Realising a Dream
The story behind winning the Paul Ricard 24 hour race
“The 2 Tours d’Horloge” ………… in a Sports 2000
By Mike Fry
It all started for me, during the first COVID lockdown, with a call from Ross Hyett. Was I interested in
joining a team he was putting together for a 24-hour race at the Paul Ricard circuit in November? It
all sounded a bit unlikely, but the call was at a time when life returning to normal seemed pretty
remote, and the prospect of getting back into a racing car a distant dream. So, it was an immediate
“Yes, yes please”.
This eventually led to me competing in a race that has been the highlight of my 40 year racing
career, indeed one of the highlights of my life.
The Appeal
At the risk of stating the obvious, a 24-hour race is very different to any other type of circuit race. As
a once regular attender at Le Mans, it was always an ambition to take part in one but that was
always going to be hard to realise. David Houghton and myself had talked about buying seats in the
Fun Cup 25 hour race at Spa but initial enquiries came to nothing. Although I did manage a 12-hour
Fun Cup race at Snetterton which gave me a first taste of racing at night and further fuelled my
appetite for a full day/night event.
The fact that the invitation for the first Equipe Rosbif race was from Ross was vital to believing it
could happen. He has raced several times in the Le Mans 24-hours and so fully understood what was
involved. The reason I agreed to write this article was to spread the word amongst Sports 2000
racers who might also want to live the dream of competing in such an event.
At the outset I should say that I’ve always considered circuit racing a pretty solitary sport. Yes you
may have others helping you prepare the car and supporting you at meetings but ultimately it’s just
you out on the circuit. Perhaps that’s why there’s always such animated discussion in parc ferme
after the race as we’re all reliving the race and sharing the experience with others?
A good few years ago when I was first racing with the 750 Motor Club, I competed several times in
the Birkett 6-hour relay race at Silverstone. I much enjoyed the camaraderie of being able to chat
with team-mates during the race, debate tactics beforehand and then jointly relive it all afterwards.
Consequently, the team element of endurance racing greatly appealed to me.
The Challenge
As anyone who’s ever watched the Le Mans or Daytona 24-hours will know, the biggest challenge is
to get the car to the finish line. This will require exceptional mechanical preparation, discipline from
the drivers and massive commitment from the support crew. Where, indeed if, you actually place on
the results sheet is something you’ll hopefully worry about later.
The 2 Tours d’Horloge (two turns of the clock) race at Paul Ricard is the world’s only event for
historic sports cars and sports prototypes. It has a specific class for Sports 2000 pinto cars with the
regulations being a slightly modified version of the SRCC regs.
Chris Snowdon has proved himself the master of historic racing car preparation and I am not worthy
even to touch the hem of his overalls. However for the purpose of this article I’ll just mention what I
see as the main differences between a car being readied for a 25 minute SRCC race and a 24-hour
event.
You’ll need lights and an alternator to power them, and that’s pretty much the minimum additional
requirement. However, if you are taking it moderately seriously then you’ll need to modify the fuel
tank filler neck to allow easy external access for a fuel pump nozzle. (Fuel tank size is limited to 80
litres). You’ll ideally need ‘easily-changable’ seats or various pieces of foam to accommodate
different drivers but, perhaps most importantly, you need a more robust car that can keep going for
the equivalent of two and a half seasons of racing. That means beefing up track rod ends, pick up
points, bearings etc.
One further essential tweak – but much more difficult to achieve – is to persuade drivers not to hit
kerbs or rumble strips …. even in the heat of battle. The key point being that any fractions of a
second gained in this way will be dwarfed by time lost in the garage if something breaks as a result.
The Event
Whilst not especially well known in the UK, the 2 Tours d’Horloge has been run for 30 years and is
the final blue riband event of the season for Europe’s historic racing fraternity. Some competitors
are simply privateers based under an awning in the paddock, but the vast majority will be in the
superb pit garages and many with professional team back up.
Scrutineering is initially comparatively light touch – of the type usually experienced on SRCC
European trips – but does become more stringent the higher up you qualify. Last year when we were
second on the grid our car and engine were taken apart by the scrutineers on the Friday evening as
part of the additional post qualifying scrutineering. We passed with flying colours but the next
highest placed Sports 2000, being run by an Italian team, had their engine ruled illegal and were
required to fit a different one for the race.
