Isle of Wight Car Club

_{20 competitors and many spectators enjoyed a day of grassroots motorsport at one of the nicest venues on the calendar – Atherfield.}

 

 _{This large flat open grass field is smooth and suitable for road cars. As always the first few runs are slow because of the lack of traction on the lush green grass.}

_{Initially many drivers struggled to remember the course and that’s not surprising when Andy Williams who designed the course had to lead the walk round holding a map because he was not sure himself. However, under a glorious July sky, the grass soon gave way to dust and revealed the course for all to follow.}

_{Again, with no drivers in class 1 the battle of the unmodified cars was in class 2. Barry Richardson initially struggled to remember the course but was pleased to see his times improve during the afternoon. Josh Finch was campaigning his MGF and Collin Kill along with Ross Davidson drove their Mazda 323 with the latter producing the fastest class 2 time of the day.}

_{The only class 3 cars were the classic minis driven by Marion Brett, who was presented with the fastest lady of the day flowers at the podium celebrations, Steve Brett who suffered a broken driveshaft in round 3 but managed to replace it with a spare so he could continue and Dan Young who pushed his car to the limits and rolled his mini on the final round in a last-ditch attempt to gain a podium place. Luckily Dan stepped away from this incident with only a bruised elbow. This is a testament to the club’s safety rules that are above and beyond the requirements of the motorsport governing body.}

 

_{Class 4 currently seems the popular choice for competitors with 9 drivers competing in modified cars over 1400cc. Wayne Hole and John Cooper were campaigning their new Ford Focus with the intention of using it for the up and coming Autocross. This seemed like a savvy choice as the only class 4 car ahead was that of Dean Long in his rally prepared Subaru Impreza.}

_{Class 5 is for cars that don’t fit into any of the other classes and is the domain of ex auto grass cars. Andy Williams missed out on a podium position by only 1/100ths of a second.}

_{At the podium celebrations, Steve Brett was rewarded with 3}^rd _{place overall and Dean Long claimed the 2}^nd _{step. However, ahead by 2.12 seconds and a spare run in hand Chris Wilson took the top step.}

_{The next event is at Duxmore Farm on the 16}^th _{of July. This is also the venue for the greatly anticipated Autocross and drivers can have their cars looked over by the Autocross scrutineer to see if their car will meet the safety requirements for this event.}