Why Women Are In The Driving Seat

 

Sir Stirling Moss may have forgotten, when claiming women do not have the mental strength to compete on the track - especially in Formula One - that he was partly responsible for developing one of the greatest women drivers this country has produced.

 

He taught her to drive at the age of 11 and, although a decorated horsewoman and member of the British Showjumping team, she also had a passion for rally driving going on to win the European Ladies' Rally championship five times.

 

She stood on the podium seven times in international rallies and enjoyed three outright wins, displaying a mental strength her brother must have been proud of.

 

Pat Moss was regarded as one of the best drivers of her generation and while she may not have been at the wheel of a Formula One car - and who knows how she would have handled one today - she set the bar for all other women to follow in her tracks and certainly displayed the mental strength to compete alongside the men.

 

That is one reason why I find Sir Stirling's remarks this week at odds with his family's racing heritage along with an observation he made many years ago which I came across the other day, describing former French rally driver Michele Mouton as one of the best. She was a rally winner in her own right and in 1982 runner-up in the World Rally Championship. In later years she set up the international motorsport event Race of Champions.

 

With Pat Moss, she was regarded as the driver by whom all women measure their achievements, and rightly so.

We have all seen, over the years, drivers, tennis players, footballers and cricketers battle with their demons. Everyone needs mental strength in many areas of their life, motorsport is no different. If  women like Susie Wolff, test driver for Williams, can demonstrate they have the right stuff mentally and physically, then her ambition will one day be fulfilled.

 

Just being a woman does not give you a wild card entry into a race team or a place on the board. If you are good enough, you'll get there as Danica Patrick has in the United States where after years at the cutting edge, she is emerging as the most successful woman racer in the history of single seater racing.

 

Starting in karts at the age of 10, she had a spell in the United Kingdom racing Formula Ford, and is the only woman to win an IndyCar Series race. Her third place finish in the Indy 500 is the best by a woman. This year, switching full-time to the NASCAR Sprint Cup series and again as the only woman, she set pole at the Daytona 500 where for a few laps she led the race, before finishing eighth. Those cars are just as tough to handle as Formula One machines.

 

She is applauded for her courage, but more often than not she has to cope with remarks such as being fast just because she has a weight advantage - at less than eight stone and standing 5ft, that's pretty light. Take that as a compliment and continue to prove you can punch above your weight.

 

 

 

 

 

Is It All A Storm In A Teacup?

 

 

I love coffee, he loves tea and while my husband claims I do make a great cuppa, I've never really got the taste for it.

 

I have drunk tea, of course, sometimes out of necessity to get warm while standing frozen watching a rugby match or speedway meeting -  and then out of a plastic cup which makes it taste even worse. Occasionally it has been out of politeness, served in floral decorated china cups when invited to afternoon tea with the vicar.

 

A two-part programme on tea starts on BBC1 tonight (Wednesday) presented by Victoria Wood. I will see what she has to serve up and try to understand the love many people have for the quintessential British cup of tea. Always seemed to be too much fuss to me. Coffee is quicker, more tasteful and keeps you awake.

 

Everyone in my family is a tea drinker, but it has never been flavour of the month for me. Maybe it is because I was brought up in a generation which still used loose tea rather than teabags, and recall that awful moment when a stray leaf was in your next mouthful. That could be where my distaste for something I really should like stems from. My grandmother always had a slice of lemon in her cup which really did taste like something to treat your cold with.

 

I am told by tea drinkers who know these things that in the United States you cannot get a good cup of tea and it's the first thing they do when they get back to the United Kingdom: put the kettle on for a cup of tea. Seems strange to me when the Americans invented the teabag - how does that work then?

 

Tea in Britain is inextricably linked to being served as afternoon tea in a village teashop, serving gallons of the stuff at street parties to celebrate Royal occasions or elegant dining at the Ritz alongside traditional sandwiches and pastries and a bewildering choice of teas. Of course you also have to remember to let it brew for the right length of time, and hold your cup the right way. As I say, too fussy.

 

One glance along the supermarket shelves today, and the flavours do sound mouthwatering. I tried a strawberry and mango a short time back which smelt wonderful. Tasted like medicine so gave to a friend who swears by green tea as part of her diet. We discussed the merits of this over tea (in my case a cappuccino) and sympathy.

 

I always remember Thunderbirds where Lady Penelope took tea and then spoke to International Rescue using her Regency teapot. That's a good use of a teapot I have always thought.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Perfecting The Racing Line With Hot Laps

 

 

As I walked into pitlane I was greeted with a happy smile from Tom Chilton. "You look really excited to be here," he chuckled. If the truth be known I was a tad nervous at the prospect of having a passenger ride round Brands Hatch.

