Easter Sunday IOW Car Club

Easter Sunday saw over 40 competitors turn out for the premier event of the season at the IOW college. With unabated sunshine hats and sun cream were the order of the day. A slightly tighter course than usual meant competitors were going to have to be on their toes to get the course correct and avoid hitting any cones. Two complete 360 degree turns were laid out, a first for a while!

As suspected the usual suspects were topping the leader board from the outset, Andy Williams setting a time of 60.78 in a car engined special when most were struggling to get close to 68 seconds. Dave and John Dutch were out to show the others how it was done, dancing their little minis around the course and worrying the seasoned pros as their times were tumbling. Dave put in a 60.43 keeping Andy honest at the top. Of course Dave Goodwin, last years sealed surface champion was yet to set a time and when he did he jumped straight to the summit with a 60.36. The course was undoubtedly suited to the smaller cars, times were being made or lost in the 360s.

It was almost as if Mazda had brought their MX5 showroom to the competition, with 6 Mx5s on show there was a variety of success amongst the drivers. Dean Long, Darryl turner and Paul wills seemed to have an in house competition to see who could dance closest to the cones without hitting them, I think the final crown went to Dean for that one. Danny Grist, last seasons Rookie award winner was also in amongst the Mx5 drivers, he showed why he scooped last years award driving his little roadster with skill and a deftness usually seen from older heads.

There were no class 1 cars entered so in class 2 we had 6 cars. Dean Long scooped the fastest in class with a 64.50 closely followed by Pete Hughes driving a Clio 182 who recorded 64.77. It is nice to see the RWD and FWD cars competing so closely. Proof that the machinery is not as important as the person behind the wheel.

Class 3 was hotly contended as it is where most of the Minis hang out. Steve Brett had to retire early due to mechanical failure meaning two less drivers competing for the class honours. As reported earlier Dave Dutch and Dave Goodwin were topping the overall board so naturally they were also hotly contending the class as well. Chris Greenen was doing his best to keep them honest but Goodwin eventually ran away with a time of 58.27 just over one and a half seconds faster than Dave Dutch. The way the minis were taking the course they shall be hard to beat this season, Dave Goodwin has just installed a new engine and informed us it was not yet using all of its RPM available. Watch this space!

Class 4 is where the rest belong, the largest class of the club. Wayne Hole driving a Vauxhall powered Mk1 Escort was fast from the outset, adept at 360s using the natural oversteer happy nature of the car to power his way to a 62.63 Matt Price was driving a well prepped Saxo race car for the first time, hoping for reliability he not only got that but he was also rewarded for some very capable smooth driving with a time of 62.95. Andrew Leppard outclassed them all late in the day to prove his up and coming drivers award last year was not just a one off. Pushing the 205 Gti to a very credible time of 62.05 to take the class win, well done Andrew!

With only 3 drivers in class 5 Dan Morgan would have been hopeful he could have taken a class win. Driving a brand new seven inspired vehicle he was pitting himself against Steve Wells and Andy Williams. Dan had brought his own pit crew with him and after setting his car up he was struggling with the front end washing out, a few adjustments were made and he propelled himself up the leader board with a very respectable time of 61.27, Steve was very close behind with a 61.57 but Andy scooped the class with 58.32.

And so the day drew to a close, Dave Goodwin using only 5 of his 6 runs to take the overall win closely followed by Andy Williams and Dave Dutch into third. An extremely enjoyable first event of the season, hope to see you all at Knighton on June 5th.

Top 5 Finishers:-

Dave Goodwin 58.27
Andy Williams 58.32
Dave Dutch 59.79
Dan Morgan 61.27
Steve Wells 61.57

Fastest lady driver of the day was taken by Vicky Cox driving a 205GTi and recording a time of 67.76

Photos courtesy of Allan Marsh

 

Minutes of Committee Meeting, 20th April 2011

Attendees:
Dan Morgan, Andy Williams, Phil Rudd, Steve Wells, Russ Thomson, Dan Westwood, Brian Robins, Paul Wills, Steve Stotesbury, Toby Allen

Apologies:
Rebecca French, Richard Weaver, Matt Price, Malcolm Smith, Gordon Bushell

Approval of previous meeting minuets:
Not presented

Membership Sec. report:
£430 for Sydenhams, £554 for Knighton, £265 AGM, £1255 to be banked.
£297 was raised for the hospice last year, matched by Melville hall hotel. Cheque to be done ASAP. DM to arrange.

