News
Safety Car Drive for Anna 04/10/08
Anna has been invited to be the Safety Car Driver at Donington Park this weekend driving an Audi RS6
Britcar 24 Hour Race 20/09/08
Anna enters Silverstone Britcar 24hr race with CTR Racing.
The team ran a BMW diesel in this years annual race entering a class of 7 other cars on a grid of 55. Having never raced a deisel before Anna impressed the team by setting the quickest time out of 5 other drivers in her 3 hour night stint. The car had few mechanical problems throughout the race and the team finished a fine 2nd in class 20th overall. Job well done.
Silverstone 22/03/08 Round 1
Anna fights back after challenging weekend
The 2008 Production S1 championship began at Silverstone last weekend – and even for those familiar with Silverstone’s changing weather the howling blizzards of snow mixed with sun and blue sky’s seemed extraordinary and challenging for both organisers and teams.
Anna is back racing another season with Geoff Steel, after being asked to take the wheel of one of Geoff’s BMW 3.2ltr 360 Bbhp machines. Anna started the weekend by revealing her BMW’s new eye catching colour scheme for the championship, raising a few eye brows and keeping the photographers snapping.
Pairing up with her for the season is VW Champion, Tony Gilham, who will also be racing in the Porsche Carrera Cup with Redesign Racing.
Anna comments:
“Tony and I make a good partnership - we both have the hunger to win this year and we work well together pushing each other on”.
The pair were quick at the official Britcar and PS1 press day the week before and had high expectations for the race weekend.
Friday Test:
Weather conditions were constantly changing, Anna went out first on wets to shake the car down.
“The car felt strong for the first few laps but I soon ran into problems and headed for the pits”
The diff was leaking oil and needed to be changed which put a stop to the pair’s morning test. However, it was sorted quickly and Tony got behind the wheel for the afternoon session. After setting some good lap times Tony didn’t appear on the 6th lap and the red flag was waved. The engine had let go leaving oil all over the track at Luffield.
The car was towed back to the garage, and Anna’s head engineer, Will Fields, took one look at the engine and knew it had to be changed.(well, the two inch hole in the cylinder head and another in the bottom of the engine block gave it away a little!). Undeterred, the team shot back to the Lincoln workshop, to collect a standard BMW engine and then worked solidly though the night replacing the damaged engine.
Friday ended with Anna and Tony knowing they had their work cut out for the next day. Only a few laps completed on test day and now the car was over 40bhp down on power.
Saturday Race:
The looming snow storms held off long enough for the pair to qualify 10th on the grid, but being hard racers they weren’t phased by this grid position.
“It’s all down to race craft now” said Anna.
First decision was what tyre to race with as black clouds could be seen to be coming nearer and snow was forecast. Anna and Geoff went with slicks deciding the wind would blow a lot of the snow off the track and leave a dry racing line. Anna started the race on the outside with the Seat Cupra of Jamie Stanley’s, the Honda Civic of Alan Blencowe’s and the Evo of Gary Furst around her. Two green flag laps were given and Anna worked hard weaving aggressively to get heat into the tyres as the first snow flurry hit.
Clipping the kerb at Woodcote the lights went out and Anna had dropped right back.
“I’ve lost power!” she shouted down the radio.
The standard engine had gone into safety mode!
Anna turned everything electrical off - wiper, lights and diff pump. It took half the circuit for the power had come back with Anna holding her position with a strong defence. With blue skies above and a dry racing line, the power returned and Anna did what she does best - she had a storming race with Alan Blencowe and Jamie Stanley, the cars being three abreast at one stage. By racing hard she made up 5 places overall.
Once Anna was through and had pulled a gap the team called her in to hand over to Tony. With the snow holding off, Tony drove a storming race putting in good times and chased down the 4th place Alpha of Donaghy and Clonis. They battled hard with each other with Tony passing it a couple laps into his stint. However, this didn’t last long with the lower bhp really telling and the Alpha got through. Undefeated, Tony fought hard and managed to catch the Alpha diving up the inside on the last lap.
The BMW crossed the line in 4th place. A strong result from what was one problematic weekend.
Successful test at Silverstone press day
Anna had her first outing in the BMW at Silverstone last week. The day was the official launch of the 2008 Britcar championship. The test went well, we were the quickest on track in PS1 posting consistent times in the 1.03secs.
Anna comments:
"The work and developement we have done to the car over the winter has paid off, we made some changes to the set up which improved my lap times. I couldn't stop smiling all day, well done team!"
Anna looks forward to the first race of the year at Silverstone 22nd March.
Anna Instructs Zoe Wenham in her first season in Saxmax
Zoe Wenham has been karting for years and now steps up to make her car racing debut in Saxmax for 2008.
Anna has been keeping a watchful eye on Zoe’s racing career for the last few years:
“I have seen Zoe race karts and was impressed with her skills on track, I am delighted to of taken Zoe under my wing this season and hope to make the transition from karts to cars as easy as possible for her”
Anna switched from karts to cars at the same age as Zoe, 14 years old, where she raced T-Cars.
“I didn’t have any guidance through the transition I know how valuable it would have been”.
“I will be pushing Zoe hard in testing but also off track, her focus and fitness is crucial to keep up as it’s all part of being a quick driver”.
Anna is a fully qualified ARDS Racing Instructor working at Thruxton and Brands Hatch as well as doing manufacturer work.
Zoe’s first outing under instruction in the Saxo was last week. Anna comments:
“She listens, thinks and then puts it into practise. The improvement from her first lap to the last was impressive and her speed raised a few eye brows. I’m looking forward to working with Zoe for the rest of this year”.
The pair will be working together throughout the season. To follow Zoe’s progress visit www.a2zmotorsport.co.uk and to get in touch with Anna log onto www.anna-racing.co.uk
Anna signs with Geoff Steel Racing
Up and coming driver Anna Walewska has committed to Geoff Steel Racing for 2008.
Anna will be racing the Production S1 Championship run by the EERC Britcar. This will be her second full year in the championship and she has big expectations:
“After finishing 3rd last year I am aiming to win it this year. The car has undergone a lot of work over the winter and will be out on the 28th Feb at Silverstone. The team and I have a really good working relationship and I believe we have developed the car enough for it to be running at the front this year, we will have to wait and see. PS1 is going to be very competitive with big grids I can’t wait to get stuck in”
Geoff Steel Racing who ran a car in BTCC Touring cars last year will also be running Michael Symons and Andre D’Cruze in Britcar in a BMW GTR. The team won the Britcar championship with Simon Leith and Steve Bell again in a BMW last year and are aiming for a repeat this year both in Britcar and PS1.
Anna’s British GTs plans are still being negotiated, she comments:
“I would love to do GTs this year it would be a good career move for me. I am talking to teams but of course it is all budget permitting, I have a major sponsor in the pipeline and am waiting for a response. Fingers crossed they will back me to do British GTs if not this year next year, watch this space”.
Anna’s first race: 22nd March Silverstone
Britcar race dates have been released. You can find them on Anna’s new web site: www.anna-racing.co.uk |