 

Nothing new to me this kind of adrenaline rush. I've driven rally cars in the past and sat terrified as a passenger in Le Mans sports cars on slick tyres in the wet. Having been visiting Brands since I was a toddler, I am familiar with the ups and downs of this historic track. At least I thought I was.

 

It's one thing to stand trackside and admire driving skills, another to sit alongside and see how hard the drivers work. It's something everyone needs to experience. This may not have been a racecar but even so, the Nissan Skyline GT-R is one of the best cars in the world. This was going to be impressive to sit alongside one of the best racing drivers and watch him demonstrate high speed cornering and braking which would get the blood pumping.

 

Tom is known to have raced, and rolled in spectacular fashion, a double decker bus on Top Gear where he has also shown his raw talent driving airport vehicles, a people carrier and motorhome. No major risks today, he told me. "I have to drive home in this afterwards." He has spent his racing career racing touring cars and this season his target is to win the World Touring Car Championship.

 

 

 

"I've been very competitive in the opening races with podiums and fastest laps and it all feels very good," he nodded, reflecting on his season so far. A maiden WTCC podium at Monza where he finished second and then fifth in the RML Chevrolet Cruze, was followed by a third place in Marrakech.

 

I have known Tom since he was 13 when his racing career got started, so I reckon now at 28, he knows what he is doing behind the wheel. He has pretty much perfected the racing line on the Indy circuit at Brands which was still wet from an earlier downpour. If we kept chatting in the pits, I thought to myself, the track might dry out a bit more.

 

That ploy didn't work as I was presented with my helmet. A little bit of faffing about as I struggled to get the strap done up, did not delay the inevitable either. "Come here," Tom sighed, making the adjustments himself, and tapping the top of my helmet when done, with a smile that suggested he knew something I didn't. The smiling assassin I mused to myself.

 

I was not far out in my judgement as we sat in the pits ready for three hotlaps. "I'm going to switch off the traction control as it's very slippery. It will make it even more exciting," he stated in a matter-of-fact tone, one I associate with anaesthetists before you are taken into surgery. Gulp.

 

The 630bhp engine rumbled away and I did feel a bit uneasy with no seatbelt harness to pull over my shoulders as you would normally expect, just the usual buckle up you get in your everyday road car. Cruising down pitlane, this was nice, but the green to go light suddenly turned my driver into a mean racing machine. We accelerated from 0-62mph in 2.77 seconds with a lurch towards Paddock Hill Bend that left my stomach at the Dartford Crossing.

 

Up Hailwood Hill to Druids Hairpin, we got a bit sideways and down to Graham Hill Bend, slower cars on the track meant either hard braking or overtaking. I doubt they saw us as we sped by, disappeared into the distance, sweeping round McLaren clipping the rumble strips, drifting round Clark Curve, but fast and smooth at every point. Coming onto the Brabham Straight we started our second lap and I settled down for the ride, allowing myself a smile of satisfaction.

 

I took a glance sideways, well if the car was going that way so was I, to find Tom intensely focused, nerveless and unbothered about his passenger, who was now having fun.

 

"I only give three laps, one out, one flying and then come back to the pits," he explained. "People get a bit comfortable with more than that so I like to give them a bit of a blast, leave them wanting more."

 

"This car made you look quite good," I joked afterwards. Tom laughed before adding: "Did I tell you I was filming your reaction in-car to all that!" Touche.

 

Follow Tom Chilton on Twitter @tomchilton, @Hot_laps or email 1hotlaps@gmail.com for further information on the perfect gift.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Adventurers Climbing To The Top

 

A medal-winning Paralympian is to join a group of  riders attempting to scale one of the tallest mountains in Snowdonia using specially adapted hand bikes.

Karen Darke, who won silver in the time trial at the 2012 Paralympics, comes in to replace Luke Delahunty, who has not recovered from a ski-ing injury earlier this year.

Darke climbed Mont Blanc and the Matterhorn and won the KIMN Swiss Marathon before a fall while climbing in 1993, aged just 21, left her paralysed from the chest down.

She continued to embrace her sense of adventure hand-biking across Japan in 2000, ski-ing across Greenland and climbing El Capitan.

Fresh from winter training in Mallorca, she will join the team in their ascent of Cadair Idris on bikes with especially low gears which are pedalled by hand, rather than foot.

The 10-hour epic Hand-Bikes at Dawn on April 20 will see the adventurers faced with steep and rocky terrain. At times gradients will be a daunting 30 per cent.

Assisted by a team of mountain biking specialists and rescue teams on the way up, the support crews will form a guard of honour for the rapid descent down the mountain.

