Formula Woman

Dare to Dream

Jackie Skelton - on Podium

So, with my novice, intermediate and advanced training days complete, the next stage in my quest for a career in motorsport was the Formula Woman ‘assessment’. Well, it went to plan with no hiccups in any of the five test disciplines…karting, Caterham driving, a media interview, written paper and the dreaded fitness ‘bleep test’.

Four agonising days after the assessment, I was told I had been chosen to go through to the next round as one of the top 100 girls – BRILLIANT! Now all I had to do was attend Thruxton race circuit in Hampshire to undertake my ARDS licence. It went without a problem – so it was official, I’m a racing driver! Well, that is what my MSA race licence says anyway! All I had to do then was race to get some signatures on it.

Well, that’s exactly what I’ve done as I completed my first race on Sunday 20th November!

The race weekend effectively began late on Thursday night when the long journey commenced to ‘sunny’ Pembrey in Wales and, on arrival, the hotel bed was very welcome. Bright and early on Friday morning, I found myself, along with another 61 nervous and enthusiastic girls, at the circuit, all of us wondering what we had let ourselves in for. Being in the last group of 16 to race I had the wait until the afternoon for my three test sessions.

First session out – ease myself into it, learn the short but surprisingly tricky circuit. Now, through our training days we have had the luxury of cones marking the braking, turn in, apex and exit points, well there was none of that here, and being such a flat, featureless track it made for a good test of skill, experimenting and damn right ‘balls’… excuse the pun! Not a bad start, but I felt I had plenty in reserve.

Second session – warm the tyres on the first few laps, then get on it, that’s what I told myself. I glance at the pit board on the long, quick straight towards Hatchets Hairpin, OK, the times are starting to come down now, this is good, just keep on it. Unfortunately the session was cut very short due to an incident.

Jackie Skelton

Last session – now I’m learning, being the last to test is not always a good thing as with the number of incidents throughout the day, my time in the last session was sacrificed to only four laps. Nevertheless, my last lap time was well on the pace, and yet I still felt I had not pushed myself or the car to 100%. So it was a great surprise to receive the lap times print out, to find I was the quickest in my session.

Saturday – 8.30am , on a beautiful crisp clear and frosty morning, I found myself with Tim Harvey and a good bunch of girls taking ‘the track walk’. It’s amazing how much more you see and take in by walking the lines. This I felt was very beneficial. The first two groups of girls qualified and competed that day, in races that proved to be full of excitement, top overtaking and incidents – while the rest of us looked on knowing that we would be doing the same the next day.

Sunday – Signed on, scrutineered and ready for the day’s racing. A 20-minute qualifying session was my first port of call. All I needed to do was get the tyres warmed up, myself in the rhythm and set some blistering times. It started off well, and the times began to tumble but, with 16 drivers of varying abilities, finding space proved the hardest test to overcome. Lap after lap I was stuck in traffic and found it hard to get past. I needed to get a clear run, just one lap is all I thought. I let a few cars overtake me and I dropped back to a reasonable distance (or so I thought!) around the back of the circuit, I gradually built it back up before anymore cars went passed, but within a couple of corners and straights I was back behind two cars. So that didn’t work and that was the second to last lap. I was bitterly disappointed with my performance and had no idea where I had qualified – yet it turned out I was third. OK not a disaster, but the two cars I had caught on my spoiled fast lap up were in pole and second place!

Jackie Skelton - In Action

THE RACE – Just me, the car and 15 other novice girls, all sat in the paddock waiting area, for what seemed an eternity, all about to go out into the unknown. Around we went to the grid, none of us had done a race start before, and so the start of the formation lap was the only opportunity to do so. First gear, find the biting point, four-thousand revs…and off. Well for me it wasn’t quite how I expected it to go, too much wheel spin, but nevertheless off I went and tried to focus on the job in hand.

Here it is, the grid, find your spot, first gear, focus and…BREATHE…eyes fixed on the board, 5min, 2min, blimey the 5 second board was displayed and the red lights on and off so quickly it was all a blur. GO! Quick shift to second, cracking start that’s me passing the second place starter and homing in on the leader, now with the hairpin to decipher I took the inside line and got a good run to the next right hander and nosed ahead to take the lead. YES, all I need to do now is keep it on the circuit, focus and it’s mine, I know I’m the quickest here.

Through the extremely tricky Dibeni and Paddock, a series of sweeping, continuous left-handers, don’t exit too wide, then get over to the left for the next fast fourth gear right-hander, the Esses. I turn in but, NO, not that soon or quick… The tyres are still too cold. Well, that was it as on the exit I ran out of track to end up on the grass. Visions of a spin into then tyre wall were my first thoughts but then I reacted in the right way – don’t brake, don’t accelerate, and loosely hold the wheel – OK I’m keeping it in a straight line, no sudden steering and I should be able to re-join. I did, but I was back to fifth, I thought I’d blown it. Well, my head was a mess, but it’s a 12 lap race I have to try and get back through, the next few laps are all a bit of a blur, but with some slip streaming down the start//finish straight I took some places, then lost some, got them back and then unfortunately, after only 5 laps, two girls had a coming together, and the red flags came out. Into the pits we came, and were told not to switch off, undo our belts as we were still in Parc Ferme and under race conditions – this was tense, are the girls OK, are we going back out to race, what happens now?

Then the announcement came, the race was over, the girls were OK but going to the hospital for a check up. Where did I finish – SECOND!

So it was up on the podium, the cheers went up, the camera flashes went off, what an amazing feeling, but that ‘top step’ and a secured place in the 2006 Formula Woman championship, should and could have been mine.

My first race experience was full of extreme pressure and mixed emotions, but nonetheless I did it and gained valuable experience, with lessons to be learnt. So bring on the next race!

A special thanks goes to all my sponsors – Crone Corkill, Lingfield Press, Exposure Images, Touchstone Books, Acres Apart, The Brand Doctor and not forgetting AWS Racewear for kitting me out in the latest Carbon X underwear and race suit. Without their support my first race would not have been possible.

What happens now? Well, I have to attend an eliminations camp in June, to battle it out against 96 other girls, to prove I am worthy of one of the remaining 12 grid positions for 2006.

Jackie Skelton

In the meantime I’m on the case for publicity, and future sponsorship opportunities – and of course as much time in any car at any circuit gaining car control and experience - so watch this space!

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