Knox up for the CHALLENGE

from Miniology Magazine - Volume 1, Issue 1

MINIs at The Glen

Words by Chris Knox, photos by Dave Young Photos

Another season has finished and it has been a quite a rollercoaster year! We ended up taking the Power Maxed MINI Challenge overall title by eighty points and becoming the first ever repeat winner in the series. So lets go back and recap the 2014 season! It wasn’t looking like I was going to be competing this year until a few days before the season started. My manager and the SL Group owner had struck a last minute deal to get me on the grid, with initial backing from shopplay.co.uk. We again ran with Excelr8 Motorsport who did such a great job when I took the title back in 2011. Arriving at the first round it still wasn’t known in the paddock that I was competing, so I think I took a few people by surprise! With little testing I put the car was on pole by a big margin! I hadn’t lost my touch! However things didn’t stay on a high for long! Races one and two at Donington Park were among the most frustrating I have ever encountered in all my years of racing. Three laps into the race while leading comfortably, the engine power dropped off slightly and I

‘First ever repeat MINI Challenge Champion’

was forced to drop back to third as I was became a sitting duck on the straights. To cap it all, not far from the end of the race I suddenly found myself in the gravel as the result of a late lunge gone wrong by a fellow competitor who hit me pretty hard. Race two was equally frustrating. I started way down the grid and used my fast starting advantage to climb up the order but was again when the rain comes down! The next round of the Power Maxed MINI Challenge at Brands Hatch had us welcoming a new backer, Rivervale Leasing, thanks for coming on board guys! The weekend may have started off as another event from hell but it sure finished in euphoric fashion. In qualifying the gear linkage broke and caused me to miss a shift was re-passed on any straight. I came home to a disappointing but hard fought fourth! Another engine change overnight was the only option! With engine number three in the car we took three wins on the Sunday including a reverse grid win at the end of the day! Satisfying? Heck yes! On to weekend three at Snetterton, we had tested a few

hampered by the lack of straightline speed! Finally in race three my prayers were answered! The rain was torrential as we left the starting grid. Having just put on wets, I was in my element, I grabbed the lead at the end of lap one and didn’t look back, the power issue made no difference in the wet conditions and I sprinted away to my first win of the year. This Scotsman still had it which resulted in an over-revved engine. Luckily the track was wet so it masked the problem slightly, I was still able to retain my second spot on the grid. The team changed the engine as it wasn’t sounding right in the garage. Unfortunately engine number two of the weekend was not up to snuff! The straightline speed was embarrassing and everytime I made an overtake I weekends prior to the event to make sure everything was ok, however the water pump belt detached and it cooked the engine, was a fourth engine on the cards? Luckily the team managed to get away with putting on a fresh cylinder head on so I’m now on engine 3.5 haha! Qualifying was close between my main rival, Luke Caudle and I with Luke just pipping me to pole by a

tenth of a second. Race one was pretty straight forward, Luke took the win and I just followed him home, there was nothing between us. The reverse grid was my opportunity to get in front of Luke and I held the advantage over him on the opening lap as I started to catch the two guys in front. After dropping the first driver, I set out after Lawrence Davey, I got a great draft on the back straight and went around the outside under braking, unfortunately Lawrence couldn’t get his MINI stopped in time and made contact with me spinning me off onto the dirt. I rejoined with a damaged car but still salvaged a points finish. Points make championships, remember! Weekend four had us heading north to Oulton Park where I was able to stretch my points lead in the series. I ran minimum laps in qualifying to preserve tyres and lined up third on the grid for race one. I shadowed race leader Neil Newstead for 75% of the race, just waiting to seize any opportunity that would come along. This came with a few laps to go when we went side by side into the famous Shell hairpin, I was on the outside and got the undercut on the exit and never looked back. My title rival Luke had some bad luck and failed to finish. Race two was very straight forward, lights to flag victory, I just love those! Race three was the reverse grid which took me a few laps to fight my way through the field. On the last lap I was behind Neil and he made contact with a back marker, fluid was leaking from his car and it was making it difficult for me to get near him, a yellow flag saved him on the next corner and I thought I would get a better run out the last corner so took a wide line, Lawrence made a massive lunge and got alongside but I had to think of the championship, so took to the grass to avoid contact and salvaged third! Another great points haul at what is I suppose the closest thing to racing at home for me in the Power Maxed MINI Challenge. From the North we headed to the West Country for weekend five at Castle Combe.

Another new sponsor came onboard, my local bike firm Thomsons Cycles. It was another perfect weekend with pole by a big margin in the wet conditions. Race one was damp but drying so we opted for slick fronts and wet rears. This combo worked perfect for me, I romped to victory number seven on the year and bagged the fastest lap also. The reverse grid was a little chaotic, a red flag on the first start brought a small break before the restart. I was a little cautious on the second restart as I had to keep the championship in mind. I took a little longer than usual to fight my way through the field but was soon on Luke’s bumper challenging for the lead, a brave move on the outside into Quarry, one of the most challenging braking zones in the UK, gave me the lead on exit! I went on to take victory number eight and set another fastest lap. Pretty good considering there was no racing in my future when 2014 started. The Silverstone GP circuit was the venue for weekend six. Qualifying was perfect, I took the pole by 1.8 seconds and backed up my initial pace by taking my ninth race win by a huge margin. Race two got off to a great start and

again had a huge lead until my earlier season issues returned, the power dropped off massively and my lead was being eroded by twoseconds a lap. I managed to hold on and bag victory number ten for the year. The reverse grid was going to be very difficult as there was hardly anytime to diagnose the problem. I knew I was going to struggle, but got a great start. As soon as we got on the first straight I was a sitting duck. I had great corner speed but nothing where it counted on the straights. I got on the brakes for an overtake but made contact with Neil which damaged my car, I pitted to make sure there was nothing dragging or cutting into the tyre and continued trying to salvage any points. Post race there was an investigation into the incident with resulted in me keeping my finishing position in race three but would take a grid penalty at the next race at Brands Hatch, This gave me the championship in the office rather than on the track which was a bit frustrating. At the final weekend at Brands Hatch GP we welcomed more new marketing partners, Blackwood Plant Hire, Sweet Buzzards, CCC Events and Projector Lifting Services Ltd. Blackwood Plant Hire owner Tom joined us for the weekend and had a great time at his first MINI Challenge weekend. Qualifying wasn’t too important as I had an eight place grid penalty. I lined up second on the road but that meant tenth on the grid for the race. I was a determined man with a point to prove! I had a great start and jumped a couple of rows of cars into turn one. Luke made contact with the car in front causing him to leak fluid, I lost 7.5 secs to the leaders as the track was like driving on ice! Luke pulled off and it gave me the chance to go after the leaders. Fastest lap after fastest lap followed and I passed Lawrence into third, then disposed of Neil for second but ran out of time to catch Jono Brown. Race two put me on the front row with Jono on fresh rubber, I knew I had to get by on the first lap to have a chance. I did just that with an amazing move around the outside at Stirlings, I built on the lead to win in front of all my sponsors watching from the hospitality suite! Race three was over before it started. I got a great start from sixth and was up to third in the first lap, until a huge accident caused a red flag and with no daylight to resume, the doors were closed on the 2014 Power Maxed MINI Challenge season. Special thanks go out to all my sponsors for making this season happen, I could not have done it without you. Thanks to my team and to all the MINI fans worldwide that continue to support me! Finally, thanks to Motorwerks Magazine for having faith in the lanky Scot they met at Daytona in 2012 and allowing me to retell my 2014 story on their pages. Till next season!