Claire Tippet
Name: Claire Tippet
Age: 24
D.o.B: 6th September 1981
Place of Birth: Taplow
Residence: Nr Oxford
Occupation: Self Employed ARDS Instructor
Marital Status: Not married!
Hobbies: Exercise, especially boxercise. Previously shopping until I spent all my money on racing!
Racing History
Claire first raced in September 2003 at Brands Hatch in the BRSCC Road Saloons driving a VW Mark I Golf, the only female competitor. She continued in this series until the end of the season getting a 6th at Snetterton.
Claire then took part in the 2003 Winter Saloon Series, finishing 3rd in class at Brands Hatch in wet conditions.
For 2004, Claire entered the Volkswagen Cup, the first female to compete in the popular and fast growing championship. Claire is racing a VW Mk1 Golf 1.8 8V with ATMR who also run a Beetle and diesel Mk IV Golf.
Bits & Bobs!
Favourite Racetrack: Oulton Park (International)
Racing Hero: Derek Bell
Dream Racecar: BTCC Vauxhall Astra
Current Roadcar: Fiat Punto Sporting 1.2 16v
Dream Roadcar: MINI Cooper S or a Noble M12 GTO3
Favourite Movie: Just laughed my pants off at Shrek 2!
Favourite Music: I have pretty eclectic taste and depends on my mood too. Scissor Sisters are fantastic, Damian Rice, Ryan Adams, Dido and Maroon 5 are faves
Favourite Food: Most! Live on salads but love the odd Indian
Favourite Drink: Non-alcoholic - a fruit smoothie after a workout, alcoholic - Archers and lemonade or good old cider!
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Gail Hill
Gail Hill lives in Oxfordshire and is one of the new breed of competitive women who took up motor-racing after trying their hand at a range of other things, including athletics, marriage and parenthood. She came to the sport four years ago and has been consistently competing in a Jaguar XJS in the "Jaguar World Monthly"/Classic Spares XJS Championship.
A former Quantity Surveyor with a degree in psychology, Gail is now well into a second career working as a Manager in the UK's National Health Service supporting people with learning difficulties to live within their own communities.
Gail is now an active Member of the British Women's Racing Drivers' Club (BWRDC) through racing her currently self-funded 4-litre road-going (Class D) Jaguar XJS straight six and a modified (Class G) V-12. She has also tested a Caterham.
In 2005, Gail won Class D of the XJS Championship and was third overall (winning the BWRDC's Hillwood Trophy and becoming Goodwin Trophy runner-up). In 2004 she was runner-up in Class D and in 2003 she finished fourth in the Class D standings and won the BWRDC's Jean Denton "Best Newcomer" Trophy. Gail has achieved Class wins at venues such as Silverstone, Cadwell Park, Croix en Ternois, Mallory Park, Oulton Park, Lydden Hill, Donington Park, Rockingham and Snetterton. She currently writes for "Jaguar World Monthly" on a regular basis.
Gail Hill's immediate aim is to win the overall Jaguar XJS title in 2006 and to race a Caterham later in the year. Longer-term she sees herself racing at the Goodwood Revival and competing in a major British tin-top championship as well as in Australia's "great race," the Bathurst 1000.
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Sarah Franklin
Sarah is well used to driving rapid motor-cars on road and track and, having already established herself as a Partner in her own legal practice in Kettering (the firm of Terence Bailey - Solicitors - 01536 485 398), she is now about to become one of the new breed of women determined to compete against men in this sport on equal terms.
Sarah Franklin's enthusiasm for racing was generated over the past year by Graeme Glew's Formula Woman initiative but this irrepressible competitor sees no great future in competing solely against those of her own gender and is now stepping out and investigating other opportunities.
After a winter exploring the single-seater ERA and Zip Formula routes, Sarah has considered a range of options and has become the first woman to be managed by Roger Phillips's Action Resources organisation - who launched their own "Women in Motor-sport" feature on this website in 2003.
The intention now is that Sarah will build upon her experience on track in non-single seater disciplines and she has been testing during the summer with Reflex Racing in their AVO Ginetta Championship cars - the test pictured within our own "Action Gallery" (accessed at the foot of each page) at Brands Hatch in June saw Sarah drive the car raced this year by ex-BTCC and ex-ETCC hot-shoe, Tom Ferrier.
Sarah is now to race a Reflex Ginetta - a newly built machine - for the first time in the final three races of the 2004 AVO Ginetta Championship (which accompanies the British F3/GT Finals) at Brands Hatch on 2/3 October and she has created quite a stir in her local Northamptonshire media as a result, with a full-page piece in the Kettering "Evening Telegraph" on 3 August and a terrific article on "the legal racy lady" in the County's "Business Times" for September 2004.
You can be sure that the lawyer from Northamptonshire will take an intelligent approach to the whole process - she is a Member of Mensa. That is the international organisation founded in England in 1945 whose Members achieve the very highest scores in IQ tests.
The men might just get outfumbled altogether. This is one determined and committed woman.
