The first round of the SMRC championship, boasting a 17-race schedule with 143 drivers taking part, can be viewed for nothing by those with a valid ID card as part of 'student Sunday'.

Knockhill have been working closely with Scottish Motor Sports and recently hosted an 80-student driving challenge from five universities across Scotland, leading to Sunday's offer.

It promises to be a day of high octane action with interest in all seven championships rising over the winter that led to the grid capacity being increased to 34 cars.

But even that will not fully accomodate the largest class - the Scottish BMW Compact Cup - which currently stands at 36 cars and event director Stuart Gray said, "We are thrilled at the number entered across all the classes with the BMW’s showing an amazing growth in numbers since their introduction to Scotland only two seasons ago. We can qualify up to 40 cars here so everyone will get a run but the interesting thing will be that the racers at the back will be trying even harder than the ones at the front, just to get on the grid!” Leading the way are last year's runner-up Steven Dailly, from Wallyford, Carol Brown from Alloa, who will be hoping to go for podiums and outright wins this year, and Michael Courts from Lochgelly.

In the Formula Fords, the quality of the grid in terms of new machinery is the most impressive for years. Eight cars are entered under the banner of Border Reivers / Graham Brunton Racing, with Aberdeen’s Adam Mackay most likely to head their team honours.

He will likely have a titanic battle on his hands with Banff’s Jordan Groncowski, who has replaced his trusty Van Diemen with a much newer model and is already showing strong early pace.

Jordan said, “We are currently preparing for the new season working flat-out to develop the new car to the circuit and my driving style. Although we fully expect a learning curve in order to extract the full potential from the car, my first impressions in pre-season testing have been positive and with the help of Medina Sport I am confident that over the course of the season we will be able to really unlock some good performances and results.

"Testing has been very productive and we’re happy with the progress we’ve made in a relatively short time but until the first qualifying session of the year we really don’t know where we sit in the pecking order."

In the Sports and Saloons, an Ultima GTR of Allister McMillan is sure to make the ground rumble and heads turn as this thunderous beast is unleashed on the twists and turns of Knockhill.

Admission is £13 at the gate on Sunday (with under-12s also going free) with concessions £8.

Discounted tickets available on www.knockhill.com and for further information, please contact Stuart Gray on 01383 723337.