With most of the UK still bathed in glorious warm weather, Scotland was no exception and how we all smiled inwardly when hearing reports of the miserably cold & wet weather for the FIA Lurani Trophy round at Dijon in central France the previous weekend ~~ midsummer and only 12 degrees!

The 1.28 mile circuit at Knockhill follows the contours of the hillsides and the corners and bends are natural curves with no artifices to slow the flow, thus it is a circuit well liked by drivers of all abilities.
From a spectator point of view there are many superb locations from which to watch the racing and the very famous double-diamond shaped Forth Rail Bridge, with its never ending painting, is clearly visible in the distance.

Crossing the river estuary via the Forth Road Bridge and then taking the M90 just past Dunfermline, the circuit is only a few miles to the west. Alternatively using the Kincardine Bridge further west takes a more picturesque route to the circuit, but either way Knockhill is easily accessible from Glasgow and/or Edinburgh which are in the order of 5 hours driving from Birmingham with the ever diminishing M6 traffic heading north past the stunning extremities of the Lake District hills and over Shap.

Tebay services on both sides of the M6 just north of J38 will be a complete revelation for first time visitors. Like no other motorway UK services which your scribe has come across ~ unfortunately perforce of extensive business travelling this includes probably most of them over these past many years.
Here at Tebay the services are run by Westmoreland Farm Shop which has a butchery drawing meat & poultry from the locality along with a very fine deli counter offering local cheeses & hams and many other Cumbrian products to buy for home. For those wishing to eat a meal there is a nice range of high quality dishes properly scratch cooked from ingredients also locally sourced to be taken in a very pleasant dining area, not remotely like the normally forbidding motorway services zoo like ambience.
Outside are duck ponds with charming views from quiet seating and in clement weather a barbeque operates ~~ surely this is how all motorway services should be; sadly it is not so.

Vern Williamson being absent on family matters, it fell to Malcolm and Aileen Wishart to arrange the legendary Scottish hospitality for the FJ folk and this year on Saturday evening we were treated to a wonderful tour across the countryside to the site of the Bo-Ness Hillclimb, which is nearby to Grangemouth on the southern shore of the Forth estuary.
Nearly fifty of us boarded a 1953 Leyland double deck omnibus for a leisurely (thankfully) ride of about one hour from the circuit to Bo’Ness and there we were rewarded with a very complete inspection of the hill climb course with course expert Bill Drysdale, who along with Malcolm Wishart and Vern Williamson was responsible for reactivating this competitive event a couple of years ago. Photographs of cars passing through the Courtyard area in times past convey little compared to standing there and wondering how on earth the likes of Denis Poore conducted his mighty Alfa at speed through what is in all essence a chicane constructed of large granite stone houses either side.
The course is bounded by solid granite walls in all the ‘wrong’ places and elsewhere by high rising earth banks and also by numerous very substantial trees.
Sir John Chisholm humorously expressed concern about driver safety but Mr. Drysdale responded with the reassurance that straw bales were placed in strategic locations but firmly maintained that if anyone clouted a wall or hit a tree or capsized on a bank it was rather their own fault ~~ what a refreshing view.
Sir John wasn’t put off this easily and at every opportunity thereafter he and others now rising to the challenge mentioned more & more hazards, all to huge merriment and laughter from the party. In the end it was decided that if John should ever enter the event then special signage would be displayed for him ~~ “Avoid”, “Keep Off” and “Stop Here” were suggested as appropriate. Well done John, you were a good sport.
DCPR made a short speech of thanks to Malcolm Wishart and Bill Drysdale on the finishing line and with the hill-climb inspection complete we repaired to the bus for a short journey to the nearby Bo’Ness Museum where a nice buffet meal was ready. The museum has much memorabilia and artefacts from the Bo-Ness hey days, but the main part is given over to an extensive collection of fascinating items revolving around the famous James Bond 007 films.

The bus we travelled on is original to the Ribble Valley still correctly painted in the company colours and it was rumoured that Bill Grimshaw asked the driver if a detour to his farm at Rossendale in the Ribble Valley could be made to pick up a can of fuel.
In the event we went back to Knockhill via a different route arriving there at 11pm with sufficient daylight still remaining to read a newspaper outdoors if wished.
Bill obviously loves hills ~ well he has to, given that he lives on the side of one. So on Friday evening he had climbed up to the top of Knock Hill, just because it was there.

