Is anyone going to watch Formula Woman?
Discussion
Sorry Ted - I know you've just rattled your keys at the last thread.
As a newcomer to motorsport myself and despite (or because of) all the controversy about it, I actually find myself considering going down to Brands this weekend to see for myself if Formula Woman really is the complete farce I suspect it is.
Admittedly I have family in that neck of the woods and I might try and catch up with my Tuscan team mate, but still, am I alone in having this morbid curiousity?
As a newcomer to motorsport myself and despite (or because of) all the controversy about it, I actually find myself considering going down to Brands this weekend to see for myself if Formula Woman really is the complete farce I suspect it is.
Admittedly I have family in that neck of the woods and I might try and catch up with my Tuscan team mate, but still, am I alone in having this morbid curiousity?
lol I have to say I did laugh at the hysteria the last thread caused about Formula Women. I'm a little biased as have a mate 'Jules Thurston' in it. She is the RAF Hawk instructor and someone who would eat most of these guys posting on here for breakie...
She was 'creamed' at RAF Valley basically means she 'beat' ALL the guys and came top of her class and gets to fly any RAF fast jet she wants post 2 years instructing. Doesn't sound like someone who is none competitive to me.
Anyway...I'm going down to brands to see them this Sunday. Mind you be good to get the women's opinions on here, would balance the argument don't you think.
I've seen worse racing over the years...
its all a little fun but even Jules admits the programme is 'cheesy'...doesn't that make for good tele though...afterall all how many of you watch big brother lol
Alan.
>> Edited by Alf Essex on Wednesday 21st July 08:58
She was 'creamed' at RAF Valley basically means she 'beat' ALL the guys and came top of her class and gets to fly any RAF fast jet she wants post 2 years instructing. Doesn't sound like someone who is none competitive to me.
Anyway...I'm going down to brands to see them this Sunday. Mind you be good to get the women's opinions on here, would balance the argument don't you think.
I've seen worse racing over the years...
its all a little fun but even Jules admits the programme is 'cheesy'...doesn't that make for good tele though...afterall all how many of you watch big brother lol Alan.
>> Edited by Alf Essex on Wednesday 21st July 08:58
Andy I just knew it would not be long before someone started this thread of again.
FW has put the cause of female racing back years the programme resembles a circus rather than a serious attempt to give women the breaks in motorsport.
I do not know if this correct but it certainly looks odd.
According to James C
Natash Firman is the daughter of Ralph Firman Snr, who is doing some consultancy work for Mazda. Her brother Ralph jr is an ex Grand Prix driver. Natasha's car is sponsored by Halfords.
Jessica Eaves is the sister of touring car driver Dan Eaves (Dan is also sponsored by Halfords). Dan works for and is managed by Vic Lee Racing. Vic Lee Racing run Philip Glew in Formula BMW.
Rachel Kimber is a singer songwriter, she is managed by John Brand who also manages the Stereofonics! John Brand also sponsors Philip Glew.
FW has put the cause of female racing back years the programme resembles a circus rather than a serious attempt to give women the breaks in motorsport.
I do not know if this correct but it certainly looks odd.
According to James C
Natash Firman is the daughter of Ralph Firman Snr, who is doing some consultancy work for Mazda. Her brother Ralph jr is an ex Grand Prix driver. Natasha's car is sponsored by Halfords.
Jessica Eaves is the sister of touring car driver Dan Eaves (Dan is also sponsored by Halfords). Dan works for and is managed by Vic Lee Racing. Vic Lee Racing run Philip Glew in Formula BMW.
Rachel Kimber is a singer songwriter, she is managed by John Brand who also manages the Stereofonics! John Brand also sponsors Philip Glew.
john75 said:
Andy I just knew it would not be long before someone started this thread of again.
FW has put the cause of female racing back years the programme resembles a circus rather than a serious attempt to give women the breaks in motorsport.
I wasn't trying to kick all that off again. I suspect its dreadful, but I might just go and find out for myself on Sunday.
Of course if I happened to bump into some of the series sponsors and got talking about proper motorsport then that would be a complete coincidence...
