TETE ROUGE MAKE IT A DOUBLE AT SNETTERTON (Report by Matt Hollis 2.5.2006)   Team Tete Rouge 1 repeated their victory in the 2005 24hr race by winning again this year. The driving line-up of Pete Sparrow, Christian Callander, Simon Turner and Simon Leith won by 4 laps from Hollis Motorsport, with Team Gadget snatching 3rd place from Boss Hogg's Army on the very last lap of the race! All 33 teams competing did a great job despite what the track or weather could throw at them! Team-by-team report coming soon! Snet 2006 (Report by Pete Sparrow 2.5.2006)   2006 has been no different to the last 16 years as regards to my beloved 2cv 24hr race. Every year sees me and the team I'm involved in thinking up new ideas and tactics for the race to which I have become addicted. 2005 was a brilliant year for the Tete Rouge team lead by Paul Robertson. Paul is a man for whom I have great admiration. Every year we go with a fantastic team of people, who come to enjoy the atmosphere and to cook, clean, repair, time, drive and organise; all done on a relatively small budget. The team's success all seems to revolve around his enthusiasm for the event. 2005 was the team's first win after working up to it for 12 years and as this year's race got closer I got more worried about whether it would be possible to do it again, knowing the speed of my fellow drivers and cars. This year it was decided to prepare and run 3 cars, which meant a lot of people, time, hassle and aggravation causing a few cross words and flaring tempers. As normal everything came together in the end; we managed to get all the cars finished, a pole position with Tete Rouge 1 and good grid positions for TR2 and TR3. We had some very stiff competition from a good few teams particularly Team Gadget and Team Tigger, who both had drivers I trust and admire; in reality I think they stood a better chance of winning this year's race on their overall pace than we did, but were robbed by mechanical failures. Their driving in the rain was brilliant and of such a high standard it is almost beyond belief; the fact that we all have day jobs makes this even more amazing. My personal favourite parts of the race are the first 2 hours and the night time. The first couple of hours this year was nose to tail action with 3-4 cars. At times almost touching, but always fair; in reality you have to trust your rivals with your life as any mistakes at the speeds reached means there's generally nowhere to go. After various small problems and an engine change we were still leading at about the 21 hours mark, but were being caught at an incredible rate by Team Gadget. We had worked out that with the lead we had and the speed at which we were being caught there was a buffer of 0.8 of a second each lap, this could soon be eaten away by a poor pit stop or a mistake on the track. The team then had to decide who would drive the rest of the race, what their fuel consumption was and when to field them. Ten minutes later David O'Keefe came into the pits in the Gadget car with a blown engine. The pressure on us was lifted slightly, but we then were worried about our own reliability in the closing laps; it would be very easy to find ourselves in the same position. I couldn't be in our garage in the last hour, I was too nervous. Our last driver, Simon Leith used his common sense and drove a steady last couple of hours to bring the car home in one piece, closely followed by our sister cars TR2 and TR3 in formation across the finishing line. This was the ultimate reward to all involved after months of work. I believe that we have won due to complete team work, preparation and dedication by ALL INVOLVED in this year's team. So that leaves me to say thank you to everyone else, not only in my team but officials, marshals and all the other teams and I hope we can be there next year and have another go at this amazing human and mechanical adventure that is the 2cv 24 race.

Simply The Breast Race report (Report by Katrina Sparrow 6.5.2006)

It all became a bit REAL for the Simply the Breast team as we reached Snetterton on Thursday, setting up camp and nervously chattering about practice, night qualifying and other very daunting things like that!

As usual, Zoë was her normal calm self, having driven the 24 hour many times, didn't seem quite as concerned as the other girls! Geoff had prepared the engine and assured us she would fly, so after a few practice laps, nerves slightly subsiding, we all took a deep breath and thought, 'no going back now!'

Our pit crew were wonderful, sharing a garage with the Grease Monkey car, and nearly all being related, we kind of shared everything, right down to re fuelling, pit wall duty, driver changes, it all went with out a hitch!

Zoë, was the most impressive driver in my opinion of the 100 or more drivers that were out there, she shows great guts and determination, to never being beaten each qualifying lap getting faster and faster till she could do no more, she was, I think, the 5th fastest driver there, qualifying us 9th on the grid!

