12h sebring
The 12 Hours of Sebring is an annual motorsport endurance race for sports cars held at Sebring International Raceway, on the site of the former Hendricks Army Airfield World War II air base in Sebring, Florida, US. In the past, this race has been a round of the now defunct World Sportscar Championship, IMSA GT Championship and American Le Mans Series. In 2012, the race was the opening event of the FIA World Endurance Championship in a one off race before being returned back to the American Le Mans Series for 2013. Starting in 2014, the event became the second round of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
1949 Crosley Hot Shot that won the 1950 Sebring Race. On display at the Edge Motor Museum in Memphis, Tennessee.
The race is considered to be one of the three legs of the informal Triple Crown of endurance racing along with the 24 Hours of Le Mans and 24 Hours of Daytona.
The track opened in 1950 on an airfield and is a road racing course styled after those used in European Grand Prix motor racing. The first race was a six-hour race on New Year's Eve 1950. The winning car is currently on display at the Edge Motor Museum in Memphis, Tennessee.
The race is known as preparation for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, as the track's technical layout and extremely bumpy surface, combined with south-central Florida's perennial hot weather, is a major test of a car's reliability. Teams planning to compete at Le Mans regard Sebring as an ideal preparation run for the prestigious French race.
24h daytona
The 24 Hours of Daytona, also known as the Rolex 24 At Daytona for sponsorship reasons, is a 24-hour sports car endurance race held annually at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is run on the Sports Car Course layout, a 5.73 km combined road course that uses most of the tri-oval plus an infield road course. Held on the last weekend of January or first weekend of February as part of Speedweeks, it is the first major automobile race of the year in North America. The race is sanctioned by IMSA and is the first race of the season for the IMSA SportsCar Championship.
The race has borne the names of several sponsors over the years. Since 1992, the Rolex Watch Company has been the title sponsor of the race, replacing Sunbank, which replaced Pepsi in 1984. Winning drivers of all classes receive a Rolex Daytona watch.
The race is known as a leg of the informal Triple Crown of endurance racing along with the 24 Hours of Le Mans and 12 Hours of Sebring.
Shortly after the track opened, on April 5, 1959, a six-hour/1000 kilometer USAC-FIA sports car race was held on the road course. Count Antonio Von Dory and Roberto Mieres won the race in a Porsche, shortened to 560.07 miles due to darkness.
Unlike the Le Mans event, the Daytona race is conducted entirely over a closed course within the speedway arena without the use of any public streets. Most parts of the steep banking are included, interrupted with a chicane on the back straight and a sweeping, fast infield section which includes two hairpins.
Unlike Le Mans, the race is held in wintertime, when nights are at their longest. There are lights installed around the circuit for night racing, although the infield section is still not as well-lit as the main oval. However, the stadium lights are turned on only to a level of 20%, similar to the stadium lighting setup at Le Mans, with brighter lights around the pit straight, and decent lighting similar to street lights around the circuit.
24h dubai
The Dubai 24 Hour Race is both a sports car and touring car automobile endurance race held annually at the Dubai Autodrome. It was inaugurated in 2006.
As with all races in the 24H Series, promoted by Dutch promoter Creventic, they are open to both professional and semi-professional teams. There are both local competitors from the UAE and surrounding nations in the Persian Gulf as well as a host of international teams particularly from European nations.
Unlike the 24 Hours of Le Mans in France whereby teams are invited by the organizers to compete, the Dubai 24 Hour is solely made up of teams who have registered prior to the commencing of the actual race. Entrants must file in a registration application in order to have a chance at competing. Entry and registration fees also apply for competitors.
The race features both a variety of Grand tourer (GT), touring cars as well as specially built silhouette cars from a wide range of marques which are eligible to enter. These range from small-engined Super 2000 hatchbacks (such as the Renault Clio and Honda Civic) to racing-bred sport cars (such as the Porsche 911 GT3 & Marcos Mantis GT).
A method of performance-balancing by the organisers of the event is existent throughout many of the classes featured in the Endurance Race.
24h le mans
The 24 Hours of Le Mans (French: 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is widely considered to be one of the world's most prestigious races, and is one of the races—along with the Monaco Grand Prix and Indianapolis 500—that form the Triple Crown of Motorsport, and is also one of the races alongside the 24 Hours of Daytona and 12 Hours of Sebring that make up the informal Triple Crown of endurance racing. Run since 1923, it is the oldest active endurance racing event in the world.
Unlike fixed-distance races whose winner is determined by minimum time, the 24 Hours of Le Mans is won by the car that covers the greatest distance in 24 hours. The cars on this track are able to achieve speeds of 366 km/h, and reached 407 km/h on the Mulsanne Straight in 1988 – instigating the addition of more chicanes to the track to reduce speed reached. Racing teams must balance the demands of speed with the cars' ability to run for 24 hours without mechanical failure. The race is organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). It is held on the Circuit de la Sarthe, composed of closed public roads and dedicated sections of a racing track.
