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| 2010 Season |
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| 11/02/2010 |
| Round robin from Aly Hunter |
Hi everybody,
It seams like no time at all, yet here we are starting the 10th year of Scottish Legends Racing.
We have come a long way from our 1st race, with 6 cars, and I think this year is shaping up to be one of our most successful yet.
Kevin Pick has confirmed our calendar for this year, 9 rounds, including a double header with the British GT's , dates below.
"Hi Aly
Here is the calendar as discussed,
The 2010 SCOTTISH LEGENDS CARS CHAMPIONSHIP will be contested over 9
Rounds and all count as follow;
1 18 April Knockhill SMRC
2 and 3 8/9 May Knockhill SMRC (British GTs)
4 and 5 26/27June Angelsey BRSCC
6 25 July Knockhill SMRC
7 21 Aug (Sat) Knockhill SMRC
8 19 Sept Knockhill SMRC
9 17 Oct Knockhill SMRC
New for 2010 - All SMRC Championships will use a Safety Car at
Knockhill meetings.
Regards
Kevin"
I have also been asking when we can expect the rule book to be made public, it is still with the MSA technical guys and at this time Kevin has not had any response from them about when he can expect to receive it. I will let you know when it is released.
The suggested date for our test day is the 18th of March. Unlike previous years this will be an afternoon, 1:00pm till 5:00pm, not a full day. Cost will be in the order of £175-225 depending on numbers. If you could email back to say whether or not you will be attending that would be very much appreciated.
We have been asked to compete on the Oval again this year - Dates are 28th April - 19th May - 30th June - 28th July and the 18th July. Those that took part last year had a great time, are you interested in doing it again this year? We need 12 cars to make it happen.
I am unable to confirm the use of the Raceceiver, you will note from Kevin's letter that all classes are to use the safety car, I am sure the SMRC will let us know in the fullness of time.
Numbers for the Championship look great, new drivers for 2010 include - Austin Pirie 51 - Kevan Fearnley - Jeff Pritchard plus Ciaran Peden one of Steve McCall's new drivers. In addition there are another couple of drivers thinking about joining.
The Team event looks good, so far I am aware of - the Hynds boys / Ben and Elliott / Andrew and Stuart Black / Myself and Stevie Coull / Kevan Fearnly and his son - if I have missed you out please let me know.
I wish all of you good luck for 2010 and thank you for you continued support.
Cheers Aly
Forgot about Craig Mitchell who will also be returning and is the SMRC nominated Scholarship driver.
Sorry Craig !
Aly
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| Sad News |
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| 03/11/2009 |
| Tony Caig's Dad killed |
We are very sad to have to report that Tony Caig's Dad, Bob, died last weekend in a horrific motor car accident.
Our symapthy goes out to all the family.
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| Race Report from Final Round |
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| 25/10/2009 |
| Round 11 - Knockhill - 18th October 2009 |
Race Report and Results from the final round have now been posted and the Championship Table has been up-dated.
Go to SMRC Champs page.
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| Championship Results |
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| 24/10/2009 |
| 2009 Championship Positions |
Individual Championship
Winner: Ross Marshall
2nd place: Alisdair Gauld
3rd place: Frank Hynds
Rookie Championship
Winner: Nick Brace
2nd place: Martyn Lyell
3rd place: David Hunter
Team Trophy
Winners: Ben & Elliot Mason
2nd place: Aly Hunter & Craig Mitchell
3rd place: Stevie Coull & Gordon Mann
Gentleman’s "Trophy"
Winner: Aly Hunter
2nd place: Stevie Coull
3rd place: Andrew Donald
Congratulations to all - and indeed to all participants on a season of high quality and entertaining racing.
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| Race Report |
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| 08/10/2009 |
| Round 10 - Knockhill - 26th September 2009 |
Race Report and Results have now been posted and the Championship Table has been updated.
Apologies for the delay but this arose because the SMRC failed to amend the result of Race 2 following the rescinding of Tony Caig’s initial 5 second penalty for a driving standard infringement. They have recently done so and the amended result can be viewed on the SMART Timing website.