Jamesc's connections - so and so's managed by so and so who is sponsored by so and so, who's father used to sleep with so and so, who once had a beer with so and so in the so and so bar, etc, etc - reminds me of these newspaper "links" on the puzzles page. Methinks a Machiavellian (is that the spelling) plot. But the plot gets thicker and thicker - great fun, eh!!! However we're all still watching.
For anyone who is going, please stick around to the end to watch the SELOC BMWs....! OK, I'm biased as one of the drivers, but this series is very entertaining to watch - a bunch of low-powered 15 year old E30 318 and 320 cars, driven by mostly novices. We've been dubbed the "SELOC BMW Loonies" by contributers to the ten-tenths motorsport forums...
Oh, and we're also the biggest grid of the day, with 18 - 20 cars lined up!
www.selocmotorsport.com (click BMW racing...)
My personal site on the series: www.tailhappy.com
Oh, and we're also the biggest grid of the day, with 18 - 20 cars lined up!
www.selocmotorsport.com (click BMW racing...)
My personal site on the series: www.tailhappy.com
gejl said:
For anyone who is going, please stick around to the end to watch the SELOC BMWs....! OK, I'm biased as one of the drivers, but this series is very entertaining to watch - a bunch of low-powered 15 year old E30 318 and 320 cars, driven by mostly novices. We've been dubbed the "SELOC BMW Loonies" by contributers to the ten-tenths motorsport forums...
Oh, and we're also the biggest grid of the day, with 18 - 20 cars lined up!
www.selocmotorsport.com (click BMW racing...)
My personal site on the series: www.tailhappy.com
Great site, Guy. I'll pop along and say Hi on sunday.
Will
Well the two FWomen races weren't anything special. I wotn spoil it by telling you the result, but there was quite a few smashes and..er...interesting driving. I should add here that I probably would'nt do any better, so good on them for having a go.
The BMW race, however was great fun. How one driver can lose the tail coming out of Graham Hill bend and still be trying to catch it going into Surtees I will never know.
And Guy finished 3rd, after qualifying 6th. Well done Guy! Good, solid driving.
Also racing were karts (how many starters??) 2CV racing (must be seen to be believed) and a Rear engined sports car race, featuring the would race debut if a Noble.
I spoke to the chap about the car, who said that last week it was a road car, and no modifictaions had taken place apart from removing the number plate and tax disc!
He qualified 6th and finished 5th. Thd driver was Lee Noble
A great day's racing. Just a shame about the crowds: very few poeple there
The BMW race, however was great fun. How one driver can lose the tail coming out of Graham Hill bend and still be trying to catch it going into Surtees I will never know.
And Guy finished 3rd, after qualifying 6th. Well done Guy! Good, solid driving.
Also racing were karts (how many starters??) 2CV racing (must be seen to be believed) and a Rear engined sports car race, featuring the would race debut if a Noble.
I spoke to the chap about the car, who said that last week it was a road car, and no modifictaions had taken place apart from removing the number plate and tax disc!
He qualified 6th and finished 5th. Thd driver was Lee Noble
A great day's racing. Just a shame about the crowds: very few poeple there
The Formula Woman was better than I expected, I must say. Those cars look a bit tricky to catch, compared to our nice SELOC BMWs...!
Good to meet you Will, thanks for the support. We had a great race. Bit of a 'sketchley' moment, as they say, when the guys in second and third span right in front of me on the first run through Paddock!
Good to meet you Will, thanks for the support. We had a great race. Bit of a 'sketchley' moment, as they say, when the guys in second and third span right in front of me on the first run through Paddock!
. Apologies – this is a bit long!
I went down to see my parents on Saturday and went along to the racing on Sunday. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect – and was initially disappointed at the size of the meeting: Karts, Mid engined sports cars, SELOC BMWs, 2 CVs and Formula Woman. I’m more used to a fuller timetable.
I arrived towards the end of FW qualifying – inevitably there was a car in the gravel at Paddock Hill bend. I had a smooch around the lower Paddock, but couldn’t remember who I was supposed to be looking out for in the BMWs. Oops! I then went up to the pit lane and said hi to Clive Freke (Nathan’s dad) who was running some of the karts. Those gearbox karts are amazing – they lap at about the same time as a Tuscan, but there is literally nothing to them!