Treasures Report:
Current account: £4748.12
Savings account: £2055.46

Rule Clarifications:
New members must show driving licence on application and day members must show them at sign on.
You can only run a lower class car in 2 out of the 6 rounds for SS and USS if you want your class points to count towards the higher class championship.

Matters Arising from Meeting:
Website membership Paypal – Only to be used for membership renewals. Notes to be added to website with membership application form link added. DM to action.

AOB:
Stickers on trailer. Good idea. SS and TA to get quotes.
What happens at scrutineering? Is there a list? If not a definitive checklist will be created and adhered to.

Meeting closes at 22:00.

Next meeting scheduled for Wednesday 1st June, 20:00 @ Camp Hill prison officers club.

A view from behind the wheel – My first Sprint

Richard, Kozy, Marty and Myself went up to Aldershot Yesterday, to take part in the Dimanche Sprint Held at Rushmoor Arena.

What a hoot of a day.

Marty and Myself razzed off the 6am from Fishbourne and up the A3 both topless, perfect hangover cure, it was in fact a bloody lovely blat.

We arrived at the arena at what must have been around 7:25, first thoughts were wow I can’t believe how many people are here already! Parked up fitted race numbers and timing strut. Proceeded to get noise tested, very laxxed and the noise meter measured my car 14db’s less than Brands did!

Scrutineering next! About 15 mins to wait for this, while the 2 scruitineers work their way through the 75 cars! Again very laxxed so of I trot to sign on. Its 8:45 now so not enough time to walk to course unfortunately, safety briefing is indeed very brief and Jolly, I feel all stood around all know the score and little needs to be said.

9am and Car #1 is off, it soon becomes apparent they can churn the best part of 55 cars out an hour, Being #23 I get suited and saddle up.

As I roll up to the line which is on a slight downward gradient I’m pleased there are 2 chaps who can hold the car steady, I look around and Instantly note my school boy error, I’ve not had time to walk the course, and I’d not even glanced at the view of sight from the start line – Can’t see the turn in point, let alone the apex of the first turn.

Oh well the Light goes green so I up anchor and steam off, 1st doesn’t last very long so into 2nd where I Point for what I hope to be the Apex, Obviously its not, it’s actually a good 8ft further on but im having to turn out now oh well!

Photobucket

By 11:30 everyone has done their first 2 practise runs, I’ve come down from 61.57 to 59.46. We then go to do our first “timed” run.

I get the first turn pretty nailed and it all feels good, untill the 3rd turn – left hander, I find myself too wide on the exit and can’t get on the power soon enough, car bogs down. I do however take the same Line Richard used on the final turn cutting the corner a touch and holding probably 5mph more through it.

I’m quicker but only a little, 59.13 now.

4th Run; 57.99 quite happy it all felt good, although I know it’s the 3rd turn that’s letting me down.

5th Run 57.80 Meh Perplexed now I don’t know what Else I can do really, Problem is My cars exiting the 3rd turn at around 25/30mph, but Ive not got power in 2nd gear untill 40ish. Blow It I’ll give 1st Gear a try!

Good Choice, It feels great going round and I’m very happy my Fastest Time – 56.59, wishing I’d tried that out earlier in the day as I now leave feeling a high 55. could be do-able. Think I came round 5th in class (16ish).

To Summarise, a really fun Day, as said a little more serious than our normal SS event, but relaxed enough to not be stressed out etc.

Something I’ll certainly be doing more of!

Thankyou very much to everyone who lended me thier kit and for everyone being such great company today! – I can’t recommend going to one of these enough!

My First Run

My Last Run

 

Dimanche Sprint

The Dimanche Sprint is a speed event being organised by Farnborough and District Motor Club (FDMC).

