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No reports since
7/25/04
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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