Isle of Wight Car Club

On the 19^th of Feb, the Isle of Wight Car Club held their annual winter non-championship event at BAE Systems in Northwood. The club always tries to do something a little different than the normal competition format and this year’s event consisted of a simple course set between cones that drivers had to navigate in one direction for 3 runs and the remaining 3 runs in the opposite direction. All six runs were added together and the driver with the lowest combined time would be crowned the winner.

With every run counting, drivers were very reluctant to drive the course without being confident where they were going as a wrong test would instantly place them at the bottom of the leader board.

Not everyone was at this event to be competitive, many used it as a shake down session to test their cars for the upcoming season or just wanted an excuse to shred some tyres on this open twisty course.

The ladies had an interesting battle, Marion Brett in her Classic mini and Hope Wallis in her mk7 Ford Fiesta were placing competitive times, although, both performed one wrong test. New member and first time competitor Josie Collins, however, was precise and consistent driving her classic mini and thanks to this, leapfrogged both Marion and Hope in the leader board to claim the flowers as the fastest lady of the day.

This was not a specific drift event but you would have been mistaken for thinking so. The amount of tyre smoke produced from rear wheel drive cars choosing to navigate the cones in a sideways fashion provided lots of entertainment, not only for the drivers but also for the onlooking crowd.

One such driver was new member Adam Pomeroy who was not shy in using his immaculate Skyline to its true potential. With the rise in popularity of forced induction Mx5s and other driver orientated cars, expect to see more of this style of driving in 2017.

Father and son duo of Chris and Adam Greenen were super quick right from the start. Their distinctive 1275GT may have been giving up power to the larger cars but more than made up this deficit with plenty of grip, lifting a rear wheel on the tight corners. These two traded places during the day but in the end, Chris had to settle for the 3^rd step on the podium as Adam pipped him to second place by only 4 tenths  of a second.

But the driver of the day was Ricky Sheppard, who consistently laid down very quick runs without a single mistake and finished on the top step of the podium with a combined lead of over 11 seconds.

The next event is round one of the Isle of Wight Car Club’s 2017 championship held within the top car park of the Ventnor Botanic Garden. The format of this event has been changed from previous years and if you can attend the club’s AGM and awards evening at the Chequers Inn on the 3rd of March all will be explained. You can find more details on how you can attend both of these events on the club’s website www.iow.co.uk. Keep in touch with latest updates by following us on Facebook and Twitter.

Last year we had the idea to start –  Try a new motor sport day. Have you ever wanted to take part in a different type of motorsport but never known how, what is needed or just did not want to do it on your own? Well this is for you.
Every year we plan to organise a club trip to take part in a different form of Motorsport on the mainland.
In 2016 we went Hill climbing at Gurston down and it has now become an annual fixture.
We have plenty of club members with experience that can hold our hands and tell us what we need to do. We will hopefully be able to get a discount of ferry fares.

However, before we even think about starting this new event we need to know what type of motorsport you would like to try?

so please if you are able visit the event on our Facebook page or email the club with your suggestions.

Once we have a good feel of what people want we will find a date that fits into our car club calendar.

This is going to be fun 🙂

The final round of the Isle of Wight Car Club season was held at Fort Street Car Park in Sandown. 29 drivers arrived to not only compete but to see who would be crowned the sealed surface champion, as well as the overall champion and who would clinch the individual class championship awards in this 2016 closing event.

As un unexpected bonus and just for a little fun, drivers were randomly paired up with another competitor to form a team. The team with the quickest combined time at the end of the day would win free car club membership in 2017.

The surface at Fort Street is like no other on the calendar. This course is not quite tarmac and not quite concrete and has many sharp stones that can reduce the competitors’ precious performance tyres to shredded canvas in a single event. Not necessarily for this reason, Fort Street is left for the last race day on the car club calendar.

Right from the off this looked like an MX5 would be the weapon of choice. Matthew Price, Matthew Griffin and Wayne Hole were posting fantastic times. However, it was not long before the class 5 Locosts and specials were setting the standard.

