After a four hour drive, I arrived at Pembrey Circuit in Wales. The test day began with a cold, wet and frosty track and a familiar adrenaline rush as I was shown round the G20. The day was made all the more exciting by the arrival of F1 legend Damon Hill! He was there testing a car himself (not a G20).

My quick review of it would be: Not as quick as a Caterham (1st to 2nd is slower) - we timed my laps and they were a few seconds off from my lap times in July in the 7's at the track. Less twitchy than a 7. "Lazy" but comfortable driving position. Steering responsive and smooth. We tested a few different tyres and it really made a difference so bear that in mind if you drive one. The interior is very spacious. The dash is very basic, there are very few controls and a random huge amber light for ignition engage. I felt quite protected even though the shell is only fibre-glass. It looks good - quite retro.

The pedals and steering etc are all inter-changeable so you can tweak the cars a little to how you like it set-up. I got to drive 2 different G20's and the first was not great to drive due to the tyres and the pedal set-up, but the second was fantastic!

As far as finances go... All the brand new 2008 Ginetta G20 cars have been sold but they do have some second hand ones for sale. As for mechanical support etc, there are a few teams that can support you but the prices are steep. If you buy a car for 12k (ish), i'll need to put aside about 20k for full 2008 season race team support. So i'm on the hunt for a mechanic of my own!!

The next level up from a G20 is a G50 (below). £40,000 worth of pure racing car...

Let me just give you a little bit of background here. I sold my Mercedes SLK as I needed the money for my racing. Bought an old M3 to replace it. The M3 got car-jacked from me and when it was returned (I had a tracker installed) I didn't want to drive it anymore. So I sold it. Paid off my credit card and spent the rest of the money on my racing gear (helmet, race suit, training fees etc). So ever since I sold my car I have been borrowing my dad's 1999 Volvo V40. Which is very nice of him and actually a very nice car to drive. Except for when you put your foot flat to the floor and the steering wheel flips to the left... but that's another story. I drop my dad off at the station (he works in London) each morning and pick him up in the evening.

So now that you know the 'car situation' background, I can tell you what went wrong with my Monday morning...

Dropped my dad off at the station as usual and was heading back home to pick up my laptop when I got a phone call. So I pulled over in a dead end part at the end of my road to take the call. Turned the engine off. When I tried to re-start it, nothing… so I walked home. Figured I’d leave it for half an hour and try again. But nothing. Phoned RAC but as it was classified as a 'home start' they would not be able to attend for a few hours. It was already approaching 10am and I had a meeting at work at 10am...

So I had a bright idea to use my dad’s classic car (Volvo 122 Amazon) to jump start it. Got the garage open, the classic car started using the choke, and the car backed out (this took about half an hour)… I'd never driven this Volvo before so it was all new to me but figured I was only going down the road so it would be ok. pulled up infront of the V40 and the classic car conked out! Now I was in a dilemma... I looked around for inspiration...

So had to ask 2 builders if I could borrow them and their van to help jump start the cars… they said yes (thankfully!) and stopped their work to help me out. We got the V40 started after 30 mins charging it and I drove it home then ran back. 

Next we tried to start the classic car. But we couldn’t get the classic one started. So we pushed it up to the top of the hill (it's blimmin heavy) so I could roll it home. But it wasn’t rolling very well when we got to the top so I had to push it on my own for a bit and finally I sat in it and wondered what to do as it was still a few mins walk from home. I decided to give it one last try... and it started. Drove it down the road, opened up the garage etc...

But when I was putting it into the garage I hit my head on the door surround and got concussion. All of this took from 8am until 12pm! I got to work at 2pm, just in time for the end of the meeting I was supposed to attend...

I have a lovely attractive lump on my forehead today...!

Well, i'm in! I can't believe it! I actually got through to boot camp of the Formula Woman competition... it's action stations all around now as I continue my fitness training and attempt to sell my car... (I have no money for the training days, need to free up some funds!)

If you know anyone who wants a Mercedes SLK 320 (2001) in silver then let me know... I need to sell it to fund my future...

I'M IN!!!! WOO!!! I can't describe the elation right now!

Yesterday was the second round of Formula Woman 2007 (http://www.formulawoman.com). I attended the AM session at Brandshatch. Which meant I had to get up at 5.30am... but I didn't mind Got there at 7.30 and signed on at 8am.

There were 40 of us there and split into 4 groups to do the following tasks:

1. Caterham driving, where instructors will be looking for natural talent and car control skills as opposed to out right speed at this stage. Three laps under instruction and then 2 assessed laps.
2. A basic fitness test
3. A written test covering general motorsport knowledge
4. A karting assessment
5. A 2 minute talk in front of a journalist on why I deserve a place in the Formula Woman Championship.

It was a tough morning! But I think I did ok...

Not so good on the written test... My mind went blank for the written test so I know I didn't do great on that. But hey, there is always room for improvement - if my driving was good enough they can help me advance my knowledge, right? Um...

But God I HATE bleep tests. Takes me back to nightmares of my schooldays. But I wasn't the first to drop out so that's something I suppose! I was a bit annoyed at myself for not staying in long enough. I just have my own pace I run at and the bleep test soon got too quick for me!

I had never been karting before and that was great fun actually, really enjoyed it We had a few practice laps and then a few races. Managed to overtake some people so that was good! Only spun once ;-)

The driving of the Caterham accounted for the most points and this was difficult as it was driving round the cones in the paddock. Quite tricky and you only get about 7 minutes in total! Eeek! But I didn't spin, I didn't knock any cones over and the driver didn't shout at me. So can't have been too shabby! We were told not to go fast but to concentrate on car control. There was a great little slalom we had to go through, was loving it and didn't want to get out of the car when it was all over way too soon.

The talk with the journalist was quite funny, I blabbered on a bit to the poor guy... no problems there!

We don't find out the results until Mid-May. I'll update you then - only 100 get through to the next round (boot-camp). So I have a 1 in 5 chance! If I don't get in this year then dammit I will try again, and again... I did as well as I could. If that's not enough then I need to work harder obviously!

Thinking of buying a Caterham, they are a dream to drive... then I could take it on trackdays! My mind wanders...

Debs

Today I got an email confirming my acceptance (out of 1300 applicants) into the Formula woman 2007 Competition! Woohoo. Here's a quick description of what the competition entails:

Formula Woman is a unique concept designed to attract and assist more women to enter the previously male-dominated arena of motor sport and is the only female motor racing Championship in the country. Over the past 3 years there have been over 15,000 entrants to the Formula Woman competition and television programmes on ITV 1, Channel 4 and Sky Motors TV.

I'll update you again shortly! This could be the start of something BIG!

Debs...