Legendary performances as Knockhill celebrates 50 years of car racing

A record grid of 30 Scottish Legends put on a spectacular show at Knockhill last weekend as the Fife circuit celebrated a half-century of car racing in fine style.

Basking in perfect sunshine and ambient temperatures upwards of 20 degrees, the two-day meeting produced action and drama befitting of such a significant anniversary, with Legends championship protagonists Ben Mason and Daniel Clark taking a heat and final win apiece. But it was Clark who left happiest after taking a large chunk out of his 195-point pre-meeting deficit to Mason to give his title tilt a much-needed shot in the arm.

Clark finished second to Michael Weddell in a stop-start Saturday opener as mechanical woes caused Mason to retire. Things were even worse for Mason’s erstwhile nearest rival Ryan McLeish, who scored zero points after a blown engine during the morning’s familiarisation session ruled him out of the entire weekend.

Mason recovered from his race-one disappointment to win the reversed-grid second encounter by just over a tenth of a second from Clark, following a late lunge on his rival at the Hairpin just as the double waved yellows had been removed for an earlier incident. Mason’s form continued in dominating fashion as he charged through from 14th to take victory in the final by nearly six seconds from Colin Atkinson, profiting from an early safety car intervention.

“The restart helped me stay close to the front and, once I got there, I just put my head down and used the clear air in front of me,” Mason said.

The 10-lap affair was a race of attrition with no fewer than eight retirements, most notably Clark who was forced out with front-end damage. His wife Elby had looked on course to secure a maiden podium, but she too was a retirement after spinning out late on.

If Saturday had been entertaining, the following day’s action raised the bar even higher as Matthew Pape beat Chris Grieve in a sensational opening bout in which the top four finishers were covered by under half a second over the line. Mason could only finish 24th after a penultimate-lap clash with Brent Bowie, while Daniel Clark bagged more points with sixth.

Clark then cruised to victory in heat two and also came out on top in a dramatic final, which came to a head on the last tour as Mason and Weddell came to blows while disputing second at McIntyres. The contact forced Weddell out and significantly delayed polesitter and long-time leader Elby Clark, dropping her to 19th by the end. Mason limited the damage by taking second ahead of Maxim Popelyushko.

The Scottish C1 Cup title fight remains deadlocked as Ayden Wilson and James Hitchen again shared the victories in a pair of closely-fought races. Hitchen led early doors in the opener and did well to fend off Wilson’s initial attacks before the latter eventually found a way by after going side by side with Hitchen into the Chicane. That squabbling allowed Gregor McPhaden and James McCracken to close up towards the end.

Liam Kelso started the partially reversed-grid second race from pole but lost out to Henry Gillespie before the first corner as both Hitchen and Wilson made gains. Indeed, it wasn’t long before Hitchen seized the lead from Gillespie with a superb dive at McIntyres. From there, Hitchen held a largely comfortable 2.4s advantage over Wilson to end the weekend tied on points in the standings once more.

Jack Irvine prevailed in one of the closest Scottish Mini Cooper Cup finishes ever, edging out Chad Little in a mesmerising drag to the finale’s flag by three thousandths of a second. The Northern Irishman got a superb getaway off the line from fourth to lie second by the end of the first lap before completing his surge to the front of the field by slicing past Ralph Sturrock at Duffus. From there, Irvine knew he had to hold on somehow as Little reduced a 1.5s gap to nothing by the final corner. The pair bashed door panels on the run to the line, with a relieved Irvine just emerging as the winner.

Irvine won third Mini race by the very narrowest of margins

Photo by: Jim Moir

“My front tyres went off, so I was struggling at Clarks and the Hairpin,” recalled Irvine. “It was so close; I didn’t even know I’d won until I got back to the paddock!”

Daniel Patterson won the opening two Cooper races and finished fourth in the final to boost his championship hopes, while Ross Wilkinson went unopposed in the Cooper S class.

Ron Cumming won two of the three Scottish Modsports races in his Nemesis Kit Car, which was given a run for its money by Jake Simpson’s Radical SR8. Cumming’s prowess through lapped traffic enabled the 76-year-old to stave off sustained pressure from Simpson in race one, and it was a similar story in the second encounter. With Cumming electing to sit out the third and final race, Simpson won at a canter by some 34s from the ex-Scandinavian Touring Car BMW silhouette of Paul Brydon. Completing the overall podium was the class D winner, racing novice Michael Barron in his Honda Civic.

Meanwhile, in the Scottish Classic Sports & Saloons, MG dominated proceedings as Alastair Baptie and Alasdair Coates put on a superb display in their MGB GTs to split the wins. Coates looked to have snatched victory from a touring Baptie in race one only to give his rival the win by spinning at the Hairpin on the last lap. Coates made no mistake in race two, despite pressure from the triple champion towards the end. Colin Calder claimed a pair of well-earned podiums in his nimble Ginetta G4.

Defending Scottish Fiesta ST Cup champion Gerry Hendry continued his unbeaten run at the start of the 2025 season, taking both wins ahead of David Colville, with Arran Ward and Jamie Dickie each taking the final step on the podium.

Reigning champion Hendry maintained his unbeaten start to Scottish Fiesta campaign

Photo by: Jim Moir