The 24 Hours of Le Mans was frequently part of the World Sportscar Championship from 1953 until that series' final season in 1992. In 2011, it was a part of the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup. Since 2012, the race has been a part of the FIA World Endurance Championship. In the World Endurance Championship's super-season of May 2018 to June 2019, the 24 Hours of Le Mans was both the second and the last round of the season.
Launched when Grand Prix motor racing was the dominant form of motorsport throughout Europe, Le Mans was designed to present a different test. Instead of focusing on the ability of a car company to build the fastest machines, the 24 Hours of Le Mans would concentrate on the ability of manufacturers to build sporty yet reliable cars. This encouraged innovation in producing reliable and fuel-efficient vehicles, because endurance racing requires cars that last and spend as little time in the pits as possible.
The race is held in mid June, meaning the shortest night and very hot conditions for drivers, particularly in closed vehicles with poor ventilation. Rainy weather is common. The race begins in mid-afternoon and finishes the following day at the same hour the race started the previous day.
Modern competitors often cover well over 5,000 km. The record is 2010's 5410 km, six times the length of the Indianapolis 500, or about 18 times longer than a Formula One Grand Prix.
Although all cars compete at the same time, as of 2021 there are separate classes. A prize is awarded to the winner of each class and the overall winner. The number of classes has varied over the years, but there are now three: HYPERCAR, LMP2, and LMGT3.
Successor to the Le Mans Prototype 1 (LMP1) is the custom-built HYPERCAR (LMH or LMDh) class. It is the top class and debuted in 2021. The new technical regulations are intended to prevent cost escalations while enabling greater variety in technical approaches and car aesthetics.
24h nürburgring
The Nürburgring 24 Hours is a 24-hour annual touring car and GT endurance racing event that takes place on a combination of the Nordschleife ("North Loop") and the GP-Strecke ("Grand Prix track") circuits of the Nürburgring in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Held since 1970, the over 25.3 km lap length allows more than 200 cars and over 700 drivers to participate.
Starting in 2024, the event will be officially named ADAC RAVENOL 24h Nürburgring for sponsorship reasons. Furthermore, the 2024 season of the race will be included in the Intercontinental GT Challenge calendar.
Officially called "ADAC 24h Rennen Nürburgring" in German ('ADAC 24 hour Race Nürburgring'), it was introduced in 1970 by the ADAC as an official race, unlike the earlier endurance contests that covered 12, 24 (in 1961 and 1967), 36, 84 and even 96 hours, like the Marathon de la Route. This substitute for the Liège-Rome-Liège and Liège-Sofia-Liège rallies was held on the Nürburgring from 1965 to 1971.
It is similar to the Spa 24 Hours, which had been introduced in 1924, following the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The ADAC had held its first 1000 km Nürburgring sports car racing event in 1953. As the 1000 km Spa had been introduced in 1966, the 24h at the Ring gave both circuits a pair of endurance racing events at very long tracks, at least until Spa was shortened in 1979.
The Nurburgring 24 Hours is known for its wide variety of cars. In 2023, 135 cars in 20 classes were entered.
24h spa-francorchamps
The 24 Hours of Spa is an endurance racing event for cars held annually since 1924 at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Stavelot, Belgium. It is currently sponsored by CrowdStrike.
The Spa 24 Hours was conceived by Jules de Their and Henri Langlois Van Ophem just one year after the inaugural 24 Hours of Le Mans was run. It debuted in 1924 over a 15 kilometres circuit on public roads between the towns of Francorchamps, Malmedy and Stavelot, under the auspices of the Royal Automobile Club of Belgium (RACB). The present 7.004 kilometres circuit was inaugurated in 1979 with only slight variations since then.
The Spa 24 Hours was part of the European Touring Car Championship from 1966 to 1973, again in 1976 and from 1982 to 1988 (with the exception of 1987 when it was part of the inaugural World Touring Car Championship). The event also counted towards the World Sportscar Championship in 1953 and the World Endurance Championship in 1981. As on the Nürburgring, both a 24h and a 1000 km race is held at Spa, as the 1000 km Spa for sports car racing were introduced in 1966.
Cars entered have spanned from the Russian Moskvitch and models with sub-1 liter engines such as the NSU Prinz TT to the luxurious V8-powered Mercedes-Benz 300 SEL 6.3. Tuned by Mercedes-AMG, the 6834 cc and 420 hp so-called "Red pig" finished as high as second in 1971.
