Isle of Wight Car Club

After a summer time of unsealed surface events, drivers were looking forward to returning to the tarmac and the Isle of Wight College did not disappoint.

29 competitors with a variety of cars entered round 9 and the 3^rd sealed surface event of 2016.

September is still officially summer time, however, the leaves in the college car park had started to fall and it had that autumnal feel in the air. The college carpark is divided into many different sized segments, some large and open, proving popular with the drift happy rear wheel drive cars, and some narrow twisty sections, where the small front wheel drive cars thrived.

Sections of damp tarmac required drivers to slow down or at least be careful as losing control would result in damaging wheel rims or worse on the curb lined borders of trees and shrubs.

What initially seemed a long and complicated course soon materialised into a nice flowing yet technical circuit.

Drivers are ranked on their fastest time of the day out of 6 individual runs and what competitors normally do is start slow, learn the course and slowly increase their speed during the day.

Very rarely will anyone set the fastest time of the day in run one, however, Dave Goodwin recalls a time when he did just that back in 90s when it snowed during run 2,3,4,5 and 6.

It may have been autumnal but there was no risk of snow or rain on Sunday, however, some drivers were fast right from the off. Dan Morgan and Ryan Munt set the timing screens alight with a blistering 55 seconds and only 100^th of a second separating them. Hot on their tail were Will Thomas and Chris Greenen with 56 seconds, again only 3/10ths of a second separating them. This was the start of a very close and competitive day.

Talking of setting things on fire, Ryan Munt again threw down the gauntlet in round 2 setting a time of 52.76 seconds and finishing within the confines of the stop box with his car on fire. With Ryan not liking his car this hot, Dan Morgan allowed Ryan to drive his car for rounds 3 and 4. But Just like Goldilocks Ryan did not find this car to his liking either, so Steve Wells allowed Ryan to share his car for round 5 and 6 and Ryan found this car to be “just right”.

With Dan Morgan and Steve Wells running in the same class 5 as Ryan, allowing fellow competitors to borrow each others cars when fighting for a championship demonstrates the great sportsmanship and camaraderie within the club.

Sue Mitchel and Steve Glass have a new car after destroying their Fiat at the last event. We are not counting but I think this is car number 3 for this year alone. Sue was also in competition with Marion Brett for fastest lady of the day. Marion was sharing her very competitive class 3 Mini with her partner Steve Brett and was not only 4 seconds faster than sue  but now has a substantial lead towards the highest placed lady of 2016.

The club welcomed new member Dan Farrow who thoroughly enjoyed his day in his classic Vauxhall Chevette.  New cars included Mark Hill’s Peugeot rally car and Joe Charalmbous was campaigning his newly acquired classic Mini.

In round 3 nobody could touch Ryan’s round 2 time, however, Andy Williams deposited a time of 53.74 before handing over the single seater to Chris Wilson. On Chris Wilson’s 3^rd run he misjudged a 180 turn and struck a curb fracturing his rear wheel rim and causing him to score a DNF (did not finish). After some frantic action in the pits Chris and Andy replaced the wheel and once the car was passed by the scrutineer Chris jumped back in and set the fastest time of the day with his 4^th run.

Run 5 saw Adam Greenen come to the fore in his classic Mini with a blistering time of 52.60 and cemented his lead in round 6 with a time 3/10ths of a second quicker of 52.30.

A well-deserved and popular winner.

Chris Wilson had to retire his car in round 5 and 6 as it came apparent the suspension was also damaged but he had done enough to secure 3^rd place overall and Ryan Munt, thanks to Dan Morgan and Steve Wells, finished 2^nd in his borrowed car.

The next event is an unsealed surface forward only auto test held at Atherfield on the 25th of September.

The annual Isle of Wight Car Club Car treasure hunt and social evening 

Car treasure hunts are great fun for all the family and friends.

Its effectively an afternoon fun treasure hunt, driving around the island looking for clues and answering questions, then back to base for a social and BBQ. You don’t have to be a member of the Isle of Wight Car Club to join in so bring along as many people as you wish to enjoy the day.

You can have as many people as you want in each car or if you wish you can just do it on your own, the event is not timed so its not a race, but you do have to be back in time for the prize giving.

