Pippa Mann Q&A

Pippa Mann made history last season, when she became the first British female to partake in the legendary Indianapolis 500. Racing alongside legendary figures such as Paul Tracy and Dario Franchitti, she made her presence known by qualifying 31st and finishing 20th.

Although the 2011 Indianapolis 500 will go down in history as the race where rookie JR Hildebrand crashed on the final corner of the final lap, thus gifting the lead to the late Dan Wheldon, it was also the race where a certain Pippa Mann made her debut. Since then, however, bad luck and a string of injuries have plagued her career in IndyCar.

After not finding a drive for the 2012 season, Pippa Mann talks about her season so far off-track and of her continuing quest of returning to one of the fastest sports in the world, the IZOD IndyCar Series.

Q: First of all Pippa, many thanks for taking the time to answer my questions. Although you unfortunately haven’t been racing in IndyCar this season, you’ve certainly been kept busy off-track. What’s your view on what has so far been an enthralling 2012 season?

Pippa Mann: While I haven’t been in a car this year, I have worked fairly hard to keep myself around at the race tracks, so I think I have a fairly good fan’s eye view of the series right now – just with a little more insider info, and a few more vested interests than your average race fan! I think overall racing with the new car has been great. It’s been entertaining for the fans, and interesting for the drivers. I think the new defending rules for the series this year have actually opened things up more than I thought they would, and I think overall the level of competition right now in the IZOD IndyCar Series is extremely high. The fan in me finds the races enthralling to watch this year, but the driver in me finds it so frustrating that I am having to watch such a great year rather than take part! I’ll be much happier when I get to see races from my preferred point of view again – the cockpit…!

Q: Throughout your career, you have raced on a number of iconic circuits such as Monaco, Spa-Francorchamps, Silverstone and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. What’s your favorite circuit you have raced on in your career and why?

PM: In Europe I always loved the circuits that either had really smooth, fast-flowing sections, or allowed for great passing – preferably both! My favorite track in the UK is actually Donington, and I have a lot of fond memories from there. Being that smooth is fast, and you can generally find a way around someone there. I loved Estoril in Portugal for it’s fabulous fast sweeping last corner, and the opportunities that would give me to make a big move on the can in front at the end of the long straight into turn one, and I love the sweeping fast sections of Monza, again the fast final corner onto the long straight there also providing great passing opportunities. I think that’s why I like the ovals so much. It’s about being fast and smooth, and setting people up to pass them just right all the time without any of the slow frustrating stuff! My favorite circuit of all time? From the first time I drove on it, to my historic pole there in 2010, to becoming the first British woman to qualify for the Indianapolis 500 in 2011, hands down the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. She’s a very special venue, and I have never raced anywhere like that before! There’s a saying we have in America – you don’t choose to win at Indy. She decides, and she chooses you!

Q: Over the years, female drivers in IndyCar have greatly outweighed female drivers in other major categories such as Formula 1. Why do you think female drivers have enjoyed more success in IndyCar in comparison to F1?

Pippa Mann has started three IndyCar races so far in her career.

PM: To give you the simple answer, quite simply there seem to be better opportunities for female drivers in America, both in terms of raising the funding to compete, and being awarded an equal opportunity to compete. The emphasis out here is on proving you can drive a race car. As with male drivers, some female drivers are more marketable for a host of reasons, and some less so, however out here it keeps coming back to performance in the car. If you drive well on a regular basis, you will get respect. Your results will influence people’s opinions of how well you can drive. This, in my opinion, is how it should be.

Q: Your first true taste of American motor sport came in the Firestone Indy Lights series. Unfortunately, the Firestone Indy Lights series isn’t widely broadcast in the UK, so could you please describe how the Firestone Indy Lights series differs to that of the IZOD IndyCar Series for my readers who might not have heard of the Firestone Indy Lights series before.

