Healey weekend
BAE Systems, Cowes, Isle of Wight, Saturday 12th November

As competitors dusted off their helmets for the final rounds of the IOW car club championship few could believe that it was also the annual Healey weekend, how time had flew! The Healeys have been visiting us for what is approaching fifty years now, no mean feat in itself. It is lovely to see the old cars mixing it up with the more modern machinery, luckily they are not afraid to get full use of the classic cars using all of the power and grip available. With the final two rounds all within the same weekend there were to be mini battles throughout the field as competitors were looking to finish as high up the leaderboards as possible. Class 4 was very tight as was the overall sealed surface championship. Dave Goodwin entering the weekend just three points ahead of Island PC Services driver – Daniel Morgan. Fast forward to Saturday morning, 10am, BAE systems. The weather was playing kindly into our hands and it appeared as though the marshals should be keeping dry all day ?

The Healey weekend is run slightly differently to the rest of the season as not only is it two events back to back but there are also awards given for the weekend. There is an overall Healey trophy called the Turbine that is awarded to the competitor who has the lowest two combined times of the two events. So championship points, championship trophies and Healey trophies are all up for grabs come Sunday afternoon.

Toby Allen was the first to break the one minute barrier at BAE, recording a 58.75 in his freshly supercharged MX5, the charger whining away whilst he was at it. With Daniel Morgan recording a wrong test, was the pressure beginning to show? Dave Goodwin took the lead in his classic Mini with a 58.36 closely followed by a stunning 53.92 but unfortunately he clipped a cone to incur a five second penalty. Daniel Morgan returned to snatch the lead with a 52.45. This was probably a mountain too far for the rest of the pack with Dave Goodwins runs coming to an end the best he could achieve was a 53.43. Dave Dutch and Toby Allen put themselves in between Dan and Dave with a 53.38 for Dutch and a 53.11 for Allen. This gave Morgan valuable points over Goodwin and set the Sunday at the college up a treat. Meanwhile the Healeys were out to put a show on, always an interesting bunch of cars on show for this annual event. From a supercharged Austin A35 to Healey 3000, to Sprites and a BDA engined Mk1 Escort rally car. As was to be expected none of them were just here to polish their motors as they all took part and provided great entertainment whilst they were at it.

There were no competitors in class 1 for either day so straight to class 2 we go, just four competitors here but arguably the most entertaining pair of the weekend in Daryl and Dean driving their Mx5 sideways more than forwards. Daryl had issues with finding the right way at first but once his internal sat nav kicked in he was pushing Dean to the wire. Both drivers competing with flamboyance as the little red mx5 danced around the track. Daryl eventually ran out the victor of the two with a time of 58.58 just 0.48 seconds ahead of Dean.

Class 3 as always was dominated by the classic Mini, ten competitors here and nine of them were Mini’s. Dave Best was the unknown of the bunch as he had brought his Mini cooper along with the Healey club. As ever though the battle at the top of this class was between Dave Goodwin, Dave Dutch and Chris Greenen. Goodwin drew first blood but he was soon cut down to size with a 53.45 from Dave Dutch, Chris was struggling to match the front running pair even with some very nifty tight turns on the handbrake. Goodwin regained the upper hand with a 53.43 only to be pipped at the post with Dutches last run of 53.38. This left Dave Dutch in 3rd position on the day, Goodwin 4th and Greenen 8th with a time of 55.03.

Class 4 is where the majority can be found, over 25 competitors in this class. The mix of cars is also at its widest from supercharged Mx5s to a classic 80s BMW 525i. Going into the weekend Toby Allen and Martyn Cutler were in contention to scoop the overall class win. Toby showed his hand early on recording a 58.75 when the track was very green. His freshly charged car seemed to be working very well for him. Matt Price in a race prepped Saxo was keeping the field on their toes also getting into the 58 seconds with a 58.48. Matt is proud of his £75 engine and is willing to tell everyone who will listen that his £75 has gone a lot further than the drivers sitting behind him in the championship. Steve Glasbey has upped his game this season, TVR and man becoming at one with each other. Steve recording a 53.64 putting him in third place for a while. Toby went out and laid down an amazing 53.11 to take second place overall with Steve settling in 5th place at the end of the day. Martyn Cutler could not match either Toby or Steve and so Toby took valuable points for the class into the following day. Jeremy Wells was the fastest of the Healey crowd with a 55.42 driving a Mk1 Escort rally car. Other notable drives came from Paul Wills in a Mazda Mx5, often sideways and even in reverse!

