Jennifer in action at the Bishopscourt Circuit (image by Michael Chester )
We catch up with Jennifer Mullan after Rounds 2 and 3 of the MicksGarage.com Formula Sheane championship at Bishopscourt Race Track
After a four and a half week break for the Micksgarage.com Formula Sheane Championship it was time to head North again, this time to the Co. Down venue of Bishopscourt Circuit for rounds two and three. Despite now living only ten minutes from Mondello Park, I was born just a few miles away from Bishopscourt in the nearby town of Downpatrick so I class it as my home race and always look forward to racing there.
We loaded up Friday morning and some of the team hit the road to get a head start setting up. With a limited number of days that the track can run due to noise restrictions, testing for the event was a number of weeks previous and unfortunately I didn’t make it due having surgery on my knee. I arrived up Friday night and everything was all set up and the cars were undergoing some final preparation ahead of Saturday morning.
There were two short ten minute practice sessions on Saturday morning ahead of qualifying in the afternoon. The day started off damp but compared to what was to arrive on Sunday morning the weather pretty much behaved itself for our sessions. The first few laps of qualifying was all about running in new brakes as the track dried and then try put in a few good laps towards the end when the track would be at its fastest. Every lap I got faster but unfortunately a brake problem I have been suffering with crept back in. I still managed to qualify 15th and was hopeful that I would move forward in the races. My team mate Barry Rabbitt had managed to put his goldenpages.ie car on third spot for race one and on pole position for race two which was a fantastic result.
As soon as I brought my SaySo.ie and MobileReady.ie Formula Sheane back to the pits the guys got to work and fixed the problem with the brakes. Barry and I sat down for a bit of driver coaching and went through his on board video and data to see if we could find where I could make up more time in the races. It was very clear where a lot of time could be made up!
Unlike Kirkistown there are no real facilities at Bishopscourt for dinner so we had packed the BBQ. You would think that in May that this would be a great idea but with Ireland being Ireland it wasn’t, there was only one thing for it and that was to BBQ inside the FCR Media Racing awning. This actually worked quite well to my surprise. It was then time to sample the shower facilities that were available at the track. It’s safe to say the water temperature was a little fresh!
After some much needed down time the guys set back to work and kept going late into the night working on the set up of the two cars for the following day. The weather that was to hit the circuit in the early hours of Sunday morning left us looking for a number for Noah and his Ark more so than getting ready to race cars with no roof!
Jennifer Mullan (Image by Tom Maxwell)
Quite a bit of the set up that was put on the car the night before now had to be changed but our race wasn’t until 11.50am so we decided not to do anything and hope that it might ease up. It didn’t, so some last minute adjustments were made and it was off to assembly for the race. Up until now I had never raced in the wet only qualified, so it was set to be an experience to say the least. I got a fantastic start off the line and made up a few places but there was an incident up ahead when another driver made contact with my team mate so it was a case of trying to tip toe through the carnage and not collect anyone. The rain continued to fall and conditions got worse. Going down the back straight I found myself pulling out from the spray of the cars in front of me just to try and see where the corner was. Unfortunately a spin at the third corner a few laps later left me with quite a bit of work to do to catch up. I was making progress when I suddenly I got an “IN” signal on my pit board from the team. I wasn’t sure why but I had assumed it was because I was having an issue with the body work on the car lifting a little but it turned out I had actually picked up a piece of Barry’s nose cone that got smashed in the incident at the start of the race in my side pod and as it was blocking one of the radiators. The team were worried that the car may over heat so made the call to pull me in, quickly remove it and get me back on my way as there was still a chance of a good points finish with so many people going off in the conditions or retiring after incidents. I brought the car home to a ninth place finish in the end.
Race two scheduled for later that evening was dry so I was hopeful of putting to good use the tips I had got the previous evening and getting a better result than race one. Again I got a good start and I was battling away but the big black clouds above struck again and it started to rain mid race. I started to fall back a little but then the Safety Car was sent out to allow the Marshals to clear an incident that was in an unsafe place at the side of the track. The Marshals did a great job and had it cleared in less than one lap but the Safety Car didn’t pick up the leaders when it came out and had to wave us all past and try pick everyone up again. This combined with another driver going incredibly slow and not catching up the rest of the field in time meant that after about five laps behind the Safety Car the race ended and I was unable to gain any positions finishing in 11th. On a better note Barry brought home the teams first podium finishing in third place but he also felt had the Safety Car come in sooner he may also have been able to move forward.
All in all the weekend was what you could describe as challenging, even though I didn’t have the pace I had hoped for I still learnt loads that I hope to carry over to my next event.
For me it’s now onto a fun event, the Cultra hill climb in Northern Ireland. The event is celebrating ladies in Motorsport this year and I have been invited to take part.
I would like to take the opportunity to thank www.SaySo.ie, www.MobileReady.ie, www.goldenpages.ie, www.wheelsforwomen.ie, www.motorsport.ie and Thomas J. Graham Sand & Gravel for their continued support.
Jennifer Mullan
24th May, 2013