The current version of the Spa 24 Hours is an event under the GT World Challenge Europe Powered by AWS and Intercontinental GT Challenge calendar, although it was previously run as part of the FIA GT Championship featuring GT1 and GT2 machinery, and by various touring car series. Currently, the cars run fall under the FIA GT3 and GT3 Cup classifications. It has also been a round of the SRO Group's Intercontinental GT Challenge since its inaugural season in 2016.
2020 saw the race held behind closed doors for the first time.
24h zolder
The 24 Hours of Zolder (24 uur van Zolder in Dutch) is a yearly sports car and touring car endurance race held at Circuit Zolder in Belgium.
The race was initially held in 1977, and has run every year except for 1988. In 1989 a GT car won for the first time, and the following year the race joined the calendar of the BBL Cup, which became the Carglass Cup in 1992. The 24 Hours became part of the Belcar championship in 1997 (for a few years named Belgian GT Championship, since 2010 named Belcar Endurance Championship), continuing to be the series' yearly endurance event.
6 hours fuji
The 6 Hours of Fuji (formerly the Fuji 1000 Kilometres) is a sports car race held at Fuji Speedway in Oyama, Shizuoka, Japan. The race was held for the first time in 1967, and in 1977 became part of the new Fuji Long Distance Series. In 1982 a second 1000 km race known as WEC in Japan was run as a round of the World Sportscar Championship. The All Japan Sports Prototype Championship was formed in 1983, and since then co-sanctioned this event. The World Championship left after 1988, but the JSPC carried on both races until 1992. The race was revived in 1999 as an attempt to gauge interest in an Asian Le Mans Series; the series never materialized. The race was revived again as a part of the short-lived Japan Le Mans Challenge in 2007. The race returned again as part of the 2012 FIA World Endurance Championship season, but changed to a 6-hour race, with no distance limit.
american le mans series
The American Le Mans Series (ALMS) was a sports car racing series based in the United States and Canada. It consisted of a series of endurance and sprint races, and was created in the spirit of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The American Le Mans' headquarters was in Braselton, Georgia, adjacent to Road Atlanta.
In 2014, the series merged with the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series to form the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
The series was created by Braselton, Georgia-based businessman Don Panoz and ran its first season in 1999. Panoz created a partnership with the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO), the organizers of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, to begin a 10-hour race in the spirit of Le Mans, dubbed the Petit Le Mans. The inaugural Petit Le Mans took place in 1998 as a part of the Professional SportsCar Racing series, in which Panoz was an investor. For 1999, the series changed its name to the American Le Mans Series, and adopted the ACO's rulebook.
The American Le Mans Series used essentially the same rules as the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Like the 24 Hours of Le Mans, there were three primary classes, though there were two extra "Challenge classes" using standardized cars. Purpose-built race cars with closed fenders competed in the Prototype classes P1, P2, and PC (Prototype-Challenge) and modified production sports cars competed in the Grand Touring classes GT (GTE-Pro and GTE-Am combined, formerly GT2) along with GT-Challenge or GTC. The former GT1 category was abandoned after 2009 season. In 2012, the "Le Mans" (LM) was dropped from the names of the prototype categories.
bathurst
The Bathurst 12 Hour, currently known as the Repco Bathurst 12 Hour for sponsorship reasons, is an annual endurance race for GT and production cars held at the Mount Panorama Circuit, in Bathurst, Australia. The race was first held in 1991 for Series Production cars and moved to Sydney's Eastern Creek Raceway in 1995 before being discontinued. The race was revived in 2007, again for production cars, before adding a new class for GT3 and other GT cars in 2011. This has led to unprecedented domestic and international exposure for the event. In all, twenty one races have taken place; twenty at Mount Panorama and one at Eastern Creek Raceway (Sydney Motorsport Park).
The event was inspired by the long-running Bathurst 500 production car race, which began at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit in Victoria in 1960 (before moving to Bathurst in 1963) as a race for standard production cars with minimal modifications. In 1973 when the race was lengthened from 500 miles to 1000 kilometres, the regulations for cars entering the race changed from standard "series production" cars to improved touring cars. The Bathurst 12 Hour was intended to re-create the original feel of the Bathurst 1000, while providing a unique test in the longer race distance, rather than replicating the 1000 kilometre event.
bathurst 1000
The Bathurst 1000 (known for sponsorship reasons as the Repco Bathurst 1000) is a 1000-kilometre touring car race held annually on the Mount Panorama Circuit in Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia. It is currently run as part of the Supercars Championship, the most recent incarnation of the Australian Touring Car Championship. In 1987 it was a round of the World Touring Car Championship. The Bathurst 1000 is colloquially known as The Great Race among motorsport fans and media. The race originated with the 1960 Armstrong 500 with a 500 mile race distance at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit; it was relocated to Bathurst in 1963 also with the 500 mile distance and has continued there every year since extending to a 1,000 kilometer race in 1973. The race was traditionally run on the New South Wales Labour-Day long weekend in early October. Since 2001, the race has been run on the weekend following the long weekend, generally the second weekend of October.