Sign on and entry is at 2pm

You will leave sign on in five minute intervals to avoid bunching at the start. I reckon it will take a couple of hours so results and prize giving after everybody is back at 7 ish.

BBQ afterwards. Bring your own food and cook it yourselves.Bring your own beer too.

bring chairs so people have somewhere to sit.

last year we played, cricket, sack racing etc, so if you have any ideas for fun games bring them along.

Cost as last year at £10 per car/team.

We also hope to have a trophy for the winning team.

The treasure hunt will be a fairly simple format. Some easy clues and some a bit more difficult/cryptic. If people are attending with children it will be interesting for them too.

The venue for the start and for the social and BBQ at the end is at Brighstone Holiday Centre on the military road.

Unfortunately despite being held in a camp site there is NO planned camping this year 

see you there

18 drivers competed in round 8 and the 5th Unsealed surface event of the Isle of Wight Car Club’s season, held at Knighton sand pit.

This active sand quarry requires drivers to twist their way around piles of sand, rock and even giant digger buckets. Unlike other venues remembering the course is not often an issue thanks to the many landmarks, however, deep sand, loose gravel surfaces and even a water splash prove challenging enough for many competitors.

The battle for the fastest lady of the day was fought between Sue Mitchell driving her normal every day car, a Fiat Seicento, who finished 3rd, Kelly Read in her Mx5 who claimed 2nd and today’s fastest lady and 11th overall Marion Brett in her classic Mini.

In the unmodified classes Ricky Shepherd as usual astounded onlookers by driving his standard class 1 Rover 45 to not only win class 1 but place 8th overall. Tony Long drove very smoothly in his standard Mx5 to place fastest class 2 car and 10th overall.

Modified cars make up classes 3 and 4. Steve Brett, despite being stuck in the sand earlier in the day, pushed his classic Mini hard and at one point was in 4th place overall but had to settle for fastest class 3 and 7th place overall. Dan Morgan literally waisted no time when attempting to perform the perfect lap, on one occasion he abandoned his run after glancing at the trackside lap timer and noticed he was down on his best split time. This attention to detail bagged fastest class 4 and 4th place overall.

Respect has to go to Danny Grist who despite being in a class full of turbo four wheel drive Subaru Imprezas drove his front wheel drive Peugeot 205 to 6th place overall.

Class 5 is for single seater specials or for cars that do not fit in any other class and it was class 5 that ended up monopolising the podium. Andy Williams opted to miss his final 6th run of the day due to having a bad back, but his 5th run was enough to stand on the 3rd step of the podium. Will Thomas’ day was bookended by bad luck, his first 3 runs were plagued by penalties for touching cones and his 6th and final attempt to stand on the top step was halted by a mechanical failure.

Running away with the unsealed championship, Chris Wilson drove a penalty free day and  sprayed the champagne after delivering the fastest overall time.

Inspired by the Olympic games held in Rio drivers were also awarded with novelty bronze, silver and gold medals by Isle of Wight Car Club chairman Malcolm Smith.

Unfortunately the farmer of Haslett Farm is unable to harvest the crop in the field we intended to use for round 8 on the 21st of August 2016 unsealed surface event. This means we cannot use this venue on the intended date.

However we have been able to secure Knighton Sandpit so, same time, different venue.

see you on Sunday at Knighton Sandpit

 

 

Unfortunately our non championship drift event scheduled for the 7th of August has had to be cancelled due permit issues for running this type of event.

we can only apologise for any inconvenience, but be assured our usual events are running as normal.

 

 

The amazing thing about competing on an unsealed surface is you never know what to expect. Haslett Farm offered a freshly cut stubble field and has only been used by the club twice before, once when it was raining and once in the dry. Despite the weather lady predicting clear blue skies, 26 drivers arrived at the West Wight venue to find a sky full of drizzle.

An unsealed surface forward only autotest is the same as a sealed surface (tarmac event) but on a loose surface. Drivers have to remember a course created by traffic cones and drive around it one at a time without hitting a cone or getting lost. The driver with the fastest time of the day wins.

As with any normal event it takes a few attempts to remember the course and with the damp stubble most drivers took advantage of the lack of traction to drift and learn how to control their cars in a slide.

