Isle of Wight Car Club 
28 drivers returned to the Ventnor Botanical Garden for another day of grass roots motorsport.
Due to restrictions on the type of event that the club can run, this year’s event was confined to the top car park of the gardens. The restricted space, combined with the inclement weather resulted in a very slippery and technical course.
This twisty course had many drivers worried that they would not remember where to drive and with 12 of the 28 drivers that competed during the day performing a wrong test on their first outing, they were not wrong.
Wayne Hole not only correctly remembered the course but was also the fastest driver in round one piloting John Coopers remarkable MX5 powered VW Golf in a time of 40.67 seconds.
Run 2 saw more MX5 domination, this time in the hands of Dean Long, his usual flowing style producing a time of 37.71 seconds. However, soon after, Kevin Richardson set the standard for the day in his classic mini producing a time of 35.49. This 2 second lead was instantly under threat as it only took run 3 for Ricky Sheppard to join the fight, producing a time 2 10ths of a second from the lead.
This tight course was extremely challenging for many drivers, front wheel drive cars were having to master the use of the handbrake turn, rear wheel drive cars needed to light up their rear tyres just to get around the tight 360 cone. Resect must go to Mark Hill in his Mitsubishi Evo, this being an all wheel drive car, he had to master all of these just to thread this monster sized car around the cones.
The ladies were also battling for the honor to be the fastest lady of the day. Hope Wallis and Sue Mitchel initially struggled to remember the course and swapped positions on the leader board through the day. Marion Brett on the other hand showed everyone why she held the trophy for the fastest lady in 2016 by not only remembering the course but consistently improving her times throughout the day and was presented with the flowers at the day’s close.
The only real mechanical fatality during the day was the suspension of Adam Morgan’s Locost. The good news is he continued the event in the Greenen’s classic 1275GT mini to finish 10th place overall and he is now in the running to win a new trophy for the best mechanical failure that will be awarded at the 2018 AGM.
By run 5 Ricky had taken the lead from Kevin by 7 10ths of a second and this is how it stayed as in round 6 Ricky could not improve on his time and Kevin incurred time penalties due to striking cones.
2016 sealed surface and overall champion Dan Morgan who had been plagued with wrong tests and time penalties throughout finally produced some quality times in round 5 and 6 to claim the 3rd step onthe podium.
The next event on the Isle of Wight Car Club calendar is an unsealed surface event at Knighton sand pit on the 26th of March. Don’t forget to complete your entry form in advance.