Race winners are presented with the Peter Brock Trophy, introduced at the 2006 race after the sudden death of Peter Brock in an accident. Brock was the most successful driver in the race's history, winning the event nine times. He was also known as one of the most popular and fan-friendly drivers during his long career, and was given the moniker "King of the Mountain" for these reasons.
The Mount Panorama Circuit was first used on 16 April 1938 for the Australian Tourist Trophy meeting for motorcycles, followed two days later by the Australian Grand Prix for cars. The track uses temporarily-closed-public roads and is known for the 174-metre elevation between its highest and lowest points. The first turn, Hell Corner, is a ninety-degree left-hander.
During its history, the race has been conducted for production saloon cars, Group E Series Production Touring Cars, Group C Touring Cars, Group A Touring Cars, Group 3A Touring Cars, Super Touring, and currently Supercars. Until 1995 more than one class competed in each event. In its early years, the Bathurst 500/1000 was generally a stand-alone event, occasionally becoming a round of a national series such as the Australian Manufacturers' Championship, but never part of the most significant touring car series in Australia, the Australian Touring Car Championship.
btcc
The Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship is a touring car racing series held each year in the United Kingdom, currently organised and administered by TOCA. It was established in 1958 as the British Saloon Car Championship and was renamed as the British Touring Car Championship for the 1987 season. The championship, currently running Next Generation Touring Car regulations, has been run to various national and international regulations over the years including FIA Group 2, FIA Group 5, FIA Group 1, FIA Group A, FIA Super Touring and FIA Super 2000. A lower-key Group N class for production cars ran from 2000 until 2003.
The championship was initially run with a mix of classes, divided according to engine capacity, racing simultaneously. This often meant that a driver who chose the right class could win the overall championship without any chance of overall race wins, thereby devaluing the title for the spectators – for example, in the 1980s Chris Hodgetts won two overall titles in a small Toyota Corolla prepared by Hughes Of Beaconsfield, at that time a Mercedes-Benz/Toyota main dealer when most of the race wins were going to much larger cars; and while the Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500s were dominating at the front of the field, Frank Sytner took a title in a Class B BMW M3 and John Cleland's first title was won in a small Class C Vauxhall Astra.
As of the 2014 British Touring Car Championship, all cars are built to the same regulations. There are strict limits to the modifications which can be made to the cars, which are intended to reduce the cost of running a competitive team, which had become prohibitive in the final years of the Super Touring rules. These cost reductions saw a rise in independent entries – teams or individuals entering cars purchased from the manufacturer teams when they update their chassis.
Being a national championship, the British Touring Car Championship has visited circuits throughout the United Kingdom over its long history. Currently the series visits eight different tracks in England and Scotland over the course of ten meetings.
Each race typically consists of between 16 and 25 laps, depending on the length of the circuit. A race may be extended by three laps if three or more laps have been run behind a safety car.
can-am
The Canadian-American Challenge Cup, or Can-Am, was an SCCA/CASC sports car racing series from 1966 to 1974, and again from 1977 to 1987.
The Can-Am rules were deliberately simple and placed few limits on the entries. This led to a wide variety of unique car body designs and powerful engine installations. Notable among these were Jim Hall's Chaparrals and entries with over 1000 horsepower.
Can-Am started out as a race series for group 7 sports racers with two races in Canada (Can) and four races in the United States of America (Am). The series was initially sponsored by Johnson Wax. The series was governed by rules called out under the FIA group 7 category with unrestricted engine capacity and few other technical restrictions.
The energy crisis and the increased cost of competing in Can-Am meant that the series folded after the relatively lackluster 1974 season; the single-seater Formula 5000 series became the leading road-racing series in North America and many of the Can-Am drivers and teams continued to race there.
In 1991, after 18 months of development, a Shelby Can-Am series was created using a production line of Sports bodied cars designed by Carroll Shelby powered by a 3.3 litre Dodge V6. The series ran for five years before it was dropped by the SCCA. A large number of cars were relocated to South Africa and ran from 2000 onwards.
The name was once again revived in 1998, when the United States Road Racing Championship broke away from IMSA. Their top prototype class was named Can-Am, but the series would fold before the end of 1999 before being replaced by the Grand American Road Racing Championship. The Can-Am name would not be retained in the new series.
carrera panamericana
The Carrera Panamericana was a border-to-border sedan (stock and touring and sports car) rally racing event on open roads in Mexico similar to the Mille Miglia and Targa Florio in Italy. Running for five consecutive years from 1950 to 1954, it was widely held by contemporaries to be the most dangerous race of any type in the world. It has since been resurrected along some of the original course as a classic speed rally.
