Healey Weekend

The annual Isle of Wight Car Club Healey Weekend never disappoints and this year the action and drama was non stop.

For many years the Austin Healey Club have been making their annual pilgrimage to try and wrestle the coveted Turbine Trophy from the Isle of Wight Car Club.

This year they came armed with some serious machinery, some very performance orientated MX5s and even an mk1 rally Escort that had competed in the London to Sydney safari rally.

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The two days spread over the fireworks weekend comprised of rounds 12 and 13 of the car club’s championship, however, in conjunction with the championship, the times from the two days are combined to see who is the quickest over the entire weekend and that person will have their name immortalized on what has to be the best trophy in the car club trophy cabinet.

Saturday’s event was based at BAE Systems in Northwood. This large open car park has lots of room and was deliberately set up for the larger cars .

Dan Morgan set the standard early on Saturday. Half way through the day he had a 2 second lead over the rest of the field, however, in the afternoon Steve Wells in a similar class 5 Locost was applying pressure and posting similar times.

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As the temperature plummeted Adam Greenen rose up through the leader board to the frustration of Dan Morgan who was unable to improve on his 3rd run.

Adam’s sixth run was faultless and he was rewarded with the fastest time of the day. Dan had to settle for 2nd place and Steve Wells stood on the 3rd step of the podium.

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Day two at the College car park is a much tighter venue and with many raised curbs there is little room for error and more suited to the smaller more agile cars.

Adam Greenen was starting the day with 5/100th of a second lead and there was only 7/10th of a second separating the top 4 drivers.

Pushing hard Chris Wilson struck one of the unforgiving college curbs and it looked like his day was over and put the car back on the trailer but seeing his championship hopes disappear he unloaded his car to continue competing.

The Greenen family suffered a minor mechanical issue when the boot floor on their classic mini gave up and deposited their battery on the floor

Hope Wallis is a natural behind the wheel of her Ford Fiesta and deserved the flowers presented to her on both days and the fastest lady of the weekend trophy.

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Kevin Richardson on his 6th and final run posted the fastest time of the day, however, he only held this position for about 2 minutes as the next car entering the stop box was Dan Morgan with over 6/10th of a second quicker, giving him not only the event win but also the coveted Healey Weekend Turbine trophy. Kevin had to settle for 2nd and Chris Wilson kept his championship title alight by finishing on the 3rd.

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This annual fixture is the highlight of the Isle of Wight Car Club’s calendar and we very much look forward to seeing the Austin Healey Club next year again.

The next and final event will be held at Fort Street in Sandown on the 27th of November.

This is a great venue for spectators, so come and see who will clinch the 2016 Sealed Surface championship title.

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