COLWALL Green driver Edward Mason was one of the winning drivers for the blue riband event of the 2CV racing calendar in a convincing lights to flag victory.

The three drivers, Edward Mason, Philip Myatt from Stoke on Trent and Graham Wallace from Banbury drove in approximately two hour stints for the full 24 hours stopping only for fuel and, after 18 hours, a new set of front brake pads.

Reliability turned out to be the key as in the early stages of the race there were several teams all racing on the same lap and dicing for position into every corner. Team manger Glen Oswin said that an exceptional two-hour driving stint in the wet, when Edward Mason was consistently the fastest car on the track, extended the lead beyond the reach of the following pack.

By the end of the race Team Dead End Racing were 17 laps ahead of the second place car having completed 740 laps of the Snetterton circuit, a total of 1,444 miles at an average speed of over 60 mph. This distance being equivalent to driving to northern Spain and back.

There were some unusual weather conditions for late June, when during the night the temperature dropped below 4 degrees Celsius, causing heavy mist and icing problems with the carburettor. The other weather consideration was the frequent showers, and at one stage a hail storm, that lead to the track conditions continually changing.

All 31 of the cars that started the race finished, but 1 car from Scotland had used a total of 5 engines during the race. Being well practised at changing engines the fastest change time registered by the official timekeepers was 11 minutes 12 seconds. The winning team have had support from two local companies, Hanley Signs with the graphics on the car and Browse Engineering with fabrications and modifications to some of the many uprated components.

Edward is now focussing his attention on the Belgium 24 hour race at Spa-Francorchamps on October 2 and 3 this year, having retired in last year's race after 21 hours with a dramatic engine failure going into the bus stop chicane.

As 'the double' has never been achieved before it would be a fantastic achievement if they bring back the winner's laurels to our corner of England.