Knighton Sandpit was the location of a very dramatic and exciting finale to the 2023 unsealed surface season.

29 drivers navigated their way through piles of rubble and pallets, while simultaneously coping with mixed surfaces including, gravel, dirt and very soft sand.

Class 1 is for unmodified cars under 1400cc and Darren Phillips in his Ford KA produced his fastest run of the day during run 6, giving him the class win and proving you don’t need a high performance car with knobbly tyres to be competitive in the unmodified classes with 6th place over all.

Class 2 is for unmodified cars over 1400cc, we had no competitors in class 2.

Class 3 is for modified cars under 1400cc – Joel and Boo Gilby were battling it out in their shared MGZR, with Boo producing the faster time by half a second and Joel taking the fastest youth title, sponsored by Jake Ellis Sunglasses. However, Steve Staff took his Micra to 4th place overall also giving him the class win.

Also in class 3 Courtney Mullen mastered the sand and took the award for the fastest lady of the day in her Ford Fiesta

Class 4 is for modified cars over 1400cc – The bookies would have placed Wayne Hole in contention of a podium finish, however, during run 1, Wayne sustained an injury to this thumb and had to retire form the event. The good news is that the hospital said that nothing was broken, and he can get behind the wheel in time for the Phil Collings South Downs Stages in December.

James McEnery did not have any broken bones either, but he did have braking issues in his Ford Fiesta. After repairs and re-bleeding the brakes, the car just would not come to a halt in a straight line in the stop box, however, James’ last run was controlled and fast giving him the class win and a fantastic 3rd place overall.

Class 5 is for heavily modified cars, limited production cars and specials such as the single seaters of Martin Goddard and Chris Wilson. Martin is now getting the hang of his special and this is reflected in his times. Martin finished 3rd place overall and we expect him to be challenging the top step in 2024. Chris Wilson has had some time off from competing in 2023 due to family commitments, however, his return at this event showed he still has what it takes, taking the event win with an astounding 7.95 second lead.

We would like to thank Pro-Tek for their support in being the podium sponsors.

In amongst the action on track, Wight Karting had their simulator van on site and members this time had an unsealed surface track to compete on. Each club member can have 3 attempts to post the fastest lap of the day with medals being awarded alongside the IOWCC podium presentation.

3rd fastest time of the day went to Joel Gilby, 2nd Jakey Jarrold and the quickest single lap time of the day was performed by Jaques Ridett giving him the gold medal.

With the final USS event of the season over, the results and drops can be calculated and the unsealed surface champions of 2023 can be announced.

Head to our website www.iowcc.co.uk to view the leaderboard and find out if you will be presented with a trophy at the AGM.

Thank you to everyone who makes these events happen and the next event is our Healey Weekend on the 11th and 12th of November.