Thank you to all the members who have submitted items to be discussed at the 2024 AGM. There was one overwhelming theme – the Youth Championship! Concerns have been raised about how once a member passes their test they are able to drive a car which is prohibited for unlicenced drivers.

It’s important to have a starting point for any discussion, so I would propose the following be defined in the 2024 IOWCC Autotest Championship Regulations:

Youth Championship Eligibility: All entrants must hold a Junior membership of the Isle Of Wight Car Club and compete in a vehicle eligible under GR M.17

Junior memberships are available to anybody who is under 18 at the start of the membership year. For those of you who haven’t memorised the Blue Book, General Regulation M.17 reads:

Entries may be accepted from Drivers who are aged 14 years and over who do not have a valid, full RTA Licence, subject to:
(a) The vehicle must by definition be a ‘’Touring Car’’;
(b) The vehicle engine capacity must not exceed 2000cc including forced induction;
(c) A passenger must be carried who holds a valid, full RTA licence and be experienced in Autotests or AutoSOLOs.

This means the Youth Championship remains open to newly licenced drivers who may not have had the luxury of competing with us since they were 14, but they will have to compete on a level footing in terms of their car.

It’s great that the Youth Championship has been so popular and we hope it continues to be!

One other suggestion received was to mix up the event format a little, perhaps with multiple tests or using cumulative times. While this is difficult to do within the championship, perhaps we could make use of Motorsport UK’s new “Evening Autotest” permit which offers a reduced fee (and therefore reduced entry fees!) to hold some non-championship events during the summer months. Ideas welcome!

See you all at the AGM,

Joe
IOWCC Secretary