Class 5 is the class of just 3. Dan Morgan driving his 7esque special, Andy Williams in a grasstrack special and Gordon Bushell in an Austin 7 Special race car. Nobody could get close to Morgan as he took not only the class win but the overall win of the day by nearly 3 seconds from Andy. Gordon finished in 46th place with a time of 1:03.15, happy to have contenders behind him in the rankings.

So with Day 1 of the 2 day event over where were we? Well Dan Morgan had taken valuable points from Dave Goodwin for the sealed surface overall, Goodwin was also being challenged for class 3 honours as Dave Dutch was now just 1 point behind. For the overall honours which had been taken by Morgan a few weeks ago the heat was rising for 2nd and 3rd positions. With Andy Williams and Martyn Cutler both making up ground on Neil Glasbey a repeat of the Saturday on the Sunday would see them both leapfrog Neil to send him crashing from 2nd to 4th in one swoop. Class 4 was now neck and neck between Toby Allen and Martyn Cutler. In other words the class and overall honours were all in the mix, all precariously balanced waiting for the victors to steal away with the trophies.

IOW College Sunday 13th November

Early Sunday morning, the college was the venue and competitors were eager. An early start was the order of the day to enable both prize giving at the finale and 2 minutes silence at 11am. The course was dry, damp, grippy and slippery at the same time. With the sun shining on the back part and wet leaves on the left hand side taming the track conditions would be the key to fast times.

Toby Allen once again set his stall early with a 44.72 which could only be matched by Dan Morgan. Dave Dutch was soon to get in on the action though, ever consistent in his Mini Pickup as he drove a faultless 43.03 to put him into temporary second place. Dave Goodwin followed with a 43.04 just 0.01 seconds behind Dave Dutch. Toby responded with a 41.24 but nobody would be catching the runaway leader Dan Morgan as his times just tumbled. From 44 to 41 to 39 to settle with a 39.62 seconds to take the victory from the others. Dave Dutch settled for second place with a 40.99, 1.37 seconds behind Dan and Toby took third place with 41.24.

Class 2 saw the same four drivers as the previous day, Dean just needed to finish to claim overall sealed surface class honours. He did much more than that however as he took the class from Daryl both on the day and the combined times for the weekend. Both lads driving their Mx5 to its maximum ability often living on the edge of sideways. Dean recorded a time of 43.53 just over half a second quicker than Daryl. Dean scoops the overall class with 249 points with Luke Kozakewycz in second on 242. Luke finished in 44th on the day.

Class 3, another hotly contended class, Dave Dutch and Dave Goodwin were battling it out for class honours, fastest of the weekend and overall. Goodwin was also battling with Dan Morgan for the Sealed surface trophy. He needed to finish above Dan to stand a chance today. Chris Greenen looked very fast on his second run recording a 43.13 to top the class but unfortunately whilst his son was driving the clutch back plate decided to detach itself and launch through the bonnet. Game over for the Greenen family. Goodwin and Dutch were just 0.01 seconds apart at the half way point, could it ever be closer? With Dave Dutch recording a 41.53 and Goodwin a 41.55 it was to go to the wire. Dutch ran out eventual winner though to record a 40.99 to show the old boy still has tricks up his sleeve. This gave Dave Dutch the class win for the day, Healey weekend fastest in class and left him equal with Goodwin for overall class honours. A fiercely battled season ends on equal points of 248, Chris Greenen finishes in third on 240.