Two hours to go, all suited up we stood by our garage, glamour personified! Not only did we look the part we felt the proudest team there, we had all worked so hard to get to this point, with no driving experience to speak of and fund raising for our charity BREAST CANCER CARE, we were beaming pride! Brella Fellas in position the cameras rolled!

We started the race with Zoë driving and, we were doing fantastic holding our position, moving back one place, picking it back up, what a great start, then disaster struck! One hour and 50 mins in Zoë was battling with 3 other cars when they were joined by another 3 faster cars, all 7 steamed into one corner, Zoë got boxed in causing her a bit of a shunt with Phil Myatt. The fan got broken so the car had to be towed in causing us a 5 lap penalty, the least of our worries as it was! Poor Zoë was devastated, but with great optimism the guys in the garage assessed the situation and got to work! They fixed the fan and straightened the bonnet and 20 minutes later Lyn took the wheel and we were back on the track.

A two hour uneventful stint was had, I changed with Lynn and off I went. Five laps later coming out of the bottom chicane, I selected 3rd powered up and bang! I trickled in to the pit lane willing the car on, several people ran down and pushed me up, the gear box had blown. When Zoe had had her shunt, the engine had been pushed back, hit the gear box and punched a small a hole in the back, Lynn's stint had emptied it of most of its oil, so when I took over it was the poor cars last breath that got us round. The engine came out the gear box re built, the engine back in and out went Zoe.

The rain came and it was now getting pretty dark, Gill took over from Zoe and disaster grabbed another hold, plagued with an electrical problem that saw us in the pits on a number of occasions with no lights, three alternators later we discovered a damaged earth lead. I took over from Gill, and by this time is was so dark and wet, I just wanted to get in the car to stay warm! I really did not want to do this stint, it was always the one that I was least looking forward to, dusk till dawn! I got in the car, and thought I'd poodle round a couple of times then tell them I didn't want to do It, I honestly did. I got out went round and felt the smile brim from ear to ear! This was just fantastic, the dark and the rain could not make me stop smiling! I had listened to the advice of many that had not long come in, stay off the racing line, brake early, keep the car smooth, don't back off, it all works, not being able to see the corners meant I had no fear so in I went, this was great, I even found myself singing on the way round ' I could whine a way the hours, 'did di di di with flowers if I only had a heart' don't actually know the words but I believe it's from the wizard of oz? Anyway it kept me going till about 5am ish!

By this time we had in fact clawed back to about 29th, several other teams had had problems and we took advantage. Zoë went out next, she had an oil light problem which turned out to be a faulty switch, so out she went and thrashed her stint, showing no mercy and taking everything in her way!. Lynn back out, hammering it round, staying out of trouble till she tussled with blue car not sure who but she clipped his front in return he spun round behind her and caught her back door, bang! Car was back in with broken arm and track rod end, welded and repaired we were back out!

It was 9am ish I was back out singing again, having a wee bop in my chair on my way round, was doing well, flying down the back straights in the wet, met my husband a couple of times, waved and blew a kiss. On my last lap, under the bridge, through the Esses, at a crucial moment my husband comes past, he kisses, I wave, foolishly loose the car on the rubble, on to the mud, spin and find myself facing the on coming traffic.......ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, wait till they pass, hit ignition, select gear, floor the baby and bring it back to the garage for driver change!

Lynn back out, hammering it round, staying out of trouble finished her stint and handed over to Zoe. Zoe, gripped the wheel again, and desperately tried to get us another place, we're 28th by now, faster and faster each lap she goes, there was a big decision to keep her in for the last hour, need fuel, how's the time?????? The decision was made by Geoff to put Gill in for the last hour, and round she went with no problems what so ever, steady she went, just staying out of trouble we willed from the pits, ten mins to go it was all just so exiting, screaming, waving from the pit wall, go GILLY, go Gilly, the flag came down the crowed cheered, what a fantastic finish for every one, an experience that can only be explained by being there!

Well done to every team.

2006 Snetterton Report - CAR 40 - Crisis Racing (Report by Nick Roads 7.5.2006)

7 months ago I was in the pub moaning about the fact I was going to be 40.