The FW set up was interesting. Each car had a pit garage, there were a couple of sponsor’s stands but no obvious hospitality (perhaps this was on the outside of the track, but if so I didn’t find it!). The cars and drivers were all accessible – if you wanted to have a nose in the cars it wasn’t a problem, and the girls were milling about most of the time.
I was surprised to find Steve Gugliemi, in a Mazda shirt, tinkering with the cars. Steve was the 2002 Tuscan Challenge champion. He and his team were employed by Mazda (interestingly NOT Formula Woman) to look after the cars – basic stuff such as tyre pressures, oil levels, tracking when someone had an off etc… His presence there did a lot for me in terms of the credibility of the series.
The qualifying times were reasonably close – I think they were all within a couple of seconds of each other – a far cry from the 19 second gap at Oulton. Steve commented that they had a problem with the catalysts breaking up and blocking – cutting power dramatically. Apparently this happens because the cars are frequently started up, moved a short distance then stopped. The next time the car is started more fuel gets pumped through the system and ultimately ignites in the cat, causing it to break up. This was a problem for one of the girls in the first race.
All the cars are standard road cars with stripped out interior and bolt in roll cages. Tyres and suspension are standard, with up-rated brake pads the only change. The girls are not allowed to make any changes to the cars, including tyre pressures which are the same on every car.
He did comment that some of the early batches of tyres were inconsistent – a set fitted to Natasha Firman’s car were significantly quicker than the others – when the same set were fitted to another girl’s car, that car became quicker. All tyres now were, in his view, equal.
On to the races themselves: the karts were interesting and with a field of 38 it was like watching a smarm of bees. The racing was good, although to me it lacks the visual drama of a good car race, perhaps because the damned things are too small to see properly and distinguish between them.
The 2CVs were excellent. Slow, but 5 of them battled side by side for the full 40 minutes and it was very entertaining.
The first FW race was accompanied by some ‘interesting’ commentary. It was harmless enough, entertaining too. But it verged on patronising and I can’t believe the chap would ever dream of commentating like that on a normal race. It was in the style of a mildly concerned father, with a bit of injected humour. Much was made of the fact that the girls were novices and we were never allowed to forget they were girls…. ‘now come on Pippa, you really must try not to spin in this race, dear’…
The race itself was better than I expected. The girls were certainly trying hard and all of them were drifting the cars through Paddock Hill bend. Car control was a bit lacking in some – they were not very good at recovering a sideways car. One or two lifted off or braked mid corner, with predictable consequences. There were I think 4 spins at Paddock Hill.
It was perhaps inevitable when the (2nd placed?) girl span and was collected hard by the girl in 3rd place. Both cars suffered heavy front end impacts (destroyed to my eye!). One was out of the car quickly, the other was in the car for some time before walking out. One was subsequently put on a stretcher and into the ambulance. The race was red flagged then restarted – another girl put her car into the gravel at Paddock…
All in all, it wasn’t a bad race – there could have been some more overtaking and they need to stop throwing themselves off – but better than I expected. A walk up the pit lane showed that at least half the field had bodywork damage. Just as well they weren’t paying!
The BMW race was excellent. The car control was noticeably better than FW – and it is worth mentioning that there were a large number of novices in this race two. There was one exception – one chap got it wrong at Paddock, recovered, then chucked it off again at Graham Hill (turned in with a wheel on the grass). He was overdriving, but settled down after that. There were some very sideways moments but on the whole they were gathered up. They seemed a more accomplished bunch than the girls.
The second FW race had more mayhem. Another spinner at Paddock was clipped by another car. One girl got too far onto the dirt on the exit to Druids, over compensated for the slide and span the other way, into the wall. That made a total of 4 out of 16 cars damaged too severely to race. The behaviour under waved yellows was, errm, poor – they were still exiting the previous bend on the edge of control, and I’m not surprised the marshals made sure they were on the safe side of the barriers each time the girls came through when they were trying to move a car into a safer position. I know the men are often just as bad – but in this case, having seen the number of tank-slappers previously, it did look like there was another accident waiting to happen.
One oddity – one of the FW races ran two laps under a safety car. The commentator correctly said that these laps counted as part of the race distance. Then low and behold, the race was extended by two laps. In contrast, the mid-engined race was red flagged 4 laps before the end because a car was in a dangerous position on the exit to Graham Hill bend. It could easily have been towed off under a safety car.
