| Tete Rouge wins the 2009 24hr race! |
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Driven by David O'Keeffe, Phil Myatt, Gary Adnitt, and Sammie Fritchley, the Tete Rouge 1 car was only 2 laps ahead of the second place car, the number 9 Green Electrician car, which was driven by Simon Pearson, Paul Taylor, Mike Storey and Matt Riley. In third place was Team FinePrint, crewed by Martin Harrold, Ed Straw, Said Baloui, and Carl Breeze - 4 laps behind the leaders. Running from 5:30pm Saturday until 5:30pm on Sunday, the 2009 race was unusual in two respects. Firstly, the weather stayed completely dry for the whole of the race, which hasn't happened since the 24hr race was first staged at the Snetterton track in Norfolk, back in 2003. Secondly, the race was suspended for over 5 hours due to fog! The sight of 27 driverless racing 2CVs parked up in formation on the start/finish straight, lights switched off in the dark and the fog, was eerie - almost as if time had stood still. A hush descended on the circuit, and some teams took the opportunity to grab some much needed sleep, while others roamed aimlessly waiting for the restart. Racing resumed when the fog lifted sufficiently, which was at around 9am. Most teams suffered complications of one sort or another. The eventual winners in the Tete Rouge 1 car had an engine change just before 10pm, dropping them down to 15th. The number 93 Flat Twin Racing team had to change engines 10 times! The Dutch team "Flying Dutchman" managed to bend the rear suspension arm of their car completely flat, Team Stinky did a whole 2 hour stint with the handbrake on (but still managed to get to 2nd place during that time!), and Team FinePrint fell foul of the rules when they forgot to remove a rear diffuser, put on as a practical joke, before qualifying and were subsequently banished to last place on the grid - they made their way back up to 3rd, thanks to some consistent fast driving, particularly from Carl Breeze.
Ace pit-lane commentator Jon Waldock has written an article about the race, which you can find at: http://www.sidepodcast.com/2009/08/20/vast-amounts-of-duct-tape/
All of the 27 cars that started the race completed it, and the rest of the places were as follows: 4. Rent Boys Racing The full results can be downloaded at http://www.tsl-timing.com/barc/2009/93221.pdf (you'll need the Adobe Acrobat or compatible PDF reader)
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The Tete Rouge team have won the 2009 Fine Print Professional MotorSport World Expo 24hr 2CV race! The "Tete Rouge 1" car, carrying the number 1 in the race, crossed the line after 24 hours of racing, completing 566 laps of the 1.95 mile Snetterton circuit in Norfolk.
Just after 3am, a heavy fog rolled across the circuit, and the race was red flagged due to safety concerns - the marshals could not see each other, or be seen by the drivers!
Read some more of the trials and tribulations of the teams involved, here: 