I remembered an article about the 2cv 24 hour race in Mondello and mentioned it to a friend, Simon Gue. My first car had been a Dyane and his first job was in a 2cv garage. We looked up on the Internet to find the club still going and an upcoming race at Silverstone. A post on the website, a trip to Silverstone and I had bought a 2cv racing car.

At a party the next weekend I found 2 more team members and we had a team. None of us had any experience of motor racing.

3 track days later between all of us and we are at Pembrey in mid April. Many people in the 2cv racing club had helped us with advice via the website and phone – particular thanks to Pete Sparrow. We all have licences (I failed my first one after spinning on the ards test at Thruxton..) a car, know where the wheels fit on but not much more.

Everyone makes us feel welcome. Jon Twidale and Lucky Jon racing in particular are helpful – probably as they are next door to our spot and have to answer our inane questions. They help explain further little things like where the electronic timing is, what the strange plastic can on the side of the car attached to the engine does and how to switch on the multimeter.

We survive qualifying and the race and are last but only by 2 seconds.

2 weeks to get ready for Snetterton. We had already found a local motorsports company to help prepare and safety check the car. Simon Edwards had not worked on 2cv's but he specialises in classic cars and we thought he could help. A new race engine and exhaust system had been picked up at Pembrey. We changed engine and exhaust in a little under 4 hours but at least had an idea what to do. Simon Edwards agrees to come and be our manager/ mechanic.

Off to Snetterton where practice and qualifying pass well. We (or more exactly Hugh our fastest driver) had qualified 21st and the car was running fine.

'Spinner' Roads was nominated to start. A mistake. Lacking the ability to keep up, over enthusiasm and rashness combine to cause 3 spins and a loss of nerve. Into the pits after 1 ¾ hours to hand over to Hugh. He climbs a place and over to Simon at 2000. At 2100 a marshal reports the transponder has failed, 2102 and the safety car is out to allow car 40 to be towed in. The headless chickens (other than Simon Edwards) run around the car looking for a cause. Whitwell Motor Sport comes over and within a minute has diagnosed a failed voltage regulator. Its swapped and the advice is to not use the fog lights. A chilling prospect for the novices.. we ignore it in the interest of safety for ourselves and other competitors.

2200 and Brian is out. A first race session at night. Car goes well and we are all getting into a rhythm.

2400 and the rain really starts. We survive and continue to hold p28.

0300 and disaster. Flywheel has shattered, destroying part of the engine and the bell housing on gearbox. We have no spare gearbox. A frantic search and Geoff Archer lends us a spare but warn's that it lacks a rear bung. Things are looking up but we have never replaced a gearbox. Julian of Lucky Jon says we need to find "gearbox rick". He is found and without really asking leads an amazing hour to change an engine with the help of 3 novices and our mechanic. At 0432 we are back on circuit.

At 0640 safety car out and car is towed back. Brian has lost all the gears. Once again Whitwell motor sport come and look and within a minute have diagnosed a missing rear bung in the gearbox.. This sounds familiar.. We salvage one from the original gearbox which "gearbox rick" (Rik Pembro) has also now repaired but cannot get the fixing bolt to secure. 20 minutes later all agree to silicon in the bung and take our chances, fill up with more oil and get back racing.

At 0915 in the rain we are doing some good times and all has settled done. However its spinner Roads and at Riches corner decide to take it in 4th without braking following car 50 who did not seem to brake…. Its off again but this time ending up in a ploughed field with no way out. Amongst the turnips was an appropriate location. The 3rd tow of the day and we are back in the pits. Car seemed ok albeit some exhaust rattle. 15 minutes later a loud bang and the exhaust has come off in the engine, power lost down the back straight, manage to leave the circuit and 4 th tow in. Marshals are very friendly and we are pleased to here we are their favorite car. Familiarity does not breed contempt for Snetteron 24 hour marshals.

The exhaust is fixed and we are back out on circuit but at 1000 are firmly in last place 28 laps behind p32.We keep going and through the misfortune of others we manage to get into p32 and over the last 3 hours manage to keep the place and finish on the same lap as the last car.

The race and last few months have been a great experience. I cannot recommend 2cv racing enough if anyone wants some experience of motor racing without huge costs and intimidating competition. We will be back for another 24 hour race next year and also for other 2cv races in 2006.