Class 4, where do we start? So many competitors and so many micro battles. Toby Allen and Martyn cutler both on equal points heading into this final round. Matt Price, Dave Bizzill, Wayne hole and Neil Glasbey could all take third spot on just this one days event. Toby was always going to be the one to catch, he just seems so consistent. As he put a 41.24 on the timecard anyone who thought he may have an off day had just been proven wrong. Cutler battled with his car to record a 41.90 but it was never going to be enough to topple Allen from his lofty position. Dave Bizzill drove a very respectable 41.92 just 0.02 behind Cutler to take 3rd in class on the day and Matt Price finishing in 4th 0.17 behind Bizzill. So Toby runs away with the class win overall with 244 points, Martyn 243 points and Matt Price on 236. Toby also took fastest driver in class for the Healey weekend.

For the Healeys Jeremy Wells once again was fastest just 0.21 seconds ahead of Oliver Chatham.

Class 5 saw Dan Morgan, Andy Williams and Andy Lee competing against each other. Dan needed to finish above Dave Goodwin to take overall honours and that was his goal. The custom made car has proven to be a winner this season with Dan taking on average little over 49 points from a possible 50 at every event. This was on show again as he walked away with the maximum 50 points overall and in class. Untouchable this weekend! Andy needs to find some valuable seconds in his specials if he is to compete with Morgan next season. Dan won the class and the day with a 39.62 and Andy finished in 8th position with 42.22. Dan topped the class with 249 points to Andy’s 246.

Fastest lady for the weekend goes to Rebecca French, an amazing weekend for ‘Boo’ topping the ladies board at both events, not even a midterm car change for Vicky Cox could get the better of Rebecca. Also competing were Jemma Western, Marion Saunders and Pam Moore. It is so nice to see so many ladies competing but there is always room for more.

In the ‘Healey Class’ Jeremy Wells in a mk1 Escort took fastest overall, closely followed by Oliver Chatham in various steeds. It is so nice to see the plethora of vehicles brought over as this great tradition continues. Thank you to all involved in putting this amazing event on and long may it continue. A massive thanks must be extended to Pam Moore for organising the Healey crowd.

So, here we are at the end of another season. Where do we all stand I hear you cry out? Lets get down to the nitty gritty.

Overall winner is Dan Morgan with 491 points, second place is Martyn Cutler with 451 having leapt above Andy Williams and Neil Glasbey on the final weekend. Third place is Andy Williams with 450 points just one behind Martyn. Well done Dan!

In the sealed surface championship Dan Morgan pipped Dave Goodwin to the title, Dan with 247 and Dave with 243, Dave must have been busy looking over his shoulder as Dave Dutch finished only one point behind to take 3rd place.

Jemma Western takes class one with 200 points, unfortunately there was nobody else to compete against but its still a trophy!

Class 2 was taken by Dean Long with 249 points.

Class 3 is shared between Dave Goodwin and Dave Dutch, both competitors running away with 248 points.

Class 4 Toby Allen takes the crown with 244 points with Martyn Cutler on 243 for second.

Class 5 of course belongs to Dan Morgan with 249 points from a possible 250. Amazing effort Dan, Well done again!

Every year we have a presentation for the Healey weekend itself, there are awards for fastest time overall, most entertaining driver, fastest lady, fastest Healey, fastest Sprite, fastest non Healey and then class wins from the weekend. Awards went as follows:-

Fastest Overall :- Dan Morgan
Most Entertaining:- Dean Long and Daryl Turner
Fastest Lady:- Rebecca French
Fastest Healey:- Oliver Chatham
Fastest Sprite:- Hylton Reid
Fastest Non Healey:- Jeremy Wells

Class 2 Dean Long
Class 3 Dave Dutch
Class 4 Toby allen
Class 5 Dan Morgan

Paul Wills scooped the IOW CC Booby award for most entertaining.

And the season is at its end, that’s all you will be hearing from me until the next season which should start around April 2012

I hope you have enjoyed the reports, the season has been an excellent one for all involved. A massive thank you to all the people that put in effort to make these events happen. The club is very strong right now and long may it continue, see you all next year.