Speed events are nicely summarised on the FDMC website here.

The IOWCC are invited members to this event and due to our affiliation to the ACSMC it id not necessary to join FDMC as you can compete on your IOWCC license and several IOWCC members have entered and will be competing.

There are various things you need to know about sprint events, but one of the most interesting and relevant of these is the fact that standard production cars are normally eligible and thus lightly modified cars are permitted to compete without the necessity to be fully RAC MSA logbooked competition vehicles.

The  regs for this event are available, but with one week to go you need to be double quick on sorting out your speed license from the MSA if you don’t already have one.

Entries are still available however.

Standard production cars are often elgible for speed events

Reading and understanding the relevant sections of the MSA blue book including
Section S on Speed Events and also the relevant pages regarding vehicle eligibility and vehicle safety is advised.

Also, check out the various lists of eligible tyres.

You can submit your license application here, which is a straight forward process involving no test. The MSA will normally process your application and issue your license within a fortnight, often within a week

There are a great many sprints and some hill climbs that take place in the south of england and now that we are coming into the better weather the season is getting underway.

Now is a perfect opportunity for anyone keen to get savvy, get equipped and get competing!

If anyone has any questions please reply to this news item with them and I will do my best to answer them!

Richard

IOW AGM and Awards Ceremony

The IOW Car Club AGM and awards ceremony took place at Quay Arts Centre on Friday 1st April, a healthy attendance of over 50 members, once again showing the current strength of the club.

The trophies had been sorted, polished and positioned ready for receiving, this in itself not a small undertaking. Steve Stotesbury works very hard to ensure he gets them all back from last year, organises all of the engraving and gets any new ones needed made to order. There were some extremely nice new examples on show and for this we must thank Steve for all of his hard work.

With no new members voted on and nobody stepping down the committee are to remain the same, the work they do for the club is very much appreciated by all. Year on year the club is growing and in part this has to be down to the way the club is run so a big thank you to all of the committee members.

With food devoured and the AGM part done it was time to present the trophies, presenting them as always was club president Terry Weaver. The full awards are as follows:-

Sealed surface overall winner – Dave Goodwin

Unsealed surface overall winner – Dan Morgan

Combined Champion- Dan Morgan

Runner up- Neil Glasbey

3rd Place Overall- Martyn Cutler

Class 2 Unsealed Winner- Dean Long

Class 3 Unsealed Winner- Steve Brett

Class 4 Unsealed Winner- Dan Morgan

Class 5 Unsealed Winner- Andy Williams/Paul Wills

Class 1 Sealed Winner- Danny Grist

Class 2 Sealed Winner- Dean Long

Class 3 Sealed Winner- Dave Goodwin

Class 4 Sealed Winner- Neil Glasbey

Class 5 Sealed Winner- Dan Morgan

Event winners trophies were awarded as follows:-

Round 1 – Russell Thomson

Round 2- Dan Morgan

Round 3- Toby Allen

Round 4- Matt Trott

Round 5- Andy Williams

Round 6-Dan Morgan

Round 7-Dan Morgan

Round 8-Martyn Cutler

Round 9-Dave Goodwin

Round 10-Russell Thomson

Round 11-Richard Weaver

Round 12- Andrew  Leppard

Round 13- Neil Glasbey

The Novice male was handed to Danny Grist and the up and coming driver went to Andrew Leppard.

Marion Saunders took the novice lady and Rebecca French as the fastest of the ladies.

The marshals’ award was given to Brian Robins for his tireless effort in not only marshalling at every event but also lending a hand whenever needed; you are a true clubman Brian.

And last but by no means least is the Ray Bell clubman award, this is usually voted for by the members and awarded to the person who the club feel has given the most over the year. This year it went to Andy Williams who not only found us a new venue for this year but has provided a great many venues over the years. Andy also keeps the crowds refreshed bringing along his burger van and is just one of the many people that help make this club what it is. Well done Andy!

And that wraps it up, the end of a season.

The new season begins on 24th April at IOW college.

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