The team at Knockhill are thrilled to announce a partnership with French sports car manufacturer Alpine, with a fleet of multi-award-winning A110s becoming the main track experience cars for the start of the 2024 season. Alpine have an incredible pedigree in motorsport which continues at the very pinnacle of motorsport, with their F1 cars driven by Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon.

But it’s their diminutive sports car that has captured the world’s motoring press, with the A110 landing numerous awards since launch, including Top Gear’s “Performance & Sports Car of the Year”, Autocar’s “Five-Star car”, Octane magazine’s “Car of the Year” and Evo Magazine’s “Coupe of the Year”.

Gordon Shedden, 3 times British Touring Car Champion, said “We always strive to provide the best for our driving experiences and the Alpine A110 ticks every box for us, and more! With their involvement in F1, Alpine are a brand on the rise and the A110 is the perfect track training car for us. It’s rare that a car is so devoted to driver involvement: the A110 is quick, agile and provides enormous, accessible performance, handling and fun. Having driven it I can fully see why the world’s press has given it the full five stars – it will be perfect for our customers and they will take our experiences to a whole new level”.

The cars will arrive at Knockhill for the start of the 2024 season, supported by Specialist Cars Alpine Aberdeen and Arnold Clark Alpine Glasgow, and will be used as the instructor coaching car for the Formula Single Seater Experiences, Legends, Supercars and Performance Driving Courses. As a result, 1000s of customers a year will experience just why this special car has been awarded five stars, and significantly enhances the thrill of driving Knockhill, Scotland’s National Motorsport Centre.

The BIG ONES!

Bennetts British Superbikes – June 14^th – 16^th – Not only are we hosting the best domestic bike championship in the world, but a whole host of special 50th-anniversary content, guests of honour, feature race bike displays, anniversary programme with dedicated editorial and off-track entertainment.

Kwik Fit British Touring Cars – August 10^th – 11^th – We are thrilled that the BTCC is back with a new thrilling “Super Six” qualifying format, bringing a heightened blend of competitiveness and intensity to qualifying. The Elite Legends will be back, as well as the event featuring the only single-seater championship of the year, the British F4’s. There will be a 50^th anniversary feature marquee, a special programme, and we are honoured to be teaming up with the Jim Clark Trust to mark the 60^th anniversary of Jim winning the British Touring Cars in 1964.
Supertruck Scotland – August 24^th – 25^th – Probably the biggest hit event of 2023 was the return of Supertruck Scotland! With plans afoot, an anticipated 400 show, classic, custom and working trucks will be on display with parades and demos on track too, including a racing truck. NEW feature for 2024 – Supercars on track, with drives and passenger rides also available (at an additional cost). Our fabulous kids zone, entertainment, stunt driver, drifting and drag racing will feature over the weekend. A must for all truck fans!

Live Action Fireworks Spectacular – November 2^nd – It has been a sellout event for 3 years in a row and rightly so with its amazing content, track action, kids zone and entertainment. It is a spectacular way to end the season and this time around it will also feature laser show! 

Other season highlights are:

• Three “Best of Scotland” car race events with visiting rounds of Modified Fords, Pickup Trucks and other top championships.
• The return of long circuit 250cc Karts with sub-50 second lap times!
• 50^th Anniversary Bike Festival with endurance races, Sidecars, REWIND FESTIVAL, many other bike disciplines, displays, track sessions and guests of honour on the day of our 50^th birthday! 
• BARC Caterham racing weekend – 150 Caterhams doing battle using the track in both directions.
• Five show car events featuring at the Easter Hot Hatch, Ford Live, Six Flags, INTAKE and Fireworks events.

Remember we have a fantastic range of Driving Experiences available right now for Christmas, some feature within our Black Friday deals, and there is a 50^th anniversary book, KNOCKHILL – 50 years of racing, on sale now too. 

Our sporting season kicks off as usual with the Grant Construction rally on February 18^th , but we will be hosting a special season launch at the Scottish Bike Show at Ingliston on March 16^th & 17^th . So if you are a bike fan, or a fan of Knockhill, why not come along to the Show and meet all the Knockhill team, stars of the bike racing world and hear all about the special 2024 50^th anniversary season. If you cannot make it along, then we look forward to welcoming you to the events throughout the year.

To mark this landmark, a coffee-table-sized hard back book has been written by Director of Events Stuart Gray which chronicles the development of Knockhill from the early 70s to today.

Published by www.blackandwhitepublishing.com, it is 272 pages long and contains over 450 quality images that capture its construction, 5 decades of action and highlights, the competitors, events and people who have helped create Scotland’s National Motorsport Centre. There is a forward by David Coulthard with “A word from the champions” by Jimmy McRae, John Cleland and Niall Mackenzie.

