The Big Year (so far): Bol d'Or

In the latest in the series, The Big Year took me to Magny-Cours:

The following week at work my mind was constantly wandering, drifting off to ponder the next weekend where I would not only see my first 24 hour bike race, but also finally see the famous Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours.  I was going by myself again (if you hadn’t worked it out, this is a recurring theme), so the A1 was conscripted into duty once again.

On the Friday evening I hit the road directly from work and only made it on to the French A36 after dark, finally making it to the small town of Nevers in the wee hours.  Some helpful Gendarmes helped me find the track, and I duly set up my tent, twisted open a Coopers Pale Ale and set about the campgrounds taking in the bonfires, burnouts and general debauchery for which French bikers are renowned.  Everywhere I turned I was reminded of scenes from Boris Mihailovic’s life-spent-motorcycling-memoirs ‘My Mother Warned Me About Blokes Like Me’, and was thankful that my own mother had no idea where I was or what I was getting up to.

One aspect of endurance racing that is often overlooked by the uninitiated is the effect that variances in weather, and especially temperatures, can have on racing.  In races that last between 45 minutes (like MotoGP) to 2 hours (like F1), you can generally be sure that the weather will be somewhat uniform throughout.  The gnarliest MotoGP gets is races declared wet but where the rain hasn't yet arrived, like the most recent race at Aragon, where riders are able to switch bikes, from slicks to wets, during the race.

But in endurance racing, for both bikes and cars, the weather can vary greatly, especially over 24 hours.  As night falls so do the temperatures for both the air and track, meaning less grip to go with the reduced visibility.

Predictably, crashes are not uncommon, however tend to be relatively benign low sides that only scrape fairings and dent confidence.

Like this guy.

One other consideration regarding dropping temperatures is for the riders themselves.  As anyone who has ridden a motorcycle on a wet, cold night can tell you, the mental effort to keep upright is rivalled only by tensing shoulders, hands and wrists, greatly affecting one's ability to ride.  Throw in a field of riders behind you who are just as determined to pass you as you are the rider in front, and it quickly becomes a high speed game of chicken.

Throughout the race the factory Honda squad of Sebastien Gimbert, Freddy Foray and Julien De Costa led, until just 3 hours from the end when a countershaft sprocket in their gearbox broke, taking them out of the race.  They were able to take a number of positives on to the next round of the championship, not least of all having arguably the strongest rider line-up around.

Fate wasn't kind to any other of the leading teams either, with both the Suzuki Endurance Racing Team (SERT) and Yamaha Austria Racing Team (YART) retiring along with their Honda rivals.

In the end it was SRT Kawasaki who took out overall honours, with Yamaha Racing GMT 94 finishing in second with Junior Team LMS Suzuki, in the Superstock class, taking out third overall.  Road Racing superstar Guy Martin's Team R2CL came home 7th in a race where just making it to the end is an achievement.  For these guys though, it was eyes forward as they prepared for another challenge: the Suzuka 8 Hour.