Reflections on Snetterton Two Smoking Barrels no 77 - Team Principal Jon Davis

Is it worth the aggravation?

Is it worth the logistical nightmare?

Can I provide value for money to other drivers who are digging a large chunk out of their yearly budget?

As it turned out this year, the answer was a resounding YES!

Two drivers Ian Clark, who had never sat in a 2CV before (he runs a stock hatch XR2), and Neil Merry who runs an MX5 and had driven my road car at Taunton, came on board along with Francis Rottenburg.

Two major decisions were made bearing in mind the timing of the race.  First, sell the stock of Firestones, switch to Michelins; it will rain, how much and how long being the variables. Second, build a soft engine and limit the revs to 6,500 or less.

Friday practice day was more or less left to Ian and Neil for maximum familiarisation.

I gave Ian the responsibility of starting with strict instructions that you can lose it in the first hour etc. etc.  Then I took over, followed by Neil.  A slight problem occurred in the dark.  We had a stealth machine - black car, no lights, black night.  We had a disintegrated fan; Neil got it back – no penalty.

I retired for a couple of hours ready to take over from Francis at two o’clock only on entering the garage to find him getting into the car.  Apparently a driveshaft let go on the top of Corams, but he had the presence of mind to freewheel and got to the pit entrance – so no penalty.

The only hiccup was me being assaulted by a deviant Tortoise when it fell off at the Esses and came back across the track, which called for a detour via the pits to reshape the front wing.

From then on to the finish and a 6th place, which, as we dropped to 22nd at some point, was an excellent result.

I was impressed with the tyres, the wet grip was superior. No doubt Anglesey will show up any dry deficiencies.
The engine behaved impeccably, less than a pint, including practice and qualifying.

And the drivers?  Well there is always the bar to discuss their finer points.  Thanks to Allan Glide for his fettling; Toby for his refuelling and Tiggie for her all encompassing efforts.

Thanks also to Steve Panas for his organisation and hard work.

Jon Davis 1.6.2006

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Bulletin review for the 2 hourly reports (Report by Andy Bull 9.5.2006)

24 Hour Race Review - Matt Hollis

TWO TIMES FOR TETE ROUGE
Just like buses, you wait for years for a 24hr win, then two come along at once.  Last year’s winners Tete Rouge provided another display of speed coupled with good reliability (compared to some) to claim the title for the 2nd time.  Pole position and fastest lap made it look like a comfortable win but the victorious team of Pete Sparrow, Simon Turner, Christian Callander and Simon Leith encountered plenty of problems on their way to glory.  Second were Hollis Motorsport, joined for this event by Patrick Collier, who managed to climb up from 20th on the grid to take the second step of the podium.  Team Gadget Racing (Wayne Cowling, Gary Adnitt, Ainslie Bousfield and David O’Keeffe) were in with a shout of victory throughout the event but eventually finished 3rd after a sensational last hour charge to catch and pass Boss Hoggs Army on the final lap!

1st      TETE ROUGE 1 - Christian Callander, Pete Sparrow, Simon Turner, Simon Leith
Qualified: 1st         Fastest lap: 1:48.036 (1st)                  Highest position: 1st
Tete Rouge 1 started as one of the favourites and duly took pole position.  Battled for the lead for the first few hours, before building a small lead.  Lost time overnight with carburettor issues and an engine change, dropping to 4th.  However, with such a quick engine change were still around to take the lead when others had misfortune.  Eventually won by 4 laps.

2nd      HOLLIS MOTORSPORT - Matt Hollis, Richard Hollis, Nigel Hollis, Patrick Collier
Qualified: 20th               Fastest lap: 1:52.582 (19th)         Highest position: 2nd
Suffered from fuel starvation during the entire race meeting, and missed the first qualifying session after a float jammed in the carburettor.  Kept out of trouble and ran reliably, with only one unscheduled stop to repair bodywork damage in the wet.  Changed the spark plugs as a precaution fairly early on, but gradually climbed to 2nd by the end, just 30 seconds ahead of Gadget.

