2007 24 Hour Race - History to be made

First indications of interest show that we may have a larger than normal entry. It may even be possible to fill the grid. If we were to fill all 46 places history could be made. Ian Watson, who will be clerk of the course for the race, believes that we would have the largest ever single make car race ever staged in the UK. Our annual race could make lasting history. But for all of us to do this we need to have your entry.

The intention here is to include as much information regarding the entry for the 2CV 24 hour race 2007. This is hopefully to clarify points which annually cause a little confusion.

As per last year it has been agreed to use some inducements to help increase our entry. The 2007 race entry will involve the issue of raffle tickets, the number dependant on the speed of which payment is received. The draw will be held on the Friday evening following the club BBQ. Five teams will be lucky and have their race fuel for the race provided by the club FOC. So the quicker the club receives your entry the better chance you have. A complete list is to be compiled with the e-details of all teams. Any further information will therefore be relayed to all entrants as it becomes available. All teams will have all official information before the race. It is the intention to ensure all possible questions and answers are addressed before the event. All timings and sequence of events are not as yet available but as they do so, they will be published generally on th website and by e-mail to all entrants.

It was suggested at the AGM that a 2 hour race should be organised prior to the 24 hour race. It was voted and carried that any 2 hour race would have to have 3 driver changes. So this is the ideal precursor to the 24 hour race, giving 4 drivers an idea of the 24 hour race in a nutshell without the fuel stop.

It is assumed that as previous years Pembrey will have a Friday practice. This will make this practice day a must for those teams and drivers that intend to compete the whole series in 2007. For those new comers and those that are not but need some experienced feedback we are intending to have several very sucessful drivers on hand to give off track and on track advice. This is going to help you know via a track time how good your car is. The answer to the eternal question of "is it the car or is it me." More details will follow. If the numbers are substantial then we might be able to buy some allocated track time just for 2CV. Another point here to consider is potential entry size. If we attract an entry in the region of 35-46 for the 24 hour race then the situation at Pembrey could mean that it may be oversubscribed. The track licence is for 28 cars only. First of all if you did not register for the 2CV Championship last year it is highly unlikely BARC will send you their entry pack. To register simply ring BARC for an entry pack when the calander for next year is announced. When you receive your entry pack from BARC ensure you enter the Pembrey round early to avoid disappointment.

At the moment next years race has not been priced. When this does become available an anouncement will be made. It is hoped we can produce an "deal" price for the whole weekend. Please remember motor racing is not cheap. An old phrase I know but value here is the issue. If your car remains reliable then you are likely to race in excess of 600 laps. This equates to just over £2 per racing lap. Compare this to a 10 laps race at say Mallory Park of £195 and you can see that from a racing value viewpoint the race time price is very good value for money. Official entry forms will be issued by BARC to those requesting them when available. Those who have prepaid the entry fee to the 2CV Racing Club will be given priority. Keep your eye on the website to see how many slots are left. Entries can also bepaid by Credit Card. Withdrawal of an entry for reasons of ‘force majeure’ will be dealt with as sympathetically as possible by the organisers and as much as possible of the entry fee refunded depending on proximity of withdrawal to the event with a 15% charge. Credit card payments will be subject to a £4 fee. Late entries will only be accepted up to the 15th April and must be accompanied by a late entry fee of £100. Please note that all entry information will be regularly updated on the 2CV Racing Club website.

Day membership of the 2CV Racing Club is required for this race. This is a one off fee of £30. To simplify this it will be collected before the qualifying race so please have the necessary funds available. Sorry but cash or cheques only at the track. A further development this year is the inclusion of the 24 hour race within "The Championship". Unfortunately this means that is is a round of a BARC administered 2CV Championship and incurs a fee to BARC to enter. This means normally that any driver who wishes to race has to pay £95 to join BARC. However.............. It has been agreed with BARC that they will only charge a nominal fee of £30 for those drivers who wish to only race within the 24 hour race.

