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A View From The Driver's Seat: A difficult weekend at Knockhill

By Aiden Moffat / MJP Media | 27 August 2014

We came to Knockhill full of hope as this was our home race and my friends and family turned out in force to support us - but all did not go to plan!

If there is one word that could be used to describe the Saturday free practice sessions and qualifying it would be 'crowded'. Finding any free space in free practice 1 was difficult and it became almost impossible to hook up a complete lap so that we had some data to work on. Free practice 2 was even worse as the weather turned horrendous and it got seriously wet which didn't help in any way at all.

We moved on to qualifying and once again it proved so difficult to get that all important lap in. It didn't seem to matter when we came in and went out again - we could not find space. We got baulked at Leslie's, found traffic at the hairpin and it was unbelievably frustrating. I wanted so much more for my sponsors and fans. Whilst I was disappointed to qualify in 21st place, there were some very experienced drivers behind me and I had to be positive for race day!

Race day dawned bright and clear and there was a massive crowd at the circuit and many of them supporting me. I was quite humbled and determined to do my best. Race 1 was quite a scary ride as so many drivers in front of me seemed intent on destroying each other that half of the field, including me, arrived at every corner wondering who we might have to avoid on the circuit, or who might be coming back on after a spin. This makes the racing very difficult and in the end I was almost happy in bringing the car home without any major damage.

Race 2 again saw the traffic and whilst I wasn't able to make any real progress, I have to be happy that even after I was tagged, making the car a bit unstable, I was able to finish right behind the race winning MG of Sam Tordoff.

Race 3 was very upsetting. I felt we had a real chance of doing something but we were hit and spun off early on and the car was a real handful with half of the front splitter missing. Despite this, I was determined to put up a good show and with a car this badly damaged I was pleased to bring it home in 21st.

From here we move on to Rockingham, a circuit that I have relatively little BTCC experience at. I strongly believe however that I and the car are progressing well with our partnership with Ciceley Motorsport and I hope this will show more at Rockingham. This will be the first time that a BTCC field this big will go to Rockingham and I am sure that a key to success in the races will be surviving that first hairpin without damage. Get through that and the race will be on, get stuck there and you can lose a lot of ground. So, I will see you all in a fortnight and let's get ready to ROCK!

Aiden #16

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