They are planning to get as high as they can up the bridleway from the Dysynni valley and project  co-ordinator for Challenge your Boundaries, Graham O'Hanlon, who helped establish Britain's first permanent adaptive mountain bike (aMTB) facility near Dolgellau, hopes the event will raise awareness of aMTB which is still in its infancy.

“There are few people who could have stepped in at this late stage and we consider ourselves very lucky to have Karen on board.

"Facilities and equipment are still thin on the ground and many potential riders are unaware that opportunities exist to get away from the tarmac and into the forest and mountain environment,” he explained.

“For us, one of the most noticeable legacies of the 2012 Paralympic Games is the number of people willing to get involved in helping us organise and populate rides, such as this. I think the Games inspired a wider understanding and respect for disabled athletes and, to a great extent, demystified the whole field.”

The aim of the challenge, organised by the Challenge your Boundaries adaptive MTB project, is to raise the profile of adaptive mountain biking within the UK and funds for Mawddach Rotary Club, Challenge your Boundaries adaptive MTB project, Aberdyfi Search and Rescue Team and a ‘Walking with the Wounded’, project assisting injured service personnel.

Adrian Disney, 46, a former Outward Bound instructor, was left as a T10 Paraplegic from a climbing accident in 1997 while setting ropes up for a group of children. He took up the sport of aMTB in 1999 and, in 2005 completed Land’s End to John O’Groats.

“I started for fun, as a way to keep fit after my accident and to get away from tarmac. When you are in a wheelchair you become limited to tarmac and places that are built up and I enjoy just not being in those places

“I’ve always been in outdoor activities, and it’s a natural continuation. I often ride alone, at least in part because I’m conscious of the fact that I’m moving slower than my companions and don’t want the pressure of feeling like I’m holding everyone up,” he added.

“I will happily try out new routes when alone, but I ride more conservatively, and always have to consider my exit strategies carefully in case of impassable obstacles. Out riding on the Preseli mountains, I thought I had enough speed to get over this marshy bit. I didn’t get through it; I just got into the middle of it.

“The back wheel was up to the axle, and I didn’t even have enough strength to get wheel-spin. I had to get off and crawl along the mud dragging the bike.”

Former police officer Steve Hodges, 41, has always been a keen cyclist and had followed the route of the Tour de France through the Pyrenees before his injury (T6 Paraplegic) from a motorcycle accident in 1998.

“Following my accident, hand-cycling enabled me to continue riding, albeit in a slightly different way. I have hand-cycled competitively but now ride for fun, fitness and commuting to work.”

At 66, Keith Robinson is the veteran of the pack. He contracted polio at the age of two, and the retired university computer programmer, only took up handbiking three years ago having spent many years kayaking.

“I was finding it difficult to manage the kayaks on land - paddling itself is still OK so I was looking for some other way to keep fit and explore at the same time,” he explained. “I had knee replacement surgery in 2009 and couldn't bend the knee enough to ride a bike so I started researching hand-biking.

“My biggest fear is that I am getting a bit old and the hill is steep. I had a recce in November, didn't get very far and had to walk part of that. Looking forward to the run downhill - just like white water racing.”

Paul Robinson sustained his injury, an incomplete spinal cord, in 1997 during karate resulting in a blood clot on the spinal cord, paralysing him from the neck down. The 42-year-old freelance highway engineer walks with crutches and uses a wheelchair for mobility having spent three years after his accident learning to walk again.

“I always led an active lifestyle prior to injury, and this included running and cycling. Post-accident, I spent about three years learning to walk again but realised in the latter part of this time I would never make a full recovery,” he says.

“It was hard coming to terms with not being able to partake in my previous sports and I became disheartened about the situation. In 2001 I resolved that I needed to overcome and adapt to my situation.”

He purchased a hand-cycle to get fit, undertook a coast to coast ride with friends and has never looked back competing in the New York Marathon and Denmark Marathon.

“I bought my first hand-cycle in 2001 second-hand for £800, I was immediately surprised how efficient the hand-cycle was and was immediately hooked on the independence, increased mobility it gave me,” he explained.

“It is important to me because it allows me to keep fit, independently, it is social, it’s empowering, it’s therapeutic physically and mentally and it’s great fun.”

From the start to the summit the route stretches 8.6kms with 878 ft of climbing, an average gradient of 10 per cent. The terrain ranges from a farm track and uneven hill path to a popular walking route and a stone-clad climb with a number of steps which will provide another technical challenge.

You can follow their progress at www.facebook.com/challengeyourboundaries and you can help by donating online at http://www.justgiving.com/teams/handbikesatdawn