By Press Release
An Islander born and bred, I have been a member of the Isle of Wight Car Club for 56 years
and chairman for over 30. Throughout my life I have been a ‘petrolhead’ and interested in all forms of transport. My other great interest is the Isle of Wight Steam Railway, where I am a director with particular responsibility for the estate. Before retirement, I spent 41 years in the Highways Department getting blamed for the Island’s potholes!
The IW Car Club started in the late 1940s, when Islanders became interested in cars and motor sports again following World War II. In the early ’50s, the forerunner of the Sandown Sprint, the Isle of Wight Rally, took place on Sandown Esplanade and other public road sites around the Island. Later on, with the imposition of national speed limits, the IW Car Club had to rely on the use of private land for their events.
It was in 2017 that legislation changed again allowing motorsport on the public highway. Because of the paperwork and costs involved very few events have taken place on the UK’s highways, so we are somewhat of a trailblazer. The Sandown Sprint is organised jointly by the Isle of Wight Car Club, responsible for the “trackside” element, and Tim Addison, with his company Solent, the promotion and “off track” part of the event, plus the all-important financial backing.
Both the car club and Tim shared a common goal of organising a Closed Road motor sport event on the Island and it was Tim’s idea to hold it at Culver Parade, Sandown.
Work begins some seven months prior, as a Motor Race Order has to be obtained from the IW Council and this year we needed Secretary of State approval as well.
Motor sport, from local events to F1, is strictly controlled by Motorsport UK. So we need an Event Permit and Track Licence from them. We must also arrange (and pay for) a multitude of Motorsport UK officials, a steward, clerks of the course, timekeepers, scrutineers and marshals. We needed 26 rooms in the Burlington Hotel to accommodate them. With just under 100 competitors, their service crews and families and friends this brings a useful amount of extra business to the town.
What else does the IW Car Club do? Well, we organise 14 Autotests each year, seven ‘sealed surface’ and seven ‘unsealed surface’. Venues for sealed surface events are mainly car parks, while unsealed surface events take place on fields or at quarries. For those not aware of Autotests, this is where one car at a time undertakes a course, laid out by traffic cones, as fast as it can against the clock. There are various classes for different types of cars and on-the-day awards, with trophies awarded at the end-of-the-year AGM and Awards evening. The rules and vehicle specifications are shown in the Motorsport UK Yearbook which is available on-line.
In the 1970s and ’80s, the club was famous for the Island Stages Rally and this was resurrected last year in the form of a single-stage event which proved very popular. This year, on the weekend of September 30/October 1, we are going one better and using two stages and hoping to showcase competitors’ cars over the weekend in Newport. This year spectators will be welcome. We also need marshals for the event.
Before finishing, I must mention our new Youth Championship where 14- to 17-year-olds can compete for trophies awarded at the end of the year. This has encouraged whole families to compete with a great atmosphere.
If you are at all interested in cars, then please come and join us. You can find further information on iowcc.co.uk.