The Bol d’Or 24-Hour race celebrated its centenary in September – it’s come a long way since riders used to rattle around dirt tracks eating food from tin cans strapped to their petrol tanks
Pictures: Bauer archive, Honda, FIM, Kawasaki, Suzuki
hen the Bol d’Or started in 1922 there was no such thing as health and safety, so you raced alone: 24 hours on your motorcycle, round and round and circles, hallucinating through exhaustion and lack of sleep.
The first winner of the Bol was Swiss Tony – Tony Zind, to give him his full name – who rode his Swiss-made 500cc Motosacoche around a three-mile dirt circuit in the eastern suburbs of Paris. He covered an impressive 764 miles, keeping himself going by eating food from… yes – amess tin fixed to the top of the fuel tank.
The last one-rider-only Bol was the 1953 event, when Frenchman Gustave Lefèvre won the race, riding a remarkable 1595 miles around the Monthléry racetrack aboard his Manx Norton. In 1953 second riders were allowed and since 1982 it’s been three riders, but as bikes get faster, tyres get grippier and brakes get better the job of making it to the finish doesn’t get any easier because g-forces increase – and with them the physical demands of riding.
Former BSB and EWC champ Terry Rymer rode seven Bols d’Or between 1992 and 1999, winning five, finishing second once (despite a major mechanical problem), and DNF-ing once. Only three riders have won more Bols d’Or than Too Tall Tel, whose favourite racing memories were in the sunshine and night-time at Circuit Paul Ricard, which hosted the race from 1978 to 1999, and again since 2015.
The Bol and Ricard are beloved by fans because the awesome track sits on a sun-kissed plateau, a short ride from the beaches of the Cote d’Azur, the two linked by a madly twisting road packed with bikers racing each other, with no thought for the baguettes and slabs of beer strapped to their pillion seats.
During the race’s greatest years at Ricard,
