VIDEO: round Knockhill with British Touring Car driver Gordon Shedden
The eighth round of the British Touring Car Championships takes place at Knockhill this weekend. Ahead of the action, local BTCC star Gordon Shedden took Jack McKeown for a flying lap around the Fife racetrack.
Gordon Shedden.
- By Jack McKeown, motoring editor
- Published in the Courier : 01.09.10
- Published online : 02.09.10 @ 07.20pm
It's a glorious afternoon at Knockhill and the sun is blasting off the black tarmac of the track. Gordon Shedden strolls into the room. Walking easy in his racing coveralls and old, worn-in trainers, he looks like he's straight out of Days of Thunder. In suit trousers, shirt and race helmet I'm feeling a little more incongruous and a lot less cool.
This weekend is the eighth round of the BTCC races. There are three more rounds — a total of nine more races — left to run and while Gordon is sitting fourth, the technical nature of the remaining tracks should suit his nimble Honda. Ahead of the race, he's giving a lucky few a driving lesson in the Civic he'll be racing with this weekend. Who am I to say no?
Gordon takes the car for a solo lap to check the track is clear, before neatly handbrake-turning it into position for a pre-match photograph. After getting Knockhill's press and marketing officer Tracey Joesbury to do up the strap on my helmet — 32 and still I can't dress myself — I slip behind the driver's seat and make myself comfortable.
Gordon jumps into the passenger seat and we amble along gently for the first lap, while I refamiliarise myself with the track and Gordon delivers instructions on the best lines to take. Then it's time to step up the pace a bit and I start to press on, hitting the rev limiter a couple of times and edging the car off the road and on to the kerb through the corners. On my third lap, I really nail the chicane section, bumping over one kerb then the other and maintaining a high speed, the tyres chirruping pleasingly as they near their limits of grip, but I still make a bit of a sow's ear of the hairpin, losing my bottle and braking too early.
With 300bhp, Gordon's Honda is no slouch and it really pins you back against the seat when you hit the accelerator. But it's surprisingly easy to drive and not as intimidating as you might expect a race car to be. I accelerate hard up the straight, trying to make up time, before exiting back into the pit lane.
Now, it's Gordon's turn to show me how it should be done.
I'm expecting him to launch the car out of the pitlane like the hounds of hell are after us, but he does a slow, easy lap so he can talk me through what he's going to do and show me areas where I can improve. THEN we surge forward like the hounds of hell are after us.
I've been driven by professional drivers before — former BTCC champion Fabrizio Giovanardi, Audi's Le Mans driver Alan McNish and a previous encounter with Gordon — but even so, it's still not until we're safely round the first corner that I can relax and start to enjoy it.
These guys rush up to the bends at such an incredible pace it seems impossible the car can slow down enough to avoid flying off the track. At what seems like the last possible instant, they stand on the brake pedal, wiping off speed and drifting around the corners with an almighty squeal of tyres. Whereas I was hastily snatching at the clutch pedal as the corners rushed to meet us, he is a model of relaxation.
In between holding on tight and watching the horizon rush towards us, I try to watch his feet and his hands: his movements are almost languid. But then Knockhill is his home track, so he should know every twist, turn and undulation better than anyone else.
And the Dalgety Bay man reckons home support should help him perform at his best in this weekend's race.
"It's a very technical track, so a good knowledge of it will help me, as will knowing the crowd is rooting for me."
We finish the lap and Gordon steps out jauntily while I follow more carefully, wondering if my land legs will have deserted me. Then it's time to retire to the race office and examine footage and information from our laps.
An in-car camera has filmed our progress, while on-board gadgetry mines other data. Not only have our lap times and speed been clocked throughout, each gear change and braking manoeuvre has been logged, and even the G-forces exerted upon our bodies have been measured.
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