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| New Champions |
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| 03/10/2009 |
| As Ross Marshall secures Individual Title for 2009 and Nick Brace becomes Rookie Champion. |
Congratulations to Ross Marshall who became the 2009 Scottish Legends Champion in the 2nd heat last Saturday. He is a thoroughly deserving winner having driven consistently well throughout the season.
And equally deserving is the 2009 Rookie Champion, Nick Brace. He is sufficiently clear of the next Rookie, Martyn Lyell, so that he can forgo the final round and compete at Pembrey where he is head-to-head with Ben Power in his quest to "do the double", i.e. to lift the National Rookie Title as well. I suspect the Scottish Rookie Title would have been a closer run affair if Martyn had not had to miss 3 rounds.
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| Race Report from GT Cup Meeting |
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| 08/09/2009 |
| Rounds 8 & 9 - Knockhill - 5th & 6th September 2009 |
Race Report and Results have now been added.
Tony Caig has decided not to protest the finalised result of the final race at the Speedfair Meeting. The Championship Table has been up-dated to reflect his being classified as a non-finisher in this race. Points scored at the weekend have also been added.
Apologies to Ross McEwan whose name steadfastly refuses to appear on the Championship Positions page!
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| Race Report from Touring Car Meeting |
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| 24/08/2009 |
| Rounds 6 & 7 - Knockhill - 15th & 16th August 2009 |
Race Report and Results now added.
Championship Table will be up-dated very soon.
Go to SMRC Champs page.
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| Round 5 Result |
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| 24/08/2009 |
| Result of Final Race on 19th July 2009 |
The protest lodged after the final race at the Speedfair Meeting in July was withdrawn.
The result of the final is as per the second ‘provisional’ result sheet issued on the day. It would seem that, where a red flag is shown, the result goes back to the lap before the last one completed by the leading car. The red flag was shown on lap 9. The leader had not completed lap 9. He had completed lap 8 but the result goes back one lap further, i.e. the positions at then end of lap 7.
Final - 7 laps
1st Ross Marshall 7m 46.09 secs (69.20 mph), 2nd Ben Mason, 3rd Tony Caig, 4th Nick Brace, 5th Alasdair Gauld, 6th David Hunter, 7th Gerard McCosh, 8th Colin Atkinson, 9th Ross Mickel, 10th Martyn Lyell, 11th Billy Wait, 12th Scott Hynds, 13th Alex Knight, 14th Stevie Coull, 15th Mark Lees, 16th Murray Ford.
DNF Frank Hynds.
Fastest lap: Ross Mickel 62.91 secs (73.28 mph)
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| Race Report |
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| 21/07/2009 |
| Round 5 - Knockhill - 19th July 2009 |
Race Report & Results for the first two heats is now uploaded.
Owing to the protest which was lodged after the final and the difference of opinions as to how many laps should be "counted back" from the time the red flag was shown, no result was declared.
It is unlikely that the matter will be dealt with before our next round which is at the BTCC meeting on 15th & 16th August and there seems no point in up-dating the Championship Table until the matter is resolved.
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| Race Report |
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| 04/07/2009 |
| Round 4 - Knockhill - 28th June 2009 |
Apologies for the delay but finally the report and results from last Sunday's meeting are now on the website and the Championship Table has been up-dated.
Go to the SMRC Champs page.
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| Race Report |
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| 16/06/2009 |
| Round3 - Knockhill - 13th & 14th June 2009 |
Race Report and Results have been added and the Championship Table up-dated.
Go to SMRC Champs page.
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| Race Report |
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| 03/06/2009 |
| Round 2 - Knockhill - 31st May 2009 |
Race Report and Results have been added and Championship Table has been up-dated.
Go to SMRC Champs page.
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| Championship Standings |
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| 30/04/2009 |
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The Championship Standings Table has been prepared showing the positions after the first round.
Go to SMRC Champs page.
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| Race Report |
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| 29/04/2009 |
| Round 1 - Knockhill - 26th April 2009 |
Race Report and Results have been added.
Go to the SMRC Champs page.
The Championship Table will be up-dated in the next couple of days.
