Lorraine
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Lorraine is 31 years old from Byfleet in Surrey. She is an IT Consultant and loves anything motorsport related, watching or participating. She has a road bike that she takes to trackdays and has also raced 100cc karts with Club 100. She has also recently become a Samaritans volunteer after a long-standing interest in people and psychology. Lorraine- “I love racing and would really value the opportunity to learn the secrets of driving and car control that Formula Woman would bring.”

Bio

My love of racing has grown gradually over the years. I wasn’t born into a motor sport family, and was instead brought up with dolls and books, and playing with my sister in the garden and on our bicycles. I have since found out that my dad used to race bikes years ago, so I feel that racing is in my blood.

I grew up watching the F1 on TV with my dad, and the Dukes of Hazzard, then the De Lorean in Back to the Future. I loved the look, the sound and the speed of this, and the bravery of the dare-devils driving these cars.

My first taste of getting in on the action was when I turned 16 and got a loan off my parents to buy myself a red and black Honda Vision, which back then was far cooler than my sis’s yellow Honda Melody I can tell you!

I think that getting my Yamaha TZR 125 at age 20 was the big turning point for my interest in all things racy – I suddenly started buying bike magazines and zooming around dreaming of my next bike. The following year I passed my test and moved onto faster bikes. I currently own a couple of race-inspired Honda NSR 250s. I love the revs of the NSR’s two-stroke engine, and it is so well balanced and fun to ride. My Honda Integra Type R is something quite special too, and just as banzai as my NSR.

Since my love of motor sport took off, I have been to many races of many kinds, and loved every one of them. From the chaos of watching banger racing with my dad when I was little to the thunder of a dragster, to the spectacular sight and sound of a world rally car in the Welsh forests, to the perfection of a Formula One car scaling Eau Rouge or the wail of a 500cc two-stroke MotoGP bike at Le Mans. The smell and sound of a race paddock sends a buzz through me, and I can’t wait to get a slice of the action myself.

Over recent years, I have been in the happy situation of competing more often than watching. I had some times of self-doubt when I first started racing karts – I was worried that I didn’t have what it took to race. But one day a switch flicked inside my head, and I’ve never looked back. I suddenly had innate confidence to believe in myself, and in my speed and ability to win.

In my racing, as in the rest of my life, I am a perfectionist in the most extreme way. I have a deep inbuilt need to get everything, even the unimportant things, 100% right, every time. If every detail is not absolutely right, I have failed. This is a very harsh standard to live by, and it has caused me a lot of grief over the years! However, I have found this to be a great asset in racing, as racing seems to me to be the ultimate in perfectionism, with everything focussed on getting every corner of every lap completely right, which is probably a big part of why I have grown to love racing so much. To begin with, I was overawed to see the standards that drivers such as Michael Schumacher pushed themselves and their teams to achieve, and now I have the opportunity to strive for those standards myself.

Riding a two-stroke means that I have become familiar with the inner workings of engines and electronics. Two-strokes love to seize, and NSRs can be finicky in many other respects too. I have lost count of the number of times that I have rebuilt the engine or spent hours puzzling over strange electrical problems. My mind tends to be very logical and ordered, so I took to this knowledge quite naturally. This logical approach has transferred to my interest in racing – I like to understand how the equipment works, and the effect of any changes.

I thought I had missed my chance by not racing when I was growing up, and then the Privilege Insurance Formula Woman championship came along, with the wonderful Mazda-RX-8 coupé. I am eternally grateful to Mazda and Formula Woman for allowing me to show them, my sponsors, and everyone else looking on, what I can do.

The success that I achieved in Formula Woman, winning three out of the seven races, has been an excellent stepping stone for moving up to the next rung of the motor sport ladder. I am looking forward to taking on a more challenging series in 2005.

Fun Facts

Name: Lorraine Pinner
D.O.B.: 3/14/73
Nationality: British
Lives: Surrey, UK
Status: Single
Family: Mum, dad, one elder sister – Jeanne
Height: 156cm (5' 2”)
Weight: 48kg (7 stone 10)
Pastimes: Anything motorsport-related – bikes, cars, karts. Reading, shopping
Star Sign: Pisces
Car: 1999 Honda Integra Type R, 1989 Toyota MR2
Bike: 1993 Honda NSR250R

Favourites:

Drivers: Michael Schumacher, Sebastien Loeb, Fernando Alonso
Bike Racers: Valentino Rossi, Daniel Pedrosa, Mick Doohan, Joey Dunlop
Cars: Either my Integra (because I know what that's like to drive) or a Ferrari Enzo
Bikes: Bimota 500 V-Due
Foods: Chocolate, Italian food
Colour: Red
Films: Austin Powers Goldmember, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Days of Thunder
Comedian: Eddie Izzard
TV: Seinfeld, The Simpsons, Sex and the City, Grand Designs, 5th Gear, F1, WRC, MotoGP, BTCC
Books: The Blind Assassin – Margaret Atwood, L.A. Confidential – James Ellroy, London Fields – Martin Amis
Music: 70's disco, funk, Coldplay, Garbage, Nine Inch Nails
Holiday destinations: Antigua, Fiji, and Wales for the Rally GB
Clothes shops: Miss Sixty
www.lorrainepinner.com (Not active)

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