The car came silently into the pit lane after 50 minutes, with a fuel issue, which was soon fixed, but it dropped the car to 32nd place, out of 35 starters. The four drivers, Paul Leason a vehicle engineer based in USA, Edd Straw, deputy news editor of Autosport, Said Baloui, a German writer of software manuals and team patron Martin Harrold, in the picture framing supplies business, survived numerous bumps and 'moments' and worked the car back up to 9th place. The pit and support crew did a great job, with refuelling and servicing stops every 2 hours.

Driving in the 'daylight' with the pouring rain was hard enough, but when darkness fell, around 9.30pm, the HIDS really came into their own. Conditions were appalling, yet in 'one make' racing, with everyone running at about the same speed, it's crucial to never miss a braking point. The tricky one is exiting Coram, the big right hander, where high winds created huge understeer, then getting it straight in time for heavy braking into the sharp right / left at Russell. It was pitch black, yet the HIDS gave the drivers confidence to stay on the throttle until the last possible moment. That helped them haul the car back through the field.

Battling around in 9th on the Monday morning, one of the drivers found a car spinning in front of him at Riches. Sadly, he aimed to miss without lifting, and things did not quite work out as planned, hitting it hard broadside on. Quick thinking saw him do a U-turn (gaining a word in his ear from the CoC later) and exit the track by a gate and drive gingerly back to the paddock. The front of the car was in a very sorry state, but the crew took just 28 minutes to make it roadworthy, losing 14 laps.

It rejoined and came home in 12th place, the best result in nine tries in this unique race for Team Fine Print. At the end, just one of the 4 lamps was still in place, and every single body panel had a dent, small or large - the appalling wet and slippery conditions meant lots of minor bumps.

They'll be back again next year. You can see the race car, all straightened out, on the Fine Print stand at the 'Focus On Photography' exhibition at the NEC, in February '08.