There was the rain, the dramas, some good racing too, a little bit of sunshine, so a typical 2CV 24hrs again. 29 cars started and in some fashion or another 29 finished.
As the cars began to assemble for the start, the rain began to fall again and continued for over three hours before the skies began to clear.
From lights out 2CV Lion’s Pete Sparrow and KT Racing’s Kris Tovey were out in front, from the Crisis at Tete Rouge car of Andrew Bull, Pork Pie Racing’s Jon Harmer and Team Gadget’s Sandro Proietti.
Despite leading at the first hour, 2CV Lion had an early drama, “I had just been overtaken by a C1 as we came into Coram. I couldn’t see the corner in the spray and when it cleared I was heading for the grass, “ Sparrow explained. Team mates Lion Hansgrohe had been early stoppers though, “it broke a rocker, so it was a very early engine change” said Giles Owen.
Bull led for Crisis after two hours, while 34 seconds covered the KT and 2CV Lion duel, while Sean Sidley had brough Dilligaf up to fourth.
Four hours in and the rain had almost gone and the skies brightened, giving a little respite before dusk arrived. The KT squad of Tovey, Peter Rundle, Louis Tyson and 24hr debutant Alex Cockhill had managed to put a lap on the 2CV Lion trio, but they were still split by Crisis at Tete Rouge, with Nick Roads, Ian Gibbon and Brian Heerey taking over from Bull.
By quarter distance though Gary Adnitt and David O’Keeffe had been in for 2CV Lion and they were back into second, as Crisis at Tete Rouge slipped to eighth, with Team Gadget now third, from Rosie Walford, Dilligaf and Pork Pie Racing.
As we passed midnight the lead duo were back on the same lap, with Gadget’s Tom Perry, Simon Clarke and Nicholas Home sharing with Proietti still in third, with a lap in hand over Rosie Walford’s Mick Storey and Ethan Sparrow, sharing with Steve and Julie Walford.
Pit stop strategies and even lengths of driver stints varied massively, but dramas were only just beginning to unfold. At half distance it was 2CV Lion a lap up on KT, but Dilligaf were into third, with a two lap cushion over Crisis at Tete Rouge and Rosie Walford, with ECAS’s Glen Oswin, Martin Sunderland, Matthew Arrowsmith-Brown and Howard Wright completing the top six.
Before dawn broke Twin Snails race was all but run. They had their first engine change in the first hour, after an early misfire, followed by contact damage which bent a rear arm and further problems.
Hollis’s also had a early recovery when Glen Burtenshaw expired after just 16 laps, after he had an early dice with Dilligaf’s Sidley.
Team Gadget had a bad night too, with two engines failures in one stint. “The first one was mine, but the second was when the fan was pushed into the radiator. It was running OK when I came in, so Tom was already in when that went,” said Clarke.
Sparrow had vacated the lead car at 7.30 with a two lap cushion over KT. He handed to O’Keeffe, who was heading for the pitlane at just after 9am. “It dropped a valve coming though the Bombhole, but I managed to limp to the pits,” he said.
KT had also been in with more drama, “I could smell gearbox oil and the car was spluttering, but I managed to keep going for 20 minutes until it got worse. Then when I pitted we lifted the bonnet and the engine was covered in oil,” Tyson explained, as they changed both the gearbox and engine.
Rosie Walford were out of the running too, “the gearbox consumed itself about 7am, and we had been going well from about third to fifth,” Storey explained.
Crisis at Tete Rouge had been recovered too after Heerey lost a front wheel.
2CV Lion had pitted with an eight lap advantage over Dilligaf, but when they rejoined it was down to two, with Adnitt in the car, and Crisis at Tete Rouge amazingly still third, with KT down to fourth but on the same lap.
The Dilligaf trio were briefly back on the same lap, but in the sunshine of the final hours, O’Keeffe was back in for 2CV Lion and managed to consolidate to take a three lap victory over Dilligaf’s Crispin.
“A great race, I did a stint of 88 laps in just under three hours during the night in the rain and was concerned about a fuel when I came in,” said Adnitt, as he prepared to celebrate with team mates O’Keeffe and Sparrow, a 14th win in the race for Sparrow.
“Second again, but fairly troublefree. I had a trip over the grass after going sideways early on a drying track, but just kept going,” said Crispin.
There was a 19 lap gap to third, where Crisis at Tete Rouge held on. “We lost 18 minutes changing jets after about five hours, as it fell apart and we couldn’t get it out, so we had to remove the manifold, plus Brian’s wheel,” Roads explained.
In fourth were a delighted SL crew, “a really strong race for us, no real drama and it was great to have George hand the car back to me for the last half hour,” said Laurence Broadhurst.
After challenging for so much of the race Cockhill brought KT home in fifth, with Max Wyer sixth for Lion Hansgrohe.
The Blue Frogs of Richard and Rowland Plyer, with Ghislain Brisset and Florentin Pancher were next, before the Chris Yates, Darren Shepsman, Luke Allan and Marc Noaro for Blueberry Muffins.
The Muffins had a problem though just before midday on Sunday. “The brake pad fell out and then the piston shot out of the caliper, so there was aluminium welded to the disc. It wasn’t me though, it was Marc,” said Shepsman.
Green Frog and debutants Surrey Speed completed the top 10, “we were up to sixth for a while, but lost 45 minutes when an exhaust clamp broke and then a kingpin snapped and we had to change the suspension,” said Surrey Speed Shops Alex Elbrow.
Pork Pie were next, with ECAS 12th, “we had to an engine change at about 3.30am, my first failure for 10 years,” said ECAS’s Oswin.
Reggie-Mental and Rosie Walford both made it home too, but it was touch and go for the Hollis squad. “The exhaust dropped down and melted some wires, so we had to be recovered with deadline for recovery approaching,” said Burtenshaw. They made it back out, but pitted again, and managed to rejoin as the chequered flag waved, to finish 15th.
Team Gadget, Mr Schnecke/Jelly Snake also made the finish, with Twin Snails rejoining to take the flag with Seb Jones-White just 363 laps off victory.
The overall win and C1 Class had been a battle between the Emax 346 and WRC Developments cars, but during Sunday morning Davd Alstadter, Stuart Ratcliff, James and Jake Little consolidated for Emax to take a one lap victory over WRC’s David Drinkwater, Ryan Bensley, John Gladman and Mike Harris.
Emax 343’s Mike Hart led the first two hours, but finally settled for third with James Cannings, Christopher Clarke, Greg Owens and Warren Heath.
Misfits won the Mini Grand Class with Steve Rideout, Dave Rees, Paul Ogborn and Neven Kirkpatrick, as No sleep ‘til Sunday missed the start, but eventually made the finish 304 laps behind and in the 2CV Europe Class the Burton open top of Jean Gascard. Gilles de Jong and Pire Benoit was unopposed as they made it home 14th overall.
For results click here: https://www.tsl-timing.com/file/?f=BARC/2024/2434212cv.pdf