3rd      TEAM GADGET RACING - Wayne Cowling, Ainslie Bousfield, David O’Keeffe, Gary Adnitt
Qualified: 2nd        Fastest lap: 1:48.418 (3rd)                  Highest position: 1st
Up at the front with Tete Rouge 1 and Team Tigger, were easily one of the quickest cars out there.  Led until half-distance when a gearbox change resulted in them dropping to 13th.  Amazingly fought back to 2nd, and closing on the leaders, when engine seized with just a few hours left.  A quick change left them with a half-chance of snatching 3rd, which they achieved on the last lap having made up 2 laps on Boss Hoggs Army.

4th      BOSS HOGGS ARMY - Russell Munns, Adrian Lester, Rick Kerry, Ian Crombie
Qualified: 25th               Fastest lap: 1:53.414 (25th)         Highest position: 2nd
Like Hollis Motorsport, a virtually faultless run which meant a great result despite lacking outright speed.  Gained 12 places between 6pm and 6am to reach 6th by the early morning.  Climbed further still as others struck problems, eventually reaching 2nd with 2 hours to go, battling on the track with Hollis Motorsport.  Were caught and passed by Gadget on the last lap, losing a podium finish, but still delighted with 4th and top rookies.

5th      LUCKY JON RACING - Jon Twidale, Julian Winn, Graeme Smith
Qualified: 15th               Fastest lap: 1:51.347 (17th)         Highest position: 2nd
Reached the top 10 within 4 hours of the start and then proceeded to stay in touch with the leaders for the next ten hours.  Suffered from water getting into the fuel (never a good mixture), dropping back to 8th having been as high as 2nd (and only 2 laps behind 1st place).  Fought back to a still excellent 5th by the flag.

6th      TWO SMOKING BARRELS - Jon Davis, Ian Clark, Neil Merry, Francis Rottenburg
Qualified: 12th               Fastest lap: 1:49.952 (7th)                  Highest position: 6th
Didn’t make much progress early on and lost 17 laps around 10.30pm.  Then mounted an impressive recovery drive, finally reaching their eventual finishing position with 3 hours left.  Received a drive-through penalty for going over the 3-hour time limit for one driver to be racing.  Consistently quick, with plenty of sideways moments in the wet!

7th      TEAM TWIN SNAILS - Aubrey Brocklebank, Colin Elstrop, Dave Wilson, Julian Griffen
Qualified: 13th               Fastest lap: 1:51.974 (18th)         Highest position: 7th
Didn’t get off to the greatest start, dropping to 25th within the first hour after getting involved in a closely fought midfield battle.  Steady running meant they stayed in the midfield until breaking into the top 10 in the early morning.  From then on climbed further to 7th, but couldn’t catch Two Smoking Barrels, eventually finishing one lap behind them.

8th      TETE ROUGE 2 - Paul Robertson, Sammie Fritchley, Trevor Williams, Nick Frost
Qualified: 5th         Fastest lap: 1:49.893 (6th)                  Highest position: 1st
Tete Rouge’s 2nd car had a real chance of taking the victory spoils but ultimately lost out to the first car.  After qualifying well, kept a watching brief on the leading cars whilst running 4th, before taking the lead as others struck problems.  A gearstick change cost them some time but they were still running 2nd, and looking to give Tete Rouge a 1-2 finish when the engine went pop with just a couple of hours left (a consequence of revving it so hard according to Robertson).  Sadly dropped 15 laps and wound up 8th.

9th      IMBROGLIO RACING - Stuart Dean, Paul Jaye, Howard Maguire, Kevin Raymond
Qualified: 14th               Fastest lap: 1:49.650 (5th)                  Highest position: 5th
After coming close to a great result last year, Imbroglio Racing may well have hoped for a better finish this time.  Very quick (5th fastest lap), shot up to 6th within the first hour, and were still in touch at half-distance.  Dropped 13 laps in the middle of the night, but kept going to gradually climb back up the pack, actually reducing the gap to the winners by 2 laps in the remaining 10 hours, despite a collision with Simply The Breast.

10th    ROCKET DOG RACING - Pete Cardell-Williams, Andy Smith, Steve Panas
Qualified: 4th         Fastest lap: 1:50.386 (11th)         Highest position: 4th
Last year’s runners-up started off well by qualifying 4th.  However, intermittent engine problems meant an early decision to change the engine dropped them to last.  From then on, ran without too many problems, although a spark plug caused issues during the night.  From 36 laps behind at half-distance, the team did very well to finish 10th, 21 laps behind.

