Football Club 18th June 2011

St Georges Park, Newport was the venue for the third round of the Isle of Wight car club Autotest championship. A brand new setting and it proved to be both a very nice circuit to drive and a nice circuit for spectators, able to see the entire circuit from just one vantage point.

With the promise of rain ahead competitors were eager to get on with proceedings, something not often seen at these events as drivers are usually waiting for optimum grip.

As seems to be the way Andy Williams set the first time of the day with a 39:93, if the rain held off it was looking to be a very fast circuit. At the last sealed surface event the challenge from the Mini’s was unassailable and again today the two Dutch brothers both looked fast out of the box. Dave Dutch threatening the top of the table with an extremely quick 36:95 in his Mini pickup.

Later in the day we were promised the attendance of both Daniel Morgan driving his new 7 style race car, supplied by Island PC Services, and Dave Goodwin with his Mini. As soon as Goodwin took his car out he posted a notably quick 37:40. Dave Bizzill driving a Subaru Impreza and Toby Allen driving a Mazda Mx5 were also keeping the fast pack honest, Toby even topped the table for a while with a time of 37:13, unfortunately for him though after that he struggled to remember where he should be going and his place tumbled down the leaderboard.

When Dan Morgan finally arrived we all expected great things, his first four runs all involved hitting cones and incurring time penalties. On his fifth run however he recorded a quite brilliant time of 35:48 over half a second faster than second placed Dave Goodwin.

Class 1 was swooped up by Jemma Western posting a time of 44:37 driving a totally standard Ford KA, with no other competitors to challenge her Jemma collected a cool 50 points for her class.

Class 2 again very poorly attended with only two drivers this time. Dean Long and Daryl Turner seem to have made this class their own, both driving a standard Mazda Mx5 the battle was on. With Daryl having beaten Dean for a couple of previous events Dean was on the offensive, driving a very clean 38:49 which Daryl found just too much to handle. Well done Dean for getting back on top!

Class 3 is the class of the Mini’s, with seven competitors fighting for the class honours. Dave and John Dutch looked very quick in the morning, their cars setup just right for autotesting. Unfortunately for them the party was spoilt by Dave Goodwin arriving late, he was on it from the get go recording a 36:02, which under most circumstances would have taken the overall win, Dave had to settle for 2nd overall but 1st in class and 50 class points.

Class 4 was hotly contended as ever, with over 20 competitors it promised to be a great spectacle. Toby Allen was the first to record a noteworthy time with 37:13 which not only led the class but the overall standings as well. The FWD cars were struggling to match the RWD and 4WD cars in this class, the fastest of the FWD was Matt Price in a race prepped Saxo with a 37:22. Dave Bizzill, driving a Subaru Impreza broke Toby’s supremacy with a very tidy 36:82 to top the class and scoop the 50 points, just 0.01 seconds behind was Martyn Cutler driving his Vx220. Also notable in this class was a very tidy run by Steve Glasbey in his recently rebuilt TVR with a very respectable time of 37:05 to finish 4th in class and 7th overall.

Class 5, the special class! Just two drivers to fight this one out, Andy Williams and Dan Morgan. Andy completed most of his runs early, I think the track rubbered in later in the day, his special looked good and he set a very respectable 38:15. Acclaim must go to Dan Morgan though, only the second time he has driven his new car and he looked at one with the machine. Struggling at first with cone demolition he pulled it all together in his 5th run, a time of 35:48 sweeping the rug from under everybody else. Well done Dan, the car was a long time in coming but now it is here it is where it belongs, at the top!

And that was the end of the day, fastest lady goes to Vicky Cox with a time of 39:91 and driver of the day to the latecomer Dan Morgan. Some fantastic drives from the likes of Dave Bizzill, Dave Goodwin, Dave Dutch and Steve Glasbey. This season is shaping up to be a very competitive one. Well done all!

Top 5 Positions

Dan Morgan 35:48
Dave Goodwin 36:02
Dave Dutch 36:81
Dave Bizzill 36:82
Martyn Cutler 36:83

Overall SS Top 3

Dave Goodwin 50
Dan Morgan 50
Andy Williams 49

For full results see www.iowcc.co.uk

Next event at Atherfield on Sunday 3rd July, see you all there.

Round 2- Knighton Sandpit 2011

Round 2 of the 2011 IOW CC Autotest season took us to Knighton sandpit for the first unsealed surface event of the championship. With such arid conditions recently the track was watered beforehand in an attempt to keep dust to a minimum. A number of new faces helping swell the membership, always a pleasing sight.

