Euro hillclimbing: La Pommeraye
Round two for Charlie Martin in her French hillclimb adventure - here's the story!
'Click clack click' went the new alternator on my van. "Hmm, that wasn't there yesterday," I thought. It was the Monday before my Thursday ferry to St Malo and, yet again, disaster loomed before I even set foot in France.
Desperate calls to a very nice man in a nearby village paid off; he came out and fitted a new belt while I thanked my lucky stars - I was sorted by Tuesday evening. I drove Herve the van to French class that evening just to be sure and everything seemed fine. All I needed to do now was pack, which was easier said than done...
Last-minute prep...
I'd fitted some shims to reduce the negative camber on the front as it was running over three degrees and not getting anywhere near the edges of the tyres. I ended up resetting the toe-out and tracking too as the car hadn't been running straight with the wheel at 12 o'clock. This is all relatively new for me; while I understand the principles I always used to leave it to someone else with the Westfield. Now is the time to learn though as I like to be as self-sufficient as possible. Plus on this type of car it's very easy to access everything.
Loaded onto the ferry at Portsmouth once more I met up with fellow hillclimber Jerry Neary, who'd made the original journey to St Goueno with me last year that inspired this whole venture. The overnight trip to St Malo is a pleasant one too; I took a few minutes to gaze at the sunset as we left port before getting some food.
Driving south from the ferry terminal you pass through some beautiful countryside, crossing the Loire before arriving at La Pommeraye and navigating your way to the Parc des Pilotes. I parked up next to a trio of Guernsey drivers who have been showing me the ropes after having competed in France for a long time now. After a few runs up and down the hill my first impressions were that it was as every bit as quick as I'd been told, if not on a 50cc moped. Steep in places too, meaning that you really didn't want to back off or brake unless absolutely necessary.
Set-up errors hindered practice progress
Saturday practice didn't commence until 1300h and I'd decided to reduce the toe on the front after discussion with other drivers suggested I'd set it too aggressively. And then made the schoolgirl error of levelling the car while it was still on the grass... The run that followed is possibly the scariest thing I've ever experienced - I'd exacerbated the problems tenfold and realised I'd needed some level ground to do the job properly. I just managed to do this in time before the next run; thankfully the car now tracked straight and cornered consistently so I could focus on learning a very fast hill.
It was then that the enormity of the challenge of competing on a French hillclimb in a proper racing car actually dawned on me for the first time. The reality of learning a much longer hill at speeds well over 100mph was now staring me in the face and I was starting to wonder if this was such a great idea after all.
After a two more runs it started to click, and with my camera now working I could look back at the footage to see when and where I was going wrong. On the final practice I became stuck in fifth during the final part and couldn't go down the 'box but later realised this was due to technique. But everything happens so quickly you really do need video at this level.
A strong outing - onto St Goueno!
Sunday morning dawned with a foggy start and an untimed practice session which went well - I'd run the course on foot on Saturday and really tried to get all the turn-in points in my head. Soon after I was belted up in the car waiting for my premiere montee just as an unseen oiseau dive bombed me and scored a direct hit on my hand! Unable to get out I hailed a passer by and pointed, "monsieur, avez vous un serviette s'il vous plait?" He chuckled and took a picture with his phone. "I guess it's good luck," I thought, before somebody kindly gave me a napkin!
I have to say just how friendly everyone has been, whether it's helping push the car around the paddock, cleaning grit off the tyres before runs or just chatting and offering help. The whole adventure of competing in a different country is something I find so exciting, despite the slightly scary and unknown nature of what lies ahead at each round. Where else does someone come and deliver chocolate croissants to the door of your motorhome each morning though? I loved France before coming here and it's leaving a favourable impression already.
So how did the weekend go? Running in a much bigger class I was chasing the whole weekend, and despite trying my hardest finished fourth out of five, around 2.5 secs behind the top three. I pushed as hard as I dared, which was quite hard now that the fronts were getting all their rubber down, and was very happy to finish in the 1min 4sec area as this was my target come the start of Sunday. With St Goueno the next weekend I was very relieved to finish in one piece too. La Pommeraye opened my eyes to the fact that I have a lot to learn - consistency and gradual improvement are the objectives for 2015!
With five days to relax in Brittany a group of us headed out for a meal that consisted of a very generous restaurant owner, a lot of free drinks and me wishing I'd loaded everything on Sunday evening ... that's another lesson learnt!
Charlie Martin - Formule Renault 2...by VIDEO_CONCEPT
Watch vid here.
Previous reports:
Euro Hillclimbing - a dream realised
Euro Hillclimbing - gearing up
Charlie Martin on PHTV
Euro Hillclimbing - Hebecrevon
For more see Charlie's blog
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