Copies can be pre-ordered now via www.Knockhill.com/events or phoning 01383 723337 at £35 plus p&p. The scheduled distribution date is November 23rd – in plenty time for Christmas! Thereafter it will be in all good book shops and available at Knockhill too.

All pre-orders made via Knockhill before November 23rd will be put in a draw with one lucky winner receiving two Gold Season Passes giving free entry to every event during our golden anniversary, 50th season of Knockhill.

Good luck and happy reading too!

Max said, “I’m really looking forward to coming back to compete at Knockhill in the rallycross. It’s going to be kinda cool especially as it’s the first event to use the newly named McRae’s Corner at the start of the loose section. I’ve not completed in a rallycross before but with its quick-fire short race format, there’s always some great action for the drivers and fans alike. I can’t wait- it’s gong to be a blast!”

Tickets for the event are available via www.Knockhill.com/events with practice starting at 9am followed by heats and finals, with the event due to finish around 4.30pm

Chris attended many of our bike events and will be sorely missed by all of the team at Knockhill. Our deepest condolences are extended to his family and friends at this sad time”.

The next round of the KMSC Scottish Bike Championship racing will not be like any other ever seen in the 15-year history of the Club. The 120 plus entry of racers will be joined by some of the icons of bike sport with the return of the REWIND FESTIVAL on Sunday 28^th May, making it a truly special and memorable event for all. 

Returning after a 3 year break because of the pandemic, the REWIND FESTIVAL at Knockhill on Sunday 28^th May celebrates racing and road bikes from the 70s, 80s and 90s. This year, however, we are joined by a galaxy of stars with 4 times Vice-World Champion Randy Mamola will be heading the line up which includes American legend John “Hopper” Hopkins, 3 times British Superbike Champion and ex-GP rider Niall Mackenzie and rising Moto2 star Rory Skinner from Perth. 

Mamola was runner-up in the Grand Prix Championship in 1989, ’81, ’84 and ’87, winning 13 GP500s, two of which were on board a factory Suzuki XR34 500 two stroke which will be on display, and which will be ridden by Randy track at Knockhill next Sunday. The same motorcycle took Mick Grant to an IOM TT victory in the same period both of the race bikes having been loaned to Knockhill by Team Classic Suzuki. Team Classic Suzuki’s very own factory mechanic Paul Boulton will be looking after both motorcycles. 

John Hopkins has competed in the MotoGP World Championship, World Superbike Championship, and on his last visit to Knockhill, he was competing in the British Superbikes Championship. Hopkins has now turned his focus to running a Moto2 team in the world championship and his team, American Racing,  signed 21-year-old Rory Skinner from Perth. John will be riding an ex Steve Parrish Suzuki RG500 which will also be on display when not on the track. Rory made his debut at a Knockhill KMSC event as an 11-year-old when the management team at the Fife Circuit managed to get dispensation for him to race from 11, rather than the normal 12 years old. Since then, Rory rise to stardom has been meteoric and now competes in the second highest level of bike sport in the world, Moto2, just one level below MotoGP.

The lineup of megastars is completed with Niall Mackenzie, the 3 times British Superbike champion. Originally from Denny near Stirling, Niall is an icon in his own right and his ties with the Circuit go back to the start of his career when he made his debut on a Yamaha RD350 LC. After decades of success around the world, Niall became President of the Knockhill Motor Sports Club after its creation. Niall is a frequent visitor as he runs his Niall Mackenzie Superbike Track Days at Knockhill and is a strong supporter of developing future young riders.

All four stars will be on track too, they will ride period race bikes during parades and demos, and there will be an impressive display of road and race bikes from the 70s, 80s and 90s for the race fans to admire. These bikes include Grand Prix bikes, TT winning bikes and others that have won numerous championships across Britain, Europe and the World. 

The Rewind festival will feature a living show of classic race bikes, some of which will be demonstrated during the parade sessions on Sunday.

The full Scottish Championship meeting, and the Rewind Festival, starts at 9am on Sunday 28^th May, with tickets and event information on www.knockhill.com/events with tickets available online or at the gate on the day. 

To check out prices, click on the event of interest and click on the BUY TICKETS icon and the prices will be shown. They range from £99 at REWIND, £125 at the TCR-UK event and include morning pastries, finger buffet lunch, tea/coffee/soft drinks and beer/wine., At the Saturdays of both the BSB and BTCC, there are options of £175 and £215 respectively, using the different levels of the unit with the lower priced option using the ground floor only, the higher priced option using the first floor and upper viewing deck. All prices inclusive of an event ticket and VAT.