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| 2009 Season (Update) |
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| 04/03/2009 |
| Update on what is happening |
It’s been a while since the last up-date, so here goes:
Sponsorship
We are all delighted that Grattan & Hynds have offered the SMRC a substantial package which will be passed on to all competitors through a reduction in everyone’s race entry fees (see the announcement on the SMRC website).
Grattan & Hynds have also indicated that, as they did two years ago, they will additionally ‘sponsor’ the double-header at the Touring Car Meeting with this sponsorship going towards reducing what would otherwise be a very large race entry fee for regular drivers in the Scottish Championship.
As well as his own car, two more cars have been painted in the House Restaurant colours, this expense being borne by House Restaurants.
Scholars
Along with the SMRC, Legends Racing is pleased to announce the two Scholars for this year. They are Martyn Lyell and Martin Buchan.
Martyn Lyell, aged 19, comes from Penicuick. He is not new to circuit racing having had considerable success as Go-Kart racer over the past 5 years. Martyn joined us at the October meeting last year driving Car 68 (Carol’s) in not the best track conditions, quietly and impressively moving up from the back of the grid for mid-field finishes.
Martin Buchan, aged 22, comes from Aberdeenshire. He has no previous motor racing experience and indeed will be sitting his ARDS Test barely a week before the Test Day (see below).
We look forward to welcoming them to the Legends camp.
Test Day
The Test Day is a week tomorrow, Thursday, 12th March. 15 have booked in so far. If you are planning to come and have not already booked in, please let Aly know. In the early part of the day 2 Minis will be on track along with us running in engines; they will keep out of our way. Carol Brown will be "on hand" for advice and, if anyone wishes, to test drive their car.
Championship Rounds
Whilst the Championship remains at 11 rounds, there has been one change to the race programme in that there will now only be one round at British GT Meeting in June while there will a double-header (over 2 days) at the GT Cup meeting in early September.
Television
Largely due to the impressive show which the Legends put on, TV coverage for Legends this season has been extended to a dedicated one hour programme following each SMRC meeting. The coverage is undoubtedly greatly helped by the input from Steve McCall’s on-board footage which is much appreciated.
Prices for 2009
Message from Aly:
"With current events in mind I have looked at ways of keeping the costs of our sport down as much as possible, especially given that we have 2 more rounds than last year. All prices that I have control over have, in the main, been reduced."
Car Hire from £450.
Running your car on race days down to £205.
Legends Racing Fee/Charge (per driver) £150 for the Season.
Labour charges remain as 2008, as will parts wherever possible.
Running your car for the Oval races £50.
Car hire for the Oval races £300.
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| 2009 Season |
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| 09/01/2009 |
| Newsletter from Aly Hunter |
Hi everyone,
I hope you have all had a great time over the festive period – Anita and I are looking forward to seeing some of you at Dunkeld later this month and every body else at the test day, which this year may be in April, date tba.
Before moving on, I would like to congratulate all 2008 trophy recipients and especially Carol who was the deserving winner of the Ecurie Ecosse Hub Cap. We wish Carol all the best for 2009.
Dates for the 2009 Championship:
April 26th - May 31st - June 28th - Sept 6th - Sept 26th *sat* - Oct 18th
These are the confirmed SMRC race dates.
In addition, and again thanks to all concerned, we are awaiting confirmation for:
British GTs June 13/14th - double header over 2 days - Fingers crossed !!
Classic Speed Fair July 19th
British Touring Cars Aug 15/16th
If all the above come to fruition then we will have a 10 round championship this year, with a slightly later start but similar finish time and a good spread of dates.
As you will know we are again offering the Legends Scholarship for up to two drivers this year. If you know anyone who you feel could benefit from the Scholarship, please let me know and we can forward an application form.
Gerard has been liaising with the SMRC, and the rule book (which is basically unchanged) has been sent by the SMRC to the MSA for approval.
Are you all content with the trophies we have been getting at each round? My feeling is that they have been getting smaller over the past 2 years, is there room for improvement on this?
It would help a great deal if you could email me with the category you wish to compete in this season and if you are a team car the names of any confirmed drivers would be a good. This is most important if you are interested in the "Gentleman’s Grid" - If the SMRC are to provide a trophy/award we will need to give them confirmed numbers. Minimum is 4 and Maximium is 8, remember you can change at any time but you CANNOT carry points scored to date from one category to another.
