St. Gouëno: Stormy Weather

There were nearly as many English drivers as there were French this year at St. Gouëno (77/88), and with such a huge home crowd you could say I was highly motivated. I’d spent the week surfing, running and relaxing on the coast. As hard as it was tearing myself away, somewhere in Brittany there was a race calling.

It’s my 4th time competing at this hill, the scene of my first drive (and win) in France, and with some good results under my belt already this year I was gunning for the podium

The temperature had been climbing all week and at the meal on Thursday night pretty much everyone (myself included) was exhibiting some signs of sun burn. Friday was even hotter and over 30… I think we were all wondering how we’d cope on Saturday. Saint Gouëno is normally shrouded in early morning mist until the sun burns it off, but this year we were facing heat and thunderstorms – Saturday was looking ok but there was no way we’d escape the rain on Sunday.

My initial hurdle was getting my head into race mode, the last 8 weeks have been full on (10 consecutive weekends away from home) and the instant I arrived in Tranche-sur-Mer my body went into power down mode. At this time of year the sleepy little seaside town is just waking itself up for summer, and it was bliss driving to just forget about racing and bob around in the ocean searching for the next wave. On Friday afternoon I still felt like I was in relax mode and I was worried my focus might be lagging a little, but everything fell into place as I drove the course with my teammate Sarah that evening.

Race day started grey and overcast, it was cooler but by no means cold and with rain due around late morning there was a glimmer of hope that we’d get a dry run in. Sadly it came down hard and we took free practice on a soaking wet track, followed shortly afterwards by the first timed run. It was drying but I was concerned about puddles so I went out on wets again. This was first ever timed run I’d done in these conditions and the thing that surprised me most was the brakes which felt almost as good as in the dry… I posted a 1:35:951 to put me 10th fastest overall. By the time we took the second run I was sure there wouldn’t be a risk of standing water and opted to run on (a brand new set) slicks, I just needed it to stay dry as there would be a wait before the start.

I really went for it and set a 1:32:884 to put me 7th overall and 4th in class – I was buzzing when I got out the car, knowing that I’d pushed hard!!

The 3rd and final run was the hardest of all though, speaking with a few drivers in the previous batch they all told me it was 90% dry, but sadly the heavens opened pretty hard leaving us with a track that was soaking in places and dry in others due to tree cover over 3.2km. I was on slicks once more which in hindsight wasn’t possibly the best choice, but then it’s a guessing game when you find each corner offers different levels of grip…

I knew at the half way point I’d not gone quick enough, but then some corners were fully wet, it was horrible and I ran wide on the final left hander putting two wheels on the grass. Most drivers improved but I dropped time, leaving me frustrated to say the least.

Still, the car was in one piece and I had to look at the positives – 10th overall in Serie A, 7th in class, fastest lady and ahead of all the more powerful CN3 cars for the first time. Sadly I was unaware that the entire top rung of drivers have been trying to shower Olivier Henry (president of Écurie du Mené) in Champagne for the last decade, and made the schoolgirl error of standing next to him at prize giving…