The team are thrilled to have such a quality facility at Knockhill which was previously used by an F1 team. The views are exceptional as they over look the hairpin approach and exit, on the run up to the starting grid.

For more details, check out each event page or call us on 01383 723337.

If you want to start racing, rallying, marshalling, autotesting, trails or any other discipline, then check out the new Scottish Association of Motor Sport Clubs (SAMSC) website – www.motorsport.scot/

At the opening weekend of the Scottish Championship Car Racing event last weekend, there were six talented women who were going to be heading out onto the track. The youngest was 16-year-old Sophie Kinghorn, who was participating in the Fiesta ST Championship for the first time.

After competing in karting championships for the past 10 years, she became the Mini Rotax Max 2019 Scottish Champion, which she mentioned was one of the proudest moments in her career so far. Three years later she decided to take the next step and enter into car racing. It was her firstweekend racing in Knockhill, and she had only been in her car four times prior to this event. She stated how she was feeling nervous before qualifying but was ready to get out onto the track. After learning about her past in the sport she gave her thoughts on how it feels to compete as a young woman and what she hopes for the future in terms of having more representation in the sport. “It feels amazing to be a woman in motorsport, basically paving a path for more women to get into the sport. There are constantly more women coming in and I hope one day that a girl can get into F1.”

As the Fiesta ST contenders headed out onto the track, Sophie qualified in 13th position and in race one she moved up a position to 12th. She had a brilliant battle against Stuart Mackie, and she crossed the line just a few hundredths of a second behind him. Following her first race, she said how she’s got to learn more about the car. After getting the opportunity to compete against more experienced drivers she has picked up a few skills that she will be looking to use in the next meeting. On the other side of the paddock, the KMSC Modsports championship was preparing for its first qualifying session.

Two young women were competing in this event, Natalie Cowie and Louise Strachan. Natalie is 22 years old and this is her third-year racing at Knockhill. Natalie Cowie on track. She first started out when she was 19 and competed in Super Lap Scotland before moving over to the modified cars series. In 2020 she won the Modsports Championship in her debut year. It was the first event she had ever won and an experience that she will remember forever. Natalie also gave some personal insight on how she feels being a woman racer and what she hopes can happen for women in the future of the sport.

‘Personally, I think motorsports is the one sport where men and women can compete equally. I don’t think there is any restriction as I can get into my car and no one knows if I’m a girl or boy, I’m just a driver and equal to everybody else. I have just as much right to be here. In terms of the future, I hope it can be like that and we can get more women in bigger championships like F1.’

Heading out onto the track, she qualified 9th just two-hundredths of a second behind Adam Kindness. She mentioned how she wasn’t quite where she wanted to be in qualifying but was going to put in some hard work to gain positions.

In race 2 she started 11th and fought her way up to 5 th after having some incredible overtaking moments on the track. She finished first in her class out of the 8 opponents in class G. However, her success didn’t end there, it continued in race 3 where she started in 5 th. Her incredible racing skills were on show all throughout the 17 laps and as she crossed the finish line in 4th, she went to the top of her class again. As well as the amazing women on the track there are some inspirational women off track.

Suzanne Buist is just one of the names who work hard behind the scenes. She is a driver rep for Modsports and has also raced herself. She has an important role, as she is the voice of the drivers. If there has been an altercation or dispute, she will gather the driver’s opinions and take it to either the race or events coordinator to make sure both parties are happy, and the issue is resolved. Suzanne has had experience on and off track making her knowledgeable about what it is like to be a woman in the sport.

“One of the good things about being a woman in motorsport is we are treated equally. It is one of the few sports where women and men can compete at the same level. We aren’t separated like rugby and football are, I think that it’s important to not be separated as it creates a divide. It’s not about strength or the size of a person, it’s about who you are.”

Lynn and Zoe Pike were part of the marshalling team on Saturday. These are some of the most important people in the racing world, ensuring that the race runs smoothly and safely. Both were tasked with correctly putting the cars in their positions on the grid and ensuring the pitlane was organised and clear. It was the first time they have experienced working as a marshal, and they loved every second of it. Lynn mentioned how online websites and writers are noticing the hard work women do and making sure it doesn’t get overlooked. It’s drawing more attention to the lesser-known roles in the sport that doesn’t get a lot of thought and letting people know how important these roles are. Women of all ages behind-the-wheel and off-track have become such an inspiration to others looking for a way to break into this sport. They are showing that this is not just primarily for men, and in the coming years there can hopefully be even more women in the paddock.

Knockhill has become a great example of representation for women and continues to campaign and encourage more women to get involved to show off their unique abilities.

Caitlyn Gordon