To assist in the process of ensuring your entry is established at the outset the 2CV Racing Club is again to offer a scheme to reward those who can complete the full entry on time. Five CARS will receive their race fuel paid for by the 2cv Racing club if there ticket is drawn. Twelve tickets will be issued with a fully paid for entry before 12th January 2007. Entries with the minimum deposit received before 12th January will be issued with 4 tickets. Full payment before 12th February 2007 will receive 3 tickets or 1 ticket with minimum payment of £600. With full payment being received by 12th March 2007 only 1 ticket. The draw for this incentive will be held during the social function on the Friday evening before the race. It's not supposed to be difficult just an incentive to commit early.

Fire training meetings must be attended by all team refuellers and assistants. At the moment they are to be at 8:30/9:30/!0:30 on the Saturday morning of the race weekend. This year there is no choice to which time you attend. Garages 1-9 will attend at 8:30, garages 10-18 will attend at 9:30 and garages 19-26 will be at the 10:30 briefing. If more than 39 entries are made the extra numbers will be split between each briefing. The briefings are likely to be held at the fuel station within the paddock. There is at the moment a little confusion with regard to clothing required by the refuellers. Fireproof gloves and balaclava are a base requirement. An old proban race suit should be sufficient to meet the regulations. Check regulations in the blue book under Q9 all other events and Section J14.22. Any further news on this matter will be posted on the website and relayed to all entrants by e-mail before the event.

Within the regs for the race you will see the restrictions and procedures for refuelling. Here I would only like to draw your attention to a couple of extra points. After the initial fill before the RACE start only fuel dispensed from their official jerry can can be used. BARC are concerned with a practice that has developed over the past few years of fuel decanting. This is the practice of filling the official jerry can from a source that is not the allocated fuel station in the paddock. Even before the event it is not known what grade fuel is be provided by the circuit organisers. Generally all that is known is that it will be expensive. It is expected to be between £1.00 to £1.25 per litre. Some teams have been known to buy fuel off circuit before the race with a view to either save money or provide themselves with a better or known grade. This practice is dangerous and if an accident were to happen then the repercussions could include the complete loss of the 24 hour race now and in the future. BARC have indicated that if any person is seen decanting fuel anywhere during the race the car that they are with will be black flagged and the team dismissed from the circuit. You have been warned. Fuel goes into the can at the paddock pumps and then is dispensed to the race car in the pitlane only.

* All driver briefings for the 2007 race are to be held in the new scrutineering bay. This is much larger that the old one, but is still not large enough to hold the potential numbers we could have. Even in previous years such a large number prevented most people hearing all the necessary information. For 2007 BARC has recognised this situation and has changed the parameters for attendance. Only team manager and the lead driver are required to attend. This then leaves the emphasis on those two representatives to relay the information to their team members in their own team meetings. Times for these meetings will be announced within the final instructions from BARC or at the meeting. Listen to the tannoy.

Another thorny issue is always the garage allocation. There are 26 garage spaces within 13 seperated areas. This has always meant that in the past that about 4 or 5 garages had an extra occupant. It is expected that with the number being close to 40 cars and possibly more that 3 cars per garage will be the norm. If the number exceeds 39 cars then BARC have a contingency plan in place to accommadate the extra cars. Within the entry form you can nominate the cars you wish to share with and your preferred garage number. Number 1 is at the top of the pitlane furtherest away from the pit entrance and 26 the first garage nearest to the entrance to the pitlane. Entry forms from three teams agreeing to share will be given priority. Further priority will be given to those teams who pay the whole entrance fee on or before 12th January 2007. If no indication is received as to where or who the team wishes to be with, the decision will be taken by the organising committee.

