When David Railton, boss of the British Endurance Racing Team, gave me a call to ask if I?d step in as their third rider for the 2020 24 Hours of Le Mans race, my answer didn?t take much thinking about. The fact that I was far from being physical fit, hadn?t raced a bike all year and had never even done a lap round the Bugatti circuit at Le Mans probably should have been major concerns but, at that point in time, they weren?t. ?Sign me up!? I said. I was going to Le Mans.

The British Endurance Racing Team, or BERT as it?s affectionally known, has been competing in the Endurance World Championship for a few years now. And when I got to Le Mans it was clear to see that all of the BERT lads knew what they were doing. My teammates on the track were Johnny Blackshaw, one of my oldest mates, and Jon Railton, son of Team Boss David, but there was another fifteen or so faces in the team to get to know, all with a variety of important jobs.
We?d be racing a Suzuki GSX-R1000 which would have to do the entire 24 hour race, but when I got to the teams pit garage, I noticed there were two identical Gixxers parked up. I soon learnt that one was the bike we?d be using for all of the practice and qualifying sessions and the other was to be saved for the race. Good idea, I thought; especially with the likes of me riding it!

After umpteen laps round Le Mans on YouTube, it was time for me to get my leathers on, chuck my leg over the Gixxer and see how far off the pace I was. ...