Round 5 of the Isle of Wight Car Club’s 2023 Forward only Autotest season was an unsealed surface event held at one of the locations of this year’s Island Stages rally – Palmers Farm in Wootton.

This venue had everything from wide open land with nothing to hit, stunning views over the Solent and an undulating track that evolved as the day went on, producing quicker and quicker times.

The only modifications permitted in the unmodified classes are a rear 4 point roll cage for safety, a sump guard to protect the car and strict rules with regards to tyres.

This is fantastic for those on a budget or want to use their standard road car and compete with others on a level playing field.

Class 1 is for unmodified cars under 1400cc. Rob Highmore and Darren Phillips in their Ford Ka were consistently quick and there was next to nothing separating their times. On the final run Rob took the class win over Darren by a fraction of a second.

Class 2 is for unmodified cars over 1400cc. Jacques Ridett in his shared Toyota Corolla put in a fantastic time to take this class win.

If modifying cars is your game, then you will love competing in class 3 and 4.

Class 3 is for modified cars under 1400cc and Steve Staff in his “no money Micra” is proving that modifying cars can be cheap. Today Steve competed alongside his dad Gary Staff. Steve took the class win but has plans to dip his toe into class 4 with a new car later in the year.

Class 4 is for modified cars over 1400cc and Wayne Hole in his rally Ford Focus not only took the class win but finished on the top step of the podium with the fastest time of the day.

Class 5 is for extremely modified cars and specials. This award went to Martin Goddard in his ex autocross motorbike powered special. This was Martin’s first outing in his new car and he is still finding his feet, however, it won’t be long before he is challenging for a podium spot.

Thank you to our podium Sponsors Pro-Tek for their support and awards . The battle for the podium was fought until the closing runs of the day.

During run 6 the slippery grass had worn away and what was left was a rough, grippy, yet dusty path to follow, however, any competitor who dipped a wheel off this well trodden path back onto the tall grass could loose valuable time. Jon Barrett in his rally Subaru Impreza and Wayne Hole were trading places for the top step all day and as we know Wayne secured that place and Jon had to settle for second overall. 

Third place on the podium was owned for a very long time by our eventual fastest lady of the day, Cathy True in her rally prepared MINI Cooper. Cathy is also entering the Island Stages rally in September and it looked as if all top 3 places were going to be taken by 3 rally drivers in their rally cars who have entered the Island Stages rally on the very land where one of the stages are due to be held. However, this was not to be. On the final run Kevin Richardson in his class 4 Suzuki Ignis Sport put in a time 3 tenths of a second faster knocking Cathy off the podium but the next car on track was Steve Glass in his class 4 MINI Cooper S and he knocked Kevin off the podium giving him the well deserved 3rd fastest time of the day.

Drivers can drive and compete at IOWCC from the age of 14 years old as part of the Youth Championship sponsored by Jake Ellis Sunglasses. Millie Blake, Alicia Perkins, Sam Wood, Alfie Froment, Kaiden Reed and Joel Glibly are proof that the Youth Championship is a success and making motorsport a family sport. Each youth driver is developing not only their driving skills years before hitting the road, they are the future of our club. Joel Gilby has been a youth driver for many years and is now driving to such a high standard it won’t be long before he is standing on the podium, so it was no surprise that today he was our Youth champion.

Mixed in with the action on track there was some serious competition taking part in the Kart Simulator organised by Wight Karting. We would like to thank Wight Karting for their support and allowing club members to try their simulator and organise medals for the 3 fastest sim drivers of the day. It may come as no surprise that the top 3 SIM drivers were all youth drivers. 3rd place went to Sam Wood, 2nd place went to Joel Gilby and our SIM podium winner was Kaiden Reed.

Again Thank you so much to Wight Karting for their support. 

The next event is also an unsealed surface event on the 23rd of July and is planned to take place at the iconic venue of Atherfield. This flat open field is always a popular venue with competitors as its super flat open space is very forgiving and if you have ever wanted to drive your road car on grass this is the event to try.

