Thanks to Martyn for this month’s IOW Car Club report. Ed
The first event of the new calendar year was held at BAE Systems, Cowes.
Due to be held elsewhere late last year but we were hindered by snow and ice. Luckily the weather had warmed up for this event and the only apparent threat was water from above.
During the walk around spits of rain threatened but in fact the inclement weather held off for the entire event, a bonus for January.
A new course was designed, using a previous part of the track layout as the pits and utilising the entire main car park. This was met with enthusiasm by the competitors who like to see something new.
There were over 40 competitors signed on, some old faces and quite a few new ones dotted around. It is nice to see the club still attracting fresh blood.
The Mini Charge
From the outset the Mini’s of Dave Goodwin and Chris Greenen looked fast, the tight turns taken with ease as their little cars danced around the circuit. Chris recorded a 54.43 when most were in the 57 second area but as is usual for Dave he came at him with intent laying down a 53.96 run on the leader board. Dan Morgan, current championship leader, driving a grass track special was struggling with the front end grip of his car but after a couple of runs and the track rubbering up slightly he managed a 51.52 to rocket him to the top of the times.
VX220
Neil Glasbey, winner of the Turbine trophy at the last event, driving the shared VX220 was struggling to get to grip with the course, however when it did come right for him it did so in a big way. Driving with great skill to record a time of 49.43 which would have been good enough to win the event but unfortunately he took out the final cone in the finish box to take a 10 second penalty, hard luck Neil! Dave Goodwin again with his usual unflappable style and not to be undone by modern machinery went back to the top of the times with a 50.66 which looked very hard to catch for everyone.
Weaving the Magic
Richard Weaver, also driving the Harlot VX220 was not going to be undone by the others, his skill behind the wheel has come up another level with his rally driving experience of late and it showed as he hustled the little VX around with aplomb. His times seemed to be inconsistent but he popped up with a 50.32 with only 6 runs left in total for the day it looked like a challenge that was going to be hard to beat. Goodwin had used up all of his runs and it was down to Martyn Cutler and Neil Glasbey to try and topple the Weaver magic. Neil made a valiant effort on his 6th and final run but just fell short with a 50:59 and Martyn could not step up to the mark either falling short with a 50.67, just 0.01 seconds behind Goodwin.
Newcomers
I would like to extend both my thanks and a huge welcome to the new faces we saw today, Mathew Griffin drove his socks off in his Integra and it was nice to see another Supra being driven by Luke Kozakewycz.
Driver of the Day
It is a hard one to call at this event, Richard Weaver drove exceptionally well to record his maiden win of the season but I think it has to go to Andrew Leppard who managed to steer his way into 6th position in a 205Gti, a car that is not only used for the tarmac events but the unsealed surface events as well. Well done Andrew!!
Lady driver of the day goes to Rebecca French, propelling herself to 19th position with a 54.10 again in the VX220 (it gets around!)
I caught up with Richard after the event and asked him how he felt about his victory “I am very happy, I did not think I would win a sealed surface event this year as I did not have the machinery to do it. Thanks to the mighty VX I have achieved it”
Thank you to our sponsors, the venue, to all the committee members that pitch in and help and to all of the competitors that without we would be nothing.
Top 5 Positions:-
Richard Weaver 50.32
Neil Glasbey 50.59
Dave Goodwin 50.66
Martyn Cutler 50.67
Dan Morgan 51.52
Combined Championship Top Three:-
Dan Morgan 439
Neil Glasbey 418
Martyn Cutler 412
Sealed Surface Top Three:-
Dave Goodwin 194
Dan Morgan 193
Neil Glasbey 190
Please visit IOW Car Club Website for up to date results and full leader boards.
Next Event takes place at Sydenhams on Sunday 13th February.
Click on images for larger versions
Image: © Used with the kind permission of Allan Marsh
