Isle of Wight Car Club 
The last round of the Isle of Wight Car Club forward only autotest championship was held at Fort Street car park in Sandown.
Despite the inclement weather, 37 drivers weaved their way through the traffic cones and rain puddles and a fantastic day of budget motorsport was had by all.
The slippery conditions rewarded those who drove in a smooth and controlled manner, and this is exactly how Wayne Hole has driven all year. Not only did he win this final event of the year, he also clinched the well-deserved sealed surface championship and due to his consistent performance on the dirt and grass has also won the overall championship.
Claiming the title in a completely standard, would be scrap MX5, Wayne has demonstrated what the club has explained for many years, that you don’t need a high-performance car to be competitive.
Class 1 is for standard cars under 1400cc and James Robbins took this class win for the day in his Citroen C1 and finishing 9th place overall.
Class 2 is for standard cars over 1400cc and our event winner and now champion Wayne Hole can expect a table full of trophies at the next AGM evening.
Class 3 is for modified cars under 1400cc. Dave Goodwin in his classic mini was the highest placed driver without a single wrong test or time penalty for hitting a cone. Decades of club autotest experience provided him with the class win and put him on the 3rd step of the podium.
On the note of wrong tests and time penalties for hitting cones, if you are a new to autotesting or in the case of our young drivers in our Youth championship, don’t become down hearted if you are not getting all the clean runs you would like, just look at the results and you will see that even the top placed drivers struggle from time to time. Stick with it, be patient and remember “slow is smooth and smooth is fast”.
There were 5 youth drivers competing and it is amazing how the Youth championship sponsored by Jake Ellis sunglasses has grown during 2022. The fastest youth driver of the day was Joel Gilby in his MGZR closely followed by Chloe Dawson.
If you are 14 years of age and would like to compete next year, members can drive from the age of 14 as long as they have an experienced passenger in a car that is a production saloon car designed to have 4 seats. Please visit our website www.iowcc.co.uk for more details.
Fastest lady if the day was awarded to Cathy True in her MINI cooper S who finished in 7th place overall.
Class 4 is for modified cars over 1400cc and there was some impressive machinery on show. Dan Parkman drove his very impressive Subaru Impreza, James McEnery’s highly modified Ford Fiesta was very quick and Luke Everson had a great result squeezing his Subaru Impreza through the tight course to finish 5th overall. However, Dean Long pipped Luke to the class win in his MX5.
Class 5 is for non-mass production cars, heavily modified saloon specials and single seaters. Robbie Cooper in his classic mini was determined to beat Andy Williams in his special, even upgrading his dampers midway through the event, but to no avail as Andy on his last run put that goal out of Robbie’s reach. However, it was Chris Wilson who came out of retirement and was sporting his beautifully refurbed single seater special who took the class 5 win and stood on the second step of the podium. Chris was using this event as a shake down for the 2023 season, so expect some good results in next year’s championship.
Thank you so Much to Pro-Tek for sponsoring the podium prizes and to everyone who helps make these events happen and especially to the club members who help set up and pack away on the day.
Despite this being the end of the autotest season for 2022, the club still has a few more events before they start again in the new year. There is a Christmas dinner at the Bargeman’s rest, our annual AGM, Dinner and Awards evening, a treasure hunt and a non-championship autotest taster event. So please check out our websitewww.iowcc.co.uk for information and dates.
here are some fantastic images from Allan Marsh