After the 3507 kilometer north-south Mexican section of the Pan-American Highway was completed in 1950, a nine-stage, five-day race across the country was organized by the national government to celebrate its achievement and attract international business. The 1950 race ran almost entirely along the new roadway.
Due to safety concerns and the expense to the government, the race was cancelled after the 1955 Le Mans disaster, although the President Adolfo Ruiz Cortines announced only that the race's original task of publicizing the highway was 'complete'. 27 people had died during the five years of the Panamericana, giving it one of the highest mortality rates per race in the history of motor sports.
The race was resurrected in 1988 by Pedro Dávila, Loyal Truesdale, and Eduardo de León Camargo, and runs a 7-day, 3200 km route aping some of the original course.
dakar-rally
The Dakar Rally or simply "The Dakar" (French: Le Rallye Dakar ou Le Dakar), formerly known as the "Paris–Dakar Rally" (French: Le Rallye Paris-Dakar), is an annual rally raid organised by the Amaury Sport Organisation. Most events since the inception in 1978 were staged from Paris, France, to Dakar, Senegal. Security threats in Mauritania led to the cancellation of the 2008 rally, and events from 2009 to 2019 were held in South America. Since 2020, the rally has been held in Saudi Arabia. The event is open to amateur and professional entries, professionals typically making up about eighty percent of the participants.
The rally is an off-road endurance event. The terrain that the competitors traverse is much tougher than that used in conventional rallying, and the vehicles used are typically true off-road vehicles and motorcycles, rather than modified on-road vehicles. Most of the competitive special sections are off-road, crossing dunes, mud, camel grass, rocks, and erg among others. The distances of each stage covered vary from short distances up to 800–900 kilometres per day. The rough terrain, driver fatigue, and lack of skill usually results in accidents and serious injuries.
The Mediterranean Rally (also known als Algiers-Cape Town Rally) was a trans-Africa rally ran in 5 editions between 1951 and 1961. It evolved from the original mixed road and off-road rally to a fully off-road endurance event, during the pioneer years of trans-Africa rallies.
The 2008 event, due to start in Lisbon, was cancelled on 4 January 2008 amid fears of attacks in Mauritania following the 2007 killing of four French tourists. Chile and Argentina offered to host subsequent events, which were later accepted by the ASO for the 2009 event.
The ASO also decided to establish the Dakar Series competition, whose first event was the 2008 Central Europe Rally, held in Hungary and Romania, which acted as a replacement for the cancelled 2008 edition of the Dakar.
The five competitive groups in the Dakar are the motorcycles, quads, the cars class (which ranges from buggies to small SUVs), UTVs, and the trucks class. Many vehicle manufacturers use the rally's harsh environment as both a testing ground and an opportunity to show off their vehicles' durability even though most vehicles are heavily modified from their production specification or purpose-built.
drm
Deutsche Rennsport Meisterschaft (translated as German Racing Championship) or simply DRM as it was known, was a touring car and Sportscar racing series. It is regarded as a predecessor of the current DTM as Germany's top national series.
The DRM began in 1972 as a Group 2 touring car and Group 4 GT racing series for cars like (BMW 2002) and (BMW Coupé), in addition to the Deutsche Rundstrecken-Meisterschaft [de] (German circuit racing saloon car championship). In these years, the same or similar cars were also entered in the European Touring Car Championship.
Races were run separately as big Division 1 (for 2 to 4 liter) and small Division 2 (under 2 liter) in a sprint format.
In 1982, following the FIA rule changes, new Group C sportscars (along with existing Group 6) replaced the Group 5 machinery at the renamed International Deutsche Rennsport Meisterschaft. Meanwhile, the Rennsport Trophäe held separate races and events in 1982 and 1983, except for the 1982 ADAC Eifelrennen at the Nürburgring Nordschleife.
1985 was the final year of the now called DSM (German: Deutsche Sportwagen Meisterschaft, lit. 'German Sportscar Championship'), with just one race was held at Norisring, the rest of them held in conjunction with the popular Interserie. This meant CanAm entered from the latter series, as it had always been, had to be counted for points
The series would be replaced by the Group C-only Supercup in 1986. At that time, the less expensive DTM (German: Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft, lit. 'German Touringcar Championship') had taken over as Germany's most important racing series.
Since 2005 the AvD the AvD organizes a "Revival Deutsche Rennsportmeisterschaft" race at his great "Oldtimer Grand Prix".