Despite these conditions Chris Wilson set a blistering first run of 1:00:34. This not only set one of the fastest times of the day but created a path in the field for everyone else to follow in his single seater special.

By mid-morning the sun came out and tried the exposed soil creating some spectacular dust clouds. However, with the added grip cars started to fail, Kevin Richardson in his MX-5 rolled a tyre off its rim, Alex Spencer, who made the trip down from London to compete, missed out on his third run due to a clutch hose leaking on his Mx-5 and Collin Kill had a problem with the wheels on his diesel Golf.

The list of mechanical failures also affected the ladies’ battle. Kelly Read was sharing Alex Spencer’s MX-5 that had the clutch problem. Sue Mitchel’s car broke a cam belt destroying the engine leaving Marion Brett as the sole remaining lady who finished in a very competitive 12^th place overall in the Mini she shares with Steve Brett.

Round 4 saw Chris Wilson break the 1-minute barrier with a 0:58:77 and although many other drivers increased their times by the end of the day not even Chris could improve on this time. Only Dan Morgan joined this exclusive sub minute club with a time of 0:59.86 allowing him to claim the second step of the podium and he was joined by Andy Williams in 3^rd.

Chris Wilson now leads the unsealed surface championship with 100 points, however, both Will Thomas and Dan Morgan are close behind with 98 points each.

The next Isle of Wight car club event will be back at Haslett Farm on the 21^st of August.  please visit the club’s website www.iowcc.co.uk or follow them on Facebook and Twitter for news updates.

Thank you to Alan Marsh for the action Images

The Isle of wight car club returned to what must be the most popular unsealed surface venue on the calendar – Atherfield. The flat open grass field offers drivers the freedom to explore the limits of their cars and their driving ability with little chance of damaging their machines.

The day started wet, and it could have been easy to stay at home in front of the TV with the excuse of watching the Wimbledon tennis final, the British grand prix or even prepare for the Euro football final later that evening, however, 29 drivers chose to brave the rain and take part in some grass roots motor sport.

No strawberries and cream, but, as usual with this location the freshly cut grass makes the first few runs a challenge of not only remembering the course but trying to keep the car on the court. The damp conditions found drivers understeering, under braking and spinning out with the slightest touch of throttle. Added to this the course was a little tricky to remember. Many top ranked players were called “out” with a wrong test in round 1.

By the mid point of the day, a defined track had been worn into the grass for the drivers to follow, however, just like modern Formula 1, if you strayed from the racing line you would end up on the equivalent of the marbles. In this case, if you touched the lush green grass, you would loose grip and your sector times would diminish. Adam Morgan was the most consistent throwing down purple after purple sectors and steadily decreasing his lap time throughout the day.

As always we like to boast that motor sport is neither sexist nor ageist and today we had plenty of our senior members showing the youngsters how it is done and a great turn out of ladies, including new member Kelly Read.

 

In the second half, the four wheel drive Subaru Imprezas and single seater specials had possession and banging some very quick times into the back of the net. However, respect has to go to Steve Brett who finished 8th in his classic mini, Dean Long who finished 9th in his class 2 MX5 and an amazing performance by last event winner Ricky Shepherd, this time in his unmodified class 1 Rover 45, finishing 10th palace over all.

However, in the final penalty shootout the fastest lady of the day was Vicky Cox and Adam Morgan claimed 3rd with Will Thomas missing out on a win by only 0.08 of a second. For the 3rd time this season Chris Wilson sprayed the champagne from the top step of the podium with a deserved win.

The moral of the story, don’t sit on the side lines, come and have a go. Membership is only £25 for the year and if you have never had a go at a car club event before, your first event is free. All you need is a valid driving licence and a car that is safe, visit www.iowcc.co.uk for more details.

The next event is at Haslett Farm on the 24th of July.

Many members would like to take part on other forms of motor sport but don’t know where to start or what is involved so we created the Annual IOWCC have a go at motor sport event.

This year we asked club members what type of event they would like to take part in and most wanted to have a go at a hill climb.

The isle of wight Car Club have managed to get our club invited to Gurston Down for their final event of the year on the 11th of September.

