The Island Car Centre Sandown Sprint has been hailed a success by organisers as thousands enjoyed an action-packed weekend of high-octane motorsport, with many calling for the return of the event in 2023.
Almost 100 competitors took to the 700m track on Saturday and Sunday with the Isle of Wight’s very own Will Nicholls taking the overall win with a combined time of 69.23 following a series of impressive runs in his M-Sport prepared Ford Fiesta R5 rally car. Damian Bradley in his Subaru Legacy took 2nd place just 0.10 seconds behind, with Stephen Moore rounding off the podium in a time of 70.76.
The R5 and around 30 other local competition cars were certainly crowd-pleasers, as were the array of vehicles brought over from the mainland – historic and unique cars that would normally only be seen at major motorsport events.
A weekend of pleasant, sunny weather – although slightly chilly at times – helped the success of the event with spectators able to stroll along the promenade and see the action in a number of different locations.
The paddock at Yaverland Car Park was also popular with those wanting to see the cars and drivers up close, including former World Rally Champion Miki Biasion who was competing in a Lancia Delta Intergrale.
The Sprint – the first of its kind on the Island in over 60 years – got underway at 09:00 on Saturday with a series of practice runs, allowing the eager competitors to get a feel for the brand new track which started at Fort Street and ended at Yaverland, with a hairpin loop at Browns and plenty of chicanes along the way.
Motorsport is unpredictable and that soon became clear when the Island’s Jimmy Clemants lost control of his Cosworth-powered Ford Sierra Estate. The vehicle veered off the racing line and into hay bales, causing significant front-end damage to the vehicle. Thankfully, Jimmy was able to walk away from the crash, however, marshals quickly had to intervene with fire extinguishers to prevent the vehicle from going up in flames.
The practice run crash wasn’t the only racing incident of the event. On Sunday, haybales and chicanes took the brunt of a number of smaller impacts from a variety of competitors – with oohs and ahhs coming from the strong crowds that had gathered along the seawall viewing platform. In all, over 400 hay bales lined the track along Culver Parade with hundreds of cones and safety barriers also put in place thanks to track sponsors John Peck Construction and supporters Crown Park.
Despite some apprehension from locals before the event, the professionalism of the inaugural Sandown Sprint led to a successful weekend of motorsport which has left many asking for its return next year and for it to become a staple of the Isle of Wight’s events calendar
Co-organisers Solent Co have said:
“What a weekend! We cannot thank everyone involved enough for making this event what it was. From the planning, track build, competitors, officials, marshals, spectators, security, media and businesses it has been an amazing experience and we hope everyone that was a part of it enjoyed it as much as we did”.
VIDEO: Onboard footage of Damien Bradley setting the track record in a time of 34.17 seconds.
A spokesperson for the Isle of Wight Car Club has added:
“The Sandown Sprint has been a huge and enjoyable success. On behalf of every competitor and spectator we would like to thank all involved – all the marshals and officials and all the individuals who have given up so much time and effort behind the scenes. Without all of your support this event would never have happened”.
The full results can be found at https://fdmc.ewebnet.co.uk/sandown2022/combined.html.
PHOTO GALLERY:
Brilliant weekend. Looking forward to the next one
It was brilliant, great show, great people….didn`t see anyone from Brighstone though.
It just goes to show that the Island can put on a fantastic sporting event, please thousands and sort out the logistics with no injuries, no accidents and no spoilers trying to ruin every ones fun with the usual bluster and fluster. Brilliant job by all concerned, and well overdue. Thank you.
Thank you to the sandown webcam people for keeping it pointed at the action! an unwelcome attack of the covid stopped me getting out, so great to see some of it. a lot of those classics were top end stuff normally at goodwood etc. a good, fun event for the island! well done everybody.
Excellent, Now get the Motorcycles over here.
The professionalism shown by the marshaling team and the organisers shows that events like these are indeed viable and safe. It makes a good case for an Isle of Wight TT