In 1984, with just three races held, organisers used three WEC (World Endurance Championship) races as additional IDRM point races. Also, the Rennsport Trophäe was replaced by the DPM (Deutsche Produktionswagen Meisterschaft), run with Group A cars.
dtcc
The Dutch Touring Car Championship (DTCC) was a touring car championship in the Netherlands from 1997 to 2002, and the premier class of Dutch motorsport in those years. After some Dutch car importers withdrew, the remaining importers (of Renault and BMW) decided to leave this class as well, thus defunct.
In 1963 the Dutch Touring Car Championship was launched. From 1973 onwards, this championship was expanded to include the participation of the more powerful GT cars. From 1986 it was reformed into the Dutch Production Car Championship (DPCC). Cor Euser (1993), Tom Coronel (1992), Patrick Huisman (1991) and Paul van Splunteren (1990) became champions. In 1997 it was formed as the Dutch Touring Car Championship, which was organized until 2002.
All cars that raced here complied with the FIA Group N rules, unlike other championships such as the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) which run under the Group A rules. That means the cars were pretty much standard. The standard gearbox and brakes were the weak spots in the car. The main brands in the championship were Renault (Mégane Coupé 2.0), BMW (320i) and Mitsubishi (Carisma 1.8 GDI). In 2008 the DTCC competed at the Wijzonol Trophy at Circuit Zandvoort. There were only three original DTCC cars on the road, the rest were supplemented by BMWs from the DNRT.
dtm
The Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM, German Touring Car Masters) is a sports car racing series sanctioned by ADAC. The series is based in Germany, with rounds elsewhere in Europe. The series currently races a modified version of Group GT3 grand touring cars, replacing the silhouette later Class 1 touring cars of earlier years.
From 2000 to 2020, the new DTM continued the former Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft (German Touring Car Championship) and ITC (International Touring Car Championship) which had been discontinued after 1996 due to high costs. The series raced prototype silhouette racing cars based on a mass-production road car in the same period.
During the ITC era, a large proportion of the revenue generated by the championship went to the FIA, which led to complaints from the teams regarding the small return on their increasingly large investment in the high-tech touring car series. Since 1997, many ideas had been discussed in order to find a compromise for the rules of a new DTM racing series. Opel put the primary emphasis on cost control, Mercedes-Benz supported expensive development in competition, BMW wanted an international series rather than one focused on Germany only, while Audi insisted on allowing their trademark quattro four-wheel drive system (despite running the rear wheel drive Audi R8 in sports car racing).
In 2017, the DTM field size was reduced from 24 to 18 cars total to improve quality as well as increasing affordability for its existing manufacturers, while making the series a more attractive proposition for any prospective entrants and manufacturers.
Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters cars closely resemble public road vehicles but custom-built into a racing version as a reference of silhouette racing car format.
The cars are supposed to be fast and spectacular, while still fairly cheap to build and run. All DTM race cars have RWD and 4.0-litre V8 engines (later 2.0-litre inline-4 turbocharged engines) which are air-restricted to 460 hp but now into over 500 hp since 2017 until 2018 season and now into 610 hp including 30 hp push-to-pass since 2019 season and later 580 hp + 60 hp push-to-pass since 2020 season onwards, no matter if similar layouts or engines are available in the road cars.
fia gt
The FIA GT Championship was a sports car racing series organized by the Stéphane Ratel Organisation (SRO) at the behest of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The championship was mostly concentrated in Europe, but throughout the years has visited other continents including Asia and South America. At the end of 2009, the championship was replaced by the FIA GT1 World Championship, which morphed into the FIA GT Series for 2013.
FIA currently defines several categories of GT cars with the top two specifications being GT1, or Grand Touring Cars, and GT2, or Series Grand Touring Cars. Each category has an annual driver champion, team champion, and manufacturer champion. Both categories are based on production road car designs, which must be produced in a minimum quantity of 25 examples to qualify. Both types may undergo significant modifications from the road car they are based on, but GT1 allows the use of exotic materials, better aerodynamics, larger brakes, wider tyres and larger engine admission restrictors.
All races in the FIA GT Championship were of endurance type, a full race distance lasting a minimum of 500 km or a maximum of three hours, with the exception of the Spa 24 Hours, Istanbul 2 hours and the exhibition Mil Milhas Brasileiras, which is run over a thousand miles (1609 km) and was planned to be a round of the championship in 2007. However, with the release of the 2007 FIA GT Championship schedule and rules, the FIA GT series becomes more of a sprint race event, with all races being a maximum of 2 hours with the exception of the Spa 24 Hours.
formula 1
Formula One, commonly known as Formula 1 or F1, is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one of the world's premier forms of racing since its inaugural running in 1950. The word formula in the name refers to the set of rules all participants' cars must follow. A Formula One season consists of a series of races, known as Grands Prix. Grands Prix take place in multiple countries and continents on either purpose-built circuits or closed public roads.