So, overall, better than I was expecting. On the plus side the girls were trying hard but some demonstrated their lack of experience. The crowd (such as it was) seemed more family orientated than many meetings – but I suspect that this was because each of the girls had extended family and friends there.
Undoubtedly (in my opinion) there was something going on in terms of the selection process. The ‘interesting’ occupations are too much of a coincidence, as are the connections of some with the organisers. That said, they all seemed to be trying hard on the day – and they had the additional pressure of TV interview etc to cope with that the rest of us don’t. On the other hand they also had an MX-5 each and a fair amount of tuition and support, so I guess it cuts both ways. I think they will all find it difficult to make headway in motor sport after this has finished (like we all do) – but if one or two of them are still trying in a couple of years I guess that is some sort of success.
Finally, I had a lovely chat with Sally, a lady marshal who normally works at Thruxton. She was standing by the tunnel enjoying the 5 2CVs battling it out with a huge smile on her face, and was a delight to speak to. She didn’t make any comment about it being a male dominated sport – she clearly really enjoys being involved. Her presence and that of the other lady marshals to me said more about women in motor sport than the artificial Formula Woman environment. There are no barriers to women entering motor sport that do not also exist for men.
I went down to see my parents on Saturday and went along to the racing on Sunday. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect – and was initially disappointed at the size of the meeting: Karts, Mid engined sports cars, SELOC BMWs, 2 CVs and Formula Woman. I’m more used to a fuller timetable.
I arrived towards the end of FW qualifying – inevitably there was a car in the gravel at Paddock Hill bend. I had a smooch around the lower Paddock, but couldn’t remember who I was supposed to be looking out for in the BMWs. Oops! I then went up to the pit lane and said hi to Clive Freke (Nathan’s dad) who was running some of the karts. Those gearbox karts are amazing – they lap at about the same time as a Tuscan, but there is literally nothing to them!
The FW set up was interesting. Each car had a pit garage, there were a couple of sponsor’s stands but no obvious hospitality (perhaps this was on the outside of the track, but if so I didn’t find it!). The cars and drivers were all accessible – if you wanted to have a nose in the cars it wasn’t a problem, and the girls were milling about most of the time.
I was surprised to find Steve Gugliemi, in a Mazda shirt, tinkering with the cars. Steve was the 2002 Tuscan Challenge champion. He and his team were employed by Mazda (interestingly NOT Formula Woman) to look after the cars – basic stuff such as tyre pressures, oil levels, tracking when someone had an off etc… His presence there did a lot for me in terms of the credibility of the series.
The qualifying times were reasonably close – I think they were all within a couple of seconds of each other – a far cry from the 19 second gap at Oulton. Steve commented that they had a problem with the catalysts breaking up and blocking – cutting power dramatically. Apparently this happens because the cars are frequently started up, moved a short distance then stopped. The next time the car is started more fuel gets pumped through the system and ultimately ignites in the cat, causing it to break up. This was a problem for one of the girls in the first race.
All the cars are standard road cars with stripped out interior and bolt in roll cages. Tyres and suspension are standard, with up-rated brake pads the only change. The girls are not allowed to make any changes to the cars, including tyre pressures which are the same on every car.
He did comment that some of the early batches of tyres were inconsistent – a set fitted to Natasha Firman’s car were significantly quicker than the others – when the same set were fitted to another girl’s car, that car became quicker. All tyres now were, in his view, equal.
On to the races themselves: the karts were interesting and with a field of 38 it was like watching a smarm of bees. The racing was good, although to me it lacks the visual drama of a good car race, perhaps because the damned things are too small to see properly and distinguish between them.
The 2CVs were excellent. Slow, but 5 of them battled side by side for the full 40 minutes and it was very entertaining.
The first FW race was accompanied by some ‘interesting’ commentary. It was harmless enough, entertaining too. But it verged on patronising and I can’t believe the chap would ever dream of commentating like that on a normal race. It was in the style of a mildly concerned father, with a bit of injected humour. Much was made of the fact that the girls were novices and we were never allowed to forget they were girls…. ‘now come on Pippa, you really must try not to spin in this race, dear’…
The race itself was better than I expected. The girls were certainly trying hard and all of them were drifting the cars through Paddock Hill bend. Car control was a bit lacking in some – they were not very good at recovering a sideways car. One or two lifted off or braked mid corner, with predictable consequences. There were I think 4 spins at Paddock Hill.