11th    GREASE MONKEY RACING - Andy Kinch, Marc Sparrow, Adrian Sparrow, Richard Knight
Qualified: 19th               Fastest lap: 1:50.413 (12th)         Highest position: 8th
Since the 24hr has been run at Snetterton, a car has rolled every year.  Following in the tyre tracks of Hollis Motorsport, Team FFART and MRB Racing, this year it was Grease Monkey Racing’s turn to spend a portion of the race on its roof.  After a superb first stint, having gained 11 places to lie in 8th position, the team hung around the top 10 until the gravity-defying manoeuvre dropped them to 26th at half-distance.  Staged an impressive recovery drive to finish 11th, despite the car turning from grey to a very muddy brown.

12th    RACEHIRE.COM - Glenn Burtenshaw, Myles Packman, Robin Webb, Peter Ritchie
Qualified: 28th               Fastest lap: 1:53.094 (21st)         Highest position: 12th
Struggled in qualifying with a flat engine and severe wheel wobble, and were nearly excluded prior to the race starting after mechanic Marc Fenner’s antics on the road-going 2cv’s parade lap.  Hung around the midfield for much of the race, and despite replacing 2 shock absorbers and an alternator were still in with a chance of a top 10 result for the second year running.  Sadly ran out of fuel on the very last lap, but had still covered enough distance to be classified 12th.

13th    TETE ROUGE 3 - Meyrick Cox, Stephen Green, Steve Pfeifer, Alec Graham
Qualified: 10th               Fastest lap: 1:51.253 (16th)         Highest position: 10th
Most teams struggle to run 1 car, but Tete Rouge ran 3 this year!  The third car never really troubled its namesakes, but was still easily fast enough to be up at the front.  After running for much of the first half of the race between 10th and 13th, the team lost time during the night with an engine change.  Were closing on Racehire.com at the end but were too far behind to capitalise on the former’s fuel dilemma.

14th    PRET A BOIRE - Rod Stead, Graham Hill, Nick Woodward, Pete Simpson
Qualified: 17th               Fastest lap: 1:50.007 (9th)                  Highest position: 6th
The return of Woodward and Simpson meant this team were a real dark house for the race.  Looked like things were going their way after climbing to 6th place by 9pm.  However, problems overnight and in the early morning had dropped them to 18th by midday on Monday.  Fought back to 14th by the end.

15th    TEAM STINGRAY 90 - Oliver Hall, Stuart Williams, Jeremy Brett, Garry Byatt
Qualified: 7th         Fastest lap: 1:48.630 (4th)                  Highest position: 2nd
Managed to get Richard Dalton on board, despite the fact that he was running the ECAS stand!  Seriously quick, the car was battling with the leaders from the very beginning.  At half-distance they were running 2nd and easily close enough to Tete Rouge 1 to take the lead.  From then on problems struck (including only have 3 wheels on the car) which meant the team dropped down the order.  Definitely had the speed to get a better result.

16th    FINDLAY’S JD NO. 7 - Andy Findlay, Mick Storey, Chris Cardell-Williams, Mark Sharpley
Qualified: 18th               Fastest lap: 1:53.380 (23rd)         Highest position: 10th
The return of Andy Findlay saw him in a car that like so many others, had a few problems during the race.  Storey sums it up best: “We got up to 9th place, a car spun in front of Mark and he hit it, breaking the track rod.  Then the fan fell off.  Later we were absolutely flying, doing really well until the float fell off the carburettor.”  Despite these, and probably plenty more problems, still managed to finish in the top half of the field.

17th    BR MOTORSPORT - Bob Rice, Keith Shoebridge, Steve Cowell
Qualified: 30th               Fastest lap: 1:54.700 (30th)         Highest position: 11th
Last year’s winners of the ‘Spirit of the Meeting’ returned and had a much better race!  Despite starting towards the back of the field, they had a consistent run to climb to 11th with just 3 hours remaining, although having the wiper blades fall off is not desirable in wet conditions.  Unfortunately fell back slightly in the last few hours but still did enough to claim 17th at the flag.

