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Press Releases by Claire Tippet
October 3, 2004
Claire
Tippet: Feeling the Strain at the Season Finale
Claire Tippet (Cheltenham) came away from the final round
of the VW Racing Cup feeling more than a little frustrated.
Held at Brands Hatch, Kent, the season finale fielded the
year's largest grid with 30 VW cars of various models taking
the start. Claire took to the grid in the series' oldest Golf
and sadly the ageing engine was showing signs of strain.
"It is time for the engine's retirement" says Claire.
"We have obviously worked on a tight budget which has
limited development this year but that hasn't stopped me giving
101%. This weekend during qualifying there were some glimmers
of hopes as I took over 1.5seconds off my best time from testing
the day before but the car hit its threshold. The engine is
getting older and I pushed it to its very limits but was disappointed
I could only qualify in 27th, I would have hoped for better."
Race One went on Sunday morning (3rd October) in cloudy but
dry conditions. "I made a good start" recalls Claire,
"an incident to the inside saw cars bunch up and I could
easily take the outside line and made up something like four
places very quickly. Then suddenly I came on to the back straight
to be faced with a car park! The safety car had been deployed
and had stopped on track. A Caddy behind me was equally shocked,
narrowly missed hitting me and ended up on the grass!"
The
race was restarted after a couple of laps behind the safety
car and Claire soon found her lack of power left her trailing.
Disappointment was to follow when her brakes locked and sent
her bailing into the gravel trap, bringing her race to a premature
end.
The gravel caused some minor damage to the car which was sorted
before the afternoon's second race but from the onset Claire
knew it would be a race of attrition for her Golf.
"There was very little power" Claire says, "and
the car became very unpredictable. The engine was misfiring
and it was very fluffy. At times it just purely chugged! But,
I was determined I was going to finish the final race of the
season so I trundled on and tried not to get in the way. It
was a disappointing way to end what has otherwise been a great
debut season for me but I suppose that is the reality of motor
racing!"
Claire will now use the winter to finalise plans for her 2005
campaign, in which series has yet to be confirmed. "Together
with my management team at Action Resources Limited, I am
looking at a number of options for next season which I am
very excited about" says Claire. Strategic partnerships
and sponsorship opportunities are available and if you would
like to benefit from the media coverage Claire receives and
support a young British driver please contact Rebecca Hobbs
on: 07742 431479 or email: rebecca@clairetippet.com
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