Pippa Mann – Nurburgring
Cheerful racing drivers are a bit of a rare breed – the race winner is generally pretty cheerful, so that’s basically one out of 26 World Series drivers. The other podium finishers may be cheerful, or they may feel hard done by if they were eyeing the win… So at best maybe there could be two or three cheerful drivers out of 26. Then there’s the odd person who is pleased for reaons which seem to the outside world to be insignificant. This weekend, I unfortunately didn’t join the World Series podium club, but I did rejoin the ‘points-scoring-club’, the ‘fast-racing-car-club’, and as a result, the ‘cheerful-racing-driver’s-club’.
From the moment we unloaded the car on Thursday afternoon with the new set-up on I was running around 12th quickest and knocking on the door of the top ten. On Thursday afternoon when I ran on tyres, much like qualifying in Monza, a red flag came out seconds before I crossed the line, and my time was disallowed despite the incident having been somewhere completely different to where I was. Without that lap, I was still 13th quickest. Had the lap counted I was 8th quickest. But Thursday afternoons don’t matter, all that mattered is that we knew we were quick.
Friday was a day of red flags, and a gearbox braking for me. I still ended the sessions with good times, and things were looking good for Saturday morning. The boys stayed late to rebuild the gearbox, and come qualifying we were ready to roll, and I was chomping at the bit to get out there and get the job done. However my car obviously decided now was an appropriate time to pay me back for some of the abuse I’ve hurled at it this year – the alternator failed. This means the battery volts drop very quickly, the engine loses power, and then when the electrics stop the engine does as well. It was like trying to push a three-legged pony up a hill on the one fast lap I did complete. Then it did stop completely, out came the red flag and back of the grid for me. At this point I was not a cheerful racing driver!
About five minutes before I needed to be getting my helmet on for Saturday’s race, I was still sitting in the hospitality area showing about as much enthusiasm as someone off to the gallows! Starting last at Nürburgring – where passing is notoriously difficult – not great by anyone’s standards. I also knew from history that there was likely to be an almighty smash at the first corner, and wondered whether there would still be a gap big enough for a racing car to squeeze through by the time I got there.
Well – there was an almighty smash at the first corner, and on the inside on the line I had picked, there was just enough room for a “little one” to squeeze through unscathed. Everyone who had tried the outside thing was in trouble, and in one easy move I was in 13th! Pretty hard to believe even for me!
After that I went round and round, clocked off the laps, and did my best not to make any mistakes. On the parts of the track where I wasn’t very fast I made sure I had the door firmly closed, defending my line, and on the parts of the track where I was fast I just kept my head-down. This, coupled with some reasonable luck meant no one came past, and 13th gradually improved as the race went on, coming across the line in ninth position. When one of the cars in front was found to be illegal, and one of the other drivers had also done something which came to the attention of the stewards I was promoted after the event to seventh, which mean four points. All very nice indeed, and despite the fact on the new set-up we hadn’t actually got the car right in the race yet, I was feeling pretty cheerful.
On Sunday, with the new qualifying system of super pole top eight, and then finishers from the race, I lined up on the grid 11th. Unfortunately I then committed a crime racing drivers are never supposed to commit – I stalled. I’m not sure whether it was really me, or whether the engine got too hot and simply quit, but whichever it was the first time in my career I stalled on a grid – not an experience I would ever want to repeat! Being missed by millimetres by cars coming from a long way back, whom are doing about 100mph while you sit there, probably unsighted to them like a sitting duck is not fun. Plus, you feel (quite deservedly) like a right plank!
Anyway, once I finally coaxed the old engine back into life, it was still important to go out there and test our newest small variation to the race set-up in race trim. And you know what – it worked. I was running lap times comparable to the guys at the front, and at one point in the first four or five laps of the race I only missed setting fastest lap by a couple of tenths. Then when the front runners started having their pit stops, due to the stall, they were filtering in back around me, and I was actually running in-between the guys who finished fifth and sixth in the race, and pulling away from the guy who finished sixth. The boys left me out until the very end of the pit stop window, also enjoying the fact I was finally running in good company again, but eventually we had to pull me in for my stop, and of course I dropped back down to the tail again, finally paying the proper price for my stall.
Yet, I’m still cheerful. Despite feeling like an idiot because of the start, I drove the rest of the race with no mistakes. Now it seems for the first time this year I finally have a proper handle on the new car. I couldn’t have done it without the help of my engineer, and I’m so grateful to him for helping me explore this new set-up avenue. It’s difficult when one car is winning and the other isn’t – but all drivers are different and due to our particular driving styles, we need very different set-ups sometimes.
Next week we go to Le Mans, and for the first time all year I’m going to race track not hoping I’m going to be fast, but already knowing I’m going to be fast. It’s a weight off my shoulders and makes a big difference to the whole cheerfulness factor.
PS –Next time I promise not to bl**dy stall!!! (And if I do I will make sure you have the correct email address by which to send me abusive emails!)
Yours Pippa