Round 10 Report

The top carpark of the Ventnor Botanic Garden must be the tightest venue on the IOWCC calendar and due to its constraints setting a course can be very challenging for the event organisers. However, for round 10 it was one of the club’s youth members, 7 year old Violet, who stepped forward and created a course that not only provided tight technical sections but also a fast loop to the finish line. Thank you, Violet – job well done. 25 competitors sat behind the wheel of their car of choice and proceeded to navigate Violet’s course. Initially many struggled to negotiate the course made of only 4 traffic cones without having to perform a 3-point turn. As the day continued, it became apparent that the fastest way round the course lay not in the shortest route but where the cars were not limited by their turning circle. Class 1 is for unmodified cars under 1400cc. There were only 3 cars in this class but driven by 7 individual drivers – car sharing is not only a great way to reduce the cost of this already cheap motorsport, but it is also a fun sub-competition with the person who you are sharing the car with. Darren Phillips, Rob Highmore, Adam Froment and Michael Jolliffe were in a tight battle for the class win, however, it was Darren who took class honours and a deserved win. Alfie Froment, who was sharing the class 1 fiesta with his dad Adam, was the fastest junior, sponsored by Jake Ellis Sunglasses. Class 2 is for unmodified cars over 1400cc. Steve Ridett and Wayne Hole were the only drivers in this class and in very contrasting cars, Steve in his front wheel drive Toyota Corrolla and Wayne in his rear wheel drive MX5. Both cars have their pros and cons, Steve was performing some very efficient hand break turns, however, on this tight venue, Wayne had the advantage of lighting up the rear tyres and spinning around tight cones although the grippy surface was hindering them both. Wayne took the class win and the second step of the podium. Class 3 is for modified cars over 1400cc and 7 drivers in varying cars, all hot hatch backs, battled it out for the class win. James Robbins in his immaculately prepared C1 drove superbly to take 2nd in class and 3rd overall. Dave Goodwin did not make any upgrades to his classic mini over the summer sealed surface brake, but he did perform some essential maintenance and is is very happy with the results, and the hard work paid off with a class 3 win and the stop step of the podium as overall winner of the day. Class 4 is for modified cars over 1400cc and this consisted of 9 drivers. Cathy True was campaigning her new car and took the award for the fastest lady of the day. Respect has to go to Jake Jarrold for navigating the tight course in his Subaru finishing 3rd in class. Jacques Ridett in his rally MINI Cooper R50 finished 2nd in class and Kevin Richardson took the class win in his Suzuki Ignis Sport. There were no competitors in class 5. Thank you to our podium Sponsors Pro-Tek who supply the podium prizes. Wight Karting were not only giving members the amazing opportunity to compete in their simulator, Simon Johnstone and Michael Jolliffe were also campaigning their Micra in class one. Michael took Wight Karting team honours and it is obvious that the smooth driving techniques learnt in karting and simulator racing transfer to auto testing. So at the next event jump in the simulator and hone your skills and between IOWCC events head to the Wight Karting track at Westridge. The simulator track for this event was Brands Hatch full circuit and Kevin Richardson was awarded the Bronze medal for his result, Joel Gilby won silver and our event winner was Danny Grist thanks to his motor racing experience. Thank you so much to Ventnor Botanic Garden for the use of their very beautiful venue. The next event is the LAST unsealed surface event of the year at Knighton Sandpit on the 22nd of October and the next sealed surface event is the double header Healey weekend on the 11th and 12th of November. Visit our website and subscribe to our email newsletter for more information.

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