Many thanks to Martyn for this report from yesterday’s IOW Car Club Autotest which took place in Knighton. In his own words. Ed
Round Two 2 of the 2011/12 IOW CC Autotest season took us to Knighton sandpit for the first unsealed surface event of the championship.
With such arid conditions recently, the track was watered beforehand in an attempt to keep dust to a minimum. A number of new faces helping swell the membership, always a pleasing sight.
Williams hot off the blocks
Andy Williams started the proceedings in his extremely open to the elements special, setting a time of 64.15 seconds and getting extremely wet and muddy as an added bonus.
Steve Brett, as always at Knighton, was fast out of the box and was doing his best to keep Andy in check, recording 62.70 in only his second run. As the surface begun to dry out the FWD cars begun to dominate, Dan Morgan, ever present at the top of the table laid down a 58.45 followed by an unassailable 56.28.
The West Wight Golf Gti coupled with driver Morgan proving just too good for the opposition.
As with the last event there were no competitors for class 1, any budding autotest drivers out there with a standard car under 1400cc should come along, there is a gap in the market!
Daryl Turner took Class Two
Class Two was also lacking many competitors, the two it did have though have always had in house battles for supremacy.
Dean Long, usually the victor, driving the shared Mazda Mx5 but Daryl Turner, refusing to lay down to Dean, won the class with a time of 60.61 a mere 0.37 seconds in front of his stable mate. Well done Daryl!
Six drivers for Class Three
Class Three usually a hotly contested class on sealed surface is lacking the depth of cars on the unsealed, however with six drivers battling it out at least there was something to play for.
Steve Brett took the class with relative ease, his classic Mini just seems to be setup so well for this event.
Steve Stotesbury driving a Mk3 Fiesta was trying his hardest at times overdriving as he clipped banks and rubble heaps. It looked like fun though as the incredible little car just seems to live forever.
Class Four a popular race
Class 4 is where the bulk of the drivers were for this event, most driving FWD hot hatches of the 90’s era.
VW Golfs seem to be the car of choice if you wish to take a class win, but rest assured the 205Gtis give it a good crack as well.
Andrew Leppard and Neil Glasbey were Dan’s main rivals as times begun to tumble. Neil having replaced all of his glass with plastic to shed yet more weight from their Mk2 Golf Gti laid down a time 57.93 to briefly top the table.
Andrew Leppard responded with a 56.88 but it was not good enough to take the class and overall win as Dan Morgan powered his way to an incredible time of 56.28 with two runs left in his hand. With nobody even getting close to Dan’s time he finished the day on top having only completed 4 runs, not often seen as the days are usually hotly contested until the bitter end. Well done Dan for taking the Class 4 honours and the overall win.
Two drivers for Class Five
Class Five was contested by just two drivers today, Andy Williams in a grasstrack special and Andrew Lee driving a Beetle based Buggy.
They could not have been more in contrast to each other if they tried. Andy was fast all day, throwing stones everywhere as both man and machine looked at one. Andrew Lee on the other hand was testing his buggy for the very first time and some more setup on the suspension is needed I feel to get closer to the competition. Andy Williams won the class with a 58.25 and leaving him 4th overall.
Rebecca French scooped fastest lady of the day with a very credible 59.64 to finish in 7th overall and 6th in Class. The boys need to watch out Rebecca is coming for you.
Final scores
Final positions are as follows:-
1st Dan Morgan 56.28
2nd Andrew Leppard 56.88
3rd Neil Glasbey 57.93
4th Andy Williams 58.25
5th Grant Sabin 58.40
The next event is at St Georges Park on SATURDAY 18th June
Please see www.iowcc.co.uk for full results and championship calendar
Image: © Used with the kind permission of Allan Marsh
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