The circuit is comparatively safe with large run off areas that make it so valued for F1 testing. It’s
long – 3.6 miles – and very challenging with corners ranging from flat in top to tight, off-camber near
hairpins. I’ve yet to meet anyone who claims to have mastered the circuit even after multiple races
there.
In advance of our first Paul Ricard outing, I had been anxious about the physical demands of the
event. (This was particularly in view of the extra preparations that I had often taken for the annual
SRCC 50 minute race). We decided to allow fuel stops to dictate the duration of driver stints
meaning about 100-120 minutes at a time in the car. In prospect this was pretty daunting and did
prompt me to take steps to improve my stamina and overall fitness. I certainly felt that this helped
especially during the night time and early morning shifts when my body was quick to tell me it
wasn’t used to being behind the wheel then. Yet it was at those times that I felt most acutely the
sheer magic of endurance racing. Whether it was whilst on the pit apron at night in full race kit
waiting for the car to come round one final time or being out on circuit and seeing the first signs of
sunrise. Absolutely exhilarating and utterly memorable.
The Team
I’m hoping I may have whetted your appetite by now so what else is needed from a team planning to
take part?
Well, there is a bit more administration and planning required than for a simple UK race. There’s
pre-race liaison with the very helpful organisers – V de V – over entry arrangements, fuel and
scrutineering plus whether you want a pit garage, catering etc. Then there’s the additional post-
Brexit hassle of completing a carnet for all the equipment you’re taking to the event.
Regarding personnel, at every fuel stop you’ll need to provide a re-fueller and someone to stand by
with an extinguisher, both clad in race suit and balaclava. You also need a designated Team Manager
for any liaison with race officials. After that it’s down to how much support you need or can afford in
the pit garage and on the pit wall. On both occasions I’ve raced at Paul Ricard I’ve found great
benefit in pit signalling where Bryony Snowdon-Williams and Tony Velupillai have been ever-present
on the pit wall to give lap times, countdowns to driver changes and generally to oversee race
strategy.
On our second visit, with the welcome addition of Pete Malyan, Ian Law and Andy Cattani courtesy
of Team Law, it looked likely that we had enough engineering expertise to have a shift system that
would allow downtime for sleep breaks. In fact this plan fell apart as practically no one wanted to
leave the garage in case they missed out on anything! The net result was that we then had at least
one expert mechanic on each corner of the car during driver changes which became very efficient
and short.
The Cost
This is where it starts to get a bit tricky and is not all good news.
As mentioned earlier. A 24-hour race plus some practice and qualifying equates to about two and a
half seasons of SRCC racing. And broadly the costs amount to that per driver. All the sums initially
sound enormous but when you factor in the track time involved it starts to make sense, although it is
still a lot to find at the end of the UK season. For example, the race entry is around Euros 11000 but
that’s split four ways with each driver hopefully getting about 7 hours of track time. Fuel, if you run
for the full race will total more than Euros 2000.
Some costs are proportionately less. On both occasions we have found the Avon ZZR tyres to be
remarkably durable and only needed 4 sets for the race. Similarly, there is only so much food and
drink that even a tired and sleep-deprived mechanic can get through!
However there are the additional costs of transporting everything and everyone to southern France
and then the accommodation costs of a minimum three day stay.
Realistically also there are also the additional costs of ensuring you have spare parts for all
foreseeable failures/problems. Remembering that whilst there will be 45+ cars on the grid, only 6 or
7 will be Sports 2000’s and the chance of scrounging a critical spare part during the race will be
remote.
The Conclusion
So, there we have it, a summary of what’s involved in a 24-hour race in a Historic Sports 2000.
o Yes, it needs a considerable amount of additional preparation.
o Yes, it’s hard work at times.
o Yes, it’s costly.
o Yes, it crams the highs and lows of racing into one long, intensive day.
o And yes, both Equipe Rosbif cars and last year’s drivers are already entered for the
November 2023 race.
