Gail Hill’s racing season finally came to a close at a sunny Brands Hatch but not in her usual Jaguar saloon or XJ-S. Having recently acquired a race ready Mazda MX5 in preparation for the highly successful MA5DA Championship next year she had an opportunity to participate in a Winter challenge double header.
‘I had spent ten minutes in the car in pouring rain at Mallory on Tuesday and then the cam belt split, which put a stop to any further testing’ Gail explained on arrival at a dry Brands. There were an incredible 27 entries for what amounted to an end of season bash for one of motor sports real success stories for 2009.
The car is totally different to what I’m used to and whilst I really don’t want to be at the back it will be a steep learning curve especially as we know nothing about the car set up or quality, said Gail before going out qualifying.
She needn’t have worried too much. With many experienced Mazda racers in the field she qualified an ever so slightly disappointed 15th for both races. ‘The car was very loose and clearly the rear toe in is all over the place and the ride height is different in each corner but I guess I should be quite happy though I am 1.7 seconds off the pace,’ she said later.
Race one got under way and within minutes several cars had fallen off in the melee for the first bend, Paddock. Gail was soon up two places and battling to keep ahead of several more experienced Mazda racers. The car was sliding about on uncut new rubber, which also didn’t help with lap times, but she was having great fun. Towards the end of the 20-minute race she was up to 11th when a car in front lost control at Surtees and then she made a not to be repeated error when her lap times faded.
In single series racing the opposition can be on you in seconds and so it proved to be. When she finally realised that times had been slipping three cars were all over her and in the last half lap she dropped down to 14th. ‘I could really kick myself for that; I felt I was comfortable and eased off and then couldn’t get back on the pace and lost out by fractions of seconds. That won’t happen again. But the car handles supremely well you just have to keep momentum or you get caught’ she noted later in the paddock.
Race 2 was cut short after 14 minutes due to a crash between two other cars but Gail made a solid start, diced brilliantly with Martin Tolley who undercut her going into Paddock only for Gail to redress the balance exiting Graham Hill before the safety car and then red flag signalled a premature end to the day.
I am actually quite pleased because the car has performed well, no damage, is very easy to drive and we have identified a list of potential performance improvements that should help to cut the gap to the top drivers. Gail also knows that she can adapt and improve her style of driving to the little pocket rocket.
I’m now going to try and raise some extra funds for the fully televised series next year as well as making a challenge for the Jaguar saloon championship, where I already have several sponsors. I think that I can offer a lot to any company who would like to get involved for not a great deal of money. If you would like to talk to Gail about the package that she offers all sponsors then check out her web site www.gailhill.co.uk or e mail [email protected]
