Reigning Northern Ireland Autotest Champion, Steven Ferguson, helped the NI A Team to yet another win at the 2024 Ken Wharton Memorial Autotest organised by Hagley & District Light Car Club, which took place on Saturday 12th October at the Pear Tree Inn & Country Hotel at Hindlip in Worcestershire.
Using the car parks at the rear of the hotel, a series of two different tests were run three times, giving six tests in total. The event was contested by teams from England, Scotland, Wales, Republic of Ireland and reigning champions Northern Ireland. Current Northern Ireland Autotest Champion Steven Ferguson driving a Mini Special finished 1st, helping the Northern Ireland A team to yet another win at the historic event.
Ferguson, who continued his winning streak in the NI championship for a tenth time this season, again proved to be the man to beat at this international event and claimed the Fastest Time of the Day (FTD) by 7.7 seconds from the Republic’s Peter Grimes. The other team members didn’t disappoint either, with Andrew Blair driving a 1.6 litre Vauxhall powered Westfield in 3rd, Mark King driving a Vauxhall Nova in 4th and Robin Lyons driving a Mini in 6th. These exceptional results from all four of the NI A drivers, sealed all four class wins for the province which is believed to be possibly the first time all the class wins have been taken by drivers from the same regional team in the history of the event. This was the tenth victory in a row for Northern Ireland, who have a total of forty wins at the event. They had a total time of 1816.6 seconds, a commanding 140 seconds ahead of England A Team.
The Republic of Ireland team were in 3rd place with a total time of 1993.8 seconds, just over twenty eight seconds behind England A.
The NI B Team, though somewhat more inexperienced at the event than most others, put on a sterling performance to finish fifth team overall. Jack Lowry put a challenging season in the NI championship behind him to finish fifth in Class A, whilst NI Autotest Championship Sponsor George McMillan in his Vauxhall Nova, finished fourth in Class B. The veteran of the team, Coagh’s Trevor Ferguson, also sixth in Class C, and Adam Lowry showed great pace in his Mini Special to finish fifth in Class A.
“We couldn’t have hoped for a better result – a clean sweep across the board is testament to the effort that everyone has put in throughout the season and to how the NI Autotest Championship produces some of the best autotester’s in the UK,” highlighted NI Championship Co-Ordinator Mark King.
“As for the team, what can I say? Steven did what he does so well… win! Andy drove like I’ve never seen him drive before, he did himself proud and was again a real asset to the team. I continued to show that the large saloon can be as manoeuvrable as the rest and feel this is one of the best performances I have put in to take my eight team win at the event. And as for Robin, we were glad to have him back out at the Championship in 2024 and very glad to have him on the team. He’s a great consistent driver who you can always depend on to get the job done.”
The event went as well as anyone could have hoped for the NI A team, who extended the country’s record of being the most successful in the history of the Ken Wharton Memorial Autotest.
Another enjoyable and successful weekend for the guys from Northern Ireland, and now they prepare to take their winter break, where cars will be dismantled and prepared for the start of the 2025 ANICC McMillan Specialist Cars Autotest Championship, which will begin on Saturday 1st March.
Although one of the winning NI team will be back in action sooner than that! In little over a weeks’ time Mark King will be starting his Auto Slalom competition at the FIA Motorsport Games in Valencia, Spain where he will be representing the UK.
Catching up with Mark prior to his departure for Spain, he commented, “It’s a massive privilege to be selected to represent my country for a second time on the world stage. I am looking forward to representing the autotest community!”
In a move to support a sustainable motorsport future, the FIA are providing all teams and drivers with an electric vehicle, as Mark explained, “It will be slightly different for us obviously, as it is an electric vehicle, but now that we know it’s a Hyundai KONA Electric N Line it should be interesting.”
Best of luck Mark, hopefully the luck of the ‘Northern’ Irish is shining on you during this event!
Final Results
- 1st – Northern Ireland A – 1816.6s
- 2nd – England A – 1957.4s
- 3rd – Republic of Ireland – 1993.8s
- 4th – England B – 2021.9s
- 5th – Northern Ireland B – 2026.4s
- 6th – Scotland – 2093.3s
- 7th – Wales – 22.07.4s