Tri Oval Races
Last year I mentioned the possibility of us getting to take part in the Oval Circuit race meetings at Knockhill. I am delighted to be able to tell you that we will be competing at these events as a guest formula. We will have 4 rounds of Tri Oval Racing, with 2 heats and a final at each one.
I would welcome any suggestions or feed back on this, as we are going to provide our own regulations and race format etc. I have been thinking of these events along the lines of a Karting Race Night. Information and some ideas are listed below to start the ball rolling.
Wed evenings – May 20th – July 22nd – Aug 26th – Sunday Sept 20th with National Hot Rods
1 – Races will be run in a clockwise direction.
2 – The grid will be started in Groups – i.e. for 20 competitors we would start 4 groups of 5 cars, each group separated by 4 to 6 car lengths.
3 – Grid positions will be drawn in the usual manner for the heats and reversed as normal.
4 – Highest points scorers go to the back (last group) as usual in the final.
5 – There are no entry fees
6 – There is no need to paint roofs (Oval Circuit grades are shown on the cars by roof colour)
7 – Heats 10 laps - Final 15 laps? – We will test a car to make sure there are no overheating issues.
8 – Paddock location will be as normal and we will enter the Tri Oval from the main straight.
9 – The Car should be as per the current SMRC rule book, a short set of regs. should be made up and issued for the race, highlighting any differences and stating the race length etc.
10 – Licence - awaiting clarification on this.
11 – Test day in April – give up 0.5-1.0 hour to evaluate the Tri Oval?
12 – Trophy for each race winner – Trophy for total points winner per event.
We will be offering cars for hire and our usual prep services at very attractive rates!
Those wishing to compete need to let me know by return please – that is all you need to do - no forms – no entry fees - just let me know. Thanks.
Today I learnt from Kevin Pick that the Double header at the GTs and the round at the Classic Speed Fair have all been confirmed. In addition the National Legends dates have been announced, and there is no mention of the touring car date at Knockhill! Assuming (and I have no reason to think otherwise) that TOCA still want Legends as part of their meeting then it looks like we will have all 10 rounds!!
That’s all the news I have at present, as ever I will keep you all up to date as and when required.
Good luck and good racing in 2009.
Aly
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| Televison |
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| 23/12/2008 |
| Hour long TV round-up of Scottish Legends in 2008 |
It seems that over the Christmas and New Year period Motors TV are to show the hour long "summary" programmes for each of the SMRC classes. I have lifted the undernoted dates & times for the Legends programme from the Scottish Club Racing website:
Time: 20:00 to 21:00 (1 hour long).
When: Wednesday 24th December on Motors TV
Time: 04:20 to 05:20 (1 hour long).
When: Thursday 25th December on Motors TV
Time: 11:00 to 12:00 (1 hour long).
When: Friday 26th December on Motors TV
Time: 11:00 to 12:00 (1 hour long).
When: Sunday 28th December on Motors TV
Time: 02:30 to 03:25 (55 minutes long).
When: Tuesday 30th December on Motors TV
Time: 14:00 to 15:00 (1 hour long).
When: Tuesday 30th December on Motors TV
Hopefully this is correct.
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| Report from Clio Cup Winter Series at Rockingham |
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| 17/11/2008 |
| 1st race win for Dave Newsham |
After a disappointing display at a very cold and greasy Croft where Dave’s Clio proceeded to beat all of the confidence out of him, he arrived at Rockingham with some trepidation and wondering if he could get to grips with this very tricky car in wet conditions.
Team Amery’s new addition to the team for this weekend and the full 2009 season was Stephen Colbert. A former Clio Cup and F3 front runner, a man with a lot of experience and hired to help with driver coaching, car set-up and race strategy.
A wet track greeted the drivers on Friday morning and Stephen requested some subtle changes to the car set-up. Straight away, Dave found the car much more driveable in the wet and he was immediately on the pace of the front-runners.