Dan Morgan and Ryan Munt were not only sharing Dan’s car, but were also neck and neck with sealed surface championship points. Who ever finished the day in front of the other would take home this hard fought award.

Chris Wilson was also in a points battle with Dan, however, it was for the overall championship. These two drivers have dominated the 2016 season but were stumbling at the last hurdle. Both were having car handling issues and neither were performing to their full potential.

Lets summarise the ups and downs of who was winning what with regards to the sealed surface and the overall championship at each point of the day –

At the start of the Day

 

Dan Morgan was winning the overall championship and Chris Wilson was in 2nd place

Ryan Munt was winning the sealed surface championship and Dan was second.

 

After run 1

Status Quo, Ryan was the fastest of the 3, Dan was 2nd and Chris was 3rd

 

After run 2

Ryan was still the fastest, Chris was 2nd fastest and Dan was having real issues and not happy with the set up of his car.

 

After run 3

The title positions stayed the same but Chris had pulled out a small lead.

A this point Chris Wilson was winning the overall championship and Ryan Munt was retaining his SS championship title.

After run 4

Dan made a few tweaks to the suspension of his car and this resulted in Dan being the fastest of the 3 followed by Chris and then Ryan.

 

Run 5

Dan’s car breaks with Ryan driving!

Chris can’t improve.

Dan squeezes into Adam Morgan’s Locost but does not improve his time.

 

Run 6

Ryan drives Steve Wells’ car and improves his time but does not get in front of Dan. However, he gets close enough that at this point he now leads the sealed surface championship and the class 5 sealed surface title.  Chris Wilson fails to improve his time and has to settle for 2nd place in the overall championship.

Dan again drives Adam’s car and improves his time and puts enough drivers between himself and Ryan to take the sealed surface championship and the overall championship.

Steve Glass dominated the class one sealed surface championship.

Wayne Hole, Dean Long and Daryl Turner are sharing the top spot on equal points in class 2.

Adam Greenen snags the class 3 sealed surface title by a point.

Toby Allan walks away with the class 4 sealed surface championship trophy.

And of course Dan Morgan has class 5 wrapped up.

 

What an epic battle that was.

 

With regards to the result of round 14 –

Sue Mitchell was awarded the flowers for being the fastest lady of the day, Steve Wells finished on the 3rd step of the podium and thanks to Steve’s generosity Dan Morgan claimed the 2nd step using Steve’s car. 1st place went to Kevin Richardson in his classic mini.

The end of year fun team event went to the team of event winner Kevin Richardson and Wayne Hole in his MX5.

 

That’s it, no more events until next year, however, we still have the club’s Christmas Dinner held on the 10th of December at the Bargeman’s Rest.

 

The club’s AGM and awards ceremony will be in early 2017.

The annual Isle of Wight Car Club Healey Weekend never disappoints and this year the action and drama was non stop.

For many years the Austin Healey Club have been making their annual pilgrimage to try and wrestle the coveted Turbine Trophy from the Isle of Wight Car Club.

This year they came armed with some serious machinery, some very performance orientated MX5s and even an mk1 rally Escort that had competed in the London to Sydney safari rally.

The two days spread over the fireworks weekend comprised of rounds 12 and 13 of the car club’s championship, however, in conjunction with the championship, the times from the two days are combined to see who is the quickest over the entire weekend and that person will have their name immortalized on what has to be the best trophy in the car club trophy cabinet.

Saturday’s event was based at BAE Systems in Northwood. This large open car park has lots of room and was deliberately set up for the larger cars .

Dan Morgan set the standard early on Saturday. Half way through the day he had a 2 second lead over the rest of the field, however, in the afternoon Steve Wells in a similar class 5 Locost was applying pressure and posting similar times.

As the temperature plummeted Adam Greenen rose up through the leader board to the frustration of Dan Morgan who was unable to improve on his 3rd run.

Adam’s sixth run was faultless and he was rewarded with the fastest time of the day. Dan had to settle for 2nd place and Steve Wells stood on the 3rd step of the podium.

Day two at the College car park is a much tighter venue and with many raised curbs there is little room for error and more suited to the smaller more agile cars.

