Citroen C1 endurance racing at Thruxton

Report by David Harbey

25^th October 2020

The idea of 998cc, barely tweaked, Citroen C1s racing round Thruxton for three hours on an October afternoon might not fill you with much enthusiasm. That there were 45 of them, closely matched and racing into the dusk, made it a little more interesting.

That our tame racing driver, Andre Marot, was again racing in the Exit 13 C1 and was willing to report from the hot seat made it a must do. We first heard from Andre at the Donington race of the C1 Racing Club 

I was happy to return to Thruxton accompanied this time by Andrew, my son, for his first visit there. It’s a fast, picturesque track near Andover; the green backdrop to photos would be enhanced this time by some hints of autumn colour.



You can find the PistonClick circuit guide here, Thruxton.  

Whilst you cannot walk round the full exterior of the track (and the paddock was off limits for spectators due to the pandemic), there is plenty of scope between the Club Chicane and Segrave.

The appetiser for the big race was a couple of Mini races – for the Mini Miglia and Mini Se7en series. As expected, these provided some good value racing with battles up and down the field in Mini Se7ens.

Adding a little rain helped !

We are getting ahead of ourselves. Let Andre introduce his day. 

AM - Thruxton, the "UK's Fastest Race Circuit" !  Got to love a challenge especially seeing as how none of the Exit 13 team drivers had yet to see three figures on the speedo despite hours spent racing around Silverstone International, Spa, Snetterton, Donington & Rockingham.

Thruxton had never been on my personal radar but as the C1 Racing Club series could only offer two events in 2020, it had to be done.

AM - The invitation to race the team's newly built #555 "Bernie" at Thruxton came shortly after our DNF at the Donington 3hrs in September aboard #395 "Brie". At first, I turned the offer down (see radar comment above) but the temptation was too much.

I had visited the circuit back in 1985 helping a friend in the first round of the then new Renault 5GT Turbo championship but that was of no help now. A two hour session on the sim at Simply Race got the training programme going, followed by the loan of a VR headset setup from one of my Donington teammates.

By race day morning I reckon to have totalled 12 hours of virtual Thruxton lappery.

AM - Teammates Paul Lawrie, Alistair Dendy, team owner Jon Winter and I share equal time in the car. The usual race format of a 50 minutes morning qualifying session is always a challenge with four drivers onboard for the event and with no pre-race test it equates to a very generous two flying laps - and did I mention the damp, slippery track conditions ?

Team leader Alistair got his head down putting us 6th (of 45 cars) on the grid despite this being his first racing visit too. What did I do? I wasted my laps looking over the top of my steamed up glasses (luckily, I'm not that short sighted) unhappy I wasn't sitting high enough and not being able to see out of the left mirror.

All feeble really instead of getting on with the job at hand and just enjoying the experience.

DH - Qualifying wasn’t without its challenges for some teams – MLP Developments #451 had the first of a number of moments during the day in qualifying (the novice cross may be a hint – it was only their second race).

MLP were in the next garage to Exit 13 and, as is often the way in club motorsport, assistance was given to enable them to make the race.

This was almost matched by TCS Motorsport #400 although the latter managed not to hit anything. 

AM - With nothing to repair post quali, levels checked, pressures set, wheel bolts torqued and a quick WD40 bath (it's a karting thing), we were ready for the start - each looking forward to our 45 minute stints.

DH – Alistair was in the car for the first stint for Bernie starting well up the grid. Whilst it is tempting to stick to the chicane for photos at Thruxton – and there is plenty of action there – I had a plan for Andrew and I.

We had headed out to the Complex for a wide angle view of the first couple of laps. On the way I grabbed a shot of Nick Padmore who had recently gained fame by lowering his lap record at Goodwood at their Speedweek. This time he was back in the family Mini Miglia.

DH – I knew that with an early afternoon start time, we would be shooting into the sun / light for these first few laps, but I wanted to get a sense of the wide open spaces at Thruxton.

The field came through in a long line, sometimes two or three wide in the early laps. I was on the bank above the track between Segrave and Noble while Andrew was closer to track level at Segrave.

DH - With a three hour race we worked our way back through Cobb Campbell and Allard with an aim to be near the pits half way through the race. The sun shone; it rained; the C1s entertained !

DH - As noted in previous reports, with care it is possible to get largely track furniture free shots at much of Thruxton.

I also knew that we would be shooting into the sun and would have preferred to be out in this area during the morning – but the race ran in the afternoon, so we made the best of it.

DH – A variety of lines were taken through the corners, which is especially apparent from the rear.