PM: The Indy Lights cars have a 450hp engine, and are basically a smaller more compact version of an IndyCar. However with IndyCars being so much larger than the shrink wrapped Formula One cars we see these days, the Indy Lights cars in themselves are not small machines. The races are 100 miles long, but they are sprint races with no pit stops for tyres or fuel. The reason for this is two-fold. In Europe, F1 and the various different feeder series all use tyre warmers for their pit stops, and so put on fresh hot rubber. In IndyCar and Lights, tyre warmers are banned. The risk of a four cold tyre stop in a series where drivers are still learning is relatively high. Also as IndyLights have never done pit stops, the teams would need to spend a lot of money gearing up, and this creates a large expense which always seems to trickle down the budgets. Indy Lights is a lot more affordable than trying to race GP2 or World Series by Renault back in Europe. The races generally last around an hour, but that time frame can be shorter or longer depending on how much time is spent under yellow, and the type of track. A green race on a mile and a half oval probably only takes around 45 minutes, but a race at Long Beach can easily take an hour and ten minutes.

The Indy Lights cars look more similar to the previous Dallara IndyCar than the DW12, as they are more of that generation of chassis. A new chassis is being introduced for that series too in the future. Other than that, the style of racing tends to be fairly similar between the two classes. As with IndyCar, in Indy Lights you have tools you can use in the car as a driver to adjust the handling of the car over the course of a stint, which you can’t in European single-seater series. The tools include rear and front anti-roll bar adjustments, and a weight jacker for the ovals. Also much like IndyCar, while there are some teams who are undoubtedly the ‘top’ teams, if you’re out there, week in week out, doing a good job with a smaller team, you can bring home results. This is one of the best things about competing in America – on a good day, with a good driver, even the small teams can run right up front.

Q: Your first victory in Firestone Indy Lights came at the Kentucky Speedway. What was it like when you first raced on an oval, after initially starting your career in Europe on road and street circuits?

Pippa Mann’s maiden Firestone Indy Lights victory at Kentucky in 2010.

PM: I will never ever forget my first time on an oval. It started when we first drove into the circuit and I saw how high the banks were at Homestead Miami Speedway. I said a variety of rude four letter words. I had no idea it would be THAT banked. It does not make the impact on you on TV that it does the first time you see it in real life! Then I got into the car, which was set up to turn left – as all oval cars are. This means that compared to a European car, or a road/street course car, they look all out of alignment before you even get in – like you slapped the wall really hard somewhere and bent your suspension leaving the wheels at different angles. They literally look like they’re leaning over. Then you first drive the thing, and it handles like a European car after you’ve slapped the wall and bent suspension too! My first thoughts were along the lines of “NO WAY!” and “YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME”. This was quickly followed by “I’M MEANT TO DRIVE THIS?!”

Q: You tried ever so hard to return to the Indianapolis 500 this season. Are you confident on returning to the IZOD IndyCar series in the near future?

PM: Not being able to put together the funding in time to get into one of the first 33 cars, and then there not being engines available when I did scrape the money together for this years Indy 500 was one of the most difficult and gut wrenching experiences I have had to go through. Being forced to watch a race from the stands, and not having the chance to get in a car and try and qualify after fighting so hard to make it in with a small team the previous year, literally at times made me feel unwell. I can’t describe to you the emotional roller-coaster I was on, nor having to deal with the reality of that battle ending without me getting in a car. Knowing there were so few entries this year made it even harder.

As to the future, I have been working on 2013 since May. I wanted to race again at the end of this season, and I have been very public about saying that, but the priority has always been the focus on 2013. I do not want to be in this position in 2013. I want to be back in a car on a full-time basis, because as a part time driver with inexperience it’s always a huge uphill battle even in the best of circumstances. I want to find a way to give myself a real opportunity to get out there and get the job done. Right now there’s a lot of work going into trying to make that happen. Watch this space…

Many thanks to Hannah Griffiths and Pippa Mann for the communication and time taken to complete this interview.

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