Motor club driving forward :: Wessex Scene Online

Motor club driving forward

24th November 2003
Lizzie Pope

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Nov 02 - MOTOR MADNESS
Jan 03 - Wessex reflect on year to remember
Oct 04 - Summer success for Wessex Motor Club
Dec 07 - Saint or Sinner?
Feb 03 - Race Club in the Driving Seat

More by Lizzie Pope

Oct 04 - Summer success for Wessex Motor Club

Like cars, pubs and good food? Then where have you been? Wessex Motor Club is the first stop for Southampton Uni students who’d rather drive their cars than polish them, who aren’t afraid of a little (or a lot!) of mud or oil, and who most of all want to have fun.

As well as being affiliated to the University of Southampton, we’re part of the Motor Sports Association (MSA), the governing body for motorsport in the UK.

Our crews have dominated the top 10 in this year’s Association of Central Southern Motor Clubs Rally 2003 championship, taking many class wins as well as two overall wins.

We showed the rest of the student world how to rally, when we won a Southern Universities Inter-club 12-Car rally contested between Southampton, Oxford Brookes, Bristol, Oxford & Imperial College, London.

We then built upon this success by winning the National Student Motorsport Championship 2003. There are many experienced rally drivers and navigators in the club, who have competed at club and regional levels, and on some stage rallies.

As part of Wessex you’re never far away from someone who can help you and offer advice and encouragement.

We run our own club championship, which as a class catering for new members. This championship has, in the past, proved to be the perfect environment for training crews to go on and find success at other levels of rallying.

We have proved ourselves to be up there with the best, and with fresh talent coming through on an annual basis, we hope to continue this. Besides rallying, each year we take 2 teams to the British University Karting Championship, where we have enjoyed moderate success. We’re hoping that the coming season will take us to the top of the tables.

We also try and arrange social karting events, when those not in the teams can have a go. We’ve had our own kart for a few years, which provides us with another opportunity to get out on the track. Our members are also given the opportunity to train as MSA registered marshals, and this year a number of us are going to marshal Wales Rally GB, the World Rally Championship's British round, hoping to see the likes of Richard Burns, Carlos Sainz and Petter Solberg.

We also regularly marshal Rally Sunseeker, part of the Mintex National Rally Championship, which is in the Bournemouth area, and is the biggest motorsport event in the south of England.

The last year has also seen our members out marshalling other stage rallies, track days and a Production Car Trial. We’re also involved with other local motor clubs, taking part in, organising and marshalling events for and with them. In Wessex, you’ll find there’s never a shortage of events to compete in. So, have I whetted your appetite for motorsport? If not, there’s possibly something very wrong with you, or you’ve never experienced the thrill of rallying through the twisting lanes of Hampshire.

If you need more details on any of the above and much more, visit our website http://www.wessexmotorclub.co.uk and get in contact with us.

You don’t need a car to join. Navigating is every bit as fun and challenging as being at the wheel (if not better), and as a club we’re renowned for our competitive navigators, so this is the ideal place to start.

We meet every Thursday, and either head to a pub or go out on an event. We’d be happy to see you. Someone once said ‘it’s very hard to accurately describe a road rally - it either sounds a bit tedious or highly illegal’.

So why not come and find out what it’s really like?

You won’t be disappointed.