DH – there’s a good spot at Allard where there’s a shot of the track or the pit-lane. I used the Nikkor 200-500mm zoom all day (with and without rain cover). This worked well as we spotted Paul entering the pits in Bernie ready for Andre to take the wheel.

AM - As third driver in the roster, the pressure was on come my time, Alistair and Paul having kept "Bernie" in the top half of the field despite the challenge of changeable early track conditions.

Properly prepared now with balaclava below the mouth, booster cushion and left mirror set how I like it, time to get on and have that promised fun.

AM - What sim training doesn't replicate for Thruxton is the track undulation, not an issue but more just a surprise and lapping digitally on your own is not a way of training to be slotted straight into the six car train behind the then race leader (not that I knew that fact) either.

With the track dry, and feeling almost immediately at home in the new car, it was easy to get into trusting what it would do allowing for the enjoyment of racing those other guys.

DH – however, sometimes smooth track is not enough. 4G Racing #405 has a moment, but the incredible disappearing number plate on the Progressive #521 may tell a tale …

AM - Thruxton only has two braking efforts which makes it vitally important no mistakes are made as there's little opportunity around the lap to make up for any errors. From the exit of Campbell round to the braking for the Chicane is one long foot down run, slipstreaming the opposition as much as possible.

These little cars dance about through Goodwood and Church corners flat in fourth and it was a new experience to be trusting the guy ahead for his turn-in point for Church, so tucked up behind are you that all you can see is the back of his race seat and interior mirror !

Not forgetting the guy behind is doing exactly the same AND the guy behind him too !  (DH – sadly, spectators can’t get out to Goodwood and Church so we see them in the approach to the Club Chicane).

AM - Having settled in and not be losing out to the train I had joined, I was very pleased to see our pit wall guy Mark getting very excited and encouraging me to keep my eye on what I was supposed to be doing which paid off with, ultimately, the team's fastest laps of the day.

In defence of my quick teammates, I did have the best conditions, tyres at the optimum and fuel level at the lightest. Still felt good though !  What I was not prepared for was sunset.  (DH – meanwhile, Andrew and I were waiting and hoping for a sunset !) 

There's a gap between the Chicane grandstand and the aircraft control tower and it was into that gap that the sun sank full face on, blindingly bright just as you touch the Church clipping point and again before the Chicane at the point where you want to cross the track to the braking point. Not a big deal ? 

Oh yes it is, especially with all those other guys around, or at least they were there until you can no longer see. I have to say that I wasn't brave enough to keep my foot in the first time but got more comfortable, dark visor lowered, for my last few laps.

AM - We were looking on for a good result too. With ten minutes to go and, surprisingly, no Safety Car running to that point, the majority of two and three driver teams still had one green flag stop to make (they have the strategic advantage of using a Safety Car stop as a kind of "free" stop).

Just as the first few teams caved in and came in for their last stops, the Safety Car was deployed ! Two laps later it was back to green but our chance of rising from 18th was gone.

With the field bunched up the chance of a costly moment is high and sure enough, last lap, last corner, team owner Jon at the wheel (thank goodness for the rest of us!) disaster struck from behind as his group tried to avoid a half spinner.

Nothing anyone could have done and in re-joining the track he was tagged by another car too.

AM - 22nd in the results didn't reflect just how fast we had been running but it's about the taking part - isn't it ?  Oh, and if you were wondering about the "UK's Fastest Race Circuit", I got to see 105mph in a mega tow up the hill.

DH – there are few aural delights to be had with a field of C1s; earplugs are NOT necessary !  However, they do photograph well with a wide range of colour schemes. Exit 13 are definitely near the top for best livery.

Look closer and many cars give evidence of bumps, rubs and scrapes - now how could that happen ?

As the sun dropped, the light in the drivers’ faces was wonderful for photography – less so, as Andre makes clear, for drivers.

DH - Then with the finish at around 5.15pm, it went dark. The ISO was gradually increased and the camera could see in the dark. One really neat feature of the Nikon D850 is that the exposure can take account of bright headlights unlike my previous D610.

My thanks to Andre for his account of the race. In a season which originally offered the C1s racing at Spa and Sweden (mid-summer 24 hour race with no darkness) among other places, for the C1 Racing Club to run 3 hour races at Donington and Thruxton with large fields was no small achievement.

Racing C1s has received a publicity boost with the Bad Obsession Motorsport boys prepping and entering a car in the parallel City Car Cup.

Their YouTube videos give a good idea of what it takes to go racing. I believe the specs for the two series are reasonably close so perhaps we will see them out in the C1 Racing Series next year …

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