A point-system is used at Grands Prix to determine two annual World Championships: one for the drivers, and one for the constructors (the teams). Each driver must hold a valid Super Licence, the highest class of racing licence the FIA issues, and the races must be held on grade one tracks, the highest grade rating the FIA issues for tracks.
Formula One cars are the world's fastest regulated road-course racing cars, owing to very high cornering speeds achieved by generating large amounts of aerodynamic downforce. Much of this downforce is generated by front and rear wings, which have the side effect of causing severe turbulence behind each car. The turbulence reduces the downforce the cars following directly behind generate, making it hard to overtake. Major changes made to the cars for the 2022 season have resulted in greater use of ground effect aerodynamics and modified wings to reduce the turbulence behind the cars, with the goal of making overtaking easier. The cars depend on electronics, aerodynamics, suspension, and tyres. Traction control, launch control, and automatic shifting, and other electronic driving aids were first banned in 1994. They were briefly reintroduced in 2001, and have more recently been banned since 2004 and 2008, respectively.
With the average annual cost of running a team—designing, building, and maintaining cars, pay, transport—at approximately $265,000,000, Formula One's financial and political battles are widely reported. The Formula One Group is owned by Liberty Media, which acquired it in 2017.
Formula One originated from the World Manufacturers' Championship (1925–1930) and European Drivers' Championship (1931–1939). The formula is a set of rules that all participants' cars must follow. Formula One was a formula agreed upon in 1946 to officially become effective in 1947. The first Grand Prix in accordance with the new regulations was the 1946 Turin Grand Prix, anticipating the formula's official start. Before World War II, a number of Grand Prix racing organisations made suggestions for a new championship to replace the European Championship, but due to the suspension of racing during the conflict, the new International Formula for cars did not become formalised until 1946, to become effective in 1947. The new World Championship was instituted to commence in 1950.
formula 2
The FIA Formula 2 Championship is a second-tier single-seater championship organized by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). Held on racing circuits, the championship was introduced in 2017, following the rebranding of the long-term Formula One feeder series GP2. The series' original founders were Flavio Briatore and current managing director Bruno Michel. While it is not absolutely necessary to do so, most current F1 drivers have participated in either Formula 2 or GP2 before graduating to Formula One.
Designed to make racing relatively affordable for the teams and to make it an ideal training ground for life in Formula One, Formula 2 has made it mandatory for all of the teams to use the same chassis, engine and tire supplier so that true driver ability is reflected. Formula 2 mainly races on European and Middle Eastern circuits, but has appearances at other international race tracks as well such as the Albert Park Circuit in Australia.
While significantly slower than Formula One, the Formula 2 championship cars are faster than most other circuit racing vehicles.
The all-new 2024 design is aimed at closely mirroring Formula 1 cars in terms of safety, aesthetics, system functionalities, performance, sustainability, and cost-effectiveness. The development will continue over the 2024, 2025, and 2026 seasons, aligning with the gradual increase in sustainable fuel components, targeting 100% synthetic sustainable fuels by 2027.
The same FIA Formula 2 Championship car is used by all of the teams, and features a carbon-fiber monocoque Dallara chassis, powered by a single-turbocharged direct-injected Mecachrome V6 engine and mounted dry slick and rain treaded Pirelli tyres. Overall weight is 755 kg including the driver.
formula 3
Formula Three, also called Formula 3, abbreviated as F3, is a third-tier class of open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held in Europe, Australia, South America and Asia form an important step for many prospective Formula One drivers.
Formula Three (adopted by the FIA in 1950) evolved from postwar auto racing, with lightweight tube-frame chassis powered by 500 cc motorcycle engines (notably Nortons and JAP speedway).
Formula Three cars are monocoque chassis, using slick racing tyres and wings. Currently, Dallara manufactures the overwhelming majority of F3 cars, though Mygale, Lola (formerly in partnership with Dome of Japan), Arttech, and SLC also have a limited output. In many smaller or amateur F3 racing series older cars are frequently seen. Usually these series are divided into two or more classes, to allow more participation.
Engines in FIA Formula 3 are all 3.4-litre, 6-cylinder naturally aspirated spec engines.
formula e
Formula E, officially the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, is an open-wheel single-seater motorsport championship for electric cars. The racing series is the highest class of competition for electrically powered single-seater racing cars. The inaugural championship race was held in Beijing in September 2014. Since 2020, the series has FIA world championship status.
