WHITLEY SHORT LISTED FOR SPAIN

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Whitley Shortlisted for Spain

January 30, 2019

Alexandra Whitley

photo credit: W Series

Over the weekend of the 25th of January I attended the W Series driver selection camp in Melk, Austria along with 54 other highly competitive and successful female drivers from across the globe.

We were put through thorough and extensive testing across all areas of Motorsport in the snow, rain, wind and ice! We had to learn, adapt and perform. I am proud to say I have made it through to the final selection and will test an F3 car in Spain in just 6 weeks time. This means I am one step closer to securing a drive within the W Series driving Formula 3 cars in Europe in the 6 round championship.

I took it upon myself to fly over a day earlier than the other competitors. I wanted to ensure jet lag wouldn’t affect my performance as i had the farthest to travel and 12 hours of time difference to adapt my body to. The flights were long and very boring but I used the time to prepare myself mentally and make sure i was focused on the job ahead. Arriving in Vienna was a little surreal and freezing cold, no one could understand my Aussie turned Kiwi twang and i had no idea what they were saying either! I managed to catch a train to Melk and watched snow fall for the first time. It was a truly magical experience.

As the other competitors started arriving the atmosphere turned tense and we knew it was going to be a challenging few days ahead, but I was ready. We started with media interviews and hero shots, suit fittings and meetings, it was pretty clear from this point our every move was being critiqued and judged. I just wanted to get to the track. That’s where I most feel at home! I met Shea and Emma (who would inevitably make it through with me by the end of the weekend) and we walked a long and cold 10km to get our first glimpse of the Wachauring circuit before everyone else and it was so worth it!

It was finally time to get to the track and start our assessments. We were welcomed with open arms and told to ask many questions. The assessment was run by ex F1 and 2 time Le Mans 24 hr winner Alex Wurz and his extremely professional team from test and training.

Everything was kept extremely fair and even to highlight the pure talent of the drivers. We were then allocated into groups, I was in Team Melbourne and our first module was team work. The panel certainly teamed us up very well as all the teams got on like a house on fire and pushed each other well. We learnt to work with each other, negotiate with sponsors, get the job done, be punctual and the list goes on. It was a lot of fun and a great way to build the teams relationship for the days ahead.

Our first driving assessment was smooth driving. We were put into ford fiesta ST’s and sent out onto the icy track in a high gear to set the fastest lap possible without changing gear. Being smooth with steering, braking and accelerating was the key! along with keeping the speed up so you didn’t stall. It was tricky but I was confident in my performance. Throughout the whole process we weren’t told or times or how we had performed.

Next up was car control in the Porsche Cayman S road cars. We drove over a kick plate which flicked us into a spin across the super slippery painted bitumen whilst needing to avoid obstacles, then drifted around an even slipperier skid pan before coming to a stop with the added pressure of knowing we were being timed. A lot of the girls struggled spinning left right and centre, I learnt quickly from their mistakes and mine, adapted and nailed my run.

Our last assessment for the afternoon was fitness, we were measured, weighed and tested on different physical fitness abilities such as flexibility, strength and our V02 max. this was tough and I’m still sore! We all learnt our strengths and weaknesses and know what we have to work on going forward. I’m fit and left nothing in the tank with my effort and performance. It was a huge day and this was just the first day. It was back to the hotel to rest and prepare to do it all again!

I didn’t sleep that night , I still hadn’t adapted to the time change but I did my best to rest as i knew I would need all my energy and concentration for day 2. Our team were straight back into the cars right away starting with the fords again, but assessing coordination this time. The melted snow had turned to ice overnight and the conditions were extremely difficult. We had to find grip by picking the right line, be fast by choosing the right gear and navigate our way around the track without coming off or hitting cones. The snow melted quickly but parts of the track still had solid ice across the turns.

Next it was back into the Porsche as we were tested on driver ability. We started from a stand still, navigated our way around a course onto the slippery circle where we had to drift back the other way, back around some tight U turns and onto the icy skid pan whilst avoiding obstacles then stop to finish the clock. It was a lot of fun and we all enjoyed the power of the Porsche again and i left nothing out on the track and drove right on the limit.

That afternoon we had media interviews, I took my CV with me and whipped it out in my interview, by the end the judges were smiling so that was a great sign. Soon after we had another driving exercise which was a front wheel drive manual car with go jacks under both rear wheels on the side of a slope! this taught us how to drive smooth and fast, understanding how to get the most from a front wheel drive car and the centrifugal forces that act on it. Everyone was laughing there were some hilarious performances. my run felt slow and i hit my first cone for the weekend, but I had given it my all.

Finally to end day 2 we went through psychological profiling process to help the experts understand as athletes how our minds work and think, again it was a great opportunity to learn more about ourselves and our own personality traits.

We woke up on the final day to 4 inches of snow, it was beautiful! And going to be very tricky, we got the chance to show the new skills we had learned over the past few days and race! The Race Of Champions style format is a knockout process where we would eventually have 1 winner. we were driven around the track in a huge bus and shown where the course went and where the icy parts were. we each had to complete an inside and outside lap crossing over on the straight and the winner from each heat would progress to the next round. It was finally my turn, slipping my helmet on was such a good feeling. In our practice lap I took in the conditions, how the car was responding and the grip levels, I drove my hardest as we slid around the track and beat my opponent to the line. Yeehaa it was a close race and I later found out she was a highly regarded GT3 driver. Our heat must have been fast as she made it through to the next round as lucky loser. My next race was against Emma, she was fast and has a lot of snow experience, she beat me to the line. I was disappointed, but still set a great time. I knew over the course of the weekend I had nothing left to give, I pushed myself physically, mentally and took in all the advice I was given.

This week has been the experience of a lifetime, truly exceptional in so many ways. Words don’t describe how we are feeling and personally I can’t thank the W Series team enough for the opportunity they have given us. We have learnt so much about ourselves on and off the track and will all put our best foot forward in Spain.

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