If you would like to enter the Island Stages rally as a competitor or see the action up close as a rally marshal please head to our club website for more details.

WWW.IOWCC.CO.UK

Are you ready? – Entries for the 2023 Island Stages open at 8pm tonight – this event is limited to 45 entries – so grab your navigator and all your details because you will not want to miss this years MULTI STAGE event. 

Island Stages Rally

Round 4 of the Isle of Wight Car Club’s Forward only Autotest season was held at Westridge Leisure Centre. The twisting course around islands and traffic cones proved a real driving challenge.

To help keep this grass roots motorsport as accessible and as cheap as possible the club runs 2 different classes for completely standard cars – basic road tyres, no upgraded brakes, no sports or decat exhausts – this may sound boring to some, however, the competition can be fierce.

Class 1 is for unmodified cars under 1400cc and Robin Perkins who was looking to challenge for the class win unfortunately clipped one of the unforgiving curbed islands damaging his rear wheel and putting him out of the event after run 3. Rob Highmore and Darren Phillips in their shared Ford KA were leading the field at the end of the day and it was Darren who delivered the fastest time, giving him the class 1 win.

Class 2 is for unmodified cars over 1400cc – Jacques Ridett and Steve Ridett had such a close battle driving their shared Toyota Corolla and for a standard car it has some get up and go and it was a joy to see them nail some of the challenging handbrake turns. Jacques earned the bracing rights as he was the fastest of the two by only 0.9 of a second.

Wayne Hole, also in class 2, is a very experienced and talented driver of his MX5. He struggled to improve on his time in the closing runs of the day, however, he took the class 2 win and claimed the 3rd step of the podium.

If you own or like to modify your car then the modified classes will be just your cup of tea – there are restrictions as the car must resemble a road legal car.

Class 3 is for modified cars under 1400cc and this is where you find the souped up hot hatches such as Micras, Fiestas, MGZRs, classic minis and the fantastic Citroen C1 of James Robbins.

Dave Goodwin in his classic mini and James traded fastest overall times throughout the day and James took the class and overall win by 0.08 seconds. This is making for an exciting battle as both Dave and James are on equal points in the class 3 championship.

Class 4 is for modified cars over 1400cc – one of the questions at the beginning of the day was what sort of car would be best suited to this course. Well ,the top 3 class 4 cars finished one behind the other with only 1 second between them all. Kevin Richardson in his front wheel drive MINI Cooper S finished 3rd in class, Jon Barrett finished 2nd in class in his all wheel drive Subaru Impreza but it was Dean Long in his rear wheel drive MX5 that took the class win. It is amazing that 3 completely different cars and different driving styles can produce such a close result.

If you want to compete in something extreme, then class 5 is home to heavily modified saloons, non-production cars and specials.

Robbie Cooper in his ex grass track classic mini put in a fantastic effort and finished in 13th place overall and the class 5 win.

Cathy True was using her rally mini and is getting more confident and is very excited to compete in the Island Stages on the 30th of September – Cathy was awarded the fastest lady of the day prize and finished 16th overall.

You can compete at one of our events from the age of 14 as part of the Jake Ellis Sunglasses Youth Championship – Joel Gilby was our fastest youth of the day and is no longer the apprentice and on his way to being the master as he finished in 10th place overall, an astonishing 16 places ahead of his father Boo Gilby.

Thank you to Pro-Tek for sponsoring the podium.

An amazing addition to the event was the inclusion of Wight Karting who are based at Westridge and provide Karting Action all year round whatever the weather – but what was on offer was a Kart Racing simulator for IOWCC club members to try and discover who was the fastest virtual racer. The queue to take part was a testament to how much fun it was and Wight Karting also presented medals to the fastest 3 drivers of the day.

Again the results were super close and it was a pleasure to see Jake Jarrold stand on the top step of the podium. Thank you so much to Wight Karting www.wightkarting.co.uk and we hope to collaborate again in the future.

There is going to be a summer break from the sealed surface events as the club takes advantage of the dry conditions to run their unsealed surface events.

