Jo Polley's blog

Since my last blog I?ve had 2 more rounds, Brands Hatch in August where we had 3 rollovers and sadly one written off car (not mine thankfully!), I was going well in the race and had just taken 5th place when the biggest rollover happened around me I saw it coming in my mirror and had to put my foot down where I should of been braking going into Paddock to avoid it clipping my car and taking me out with it, I had to throw myself into the gravel but I managed to hold it and keep it straight and come back on the track although I lost loads of places and got back up to finish 9th, although I did the third fastest laptime just 2 tenths off the fastest lap which was pleasing and with the amount of damage that was done I was very grateful that my car was still in one piece.

We then went to Oulton Park for Round 9 on the Full International circuit, which Id not raced before so I tested on the Friday morning to learn the circuit and qualified a respectable 6th on the grid, my starts keep letting me down this year my car just does not pick up well off the grid and again I lost places off the start I had a fraught battle with Ben van den Boss which I eventually got the better of to finish 7th overall which wasn?t bad and puts me back up to 6th overall in the Championship. It all comes down to the last round which is on the Silverstone Grand Prix circuit supporting the Britcar 500, our championship table is really close and I need a good finish to keep me up in the top six.

A quick update on my brother in the Brisca F2, he has now done 86 meetings and has just came 3rd in the World Championship so he is doing really well and is on track for his 100 race meeting record.

I was chuffed to bits to get my first podium at Mallory Park last weekend. Mallory is my favourite circuit where I got pole last year but ended up planted in the inner Armco at Gerrards so this year I was determined to make my mark on the circuit that I am most confident on, what with coming from an oval racing background Mallory suits my driving (the banked Nascar ovals of America would be my ideal!) So, the race, I qualified 7th which wasn?t great after putting it on pole last year but the car is still not right from the crash at Silverstone and it was near enough the front to be in contention without too much pressure. I didn?t get a great start and dropped to 10th on the first corner but worked my way back through the field, getting up to 5th by about half way through fighting for positions backwards and forwards but still being within reach of the lead cars, all the positions in the top 8 were changing every lap it was an excellent race to watch and this time I didn?t make any mistakes just kept pushing forwards, literally door handle to door handle every lap with lots of draughting going on down the straights, with 2 laps to go I was ran onto the grass on the run up to the hairpin which could have ended messily but I kept it going, still in 5th place on the last lap I got a good run through the Esses for the last time and on the last entry to the hairpin I went for the inside line and came out 3rd with Ian Slark on my outside and it was a race to the line and literally a photo finish I beat him by 12 hundredths of a second for my first Podium finish in 3rd place. My car was absolutely hanging in bits from a lot of contact throughout the whole race but I was so pleased I didn?t care about that. I have had 38 podiums in Oval racing but it means so much to finally crack it on a circuit, hopefully there will be more to come.

I want to mention my brother Dave Polley, he races Brisca F2 stock cars on the ovals. I think he should register himself on Driver DB as he beats the top race winners by miles! He is trying to set a new record this year for the most meetings raced in one season (March-November) and aims to do 100 meetings, he has done 69 so far and has had a whopping 48 wins; 36 heats and 12 Finals, he has won the Scottish Championship, came 2nd in the UK Championship and is leading the National Points Championship currently by about 200 points. Brisca F2 is kind of the European equivalent of US Sprint Cars, it?s the biggest UK oval racing formula with over 600 registered drivers and races at over 25 different tracks. We are all really proud of what he has achieved so far and don?t doubt that with his dedication and ability he will set the new record.

Well the good start proved too good to be true and Im having a mid-season run of rubbish luck and stupid things happening. Ive had to learn 2 new circuits which Id not raced at before and neither of which particularly enamoured themselves to me, first was Donington, after a lovely sunny track evening the Thursday night before to learn the circuit and find my feet I was fairly confident and happy with the car, come raceday we had torrential rain for qualifying which didn?t bother me too much I don?t mind the rain and I was obviously not getting it too far wrong putting it 7th on the grid. Gambling on the weather it stopped pouring just before we went out for our race so we changed the wets to intermediates and after getting a great start I went for the brakes at Redgate and with the slippery surface and intermediate tyres nothing happened and I went straight into the back of Simon Tuckley?s car that was a bit sideways in front of me, t-boning him and took the pair of us sliding across into the kitty litter then the mud and we somehow managed to both come out the otherside still going but right at the back of the grid, I then played catch-up the whole race to get back to 11th. A good starting position wasted and points thrown away by a basic schoolboy error.

