Robert longs to overtake the French racing vehicles (10)

I believe the answer is:

bobsleighs

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'racing vehicles' is the definition.
(vehicles in bobsleigh races)

'robert longs to overtake the french' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'robert' could be 'bob' (short for Robert) and 'bob' is found within the answer.
'the french' could be 'le' ('the' in French) and 'le' is found in the answer.
'longs' could be 'sighs' (sigh can mean to long or yearn for something) and 'sighs' is found in the leftover letters.
This accounts for all the letters.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

I've seen this clue in The Independent.

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