Andy Williams started the proceedings in his extremely open to the elements special, setting a time of 64.15 seconds and getting extremely wet and muddy as an added bonus. Steve Brett as always at Knighton was fast out of the box and was doing his best to keep Andy in check recording 62.70 in only his second run. As the surface begun to dry out the FWD cars begun to dominate, Dan Morgan, ever present at the top of the table laid down a 58.45 followed by an unassailable 56.28. The west Wight Golf Gti coupled with driver Morgan proving just too good for the opposition.

As with the last event there were no competitors for class 1, any budding autotest drivers out there with a standard car under 1400cc should come along, there is a gap in the market!

Class 2 was also lacking many competitors, the two it did have though have always had in house battles for supremacy. Dean Long usually the victor driving the shared Mazda Mx5 but Daryl Turner, refusing to lay down to Dean won the class with a time of 60.61 a mere 0.37 seconds in front of his stable mate. Well done Daryl!

Class 3, usually a hotly contested class on sealed surface is lacking the depth of cars on the unsealed, however with 6 drivers battling it out at least there was something to play for. Steve Brett took the class with relative ease, his classic Mini just seems to be setup so well for this event. Steve Stotesbury driving a Mk3 Fiesta was trying his hardest at times overdriving as he clipped banks and rubble heaps. It looked like fun though as the incredible little car just seems to live forever.

Class 4 is where the bulk of the drivers were for this event, most driving FWD hot hatches of the 90’s era. VW Golfs seem to be the car of choice if you wish to take a class win but rest assured the 205Gtis give it a good crack as well. Andrew Leppard and Neil Glasbey were Dan’s main rivals as times begun to tumble. Neil having replaced all of his glass with plastic to shed yet more weight from their Mk2 Golf Gti laid down a time 57.93 to briefly top the table. Andrew Leppard responded with a 56.88 but it was not good enough to take the class and overall win as Dan Morgan powered his way to an incredible time of 56.28 with 2 runs left in his hand. With nobody even getting close to Dans time he finished the day on top having only completed 4 runs, not often seen as the days are usually hotly contested until the bitter end. Well done Dan for taking the Class 4 honours and the overall win.

Class 5 was contested by just two drivers today, Andy Williams in a grasstrack special and Andrew Lee driving a Beetle based Buggy. They could not have been more in contrast to each other if they tried. Andy was fast all day, throwing stones everywhere as both man and machine looked at one. Andrew Lee on the other hand was testing his buggy for the very first time and some more setup on the suspension is needed I feel to get closer to the competition. Andy Williams won the class with a 58.25 and leaving him 4th overall.

Final positions are as follows:-

1st Dan Morgan 56.28

2nd Andrew Leppard 56.88

3rd Neil Glasbey 57.93

4th Andy Williams 58.25

5th Grant Sabin 58.40

The next event is at St Georges Park on SATURDAY 18th June

Knighton Results

The results from today are now online.

The top 5 drivers were:

1st – Dan Morgan
2nd – Andrew Leppard
3rd – Neil Glasbey
4th – Andy Williams
5th – Grant Sabin

Cheers to everybody for a great day

Dan

USS Knighton Sandpit Round 2

Good evening fellow car clubbers.

Just to make you all aware, Steven Wells has reluctantly stepped down as Membership Secretary due to work commitments and therefore I have taken his role. I’m sure everyone would agree that Steve has put a massive influence into the club and would like to thank him for his hard work over the years. This does not mean he is gone for good but is still a proud member and hopefully competing with us this Sunday.

Looking ahead to this weekend, we will be holding the first Unsealed Surface Autotest at what is pretty much everyone’s favorite venue – Knighton Sandpit. The event kicks off on Sunday at the usual time of 10am sharp, but you need to sign on in from 9am-9.30am. The safety briefing and track walk will be held at 9.35am before the first car is let loose.

You can sign-on in advance from the club website and pay via Paypal which will help the smooth running of the event on the day. I strongly advise most members if possible to sign-on in advance as this really helps makes the event to run on time.

Just to make you all aware, if you have friends or family coming to take part on a DAY MEMBERSHIP this Sunday, they must show their driving License as part of sign-on admission. Failure to do so will result in declined membership. This is for DAY MEMBERS and people wanting to join as a FULL member.

Lets hope for good weather for the Sandpit and look forward to seeing you all there.

See you Sunday

Matt

Matthew Price
Membership Secretary
Isle of Wight Car Club LTD
07894050791