The No 23 car that succumbed to gearbox failure 18 hours into the 25 hour race at Spa

SPA circuit in Belgium was a sweltering 38 degrees this weekend for the 2010 25 hour Fun Cup race.

Some 130 cars were entered for this gruelling event, the world’s longest track endurance race.

The 23 car driven by Jersey’s Ian Moore was in provisional pole position for the petrol class in Qualifying 1 thanks to teammate and professional driver Ross Kaiser. After qualifying 2 this became P4 and the team were very happy to be starting from Row 2.

Team boss Keith Atkins of Atkins Motorsport selected the driver line up for the two hour stints and Dubai based Rob George had the honour of starting the race at 5 pm on Saturday afternoon.

A clean start and some determined driving from Rob soon had the 23 car leading the petrol class race. This position continued for the next five hours maintained by drivers Ross Kaiser and Lee Atkins.

As night started to fall driver Lesley Reynolds from South Africa took the wheel. This was to be the most dramatic part of the race for the team. Within minutes of starting Lesley returned to the pits with gearbox problems. The decision was made to fit a new gearbox and this cost the team an hour and inevitably loss of the lead. Still 18 hours to go the team set about recovering lost time.

A change of tyres and brakes whilst already in the pits was also a critical choice as an almighty thunderstorm erupted just as Lesley returned to the track. The fresh tyres were most welcome in the torrential rain. The drama continued as officials stopped the race for 30 minutes due to lightning cutting power to the circuit!

Ian had arrived at the circuit at 10 pm as the drama was unfolding. Expecting to start racing at 11.30 pm this turned into 1 am due to all the delays.

His middle of the night stint he says was the most challenging thing he has ever done. The car was fantastic with a new gearbox and good tyres and he maintained a good steady pace bringing the car in at 3 am.

During his stint he said he saw many accidents and managed to avoid all of them. This was some feat as early on he lost power to his headlights and had to drive on sidelights in the darkness when not with other cars on the track.

‘Some corners were a complete memory test in the dark, trying to judge when to turn. At times the lightning would illuminate the circuit which was a great help!’ Ian said.
By morning the car had recovered to 11th place and by now the race would be determined by which cars would go the distance.

Ian’s second two-hour stint started at 9 am and in sweltering heat it would turn out to be his last. Handing over to Rob George still in 11th place the car would soon retire with another gearbox failure after a total of 18 hours racing.

‘We were obviously disappointed not to finish, particularly as this was the first time we had experienced mechanical problems with the car, but the experience of leading the race for the first five hours has encouraged us to attempt to win the event next year,’ Ian said.