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Knockhill
Knockhill Racing Circuit is a motor racing circuit in Fife, Scotland. It opened in September 1974 and is Scotland's national motorsport centre. The circuit is in the countryside about 6-mile (9.7 km) north of Dunfermline. It is the only FIA-approved circuit in Scotland.
The circuit opened in September 1974. It was created by joining service roads to a nearby disused mineral railway, closed in 1951, which had served Lethans Colliery. The first car race was held on 18 May 1975.
Between 1974 and 1983 the circuit had several owners, who helped to steadily develop the circuit's facilities and attractions. Derek Butcher became the owner in 1984 and since then Knockhill has been developed to a point where it is able to host rounds of most of the major British car and motorbike championships. The circuit hosted a round of the British Touring Car Championships for twelve years until the deal ended in 2002 with the promoters seeking infrastructure upgrades. Knockhill made improvements and the touring car series returned to Knockhill in 2004 with ITV televising the event live. The British Formula Three Championship and British GT Championship returned to Knockhill in May 2005.
In 2008 Knockhill named a corner Leslie's Bend in honour of the racing-car driver David Leslie shortly after his death in a small jet-aircraft accident at Farnborough.
In 2012 the circuit restarted racing and track days in the anti-clockwise direction. It gained a licence for motorbikes and cars to compete in both directions, the first racing circuit to achieve that in the UK in modern times. As of 2025[update] the circuit has an FIA grade 3 licence, the only circuit in Scotland issued with a licence by the FIA at this time.
The circuit has three layouts, the 1.300 mi (2.092 km) International layout with 9 corners, the 1.000 mi (1.609 km) National layout with 10 corners and the 0.300 mi (0.483 km) tri-oval. On all layouts the circuit is 10 m (33 ft) wide and has a total elevation change of 37 m (121 ft).
A lap of Knockhill, beginning at the start line (which unusually for a motor-racing circuit is at a different point from the finish line. Whilst the start line is roughly in the middle of the pit straight, the finish line is slightly to the west, towards the final corner), first involves passing over the crest, which marks the highest point of the circuit. The circuit then levels out and passes under the pedestrian bridge before a short braking zone preceding the first of the nine corners, Duffus Dip, a fast, blind apexed downhill right-hand corner widely regarded as one of the most challenging corners in the United Kingdom. At the foot of this decline is a quick left-hand corner named Leslie's, followed swiftly by a tricky braking zone, owing to vehicles possibly still being unsettled from the levelling out of the track through Leslie's, for the next corner, a ninety-degree right-hand bend named McIntyre's.
After the exit of McIntyre's there is a short straight leading to the next corner, a shallow right-hand corner named Butcher's. After this the track dips downward (reaching the lowest point of the circuit) before rising fairly steeply towards another very challenging corner. The Chicane is a challenge because the second, right-hand part of the corner is completely blind and drivers do not see the apex of the second part until after they have turned in and it is this combined with the presence of a sausage kerb on the inside of the track to deter corner cutting that results in vehicles often going through the chicane on two wheels (and occasionally off the ground completely). After a run down the short back straight comes the next corner, Clark's, a blind uphill right hander, frequently the scene of vehicles getting onto two wheels and/or running wide into the gravel on the outside of the corner. Fairly quickly following this is a corner now named Hislop's but previously named Railway, with reference to the fact that it is this section of the track that runs along the location of the old railway line. This corner is a left-handed kink taken at relatively high speeds.
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Knockhill
Knockhill Racing Circuit is a motor racing circuit in Fife, Scotland. It opened in September 1974 and is Scotland's national motorsport centre. The circuit is in the countryside about 6-mile (9.7 km) north of Dunfermline. It is the only FIA-approved circuit in Scotland.
The circuit opened in September 1974. It was created by joining service roads to a nearby disused mineral railway, closed in 1951, which had served Lethans Colliery. The first car race was held on 18 May 1975.
Between 1974 and 1983 the circuit had several owners, who helped to steadily develop the circuit's facilities and attractions. Derek Butcher became the owner in 1984 and since then Knockhill has been developed to a point where it is able to host rounds of most of the major British car and motorbike championships. The circuit hosted a round of the British Touring Car Championships for twelve years until the deal ended in 2002 with the promoters seeking infrastructure upgrades. Knockhill made improvements and the touring car series returned to Knockhill in 2004 with ITV televising the event live. The British Formula Three Championship and British GT Championship returned to Knockhill in May 2005.
In 2008 Knockhill named a corner Leslie's Bend in honour of the racing-car driver David Leslie shortly after his death in a small jet-aircraft accident at Farnborough.
In 2012 the circuit restarted racing and track days in the anti-clockwise direction. It gained a licence for motorbikes and cars to compete in both directions, the first racing circuit to achieve that in the UK in modern times. As of 2025[update] the circuit has an FIA grade 3 licence, the only circuit in Scotland issued with a licence by the FIA at this time.
The circuit has three layouts, the 1.300 mi (2.092 km) International layout with 9 corners, the 1.000 mi (1.609 km) National layout with 10 corners and the 0.300 mi (0.483 km) tri-oval. On all layouts the circuit is 10 m (33 ft) wide and has a total elevation change of 37 m (121 ft).
A lap of Knockhill, beginning at the start line (which unusually for a motor-racing circuit is at a different point from the finish line. Whilst the start line is roughly in the middle of the pit straight, the finish line is slightly to the west, towards the final corner), first involves passing over the crest, which marks the highest point of the circuit. The circuit then levels out and passes under the pedestrian bridge before a short braking zone preceding the first of the nine corners, Duffus Dip, a fast, blind apexed downhill right-hand corner widely regarded as one of the most challenging corners in the United Kingdom. At the foot of this decline is a quick left-hand corner named Leslie's, followed swiftly by a tricky braking zone, owing to vehicles possibly still being unsettled from the levelling out of the track through Leslie's, for the next corner, a ninety-degree right-hand bend named McIntyre's.
After the exit of McIntyre's there is a short straight leading to the next corner, a shallow right-hand corner named Butcher's. After this the track dips downward (reaching the lowest point of the circuit) before rising fairly steeply towards another very challenging corner. The Chicane is a challenge because the second, right-hand part of the corner is completely blind and drivers do not see the apex of the second part until after they have turned in and it is this combined with the presence of a sausage kerb on the inside of the track to deter corner cutting that results in vehicles often going through the chicane on two wheels (and occasionally off the ground completely). After a run down the short back straight comes the next corner, Clark's, a blind uphill right hander, frequently the scene of vehicles getting onto two wheels and/or running wide into the gravel on the outside of the corner. Fairly quickly following this is a corner now named Hislop's but previously named Railway, with reference to the fact that it is this section of the track that runs along the location of the old railway line. This corner is a left-handed kink taken at relatively high speeds.
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