18th    MRB RACING - Paul Taylor, Simon Pearson, Matt Riley, Nick Grant
Qualified: 8th         Fastest lap: 1:50.324 (10th)         Highest position: 3rd
Had good speed, and despite dropping out of the top 10 briefly, looked to be on course for repeating their 2004 podium finish during Monday morning, at one point running just one lap behind the leaders.  Unfortunately the cam weights fell off with just a few hours left, dropping the team to a disappointed 18th.

19th    NETWORK SOLUTIONS - Daniel Coyle, Alastair Head, Trevor Hickey
Qualified: 33rd               Fastest lap: 1:54.497 (28th)         Highest position: 14th
Despite qualifying slowest out of the 33 cars entered, excellent reliability meant the team had climbed up the field to 14th by Monday morning.  Sadly, engine trouble meant they couldn’t keep hold of the position but still managed a very respectable 19th, 4 places ahead of its sister car.

20th    ECURIE MORVE VERTE - Geoff Turrall, Sam Boffey, Robert Worthington, Gareth Jones
Qualified: 24th               Fastest lap: 1:52.598 (20th)         Highest position: 18th
Problems fairly early on meant this team was constantly playing catch-up.  Having gained 6 places in the first hour, lost some 30 laps in the early evening which put them on the back foot.  In the end did well to salvage 20th place.

21st    HOOZ RAY SIN - Brian Jordan, Ian Crisp, Peter Seldon, James Perrott
Qualified: 16th               Fastest lap: 1:50.423 (13th)         Highest position: 5th
Christian Callander hired out his car (complete with witty name), which ran well for the first few hours, climbing as high as 5th (after having had to change engines prior to the start of the race).  Problems in the evening dropped them to 22nd, but fought back to 11th by the morning, only to drop back again with just 4 hours remaining.

22nd    TWIN SNAILS TOO - Peter Rigg, Peter James, Nick Jacobs, Mark Heywood
Qualified: 27th               Fastest lap: 1:54.113 (26th)         Highest position: 15th
Aubrey Brocklebank’s second car fared less well than its teammate, although in the middle of the night they were running virtually nose-to-tail at times.  A multitude of problems meant they yo-yo’d up and down the timesheets before eventually finishing 22nd.

23rd    AA AUTOMOTIVE - Angus Archer, John Coyle, Claire Williams
Qualified: 23rd               Fastest lap: 1:53.389 (24th)         Highest position: 16th
Got off to a pretty good start, climbing into the heart of midfield within the first couple of hours.  Dropped to second-to-last, but then steadily gained places, only to lose them again as more problems struck.  In the end, finished exactly where they had started - 23rd.

24th    FOUR LEMONS & ORANGE - Gordon Riseley, Martin Redmond, Graham Goode
Qualified: 22nd               Fastest lap: 1:53.141 (22nd)         Highest position: 13th
Like AA Automotive, Four Lemons & Orange made good progress in the first few hours, getting as high as 13th place.  Suffered multiple problems during the night, including a sheared fan, electrics and a couple of off-track excursions which resulted in the fuel pipe coming off.  Still kept going to claim 24th at the flag.

25th    TEAM TIGGER - Shaun McLaughlin, Philip Myatt, Graham Wallace, Ed Mason
Qualified: 3rd         Fastest lap: 1:48.226 (2nd)                  Highest position: 1st
One of the pre-event favourites, the team started well, pulling away at the front with Tete Rouge 1 and Team Gadget Racing.  Had built up a 3-lap lead over the eventual winners by midnight despite a collision with Simply The Breast, but thereafter things went a pear-shaped.  After leading so convincingly, the team found themselves down in 28th, and despite still having excellent speed could do no better than finish 25th after 3 engine changes.

26th    TEAM FINE PRINT - Martin Harrold, Edd Straw, Jeremy Clark, Said Baloui
Qualified: 32nd               Fastest lap: 1:55.181 (33rd)         Highest position: 19th
Struggling for pace, the team had done well to get into the top 20 beyond half-distance.  Problems including the battery falling off, the transponder falling off, and a puncture meant they could do no better than 26th by the end.  Martin Harrold admitted they would try a bit harder next year!

