COVER STORY
One of the 2CV race organisers, Andrew Bull, attended his first ever 2CV race at Mallory Park back in 1998. He has not missed many since, but he was always in the garage, working as a mechanic, rather than behind the wheel. That changed in 2023, when he started racing in shorter Championship endurance events and then took on the 24-Hour Race.
“ Finishing the race behind the wheel for the first time was quite special,” he recalls.“ The car was starting to limp a little bit, and because I was the spanner man, I had to bring it home. We finished on the podium, and it was very emotional, coming down the pit lane with everybody banging the roof and clapping you through.”
Racing Experience
The race weekend begins with an optional practice on Friday, followed by qualifying in the afternoon and a special night practice in the evening. Teams are then free to relax, rest and prepare their cars ready for the race, which this year began at 5:30pm on Saturday. It is then full-on racing for 24 hours, with driver stints typically split into two or three hours.
While teams take the on-track action very seriously, the atmosphere is generally relaxed.“ We arrive on the Thursday, share some food and drink, and catch-up with everyone, then get into it,” says Drinkwater.“ This year there was a big support package, so we had a nice lazy day on Saturday, watched a bit of racing, then got ready for the off.”
The later start meant the sun was soon setting over the track, and the drivers were quickly plunged into chasing lights in the dark. No other form of circuit racing offers this unique experience, and for 24-Hour first-timer Langley it was something he will never forget.
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“ I was a little apprehensive and I did not know if I would be able to cope because I have never done anything like that before,” he admits.“ The night practice did not give me much of an idea either, because I only had three laps, mostly on low beam, and I only I found out that drivers keep high beam on virtually all the time when I came back in – a 24-Hour rookie error!
“ I did that in the actual race and it worked perfectly. I could see everything I needed to and I quickly got to feel very confident. You only see what you need to see and everything outside your peripheral vision is dark, so there’ s nothing else to distract you.”
In some cases, that sharper focus can even result in faster lap times, and Langley notes that one of his team mates was lapping around three seconds quicker at night than he was in the daytime. The night stints are also the period when drivers outside the car need to get some sleep, and that is something new to get used to.
Despite his wealth of experience, Drinkwater admits that this is the“ hardest bit” of the race for him.“ You can never underplay how tired you can get if you do not get any sleep,” he says.“ Whether it is the higher-level stuff or the C1 racing, it is the same. You just have to try to get a half-an-hour snooze here and there, because that helps.
“ When you get out the car after a great two hours, it is hard to wind down. I have a shower, get some food and water, then try and have a bit of a rest, but it is so difficult to switch off. The team is always in the garage, there are always lot of people around. I have a camper with shades on, so I will go in there and try to get away from it all.
Revolution- June 2025