Winter Ford Fiesta Zetec Cup reports

The 2000 Winter Ford Fiesta Zetec Cup
By Helen Moore

Round 1 - Brands Hatch 21/10/00

After surviving a hectic qualifying session on a drying track, only to have my times disallowed due to being underweight, the prospect of starting my first Fiesta race 10 seconds behind the field only added to my already jangling nerves. My game was no longer to race but to play catch up.

As the rest of the field disappeared down Hailwoods Hill, I finally got the word to go from the Marshals. Frustration had set in and with masses of wheelspin I set off after the others.

A few sideways corners later I had reached the tail of the pack. Some had already found the gravel traps and the field had spread out.

My race was with two other guys at the back. Forcing one into a spin exiting Paddock Hill bend I made up one place and was chasing the next car. In wet conditions finding a way past was proving challenging and slowing our pace. This proved significant when the car I had passed earlier caught and past me into Druids hairpin after very heavy braking from both parties. With the three of us in convoy crossing the line I finishes my first race in one piece, ready and waiting for the next.

<pre> Results Pos. Driver 1 Terrance Clark 2 Colin Stancombe 3 Eoin Murray 4 Colin Turkington

</pre> Round 2 - Brands Hatch 22/10/00

Positions from race one determined the grid for race two. This meant I started in 19th rather than last as before! An almost dry track and slick tyres meant the race would prove challenging and interesting.

I made a bad start with a little too much wheelspin on cold tyres but this proved not to be a problem at Paddock where some decided to go off without having made it down the hill!

Chasing hard during the race and losing opponents to the gravel on the way, I decided to have my own 'moment' at Clearways. Trying to pass cars ahead of me, I got on the brakes hard and late, spinning mid corner and dropping to last place. This meant race two was also a race of playing catch up.

This time, however, I seemed to be dodging drivers left, right and centre as they threw their cars off the track all over the place, testing my reactions to the max!

I finished an exhausted 10th place, ahead of last year's champion Colin Stancombe but I don't know how or when that happened! Very few cars made it to the end of the race in one piece.

I came away with a trophy for the best female driver and more importantly a car in mint condition! A very rare thing in the Fiesta Zetec Winter Championship of 2000. <pre> Results Pos. Driver 1 Alan Blencowe 2 Nick Padley 3 Erik Holstein 4 Nigel Walker

[This race report was written by the driver of the car, Helen Moore. Helen was racing for Maxi Jazz Racing and is looking for sponsorship so she can race with the team again in 2001. Helen was sponsored for both races by Gideon Cresswell, the 1999 Formula Ford 1600 Champion and 2000 Formula Palmer Audi Winter Series driver, who was using the car and meeting to promote his web site at www.formulaford.co.uk.]