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Melville Club at KNOCKHILL 21/22nd June 2008

An unusual event for the race calendar as the Melville Club put on a two day event at Knockhill instead of East Fortune as part of their 75th anniversary celebrations. Usually we get a long lie at Knockhill on a Saturday as practice is not till later in the afternoon. Not this time. When we arrived on Friday night the paddock was already brimming over but we got a space in beside the other sidecars including a few Irish competitors that we hadn’t seen since last season. Bob gave the sidecar a quick oil change ready for the next day. Saturday morning was an early call for signing on and scrutineering at 7.30 am. The outfit was good to go and we had a practice and qualifying session before lunch.

Our practices went well but hold ups in some of the solo sessions were slowing up the programme. We kept consistently at 59 sec laps which is where we had managed to get to at our last visit and qualified in 8th place out of 15 sidecars with 59.787. Further delays were caused by Bambi, a Roe who had decided to camp out in the in field, making her presence known to a solo rider with a mercy dash to the middle where she hid till carefully chased out of the circuit – whatever next!

The weather was holding up and we were set to get one race in the afternoon. We lined up in the middle of the pack and in a crazy moment of over enthusiasm Kerr thought the red light had been on then off then on again! He took off with the back tyre skirling it didn’t get us far though as the race was red flagged in the first lap due to Scott Lawrie/Jim Connell having found their steering broken on the start line. Their outfit safely pushed out of the way and we lined up again. Yes Kerr did it again but this time n spectacular fashion passing the rest of the grid like they were sleeping. We were first into Duffus, we knew there was something not right but oh boy did it feel good to be out front! We were passed by a couple of front runners but were still in third place at the hairpin. At the end of the day we finished 8th having had a fantastic run and getting a fastest lap of 59.573. We did however also get a 10s penalty for jumping the start but this did not have any effect on our placing thankfully as the next pairing were more than 10s behind. We thought we would be in everyone’s bad books but couldn’t be more wrong everyone was laughing at our hard necks and were delighted to see us out front. Let’s hope we can do it again properly next time!

That was racing over for the day and the weather broke spectacularly with wind and heavy rain. That evening we changed, what had been a new slick, for a part worn off Gordon Shand. The compound we had was too soft and the tyre wrecked in its second meeting. We hoped the weather would be good enough on Sunday to use it. Thanks to Ralph Pryde for changing it over for us.

The morning broke with a heavy damp mist and drizzle. Practice was for Sunday riders only. There was a delay while they sorted out a shortage of marshals as quite a few of them were away to the Moto GP round at Donnington (perhaps a little more glamorous than Knockhill?). We were going to get out just after practice to get our second Saturday race. It had been very wet but the rain had stopped and with a few track sessions a dry line was appearing. We all chose to go out on wets and it was barely damp enough. We could barely get traction and slid perilously to the finish glad to get home in one piece we came in 9th at 1.06.394. We were quite disappointed with our performance. Our rear wet was a 14” Avon and had as much grip as a bar of soap. We had a new Yokohama but it was a 13” wheel. John Nicol pointed out that, although it was a 13” wheel the tyre had a deeper profile and therefore there was no difference in ride height, which had been our concern. That was that, the Avon was ditched and the Yokohama put on.

After lunch we got our next race for the Scottish Championship. The weather had been showery and as usual everyone in the paddock gazed at the sky and paced around looking to see what the tyre choice would be. We were more confident with the prospect of a wet race with new Yokohama rubber on the rear. Everyone went out again on wets apart from one outfit which had plumped for intermediates. They had definitely made the right choice. As we waited in the holding area it became apparent that the track was drying fast. We got quite a good start (yes after the lights went out this time) but as the race progressed everyone was squirming about the track as the wet tyres started to rip up. We finished 10th, just pipped in the second last lap by Hamish and Michael Mackay as we tried very hard not to do a 360 at the hairpin. The time was better at 1.03.001 but I’m not sure if it could really be called a wet race. The brand new back tyre was shredded as were everyone else’s, not a pretty sight. It could get some more use as a chair wheel I guess.

The rest of the day dragged on with intermittent cold rain causing tyre confusion and incidents in many of the races. As the afternoon wore on the weather improved and we optimistically looked at getting the slicks back on for our third race of the day. Then as time was pressing and medical cover reducing at the end of the day they decided to swap around the sidecars and the classics. We all looked nervously towards the sky as some ominous black clouds gathered. It seemed an age for the classics to finish their race and we got called for ours. Even in the collecting area we all looked at the sky, hoping we could get out quick and get the race in before it broke, slicks all round! We got an excellent start and were sitting in 5th as the spots of rain appeared on the visor and all the sidecars started slithering about. Hands went up and we all pulled in as the heavens opened. The race was recalled but we decided not to go out. We were not alone as only 6 sidecars went back out and only 4 finished. We regretted it afterwards but the conditions and standing water looked quite dangerous and I think we made the right call.

Back to Knockhill next month for a 2 day Kirkcaldy club meeting which will include the British Championship Sidecars and some seriously quick outfits. Think we will be putting in a tuned engine for that one!

Finally, thanks to our newest sponsors, Jim and Maureen Gordon (Bob’s Mum and Dad) for the fine food supply- team fuel!

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