Anyway, enough ramblings and on to the racing.
The entry numbers were sadly modest and further reduced by absentees including Edwin Jowsey and John Fyda, although Fyda’s Mallock U2 Mk3 was driven by Steve Futter whose Lotus still has mechanical woes. Unfortunately the mechanical gremlins followed Futter and in the Saturday Practice session the Mallock snapped a half shaft. Gordon Wright’s Stanguellini had an oil leak when a new flexible connection to the rocker shaft failed and then Stephen Cooper driving father George’s Cooper T59 broke his throttle cable. All this was too much for the Clerk of the Chase who ordered the red flags be put out and the session ended.
Not however, before Jon Milicevic had put his stamp of authority on the impending races with a pole position time of 59.946 in his Class E Cooper T59 with Chisholm’s Class D Gemini Mk3a in second spot with a time of 1:02.908 despite crumbling front brake linings and a grumbling gearbox. Third spot was taken by Lt Col Bob Birrell’s Brabham BT6 and Brian Mitcham’s Mallock U2 Mk2 headed Class B with a time of 1:04.863 for fourth grid place.
Grant Stephen was the only representative in Class C and he made 1:11.652 in his Elva 200 on grid row 6 and Wright’s Stanguellini the only Class A car, placed 15th with a time of 1:15.248. There were two Class H cars, Cooper’s Cooper and Wishart’s Cooper T65 and they were 5th and 14th respectively.

During the break before the first FJ race Chisholm changed his front brake shoes but was unable to rectify his gearbox, which was sticking in 3rd gear when hot. Wright repaired his oil connection but did not have time to attend to grabbing brakes.
Futter was assisted by one of the track workshops, where his broken halfshaft was oversleeved and plug welded and then reassembled into the axle casing by Carruthers who was in charge of operations.
Prior to the meeting Grimshaw had fitted new tyres to his Moorland but not balanced them and suffered considerable wheel shimmy as a consequence. He was also assisted by one of the workshops, which made a thoroughly good job of static balancing.

All 15 cars formed up on the grid and in short order the race started, but sadly not for Futter who despite very gingerly letting in the clutch unfortunately again broke the Mallock’s halfshaft and he was pushed off the track.
Meanwhile Milicevic was up and running, already some distance ahead of Chisholm as they came round for the first time.
Wishart had got away last but he re-passed Wright, and Mitcham moved up to lie 3rd. Cooper also went past Birrell and battle was joined between Andrew Tart’s front drive monocoque Bond and Frank Lyons racing Vern Williamson’s Ausper T3.
Everything seemed to be fairly settled but at lap 20 the heel broke off the ignition points in Mitcham’s Mallock and it coasted to a halt. Wishart got into the Hairpin a little too deep and had a spin which brought out the yellow flags momentarily but most unfortunately Birrell failed to spot these and inadvertently overtook a car.
Following an interview with the Clerk of the Chase after the race he was disqualified. Stephen brought his Elva into pits after just 6 laps not feeling comfortable in the car and so there were eleven classified finishers to whom DCPR announced awards as follows.
1st Overall & 1st Class E ~ Jon Milicevic, Cooper T59, fastest lap 1:00.367.
2nd Overall & 1st Class D ~ Sir John Chisholm, Gemini Mk3a, fastest lap 1:02.476.
3rd Overall & 1st Class H ~ Stephen Cooper, Cooper T59, fastest lap 1:03.939.

2nd Class E ~ Alan Biggar, Cooper T59

2nd Class D ~ Frank Lyons, Ausper T3
3rd Class D ~ Anthony Goddard, Tojeiro.

1st Class B ~ Brian Mitcham, Mallock U2 Mk2, fastest lap 1:04.863.
2nd Class B ~ Andrew Tart, Bond.
3rd Class B ~ Bill Grimshaw, Moorland.

1st Class A ~ Gordon Wright, Stanguellini, fastest lap 1:14.081.

