Full report and video will be available soon

Round 2 of the IOWCC 2023 forward only autotest season was an unsealed event held at the always dramatic venue of Knighton Sand Pit.

The weather was predicted to be dry but with the previous day being wet, competitors initially struggled for grip, however, as the temperature climbed, so did the competition as the track dried out and the times tumbled.

It was fantastic to see such a good turn out, with so many people enjoying a day of grass roots motorsport. This is such an accessible sport with many people opting to share a budget saloon car and compete with a passenger.

Knobbly or Mud & Snow tyres would help in such challenging conditions but class 1 and 2 are for unmodified cars and are restricted to normal road tyres. These unmodified cars are, however, permitted to have a 4 point rear cage for safety and underbody sump guards to protect the car from the many rocks and ruts.

Sliding around on those normal road tyres but still putting in a very respectable time was our class 1 winner Martin Goddard in his Saxo, who also finished 13th overall.

Class 2 is for unmodified car over 1400cc and Lewis Whittington in his MX5 not only took the class win but had an awful lot of fun sliding his rear wheel car round the many wide open gravel turns.

The youth championship is for drivers aged 14-17 and is sponsored by Jake Ellis Sunglasses – Chloe Dawson and Millie Blake had a great battle but it was Mille who took today’s youth title. 

Fastest lady of the day award went to Cathy True in her new BMW Mini Cooper rally car – a wonderful drive and some great practice for the Island Stages Rally in the autumn.

Class 3 and 4 are for modified cars, these cars are permitted to use knobby or Mud & Snow tyres and are open to all sorts of modifications as long as they still resemble a road going car.

With these advantages and no class 5 cars competing at this event, it was all to play for and it was an intense day of the top 10 places changing almost every run as the track dried out.

Steven Staff in his “No Money Micra” knows how to drive and stayed on top of the consistently changing conditions to be awarded the class 3 win and finished 6th overall.

Class 4 and our event winner, standing on the top step of the podium sponsored by Pro-Tek, was Wayne Hole. Wayne had a slow start to the day in his Rally Ford Focus and was frustrated by his performance, however, in the closing runs of the day he was battling with Jon Barrett in his Rally Subaru Impreza. In the end Jon had to settle for second, relinquishing the the lead to Wayne. 

Driver of the day though has to go to Steve Glass who in his class 4 Bini Coopers S was packing a real punch and the sound of the angry supercharger screaming on the straights really entertained the spectators. Steve has been competing for many years and has had mixed results but today he was rewarded with 3rd overall.

The next event is a sealed surface venue at BAE systems in Northwood on the 14th of May. If you would like to enter, ensure you have your entry in by midnight on Wednesday the 10th.

If you have not already please subscribe to our email list via our website so that you will receive our news letter and advanced info on future events.