Powell Post - Volume 4

Here's the latest volume of Powell Post by the lovely Alice Powell. It is a little late due to Alice's busy schedule but she has plenty to tell after an eventful few race weekends.

Hello Powell Post readers, I hope we are all doing well? 

Anyway - as always - it has been a busy month for me. I have had a couple of races competing in both the British F3 and the F3 Cup. We have also seen some exciting F1 races!! Of course, I cannot forget to mention that the GP3 Series is now up and running too!!

So where shall I start.... I think we will kick off volume four of Powell Post with the British F3 races. I have had plenty of people on Twitter and Facebook asking why I was competing in the British F3 round at the Silverstone circuit. I have always wanted to race in British F3 as it is a championship with such rich history and has featured so many incredible racing drivers including the likes of Jim Clark, Jackie Stewart and Ayrton Senna. It is also a very competitive championship. I was placed in National B Class as I am racing the same car that I race in F3 Cup (which is a couple of years older that the National A cars and considerably older than the International cars)! I have to say, I really enjoyed the racing and the whole experienced of a British F3 weekend. I hope to compete in more British F3 races... but we shall just have to wait and see!!

(c) Octane Photographic

It was then the return of the F3 Cup at Brands Hatch on the 31 May and 1/2 June. I was really looking forward to getting back out racing in the F3 Cup and to experience Paddock Hill bend again! It’s not until you do a track walk for yourself and you go down the hill before then going back up it that you realise how steep it is (Yes, I did managed to run around the track 3 times on Friday evening!) Anyway, we were all set for the Friday test and looking to get a good set up for the weekend. However, our plans were cut short, very short. 

In the first practice session I could feel that the car with not pulling right up the straights and out of the corners. This started to get progressively worse throughout the session so I pulled in for the MBR team to check around the car. They found nothing. So to be on the safe side, we changed the plugs and filters before I then returned to the track just before lunch for the second session. The changes didn’t help. Actually, the problem was just getting worse and worse and it had now developed some kind of misfire, like a four stroke engine sound! At that point, I knew there was something seriously wrong. After several more checks we found that we had a missing head gasket... and we didn’t have a spare engine!! I really did think at that point that the weekend was over but one of my team mates was not racing so the MBR crew rushed back to the workshop to pick up his car. 

The car was slightly different, the same age but the engine in his car was on its 4^th season of not having a re- build so it was 4 MPH slower than mine. After an impressive effort from MBR they managed to get the car all ready for qualifying on Saturday morning. I could feel straight away that we were losing a lot of time down the straight and out of the corners but I knew I just had to get on with it and do the best I could. I qualified P4. 

(c) Octane Photographic

As some of you many know, Brands Hatch Indy circuit only has 5 corners and it is not the easiest of tracks to overtake on!  For race one I could have had a much better start but I held my position in P4... From then on, it was a procession of cars, unable to overtake, so I ended up finishing where I started in P4. However, there was a positive I could take out of that race.... I got the 2^nd fastest lap, which meant I lined up P2 on the grid for race two!

I knew that I HAD to get the perfect start. I had to get the right amount of traction off the line to beat my rival into turn one to have any chance of winning the race. I lined up on the grid pretty chilled. I made sure I got as much heat as I could into my tyres so that I could really push on the first few laps. As the lights came on I built up a perfect load of revs and when the lights went out I was away. I managed to get to the first corner in P1 and to be honest, I think that was my best start of the season so far!! The rear wheels gripped perfectly and they launched me firmly into the lead!!

From then on, I just had to get my head down, make NO mistakes and be as consistent as possible. Alex Craven was putting big pressure on me and it can be easy to get distracted and keep your eyes too much on your mirrors! However, I kept my cool to take the win which did feel very special, especially when looking at how the weekend had started!!  So I have an 11 point lead in the championship now. But I am going to quote Sebastian Vettel here and say “I am not focusing on the championship at the moment, only race by race”. I just need to make sure that I am consistently up there in every race. My next F3 Cup race is at the end of this month (June) at Zolder in Belgium and I am very much looking forward to getting out and racing again, especially overseas!!! 

(c) GP3 Media

It was amazing to watch the F1 cars drive around the fantastic Monaco circuit again a few weeks ago...only if it was from my TV! However, I could not help but smile as I remembered how lucky I was to race around there last year in GP3. Travelling at speed of over 140 MPH through the tunnel, millimetres from the metal barriers, skipping over the kerbs at the famous swimming pool section... It was absolutely mind blowing! It is also the fact that so many famous drivers have had that same experience and I am sure shared my feelings too like Senna, Hill, Mansell and Schumacher. 

I thought it was a reasonable race too! However, one driver you do have to take your hat off to is Kimi Raikkonen! After having to pit due to damage, he hauled himself back into the points (even if he was on fresher tyres). So why do I take my hat off to him. Well, I know how hard it is to overtake on that circuit!!! It is VERY hard! Yes, he did have much fresher tyres but he still had to overtake them and he didn’t have many laps in which to do it. That just shows the speed, determination and fire in the Finn! I really do hope that we have a championship battle right to the end in the Formula One World Championship, and I think Kimi deserves to be in that fight!

Till next time Powell Post readers...

Thanks

Alice x

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Powell Post - Volume 3: http://jackleslief1.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/powell-post-volume-3.html