There has always been an issue with the amount of power available during the 24 hour race. Even with an entry of 29/30 cars there has been in the past a request from the circuit organisers to try to reduce down demand on power. With a potential to have above 40 cars this is likely to be more of a problem. The race is earlier in the year bringing two more hours in the dark and probably a lot cooler than before. During our initial meeting with Ian Watson [BARC] is was agreed that all teams should make some suitable arrangements for a situation of power failure. The race itself should not be in danger of being stopped as the pitlane lights and some of the paddock lighting is from a seperate source. But the garages are not. Small generators are permitted but must be kept outside of the garage at the rear. They can be kept within the firelane but not obstructing any vehicles which may have to use the same. No generators are permitted outside the garage in the pitlane. Other provisions could include simple 12 volt arrangements or even just a selection of torches. Don't think about candles or any other device which has a naked flame. If the power does go, it is likely that it only needs resetting. If this instance occurs please switch off as many devices as possible and wait for the power to be restored. Hopefully then it won't immediately trip out again.

Another issue which relates to increase in numbers expected will be room within the paddock area. Several changes to the paddock area have been made since 2005. There is a new scrutineering bay. There is some new space on the far side of race control. Despite this space will be at a premium and it has been requested by BARC that an area will be dedicated for trailers to be stored during the meeting. Therefore after unloading car and necessary equipment your trailer is be taken to an area behind Tyrells bar to be stored. This area was formerly the old skid pan.

A 2CV Racing Club social function is to take place on the evening of the Friday. Just assume it will be cold and it will be wet then anything else is a bonus. This event last time was very well attended and proved to be the catalyst for an excellent weekend. For 2007 the complete crew of marshals who are to assist the actual race are cordially invited to join our event. Remember without these guys we would not have a race at all. Terry Scannell is their spokesperson and has indicated that they are more than happy to accept our invitation. Tyrells bar will be open for this evening but the queue will be long. Book early to avoid disappointment here.

Awards will be given for each place down to sixth place. Additional awards will be given as follows:

As a round of the “The Championship”, registered drivers may score points on the following basis: the points position will be calculated on the basis of excluding non-registered competitors in the car. For example, if a car with no registered drivers finishes second, the car finishing third with two registered competitors aboard, will gain second place points for the purposes of the The Championship and each of these two drivers will gain full second place points. The point normally awarded for the fastest lap will be awarded to the registered driver recording the fastest time in official qualifying.

All awards will be presented after 30 minutes have elapsed from the finish of the race near to the Tyrells bar. If the weather is adverse then probably the new scrutineering bay.

Please return all entry information to "24 Hour Race Entry 2007. C/O Steven Panas, Manor Cottage, Church Lane, Welburn. York. YO60 7EG." Cheques must be made payable to 2CV Racing Club. Entry fees can be made using credit card. A fee of £8 per transaction will be made. I will ring you if this is your preferred method. Please indicate on your entry form your payment method.

Indicate which other team/s you wish to share with and your prefered garage number. If you have no preference about garages leave the form blank. You will be contacted later to see if your situation has altered. If, at point of entry you are uncertain of your driver lineup then leave this blank.

The club cannot organise this race without a great deal of pre commitment from you. After the last couple of seasons where we have seen declining numbers both for the 24 and the championship we need to confirm to BARC very early that interest for 2CV racing is very much alive. There is at the moment a chance we can fill the grid for 2007. This will make history so be part of it. Good luck to all.

* Info for entry required
Please advise of the following
Entrant/Team Principal?
Team name?
Car number you intend to use?
Who is going to be team manager?
Land Address for documents to be sent
Driver number one name
Email address
Preferred contact telephone number
Licence number
Barc membership number
Indicate whether novice driver
Has this driver raced at this circuit before
Driver number two name
Email address
Preferred contact telephone number
Licence number
Barc membership number
Indicate whether novice driver
Has this driver raced at this circuit before
Driver number three name
Email address
Preferred contact telephone number
Licence number
Barc membership number
Indicate whether novice driver
Has this driver raced at this circuit before
Driver number four name
Email address
Preferred contact telephone number
Licence number
Barc membership number
Indicate whether novice driver
Has this driver raced at this circuit before
Payment method to be used
Deposit or payment made
Garage number preferred
Team or teams that you like to share with

If any of the above information required is not to hand then please submit your entry and we can fill in the blanks at a later date. Please also advise of any change of your teams entry details. Again good luck!!