The 35th edition of the Andros Trophy, a car racing competition on ice, will be the last, its organizers announced on Wednesday, highlighting in particular the effects of climate change. “Every event has its end and we are going to officially announce that this 35th Andros Trophy will be the last in the series,” declared the president of the trophy, Max Mamers, during a press conference in Paris, broadcast on the Facebook page of the test, created in 1990.
Five races are planned this winter, in Val Thorens, in Andorra, at Isola 2000, Lans-en-Vercors and Super-Besse, the Puy-de-Dôme resort which will host the final final of the competition on January 27. “Global warming doesn’t help us much,” explained Frédéric Gervoson, co-founder of the trophy. The event in which more than 2,000 drivers participated in some 350 races in total underwent a first change in 2020, with a switch to all-electric.
To extend the adventure, stressed Max Mamers, it would have been possible to start again on a new cycle with cars this time running 100% on hydrogen. But to make these investments, he added, it would have been necessary to commit over ten years and therefore have “the assurance that the climatology would be favorable to us”.
“The more things go, the more we are obliged to find races in France at an altitude of 1,500 m to be sure of having ice,” noted the co-founder of the trophy. “This climate story is a recurring theme and it’s global, it’s not just France.” Twelve crews will be entered in this final edition, which will begin on the weekend of December 9 and 10 in the resort of Val Thorens, at an altitude of 2,200 m.