It was perhaps inevitable when the (2nd placed?) girl span and was collected hard by the girl in 3rd place. Both cars suffered heavy front end impacts (destroyed to my eye!). One was out of the car quickly, the other was in the car for some time before walking out. One was subsequently put on a stretcher and into the ambulance. The race was red flagged then restarted – another girl put her car into the gravel at Paddock…
All in all, it wasn’t a bad race – there could have been some more overtaking and they need to stop throwing themselves off – but better than I expected. A walk up the pit lane showed that at least half the field had bodywork damage. Just as well they weren’t paying!
The BMW race was excellent. The car control was noticeably better than FW – and it is worth mentioning that there were a large number of novices in this race two. There was one exception – one chap got it wrong at Paddock, recovered, then chucked it off again at Graham Hill (turned in with a wheel on the grass). He was overdriving, but settled down after that. There were some very sideways moments but on the whole they were gathered up. They seemed a more accomplished bunch than the girls.
The second FW race had more mayhem. Another spinner at Paddock was clipped by another car. One girl got too far onto the dirt on the exit to Druids, over compensated for the slide and span the other way, into the wall. That made a total of 4 out of 16 cars damaged too severely to race. The behaviour under waved yellows was, errm, poor – they were still exiting the previous bend on the edge of control, and I’m not surprised the marshals made sure they were on the safe side of the barriers each time the girls came through when they were trying to move a car into a safer position. I know the men are often just as bad – but in this case, having seen the number of tank-slappers previously, it did look like there was another accident waiting to happen.
One oddity – one of the FW races ran two laps under a safety car. The commentator correctly said that these laps counted as part of the race distance. Then low and behold, the race was extended by two laps. In contrast, the mid-engined race was red flagged 4 laps before the end because a car was in a dangerous position on the exit to Graham Hill bend. It could easily have been towed off under a safety car.
So, overall, better than I was expecting. On the plus side the girls were trying hard but some demonstrated their lack of experience. The crowd (such as it was) seemed more family orientated than many meetings – but I suspect that this was because each of the girls had extended family and friends there.
Undoubtedly (in my opinion) there was something going on in terms of the selection process. The ‘interesting’ occupations are too much of a coincidence, as are the connections of some with the organisers. That said, they all seemed to be trying hard on the day – and they had the additional pressure of TV interview etc to cope with that the rest of us don’t. On the other hand they also had an MX-5 each and a fair amount of tuition and support, so I guess it cuts both ways. I think they will all find it difficult to make headway in motor sport after this has finished (like we all do) – but if one or two of them are still trying in a couple of years I guess that is some sort of success.
Finally, I had a lovely chat with Sally, a lady marshal who normally works at Thruxton. She was standing by the tunnel enjoying the 5 2CVs battling it out with a huge smile on her face, and was a delight to speak to. She didn’t make any comment about it being a male dominated sport – she clearly really enjoys being involved. Her presence and that of the other lady marshals to me said more about women in motor sport than the artificial Formula Woman environment. There are no barriers to women entering motor sport that do not also exist for men.
a few photos from the day..
http://siheunikarting.fotopic.net/c241584.html
Had a good day, pleasantly surprisied at the FW racing, seems there was a vast difference in the abilities. though as you can see there was some dicing and changes of position!
Quite amusing to see 2nd (margo) spin 180 degrees then be collected nose to nose by 4th (Lauren)
Unfortunate for the them to be eliminated.
Though the missis (at her first race and loved it)
was a tad on edge when watching the karts for me to say thats what i race to in Club100!
http://siheunikarting.fotopic.net/c241584.html
Had a good day, pleasantly surprisied at the FW racing, seems there was a vast difference in the abilities. though as you can see there was some dicing and changes of position!
Quite amusing to see 2nd (margo) spin 180 degrees then be collected nose to nose by 4th (Lauren)
Unfortunate for the them to be eliminated.
Though the missis (at her first race and loved it)
was a tad on edge when watching the karts for me to say thats what i race to in Club100!
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