Next up was a double header at Silverstone on the scorching weekend following the Grand Prix. I tested on the Friday dodging the rain showers and was not very impressed with the short National Circuit the first lap I did I thought where?s the rest of it, surely that cant be it! It began to grow on me slightly the more laps I did and during a slightly dried out but still slippery session towards the end I passed and pulled away from the usual pole-sitters pair of cars so I was really pleased and confident for qualifying the next day which was a big disappointment as I got left out on my own with no-one to draft so I qualified 11th although it was only 1 second off pole it was not where I wanted to be. Drafting is vital to a good laptime in the minis with so little power. The 2 cars that are usually in the first 3 on the grid go round stuck together like glue which makes them faster than everybody else, not sure if team racing is quite fair really but that?s how it is and what the rest of us are up against. So from my 11th place on the grid of 27 Mighty Minis I got a good start and made a couple of places off the line, we all got round Copse the first time but at Becketts someone left their braking far too late and scattered cars everywhere which I was in the middle of and got battered from side to side then coming into Brooklands for the first time I was on the inside line and the two cars on the outside had a coming together and one got spun straight into me doing a load of damage to the drivers side front end and the poor mini wouldn?t carry on so I had my first DNF of the year. The impact shortened the drivers side wheelbase by 2? so my fantastic team of helpers worked late into the night pulling the car straight and for Sundays race I had to start last in 27th place on the grid, in the blistering heat I drove my arse off and managed to get up to finish 14th. Disappointed and disillusioned Ive now dropped down the Championship from 5th overall to 10th ? and Im left with a bent car, a big hole in my purse and god knows how we will find the time to mend it but Ill be back fighting for the next round which is at Mallory 26th July.

It has been a mad busy few weeks, having the first three rounds so close together but its been a pretty good start to the season for me. Round 1 at Cadwell Park I finished in 8th place which was a good improvement as Cadwell has been a bit of a bogey track for me and I had not cracked the top ten there before. Then two weeks later it was off to Snetterton for Rounds 2 and 3.

Qualifying was disappointing, I was in a pack of four and despite attempting to draft each other along we ended up slowing each other down and we all qualified lower than usual. I started 13th on the grid of 25 Mighty Minis and with a good start and furious first few laps I had worked my way up to about 8th before coming to lap a slow novice all of a sudden in the middle of Russell chicane in front of me and lifting off to avoid her the back came round and I spun in front of all the cars I had just worked so hard to pass. Somehow they all managed to avoid hitting me and I spent the rest of the race chasing like mad to eventually get back to finish 10th giving me my grid position for the next race, Round 3, after another furious skirmish in the first couple of laps I broke away and didn?t make any mistakes this time and worked my way up to a good finish in 6th place and did my best ever laptime round Snett.

With three consistent top ten finishes I am currently 5th overall in the Championship which I am very pleased with. My next round is at Donington on 6th June.

I?ve done my pre-season testing at Snetterton which was successful, it was the first drive since my crash at Mallory at the end of last year and we have put a new sub-frame and front end and pulled out the bulkhead on it, so we had some concerns that it might not go in a straight line but in the first session out I was putting in laptimes that would have put me fourth on last years grid, an improvement on tenth where I qualified there last year and that was without anyone to draft which makes a big difference in the little mini which doesn?t have much power, so we were really pleased that the rebuild appears to not have caused any problems.

It felt really good to be behind the wheel again and Snett is one of my favourite circuits to drive, by the end of the day I was brave enough to take Riches corner without braking which not many can do so I came away feeling confident in myself aswell as the car. The mini went to the Race Retro Show at Stoneleigh on my sponsor Richard Egger Insurance?s stand and had much admiration over the three days. So now I?m all ready and waiting for the season to start, the first round is still a couple of weeks away and this is the first time the car has been ready to go it?s usually lastminute.com racing with us as we have so much else going on all the time.

We have converted one of our Yokohama service vans over the winter to take the mini in the back so it is easier for me to be totally self sufficient. With my brother and boyfriend racing themselves in Brisca F2 and my parents working with the tyre van at weekends I am quite often left to go racing all on my own, and although I am quite happy towing a trailer its easier to have the car inside the back of the van and great being able to go in the fast lane haha!

Hi, this is my first blog so a bit of background on me; Im 32 and I live in the Cambridgeshire Fens although Im originally from Sussex. Unlike most drivers who start out in karts I came from oval racing in the junior formula Ministox, I won about 40 trophies for podium places over two seasons between the ages of 15-17. My dad is George Polley who was a massive star in Hot Rod racing so I was brought up around racing and always wanted to do it. I started racing on the circuits in the Mighty Mini Championship in 2007 and qualified 4th on the grid in my first ever race. It has been a huge learning curve for me ever since. I have won the Ladies Class of Mighty Minis for two consecutive years and nobody has ever won it for three years so that is one of my aims for this season along with podium finishes. I got my first Pole towards the end of last season at Mallory Park but frustratingly my race ended in the inner Armco at Gerrards. We rebuilt the car over winter and it was on the Go Motorsport stand at the Autosport Show in January. My first round is at Cadwell on 18th April, I am taking the mini out for her first shakedown since the rebuild later this week at Snett.