This is a special year for a special racing circuit. Knockhill, which opened in 1974, hits its 50th anniversary in 2024. The undulating and acrobatic 1.3-mile Fife track – whose circuit-racing jewel in the crown is a long-established fixture on the British Touring Car Championship calendar – bows to almost none for both affection and driving challenge.
The man who did the most to make it the vibrant venue that it is today is Derek Butcher. And we’re grateful that he took time out of his schedule to answer the many questions submitted for him by readers, and with it help Motorsport News pay tribute to Knockhill’s half-century milestone.
A frequent motorcycle racer at the venue, Butcher – having just sold his alarms business – decided in 1983 to buy the Knockhill venue. As he explains though, back then the place was rather different to what we know today, as then it was threadbare and neglected and had struggled through its first decade, both financially and otherwise.
But with determination, passion and innovation, Butcher turned the ship around. Now it is Scotland’s National Motorsport Centre with an FIA International Grade 3 circuit licence. It has also played a key role in Scotland’s proud record of producing competitive talent on two wheels and four who went on to find success much further afield.
As Butcher also explains, plenty besides circuit racing goes on at Knockhill, and today it’s also effectively two circuits in one, as it’s licenced to run both clockwise and anticlockwise.
Over four decades on from Butcher’s purchase, Knockhill remains a family run business. Butcher retired in 2020, and the ownership reins were taken by his daughter Jillian. The Butcher family involvement in racing also these days extends to Derek’s son Rory being a renowned BTCC racer, and Derek’s son-in-law – and Jillian’s husband – being three-time BTCC champion Gordon Shedden. The Knockhill track continues to thrive and there is plenty planned there during 2024 to mark the half century.
Question: What has been your all-time favourite moment in the 50 years of Knockhill Racing Circuit?
Paul McGinnes
Via Facebook
Derek Butcher:“Probably I really felt we’d achieved something when we were awarded the British Touring Cars [in 1992]. Because I was a follower of it anyway on television and with its TV popularity and the style of driving and racing, it was great that it came up here, terrific.”
MN: So what was the whole process, what did it involve to get the touring cars?
“Well, we had a visit from [boss of BTCC organiser TOCA] Alan Gow and [BTCC coordinator] Jenny Birrell, and I think Andy Rouse came up as well, he was a director of TOCA at that time. So we had a visit with them and they were very supportive and their demands were reasonable to improve things like paddock and access areas, and one or two things about the track that we had to do in cooperation with [the governing body] MSA just to make it suitable for 30 cars going round a 1.3-mile circuit, because we were about the same size as Brands Indy, so a lot of the issues were
