Round 2 at the Isle of Wight College

Entries close on midnight the 28th of April.

With Motorsport UK allowing clubs to restart motorsport after lockdown 2.0, the Isle of Wight Car Club and its members were told to start their engines and head to the picturesque Ventnor Botanic Garden.

Here round 6 of the club’s Forward Only Autotest championship would wind its way through subtropical plants and trees. For 24 drivers this was a venue not to be missed.

The course comprised of the main visitor car park and access roads and paths throughout the garden, bumpy in areas and a little slippery in others, competitors had to have their wits about them to stay on the track, let alone post a winning time.

Class 1 – Pumas are predatory big cats often found in tropical climates, however, the only Pumas prowling in these tropical gardens were Ford Pumas and the king of the pride was Shane Parry in his newly acquired one. Shane not only devoured his class but was successfully stalking and beating more powerful modified cars and finished just off the podium in 4^th place overall.

Louise Wren took the title of fastest lady of the day in her class one Puma.

Class 2 – consisted entirely of MX5s and Wayne Hole again showed his prowess and placed his unmodified car on the 3^rd step of the podium and winning his class.

Class 3 – Adam Greenen had a miserable day in his classic mini when on his first run he broke a driveshaft on the stop start section and went home without posting a time, however, Steven Staff had a great day in his Micra and is now working his way up the leader board as he gains experience.

Steve Glass in his MG ZR was the fastest class 3 driver for most of the day and knocking on the door of a podium place until round 4 when he got it all wrong at the turnaround at the pond and wedged his MG sideways along the track writing off his car in the process.

This gave Steve Brett the opportunity to storm ahead and take the class 3 victory and finishing 5^th place overall.

Class 4 – more drama happened in class 4 when Dan Young on his first run of the day ripped a hole in his sump on a bumpy section at the top of the course and trailed oil down the hill and only noticed it when he stopped at the stop start section.

Jake and Jason Moore took it in turns to damage their MX5, puncturing a tyre and leaving random parts of ricer body kit amongst the foliage.

Jakey Jarrod in his modified Puma just missed out on a class win, Dave Leppard took that honour by 0.5 of a second.

Class 5 – this was a battle of the single seater specials of Andy Williams and Chris Wilson. Both were posting the quickest times of the day so 1^st or 2^nd was in the bag. Andy had an off at the top of the hill in round 3 and Chris had an excursion into the bushes at the turn around at the pond, however, Chris dominated this event winning with an incredible 5 second lead over Andy in second place.

Thank you to everyone who helped make this event happen and to all the club members who helped set up and pack down this behemoth of an event. It’s amazing that Ventnor Botanic Garden invite us to use their grounds and are keen for us to come back in 2021 so watch this space.

The next event is on the 6th of December 2020 at Ventnor Botanic Garden

Bookings close at midnight on the 2nd of December

This is a must do event, its the most scenic and exciting venue on the clubs calendar

DONT MISS OUT

All events postponed 

Motorsport UK have retracted all permits

BAE 07.11.2020 postponed

College 08.11.2020 postponed

Botanic Garden 29.11.20 postponed

Unfortunately due to the restrictions of lockdown 2.0 The Isle of Wight Car Club are unable to run any motorsport events until further notice.
After consulting with the government, Motorsport UK has retracted all motorsport permits in the UK, this will stay in place until such times that the government allow motorsport to continue.
With 3 events to go in the IOWCC championship it has been decided to postpone these events rather than cancel them.
The hope is that motorsport will be allowed to continue in December, giving us until the AGM in march to run these events (our club championship runs from AGM to AGM).
Because of the uncertainty of the situation we are unable to fix dates, however, we know club members just want to enjoy participating in motorsport and as soon as we are permitted we will set the dates and venues.
For those that had already entered and paid for the Healey weekend, your entry fees are safe and they can be held as credit for when we restart, however, please remember you will still need to complete a new entry form once entries for the new events are open. If you would prefer a refund please contact the club via email at membership@iowcc.co.uk

Below is the official statement issued by Motorsport UK

The next event is round 5 at BAE on the 18th of October 

Entries close at midnight on the 14th of October

sorry no entries on the day

We are no longer permitted to allow spectators at any of our events due to new Motorsport UK Covid 19 rules. Please do not encourage non competitors to attend

There is now a requirement for all participants to wear a face mask in all areas of the venue at all times if you are unable to maintain a 2 meter distance

you MUST wear a face mask at ALL TIMES when in front of the club trailer.

Round 3 video

After the last championship event at BAE back in March, it was great to get back to some grass roots motorsport on the Isle of Wight again. 24 drivers competed in Round 2 at the Isle of Wight College.

With the threat of rain, drivers were keen to get out and bag a decent time, however, there was a little trepidation as initially the course seemed complicated and treacherous thanks to the many unforgiving curbs but the course soon had the thumbs up from divers as it was smooth and flowing with a great mix open and tight technical sections favouring different types of cars and driving styles.

In round 1 the class 5 specials of Andy Williams and Chris Wilson were the first to go sub 1 minute setting the standard for all to follow.

Toby Allan was the next and only other driver to join the sub minute during round 2 in his borrowed Lotus owned by Matthew Price. (Brave man letting someone drive his lovely car around this curb infested venue).

By run 3 there were fewer wrong tests and drivers were reducing their times. New club members, Karl Robins, Martin Read, Steven Staff and Robbie Cooper were all improving on their times and seemed to be enjoying themselves. Many people shy away from motorsport as they feel it may be intimidating or put them under pressure to perform but those that give it a go all say how much fun it is. So come and have a go, you will not regret it.

Motorsport is one of the few sports in the world that is not sexist or ageist, however, the IOWCC do like to promote the participation of ladies within our club and for this reason we also like to award an additional prize for the fastest lady of the day. Tahnee Attwood, Karen Moore and Louise Wren were showing the lads how it is done, and it was Louise who took ladies’ honours at the end of the day finishing in a fantastic 12th place overall.

Class 1 and class 2 cars are for unmodified cars. Shane Parry was the quickest of the day in class 1 in his sub 1400cc Fiesta and Wayne Hole not only claimed the class 2 win in his standard MX5 but also took 3rd place overall.

Class 3 and 4 are for modified cars and Dave Goodwin took his classic mini to a class 3 win and Toby Allan in his borrowed Lotus crashed through the competition to take the class 4 win.

Class 5 is for heavily modified saloon cars or specials and these lightweight race cars are hard to catch at the best of times but today the time gaps were huge. 2^nd place Andy Williams in his special was a full 3 seconds ahead of Wayne in 3rd place and Chris Wilson was a staggering 3 and a half seconds ahead of Andy giving him a very well-deserved class 5 and overall win.

In the end the rain stayed away, everyone followed the government and Motorsport UK Covid 19 guidelines and we are all pleased motorsport is back on the calendar.

This must be the cheapest and most accessible motorsport available and for only £20 per event there is no reason why you should not give it a go. The next event is on the 6th of September at BAE in Northwood and entries close on the 3rd of September so head to the IOWCC website www.iowcc.co.uk and sign up today.

Images by Allan Marsh