For those that attended our information night you will have an insight into what is required to take part in this event.

but in short you will need an MSA Non-Race National B Competition License, approved helmet, overalls and gloves (although you could share these with another competitor if you are running in different classes) and depending on what car you use your car may need a few safety features.

if you already know you are good to go you can now enter at http://www.gurstondownentries.co.uk/ – It will ask if you are a member of BARC. Just say yes so it will let you enter.

if you are not sure what is involved please contact the club via the club email or leave a message in the Facebook event page and we will do our best to help.

With amazing clear blue skies and a temperature in access of 24‘C most people were heading to the beach, however, 34 drivers returned to BAE systems in Northwood for round 5 and the 3rd sealed surface event of the season.

The high temperatures were playing havoc with many cars and possibly effecting many of the drivers with an incredible 79 wrong tests being performed on the day. However, those that chose tarmac and rubber over sea and sand were rewarded with a great day of grass roots motorsport.

Initially Ryan Munt topped the leader board followed by David Goodwin in his classic mini, however, Ryan’s car had a resurgence of its carburettor issue that saw his car catch fire and confined to the pits for the rest of the day.

Once competitors got to grips with the course, the class 5 cars took the lead and by the day’s close all top 6 places were either Locosts or single seater specials. Previous championship winner Dan Morgan was looking to take the win in his Sub Zero but was pipped by 2015 ‘Up and Coming’ award winner Ricky Sheppard as he shaved 3 tenths of a second of Dan’s time.

Ricky has been showing good form and his first ever event win was met by plenty of cheer and congratulations from his fellow peers as he sprayed the champagne from the top step of the podium.

Car auto-testing is a very accessible form of Motorsport and open to anyone with a driving licence and a car. For more information on how to take part please visit our website www.iowcc.co.uk.

22 drivers entered the Knighton sand pit to compete in round 4 and the second unsealed surface event of the Isle of Wight car club’s motorsport calendar.

Knighton sand pit is the perfect sun trap, so with beautiful clear skies the day offered a mix of dusty hard ground, loose gravel and an area of particularly deep soft sand.

The type of cars used at these events vary from single seater ex autograss specials to highly modified saloon cars to standard production cars, each have their advantages and disadvantages, however, speed is not as important as memorizing the course and some drivers have a better memory than others.

Marion Brett and Sue Mitchell were the two ladies battling for the honour of the fastest lady of the day. Sue suffered a puncture and a broken handbrake cable in her Fiat Punto during the day but despite this still managed to finish one position behind Marion Brett in her classic mini.

James Robbins put in a great performance in his VW Golf to get ahead of Steve Wells in his four wheel drive turbo Subaru Impreza and Ricky Sheppard astounded his peers by driving his standard Rover 45 to 12th place overall.

The Lower family made another the trip from the mainland to compete at the Isle of Wight car club, but this time they brought a different car – a classic mini that they campaign in autotest events. Their driving skills have always impressed island members and their ability to place this small agile mini exactly where they wanted on the circuit has cemented their respect with fellow drivers.

The battle at the top of the table was nip and tuck between the two class 5 specials of Will Thomas and Chris Wilson, so much so that on the 5th run they both had identical times of 1:25:26. The final run of the day could determine who would be standing on the top of the podium. If both drivers could not improve on their times it would be a draw and they would share the champagne.

Run 6 was a ying yang round for many, the hard surfaces were now dust and stone free thanks to the all the cars that had swept them clean during the day but the sand section had become so soft and deep that many cars struggled to improve their times. Dan Young’s Turbo powered mini broke a driveshaft in round 5 and the Lower family offered him a drive in their mini and he achieved his fastest time of the day to finish 15th. But all eyes were on the top 2, who would win? Will Thomas lined up and put in a blistering first half but for an unknown reason his motorbike powered special stopped and would not start.

With no more chances to improve his time it was all down to Chris. After winning at this venue at the last unsealed surface event Chris was on form and dominated all by smashing over a second off his best time of the day. He truly is the new King of Knighton.

The next event is a sealed surface event at BAE systems on the 5th of June.

A full list of results and more information on how to take part, can be found on the Isle of Wight car club website www.iowcc.co.uk.