Adam Greenen was starting the day with 5/100th of a second lead and there was only 7/10th of a second separating the top 4 drivers.

Pushing hard Chris Wilson struck one of the unforgiving college curbs and it looked like his day was over and put the car back on the trailer but seeing his championship hopes disappear he unloaded his car to continue competing.

The Greenen family suffered a minor mechanical issue when the boot floor on their classic mini gave up and deposited their battery on the floor

Hope Wallis is a natural behind the wheel of her Ford Fiesta and deserved the flowers presented to her on both days and the fastest lady of the weekend trophy.

Kevin Richardson on his 6th and final run posted the fastest time of the day, however, he only held this position for about 2 minutes as the next car entering the stop box was Dan Morgan with over 6/10th of a second quicker, giving him not only the event win but also the coveted Healey Weekend Turbine trophy. Kevin had to settle for 2nd and Chris Wilson kept his championship title alight by finishing on the 3rd.

This annual fixture is the highlight of the Isle of Wight Car Club’s calendar and we very much look forward to seeing the Austin Healey Club next year again.

The next and final event will be held at Fort Street in Sandown on the 27th of November.

This is a great venue for spectators, so come and see who will clinch the 2016 Sealed Surface championship title.

The last round of the Isle of Wight car club unsealed surface season was held at Knighton sand pit.

Chris Wilson had more points than he needed to be crowned the USS champion of 2016, however, this was not going to stop him from attempting to win all 4 Knighton events of the season.

There are trophies for the overall USS championship as well as for each class. It’s a bit complicated but basically there are 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd place trophies in each class up for grabs as long as there are enough competitors who have competed in a minimum number of events.

Many of these class trophies had yet to be decided and almost all of the 17 competitors who attended this event were fighting to have their name engraved and immortalised in Isle of Wight car club history.

This amazing venue requires drivers to be able to navigate a mix of terrain, unlike the previous event at Atherfield where times are guaranteed to improve throughout the day. Being an active sand quarry the ground is covered in small stones and this makes the first few runs like driving on an ice rink, on the flip side, the sand sections are smooth and grippy.

However, as the day progresses the stones get brushed away with each car but the sand section becomes slow and rutted.

In class one Steve Glass was trying as hard as he could to stay close to the time posted by Ricky Sheppard, however, Ricky and his Rover 45 seem to have some form of symbiosis as not only was he uncatchable in class 1, he finished 6^th place over all.

Class 2 consisted of 2 MX5s driven by 6 drivers, Dean Long is a master of controlling these cars and finished at the top of class 2 and 5^th place overall.

Class 3 had Marion and Steve Brett battling against Dan Young in their classic Minis. Dan initially struggled to remember the course but once he knew where he was going there was no stopping him. Dan finished top of class 3 and 8^th place overall.

All wheel drive Subaru Imprezas were the weapon of choice in class 4. These cars may have the power and grip but threading these large cars through the cones requires a special kind of driver. Steve wells scuppered his chances by taking too tight a line around one of the sand piles and getting his car that he shares with Jill broomfield stuck, luckily not before Jill posted a time quick enough to clame the fastest lady of the day award. Dan Morgan however kept all 4 wheels on the track and stood on the second step of the podium at the day’s close.

Class 5 is for cars that don’t fit into any of the other classes. Chris Wilson and Andy Williams were sharing their single seater ex Autograss special. All seemed lost when mid-way through the day Chris Wilson launched his special off the start line but instantly broke his throttle cable. To many other competitors this would have meant disaster, however, Andy and Chris know from bitter experience that a good spares package can save the day. Once the spare throttle cable was fitted both were fighting for the top spot. With such quick times on their 5^th run, there was no need to go out on their 6^th, Andy was content with 3^rd place overall and Chris took the top step on the podium.

With Chris winning every round held at this venue this year he truly is the King of Knighton.

Images (apart for the podium) by Allan Marsh

Thanks to the success of the clubs try a new motorsport event in 2016 at Gurston Down Hill Climb, we have been invited back with the intention of making this an annual IOWCC fixture.