If you would like more information about the different classes of cars or how to take part please head to our website www.iowcc.co.uk.

NEW SIGN IN PROCEDURE

All competitors and passengers please bring your current Motorsport UK licence and 2023 IOWCC membership cards with you to each event.
Please enter and pay ONLINE as usual before the closing date

When you arrive please go to the timing trailer and present –

Your membership card
Your motorsport uk licence (a digital copy on your phone is acceptable)
We will check that you have entered
We will check that you have paid

If this is all correct we will issue you with a wrist band for the day.

If you are a current IOWCC member and do not have a 2023 club card ask at race control and they will issue you with one.

Round 3 was expected to be just another normal round of the Isle of Wight Car Club’s forward only autotest season, however, nobody expected it to be so epic.

An unprecedented 41 drivers and 5 passengers signed up to round 3 held at BAE systems in Northwood. To add to this, the course was a departure from the norm with super technical sections that tested each competitor, wondering if using the hand brake was quicker or not, and finally on top of this the eclectic mix of cars from standard front wheel saloon cars, through a varied amount of modified cars to tire shredding drift cars, made it an amazing spectacle to watch.

The competition was very tight with the leaderboard changing as through out the day drivers decided upon the best racing lines and techniques that worked for their car and driving style.

The fastest Youth of the day was Joel Gilby in his MGZR. This was also a fantastic battle between his dad Boo Gilby who was sharing the same car, Boo just staying ahead by 0.34 of a second. However, its only a matter of time before Joel ceases to be the apprentice and becomes the master – watch out Boo.

Class 1 is for unmodified cars under 1400cc and the honour of the class win went to Jamie Browne in his lovely Starlet , who also finished 29th overall.

Class 2 is for unmodified cars over 1400cc and the winning car in this class was a not so lovely looking MX5 but looks are not everything because this rusty standard car was driven by Wayne Hole and his precise smooth driving style gave him the class win and got him onto the podium, however, exactly what step of the podium would be a deciding battle in the closing minutes of the final run of the day.

Class 3 is for modified cars under 1400cc, Steve Staff was having issues with his “No money Micra” and had a plethora of classic minis to contend with – it is great to see these classic cars being used by their owners and still being competitive. Without doubt Dave Goodwin has become a master of autotesting in his mini and this gave him the class win and 3rd step of the podium.

Class 4 is for modified cars over 1400cc and Shane Parry was enjoying the challenge of this technical course in his Ford Puma that he was sharing with Louise Wren, however, a snapped handbrake cable meant that both of them had to adapt their driving style to suit.

Louise managed to keep her competition at bay and took the title of the fastest lady of the day and also finished 13th overall despite the mechanical handicap.

Shane also realised that with one broken handbrake cable, he could lock up a rear wheel in only one direction but would have to drive or, lift off oversteer in the other, this knowledge and adaptation of driving techniques and skill gave him the class win and momentarily put him on the top step of the podium.

I say momentarily as at the end of run 6 there was only one more driver left and it was Wayne Hole. Before Shane’s final run of the day Wayne was provisional event winner and was contemplating having a drive in a classic mini on his final run, however, Shane had just put a stop to that with his decisive blow. Wayne put on his helmet, sat in his MX5 and a genuine silence fell upon the the onlooking spectators as they watched him deliver the fastest run of the day…. but at the final moment the car skidded to a stop just out of the confines of the stop box giving Wayne a 10 second penalty and allowing Shane to retain the top step of the podium.

It was an amazing and dramatic conclusion to a very long day of grass roots motorsport, the final twist to the story was that this was Andy Williams’ last event in his class 5 special. After taking the class win he has decided to sell his car to a fellow club member and try a different car and class. We are all excited to see what Andy decides to campaign in the future.

If you would like to have a go at autotesting with the IOWCC, head over to our club website at www.iowcc.co.uk for more information and a calendar of events.

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.

Round 2 is an Unsealed Surface event at Knighton Sand Pit

Book your place before midnight the Wednesday before