2nd Class H ~ Malcolm Wishart, Cooper T65.

Sunday morning started bright enough but then became overcast although temperatures were still very comfortable. Sadly Futter’s Mallock was not repairable and the car was packed up in its trailer. During the morning an amended grid sheet was issued because the first one erroneously showed the start positions for the second race based on the finishing positions of the first race.
The FJ race wasn’t until after lunch so there was plenty of time to wander the paddock and also view several cars in the pits, which were running demonstration laps over the course of the weekend. One such was an ex Scuderia Fillipinetti Lola T70 and when they lit up this monster the thunderous bellow made the tin roof & walls of the pits shed rattle & fizz and the ground quake ~~ people ran for cover as about 200db was unleashed.

The time for the second FJ race came round soon enough but as the cars formed up Cooper’s Cooper was issuing slight smoke from the engine bay. The marshals dashed into action but the smoke subsided so they retreated and the race was started.
Once again Milicevic galloped away into an unassailable lead although Chisholm was driving the socks off his Gemini in pursuit. Birrell maintained his 3rd place and Tart slipped past Lyons early on. However, Lyons was warming to this Formula Junior racing business and held his water until nipping past within sight of the flag.
Cooper was steady for a good while until taking advantage of tagging on behind Milicevic as he came by to lap him he slipped past firstly Mitcham and then past Birrell. Shortly thereafter the silencer & the Y-piece both went adrift somewhere into the weeds and Cooper roared on loudly now secure in 3rd place.
It was not a good day for Stephen because his Elva was spotted leaking oil and he was black flagged on lap 12. After much deliberation in the pit lane he was not allowed to continue. Wishart’s car developed a light smoke haze as the race progressed, later found to be a tappet chest gasket weep, but this did not impede him. Grimshaw had a spin at the hairpin, which lost him several places but he did manage to keep ahead of Rabagliati to maintain his Class B 2nd place.
Then huge drama! Chisholm had slowed dramatically and as he came over the line -  the Gemini’s gearbox was making very alarming noises. With the race win seemingly in the bag Milicevic had long since been keeping station some 20 to 30 seconds behind Chisholm who was 2nd but suddenly Milicevic found he was catching up fast and realised that the end of the Gemini was probably nigh. So as Chisholm slowed Milicevic adjusted his speed to ensure that he was just fractionally ahead of Chisholm as he took the chequered flag, thus ensuring that Chisholm would not have to try to make another lap in his doomed car to maintain his Class D leadership position.
This was an extremely sporting gesture from Milicevic and as expected Chisholm’s Gemini clanked and rattled to a halt 5 yards over the line.

After this astonishing turn of events it was a little emotional for some at the podium presentations to 1st Milicevic, 2nd Chisholm and 3rd Cooper, but yet more drama was to come when the results were published which showed Chisholm DNF because his transponder timing indicated that he had crossed the line 0.084 seconds before Milicevic took the chequered flag. Representations were made to the Clerk of the Chase and an enquiry commenced but meanwhile DCPR announced awards based on the provisional results.
Some time later an amended result was published reinstating Chisholm to 2nd place and the final results are as follows.
1st Overall & 1st Class E ~ Jon Milicevic, Cooper T59, fastest lap 59.774.
2nd Overall & 1st Class D ~ Sir John Chisholm, Gemini Mk3a, fastest lap 1:02.000.
3rd Overall & 1st Class H ~ Stephen Cooper, Cooper T59, fastest lap 1:03.011

2nd Class E ~Lt Col Bob Birrell, Brabham BT6.
3rd Class E, Alan Biggar, Cooper T59.

2nd Class D ~ Frank Lyons, Ausper T3.
3rd Class D ~ Anthony Goddard, Tojeiro.

1st Class B ~ Brian Mitcham, Mallock U2 Mk2, fastest lap 1:03932.
2nd Class B ~ Andrew Tart, Bond.
3rd Class B ~ Bill Grimshaw, Moorland.

1st Class A ~ Gordon Wright, Stanguellini, fastest lap 1:13.866

2nd Class H ~ Malcolm Wishart, Cooper T65.

The Cooper Cockpit Correspondent.   1st July 2010.