27th    THE VIRGIN RACERS - Paul Armitage, Anthony Burgess, Steve Foster, Nick Oak
Qualified: 29th               Fastest lap: 1:54.429 (27th)         Highest position: 22nd
22nd place was a bit of a barrier for this team, as every time they got to that position they would fall back with some form of delay.  Despite the drivers’ apparent lack of racing experience (assuming that is what the team name means), still put on a good performance to finish 27th.  Top marks for the colour scheme, which meant the car could easily be identified, even in monsoon conditions.

28th    SIMPLY THE BREAST - Zoe Cardell, Katrina Sparrow, Lynn Sparrow, Gillian Doyle
Qualified: 9th         Fastest lap: 1:50.561 (14th)         Highest position: 9th
Racing for Breast Cancer Care, the all-female team produced a good qualifying performance to finish up in the top 10.  Collided with Team Tigger whilst being lapped, resulting in a broken fan, which dropped them to last.  The impact had also damaged the gearbox, which later needed changing due to it having a severe oil leak.  Electrical issues in the night, and a collision with Imbroglio Racing which meant a new track rod end resulted in a final placing of 28th.

29th    RED NOSE SCOTLAND - Derek Coghill, Len Douglas, Bill Murray, Tom Allen
Qualified: 31st                Fastest lap: 1:54.955 (31st)         Highest position: 23rd
Joined by Graham Harper for the race, after Ramageddon (3rd last year) withdrew at short notice, this team from beyond Hadrian’s Wall had already gained 8 places in the first hour.  However, a disagreement between the car and the tyre wall at the final chicane meant they were down to last as darkness fell, where they stayed for the next 8 hours.  Benefiting from other team’s problems, and despite having a points problem and a broken fuel pipe, eventually finished 29th.

30th    TEAM STINKY - Christine Thompson, Neil Savage, Chris Yates, Neil Thompson
Qualified: 11th               Fastest lap: 1:49.994 (8th)                  Highest position: 7th
Last year’s 4th placed team (using Yellow Peril - RIP), looked like they could well be on course to repeat that performance this year, but after 4 hours the team were dropping down the order, running 2nd-to-last at midnight.  One of a number of teams that suffered from gearbox woes (clearly the fashionable problem to have this year!), they never really recovered, winding up 30th.

31st    ARGENT PROVOCATEUR - Ben Allan, Jamie Lister, Dyson Watkins, Craig Glass
Qualified: 26th               Fastest lap: 1:55.174 (32nd)         Highest position: 21st
After a quite frankly disastrous ‘practice’ run at Pembrey, the team must have hoped for better luck at Snetterton, but it was not to be.  Despite being last after the first hour following an unscheduled pitstop, the team had climbed to 21st by half-distance.  Then a stripped thread on one of the front brake calipers proved to be their downfall, as the car kept having to pit to have the fluid topped up.  After they had run out of fluid, they blanked the caliper off, meaning no leaks but reduced braking power.  Did very well to get to the end - a true example of grit and determination.

32nd    CRISIS RACING - Hugh McCurrich, Nick Roads, Simon Gue, Brain Doherty
Qualified: 21st                Fastest lap: 1:54.674 (29th)         Highest position: 21st
With no prior experience of 2CV racing (apart from Pembrey) this team was really up against it, but still did very well to qualify 21st.  Not off to the best of starts as a few spins drop them back, but still in touch with others when transponder fails, followed later by regulator.  Problems quickly fixed, but during the ‘graveyard’ shift the flywheel shatters, destroying both engine and gearbox.  Borrow a gearbox from Simply The Breast, which is leaking oil from their earlier collision with Team Tigger.  Unsurprisingly, eventually lose all gears!  After repair, and despite big off at first corner, team do well to finish 32nd, having at one stage been 28 laps behind the next nearest car.

33rd    TURQUOISE TORTOISE - Roger Lott, Jody Lott, Kim Lott, Mark Evans
Qualified: 6th         Fastest lap: 1:50.799 (15th)         Highest position: 6th
One team has to finish last, and this year it was Turquoise Tortoise.  Had good speed (qualified 6th) but contact in the first hour dropped them to 20th.  Fought back to 13th at 1am, but thereafter dropped back with numerous problems, eventually falling to last place at midday on Monday.  Hard-trying team definitely deserved to do better.