The track dried later on and although having some very big off track moments Dave was looking forward to Saturday no matter the weather. On his last practice run however, as he was pushing the car quite hard down the long back straight, the engine started to lose power and an awful noise emitted from under the bonnet. Dave stopped the engine immediately and knew that the engine was finished…
Dave’s thoughts were confirmed when the team investigated and found a hole in the side of the engine. There is no hiding place in the Clio Cup as the car supplies so much data, and the team could see that Dave had over-revved the engine on down gear changes. Another very expensive lesson learned!
A new engine was fitted on Friday night. Looking positively, its better to learn these lessons now than during the main championship next season - the new engine seemed to be a little faster too!
Qualifying
The drivers had just fifteen minutes to set two fast laps for the two races. It was decided that Dave would just pound round for the full session, getting as many laps in as he could. He noticed straight away that the rear of the car was sliding more than on the previous day and he was struggling to commit to it again. Dave checked his pit board and discovered that he was running 2nd for most of the session, however with just a couple of laps remaining he dropped to 4th. Dave was disappointed! The team had made a change to the rear of the car as the track dried the previous day, but had not put it back to the wet set-up he ran earlier.
Race One
The track was starting to show signs of drying. With just a couple of minutes to go, high up in the grand stand with a good view of the track Stephen gave the order over the radio to run with slick tyres on the front and wet (treaded) tyres on the rear. Another set-up that had not been tried by Dave, but that’s what he was there for - to learn.
With 50% of cars on full wets and 50% on slick wets combination, only time would tell if it was the right call.
One element of Dave’s Clio Cup experience that he doesn’t need to worry about are his starts - and this one was no exception. Dave initially wanted to work his way to the inside for the first corner because on the two occasions he has been ‘taken out’ he was on the outside of the corner. However Dave is a racer, he made a superb start and the only avenues available to him were the outside, or to back off! Dave didn’t back off and he went round the outside of three cars on the fast banking of the oval track.
However with slicks on a still wet track, Dave erred on the side of caution and braked early. The guys on wet tyres quickly went through and Dave found himself in sixth place, just on the tail of two other slick tyre runners. It would be a waiting game to see if the track would dry enough to take advantage of the dry tyres.
By half distance, Alex McDowell (1) on wet tyres had pulled a six-second lead over Phil House (5), Aron Smith (10) and Dave who was now up to 4th. Dave struggled with his gear-indicator, which was reading incorrectly and meant that when he was braking for a corner, he would go down too many gears, which resulted in locking the front wheels, sending him wide on a few occasions. Dave would however quickly recover and catch the two guys on dry tyres. He could see that Alex was starting to struggle on the drying track, and was coming back to the guys on slicks.
With three laps to go, Dave was braking for the chicane when again… wrong gear and locked fronts sent Dave off track and through the gravel trap. He just managed to get back to the track but lost about eight seconds. It looked like 4th place was the best he could do, however he was now catching Alex at a big rate, who’s wet tyres were now shot, and Dave passed him on the final lap to take the lowest step on the podium.
He was quoted a little later - ‘It was nice to be back on the podium, although disappointing to have lost so much time with the mistakes’.
The gear indicator problem was found to be a faulty sensor and was soon replaced.
Race Two
The track was virtually dry with just a couple of damp patches for the second race. One of the aforementioned patches was at the first hairpin. Again starting from 4th on the grid, Dave made a good start getting into third place and challenging the front two. Into the hairpin and Aron out-braked himself sending him wide, Dave slipped through into second behind Alex. Dave put Alex under pressure and into the same hairpin on lap two Alex went wide. Dave found himself in the lead!
He set about trying to pull away. Before long Aron found his way past Alex and proceeded to reign Dave in. With three laps to go Aron was on the tail of Dave who had to use all of his experience to hold off the charging Irishman.
The hairpin was the only place Aron could get close to passing Dave - he even gave Dave a thump up the backside at one point… Dave kept his cool to take his first Clio Cup win and the first win for team Amery Motorsport.
A great end to what has been a trying Winter Series. Dave topped the points from Rockingham with his two podium finishes, however he finished the series in 5th place due to the DNF at Croft.
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| Cars for Sale |
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| 24/10/2008 |
| Additional Cars for sale |
A further 3 cars are offered for sale - although one has already been sold!
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