started just before the start. Dave, though, had a much better session returning a 64.6s lap to put him sixth of the twelve production cars that braved the elements. He felt much more at ease with the track and with the settings on the car. In a way it would be to Dave's benefit if there were rain for the races.

The rain, though,did not materialise for the Sprint Race, which was underway at 1.05. As Dave had qualified toward the back of the grid, he was unable to see the flag to signify the start of the race. In order to get a reasonable break, Andy Scott had to make use of the radio to relay to Dave when the flag was waved. He did make a good break, and by the end of the first lap was up to twelfth place but his race, and the meeting, was to be short-lived. On the second lap, Dave had to return to the pits with a gearbox problem. He did go back out again, but had to retire from the race almost immediately when fifth gear packed up working completely.

The Synchro team worked hard between the races to try to salvage something from the day. The gearbox was removed from the car and the faulty part was quickly found. Barwell Motorsport offered some parts from a damaged gearbox but the part was also unserviceable on theirs. There was no option but to have to miss the Feature Race.

Dave also now misses the next 3 meetings, six rounds of the Championship, as he has to go to America for six weeks on business with Honda. He returns on September 5, just in time for Rounds 21 and 22 at Silverstone over the weekend of September 8 and 9.

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