The Willhire 24 Hour was an endurance race for

production car Production vehicles or production cars are mass-produced models of automobiles offered for sale to the public and can be street-legal vehicle, legally driven on public roads. Legislation and other industrial rules define the production vehicle ...

s held at

Snetterton Motor Racing Circuit Snetterton Circuit is a motor racing course in Norfolk, England, originally opened in 1953. Owned by Jonathan Palmer's MotorSport Vision organisation since 2004, it is situated on the A11 road (England), A11 road north-east of the town of Thet ...

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

between 1980 and 1994. Over the years, the race included both

sports car A sports car is a type of automobile that is designed with an emphasis on dynamic performance, such as Automobile handling, handling, acceleration, top speed, the thrill of driving, and Auto racing, racing capability. Sports cars originated in ...

s and saloon cars. Latterly, it was contested by competitors running in the FIA

Group N In relation to international motorsport governed by the FIA, Group N refers to regulations providing "standard" large-scale series production vehicles for competition. They are limited in terms of modifications permitted to the standard specifi ...

specification National Saloon Car Cup. The race was run by the

British Racing and Sports Car Club The British Racing and Sports Car Club (BRSCC) is one of the major organisers of motorsport events in the United Kingdom. The club currently runs around thirty circuit racing championships for cars as diverse as Citroën, BMWs and Mazda. Formed i ...

(BRSCC), which was also responsible for the aforementioned series.

History

The race was sponsored by Willhire Vehicles Rentals (now Anglian Willhire, part of Northgate), a local

car rental A car rental, hire car or car hire agency is a company that rents automobiles for short periods of time to the public, generally ranging from a few hours to a few weeks. It is often organized with numerous local branches (which allow a user t ...

company, after its owner Roger Williams was approached to sponsor a motor racing event at the circuit. Williams talked about sponsoring a 6- or 24-hour event, initially as a joke, but the offer was accepted and the United Kingdom's first 24-hour race was founded. The race was first held in 1980. The 1989 event was 25 hours long to mark the 25th anniversary of the Willhire company. The final event was held in 1994.

Participants and winners

The Willhire 24 Hour was won by a number of drivers who went on to have success in other forms of racing. In 1986, the winning car was co-driven by then

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Mike Smith and Lionel Abbott, who became the first two-driver team to win the race. The full list of winners is given below. Other notable drivers who competed in the past other than those listed below include

Martin Brundle Martin John Brundle (born 1 June 1959) is a British former racing driver and sports broadcasting, broadcaster who competed in Formula One from to . In endurance racing (motorsport), endurance racing, Brundle won the World Sportscar Champions ...

Steve Soper Steven Soper (born 27 September 1951) is a British racing driver. He raced in major sports car racing, sports car and touring car racing, touring car categories in the 1980s and 1990s. He was Japanese Touring Car Championship, Japanese Touring ...

John Cleland John Cleland (24 September 1709 – 23 January 1789) was an English novelist best known for his fictional '' Fanny Hill: or, the Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure'', whose eroticism led to his arrest. James Boswell called him "a sly, old malcont ...

Kieth O'dor Kieth O'dor (5 April 1962 – 11 September 1995) was a British racing driver, born in Salisbury, who competed primarily in touring cars. He scored Nissan's first win during the super touring era in both the British Touring Car Championship and t ...

Tiff Needell Timothy Richard "Tiff" Needell (born 29 October 1951) is a British racing driver and television presenter. He is a presenter of '' Lovecars'', and formerly served as co-presenter of '' Top Gear'' and '' Fifth Gear''. Biography Needell attende ...

, John Bartlett, James Thompson and

Gerry Marshall Gerald Dallas Royston Marshall (16 November 1941 – 21 April 2005) was a British racing driver. He was commonly referred to by the nickname ''Big Gerry''. According to a 2002 edition of Motor Sport Magazine poll, he was one of the best driver ...

Stirling Moss Sir Stirling Craufurd Moss (17 September 1929 – 12 April 2020) was a British racing driver and sports broadcasting, broadcaster, who competed in Formula One from to . Widely regarded as one of the greatest drivers to never win the Formula On ...

was part of a class-winning team at the race in 1980, driving a

Volkswagen Scirocco The Volkswagen Scirocco is a three-door, front-engine, front-wheel-drive, sport compact hatchback manufactured and marketed by Volkswagen in two generations from 1974 to 1992 and a third generation from 2008 until 2018. Production ended without a ...

. Olympic decathlete

Daley Thompson Francis Morgan Ayodélé Thompson, (born 30 July 1958) is an English former decathlete. He won the decathlon gold medal at the Olympic Games in 1980 and 1984, and broke the world record for the event four times. He was unbeaten in competit ...

was a notable entrant in a

Peugeot 106 The Peugeot 106 is a supermini produced by France, French automaker Peugeot between 1991 and 2003. Launched in September 1991, it was Peugeot's entry level offering throughout its production life, and was initially sold only as a three-door hatc ...

in 1993. Commentator Ben Edwards was an entrant in a Ford Escort in 1994.

Legacy

Snetterton's experience in hosting a 24-hour race was proven to be beneficial when subsequently, the track became a host of some

British Touring Car Championship The British Touring Car Championship (BTCC), officially known as the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship for sponsorship reasons, is a touring car racing series held each year in the United Kingdom, currently organised and administered by ...

night races from 1999, and Willhire-sponsored endurance races in 2002, 2003 and 2004, but full 24-hour racing did not return until 2003, when the

2CV 24 Hour Race The Citroën 2CV 24 Hour Race is an annual 24-hour endurance race for Classic Citroën 2CVs, and is traditionally held in August regularly at the Snetterton Circuit in Norfolk. The race is organised by the Classic 2CV Racing Club, with BARC and ...

moved to Snetterton. However, national 24 hour endurance racing would not return until the introduction of the

Silverstone Britcar 24-Hour The Silverstone 24 Hour was a sports car race in Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance racing, held annually at Silverstone Circuit in the United Kingdom until 2018. The race was originally organised by Britcar. The 2009 race was shortened to ...

in 2005, taking place at

Silverstone Circuit Silverstone Circuit is a motor racing circuit in England, near the Northamptonshire villages of Silverstone and Whittlebury. It is the home of the British Grand Prix, which it first hosted as the 1948 British Grand Prix. The 1950 British Grand ...

. The 2005 Britcar event is sometimes referred to as the Britcar Willhire 24 Hour Race.

References

{{24-hour races Sports car races Touring car races Auto races in the United Kingdom Sport in Norfolk