Pippa Mann – Knockhill
For those of you who have never been to Knockhill, it’s a race circuit on a hill in Scotland. It’s generally pretty cold, and more often than not it rains. There is a whole group of telecom masts on the next hill and the general wisdom is that if you can see them, it’ll be raining soon, and if you can’t see them? Well then it’s already raining… It may have been the middle of August for the rest of the county, but I packed my wellies and wooly hat regardless!
The first of the two 45 minute tests was always going to be important this weekend, as Knockhill is a circuit I barely know at all. Also two days previously I had been back in the WSR 3.5 car at Snetterton doing some set-up work, and as I’m sure I described in my previous column the two cars are more than a little different! Everyone else had already had a day’s running at Knockhill earlier in the week while I had been at Snetterton doing my day-job, however the weather as described to you above, decided to come and play… About ten laps into the session it rained! To be honest, as far as Knockhill goes, it was actually very kind to me because then the rain stopped, and before the end of the 45 minutes it dried again and I was able to complete my first 25 laps around the track in a Porsche.
The afternoon session was dry and fast. I ran some new tyres at the same time as everyone else, and being 12th fastest things were starting to look pretty good. For qualifying the next day I set myself the target of trying to jump one more car and take 11th place on the grid, just outside the top ten.
Saturday morning qualifying loomed and the heavens opened – the famous Knockhill rain had arrived. Thankfully the touring cars were sent out first for their test session, and then there was another qualifying session enabling the track time to dry. For us it would definitely be slicks. However, avoiding the puddles just off line, and not picking one of those corners to run a little wide in when pushing would be key to having a good session! This had an effect on the lap times and the top cars were all a little slower. I however decided to go for the World Series style qualifying commitment, and it paid off with 11th for the races. I was also one of the few cars to better their time from the previous day by a few tenths despite the track conditions. However on closer inspection of the times I was gutted to have missed out on 10th place by just 0.2 seconds for the first race, and 0.02 for the second. The Eurotech boys all thought it was great, but I’m a racing driver, and if you’ve ever met one of us, you’ll know we’re rarely happy when we know we were so close to getting another position. I went to bed Saturday night determined to rectify things in the races!
The following morning the track was actually about as dry and grippy as it had been all weekend for the start of our first race, and due to the amount of inclement weather being suffered by the other categories, I was beginning to think that someone at Porsche UK who wanted nice dry weather for their motorcars had a hand in with the big man upstairs! However as I lined up on the uphill grid I was suddenly hit by two things. This would be the first time I had actually gone into a start with everyone else and been able to join in the mayhem of a first corner. I wondered how rough it would get, and would my radiators mounted in the front bumper survive or were they really as fragile as single-seater front wings (as everyone kept telling me). Secondly, the Grid at Knockhill is on an incline – I’ve never started a Porsche on a hill and I have three pedals to play with…
I actually got a cracker of a start in both races, but in the first race I was a little too cautious into the first corner and got passed by someone. However during the race I was really pleased with the pace of the car in between the long safety car periods, and tenth place seemed a pretty good reward for just about being able to hang onto the group in front of me. I have to remember that this is all new to me and a top ten is a good result.
For the second race we decided to make a change to the set-up to see if I could pedal even faster. Unfortunately mine and the team’s inexperience with the car showed, and we just didn’t get it right. This meant that instead of running in a nice big gap of my own air, not quite as quick as the ones in front, but happily ahead of the next group, I was instead being hunted and hounded by that second group, and having to use every trick of racecraft in the book to hang onto tenth place.
Halfway through the race the Knockhill the weather decided to grace us with a shower, which again with my inexperience in this type of car made me even more vulnerable. However I quickly worked out the reason why door handles were invented, and despite rubbing them several times, at several different corners with the driver who wanted my position, I somehow held onto it!
So two top tens in my second outing in the Carrera Cup – the next step to get properly embedded into that quicker group could be the tough one, but at least for the next race at Brands Hatch I will be present at the test day. It’s also a circuit which I know from my Formula Renault 2.0 days, so I’m hoping that I can untie my hands from behind my back a little for that one! As the last race of the year for the Carrera Cup Championship I’m sure the field will be the strongest it has been all year but hey, it’s been a fantastic experience for me joining this field and I will give it my best shot…
Yours Pippa