Motor racing is a sport of extremes, which might be why I’ve always found it’s at its best when its format is stretched to either limit. The only thing that can really match the madness and majesty of a 24 hour race, those spectacular follies that put people and their machines through the ringer while serving up the most incredible stories, is the 24 seconds it takes for someone to get from one end of Shelsley Walsh to the other. It’s another form of madness, one whose outlet is a short, sharp rush of near-impossible speed.