Taking part in a hill climb event requires a little more prperation than taking part in a IOWCC event, you will need an MSA licence (no test just fill in a form and pay), a pair of race overalls, gloves and helmet (these have to meet regs so check first before buying) and a car that is safe.

A quick note on the cars – standard cars can run as they are with only a few safety sitckers, however, modified cars may require additionl safety equipment.

We will hold a meeting and a car prep workshop leading up to this event early 2017 so that any questions can be answered and you will have plenty of time to prep both yourself and your car for this event.

Go on, have a go at hill climbing in 2017.

Only 21 drivers entered round 10 of the Isle of Wight Car Club’s unsealed surface event at Atherfield.

Disappointing in one respect, but it meant more championship points for those that turned up.

Despite heavy rain over night the large open grass field was bone dry and stayed dry for a great day of grass roots motorsport.

As usual the first few runs on this lush green grass are very slippery and many drivers use this as an excuse to practise their drifting.

By run 2 Chris Wilson in his single seater special was knocking on the door of a sub minute run with a time of 1:00.05, not far behind was Steve Brett in his classic mini.

Atherfield is unique in that as long as the weather holds out, run times drop very quickly as the day progresses. This is in part due to the drivers learning the course and driving faster, but also, as this field unlike Haslet farm is never ploughed, the grass wears away with each car, so the course becomes more and more tractable and unlike a ploughed filed the soil is hard and not prone to rutting.

The down side of this is, if a driver deviates from the worn course, they will end up on that lush green grass and traction and steering will be lost.

The class 1 battle was between Sue Mitchell, Steve Glass and Ricky Sheppard and as usual Ricky astounded everyone with his ability to pilot his beige Rover 45 round the course faster than many purpose built modified cars.

Joe Charalmbous was competing against the Long family and the Richardson family, each in their respectively shared MX5s. Dean Long put his drifting skills to good use and claimed the top spot followed by his father Tony Long. Kevin Richardson was not far behind and was joined by his father Barry Richardson and new member younger brother David Richardson.

Just as class 2 is monopolised by MX5s, class 3 seems to be the domain of the classic mini. Dan Young almost did not make this event as he could not get his mini to start. But again the camaraderie of the club members came to the fore as drivers scrambled to get Dan on the track. After John Dutch diagnosed the issue as spark plugs, Dan was able to complete against Marion Brett and Steve Brett in the last 3 runs of the day.  As with any new build there are going to be teething issues, however, already Dan’s mini is looking very competitive.

Class 4 is a genuine mix of RWD, FWD and AWD. Brother and sister team of Tom and Kelly Reed were campaigning their modified MX5, Mark Hill had his first off road event in his 205. Dan Morgan as always was using his Impreza to good effect and Steve Wells was sharing his Impreza with new member Will Overton. Will is no novice when it comes to driving off road but this event must have seem very tame to what he is used to. Will has recently come back from the USA, where he competed in the King of the Hammers event and finished an amazing 7^th place overall.

Class 5 is for cars that don’t fit into any of the other classes. John Dutch was back with a vengeance in his ex grasstrack classic mini and trading places with Andy Williams and the dominant Chris Wilson in their shared single seater special.

The battle between the ladies culminated in all 3 finishing next to each other in the results table, however, Kelly Reed was presented with the flowers for being the fastest lady of the day.

At the events close only 4 tenths of a second separated the top 4, however, due to striking a cone on his last run Chris Wilson was demoted to 4^th place allowing Dan Morgan to stand on the 3^rd step of the podium. John Dutch just missed out on the top step by only 7 100ths of a second and was so pleased with his result, he refused to run away from the champagne sprayed by event winner Andy Williams.

Despite Chris Wilson not getting onto the podium, it was smiles all round as with 4^th place Chris now has enough points in the bag to be crowned the USS Champion of 2016 at the next round.

The next and final unsealed surface event will be held at Knighton Sandpit on the 9^th of October.

Thank you to Allan Marsh for the fantastic action images

Farmers are farming so we cannot use our usual field venues.

Don’t miss out on the last USS event of 2016