Bol D'Or 24-hour motorcycle race They all got away intact, but the rain that arrived just before the start meant that by the end of the first lap four riders had slithered through the gravel alongside their stricken machines. I asked Pascal Couasnon, Michelin's director of motorsport, why he's brought the full might of this tyre company's racing department to a provincial event, which was described by one PR as "the race where old World Super Bike riders go to die." "This is a question you would ask yourself if racing was a pure marketing exercise," he says, "but it isn't." He explains that in motorcycling, racing really does improve the breed and Michelin learns from its participation to innovate its road tyres and to prove to road riders that its rubber is on the pace. Unstated here is that bikers have to know more about their tyres than car drivers. And, as most bikers also own cars, they're good ambassadors. And there might just be something in a French company supporting a very popular French event... Before the race, we dived down to the pit garage of the BMW Motorrad France team running a tasty S1000 RR so plagued with bad luck you'd think they'd been collecting witches' curses. Crashed by Frenchman Hugo Marchand in free practice, the spare machine was then wrecked by Aussie Damian Cudlin in qualifying. Ian Wheeler, the team's British PR, took us over the beautifully rebuilt bikes. "If you've got a spare €100,000 (£85,000) you can buy one from BMW," he jokes, "and if you've got another €30,000, you can have a factory technician." He points out a studious looking engineer in the corner of the pits. He explains that the endurance machines are heavier than short-circuit racers because of the extra fuel they carry (24 litres in total), the lights and the heavier-gauge bodywork. "The seats are heavy, because if you crash you've got to get the machine back to the pits and if the seat's gone, you're not going to be riding it," he says. A witch was clearly listening. Just before the two-hour mark, Cudlin dropped the delectable BMW at high speed. The seat was torn clean off and Cudlin staggered past us at Château D'Eau, pushing his machine, leathers scuffed beyond recognition and clearly hurt. No one could assist him as he bravely manhandled the BMW back to the pits, or the machine would be withdrawn. The 202bhp engine was damaged beyond repair anyway, but just try, if you can, to imagine any circumstances in which a Formula One driver would push his car three-quarters of the way around the circuit, even in the toast of full health. Rain returned at supper and bikes spilled as riders sought the refuge of the pits and sticky wet tyres. As gloom fell into night the lambent glow of Le Jungle bonfires stained the clouds. On track, the Sert team was lapping consistently, but it was anyone's race. The leading SRC Kawasaki traded punches with the GMT Yamaha, Monster Yamaha and Honda TT Legends team of Donald Cameron, John McGuinness and Simon Andrews, all managed by Neil Tuxworth. We enquired how it was going. He grimaced. Anything can happen, we're only a third of the way through. In 24-hour racing, this is heartbreak time, pitchy black, chilly as a witch's teat and a second's loss of concentration means you're out and hurting. Seven teams were retired and some pit garages were ominously silent, although one mechanic was out the back hammering some shape into a mangled radiator. One rider described endurance racing as a sport where you spend two months adjusting the handlebars by two millimetres, then climb uncomplainingly on the machine at 2am with those bars smashed like the cow with the crumpled horn. On they race, never giving an inch. Lap times drop back in the dark, but they're still on it; picking up the apexes and racing after the headlamp's puddle. Overnight, the top five stay in contention, although the Honda has a spill and is held together with nylon tie wraps when it rejoins in ninth. With two hours to go, the teams that can start to attack on a soggy track. Revs rise and the atmosphere builds as Suzuki deploys cut slicks to claw back the gap with the first-placed SRC Kawasaki. They've got it covered, though, and when that muddied green Kawa takes the chequered flag the crowd are ecstatic. It's been a superhuman effort, superlative riding and brilliant tactics - they spent just 20 minutes in the pits over 24 hours. I still can't quite believe they've raced for so long, but this is an endurance spectate as much as a race. So hats off to last year's winners: Julien Da Costa, Grégory Leblanc and Olivier Four, and all the teams. And, while I don't want to see another merguez et frites or Le Jungle again, as the teams packed their trucks for the next round I felt like a child wanting to run away with the circus. Endurance racing gets under your skin like that. The 2013 Bol d'Or takes place at Magny-Cours on April 20 and 21. More information at www.boldor.com