The ABB FIA Formula E World Championship season consists of a series of races, each known as an e-Prix. These take place in multiple countries and continents around the world, mostly on street circuits created specifically for Formula E on closed public roads in the centre of major cities, with a small number on iconic purpose-built circuits such as Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City. A points system is used at each e-Prix to determine two annual World Championships: one for the drivers, and one for the constructors (the teams). Each driver must hold a valid e-Licence issued by the FIA to compete.
Formula E cars are the fastest regulated electric road-course racing cars in the world. Major changes made for the 2022–23 season in the development of the Gen3 car were delivered as software updates directly to the advanced operating system built into the car. The estimated top speed is 322 km/h. The battery is also designed to be able to handle "flash-charging" at rates of up to 600 kW, allowing pitstop recharging into the championship for the first time. The wheelbase has been reduced from 3100 mm to 2970 mm and the weight reduced to 760 kg.
Formula E shareholders include Liberty Global and Warner Bros. Discovery. As of 2024, Formula E’s founder and Spanish businessman Alejandro Agag is the company’s Chairman, and the Chief Executive Officer is Jeff Dodds.
Since the 2020–21 season, Formula E is an FIA World Championship, making it the first single-seater racing series outside of Formula One to be given world championship status.
grand-am cup
Grand-Am Road Racing or Grand-Am was an auto racing sanctioning body that was established in 1999 to organize road racing competitions in North America. Its primary focus was the Rolex Sports Car Series, an endurance racing championship series. It sanctioned five auto racing series. The series announced in September 2012 that it would be merging with the American Le Mans Series, which had been Grand-Am's main US competitor since its inception. The two series fully merged in 2014 under the banner of the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship, with the International Motor Sports Association.
The premiere series of Grand-Am was the Rolex Sports Car Series which originated in 2000 as a successor to the defunct United States Road Racing Championship. Combining classes of Sports Racing Prototypes and Grand Touring-style production-based cars, the series was centered on the Rolex 24 At Daytona but included a wide variety of American, Canadian, and Mexican tracks.
imsa
The International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) is a North American sports car racing sanctioning body based in Daytona Beach, Florida, under the jurisdiction of the ACCUS arm of the FIA. It was started by John Bishop, a former executive director of SCCA (Sports Car Club of America), and his wife Peggy in 1969 with help from Bill France Sr. of NASCAR. Beginning in 2014, IMSA is the sanctioning body of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, the premier series resulting from the merger of Grand-Am Road Racing and the American Le Mans Series. IMSA is owned by NASCAR, as a division of the company.
Bill France Sr. was instrumental in the creation of the International Motor Sports Association. France founded NASCAR as a professional oval track series and wanted to do the same for road racing. After discussions with Bishop, IMSA was born and Bishop was given the sole control of the organization (like NASCAR, there was no board of directors).
The first race to be organized by IMSA was a Formula Vee and Formula Ford event at Pocono Raceway in October 1969.
macau
The Macau Grand Prix is an annual motorsport road racing event for automobiles and motorcycles held on the Guia Circuit in Macau. The event includes the Formula 3 Macau Grand Prix and Macau Motorcycle Grand Prix title races, with other races for touring, grand touring, sports and Formula 4 cars.
The first Macau Grand Prix was held in 1954 as a sports car event. In 1967, the Macau Motorcycle Grand Prix was introduced. In 2008, a GT3 race was added to the event, which became known as the FIA GT World Cup.
The Macau Formula 3 Grand Prix features many national Formula 3 champions and drivers from around the world, with the winner being awarded the FIA Formula 3 World Cup.
Due to the challenging nature of the Guia Circuit, which consists of fast straights (a Formula 3 car can reach a top speed of 275 km/h at the end of the straight), tight corners and uncompromising crash barriers; the Macau Grand Prix races are considered some of the most demanding in the world. Many current or former Formula One drivers have participated in the event early in their careers and some of them have won the prestigious prize. Previous winners include Ayrton Senna, Michael Schumacher, David Coulthard, Ralf Schumacher, Ralph Firman, Takuma Sato and Dan Ticktum.
The Macau Grand Prix was originally conceived in 1954 as a treasure hunt around the streets of the city, but shortly after, it was suggested that the hunt's track could host a racing event for local motor enthusiasts. Production car races joined the event in 1957, which were superseded by touring cars in 1972.
The 6.2 km Guia Circuit features a combination of fast straights and tight corners, with the circuit's minimum width being only seven metres. It is recognised as one of the most challenging circuits in the world. The circuit has a Grade 2 (Restricted) FIA track license at the moment
mille miglia
The Mille Miglia, Thousand Miles) was an open-road, motorsport endurance race established in 1927 by the young Counts Francesco Mazzotti and Aymo Maggi. It took place in Italy 24 times from 1927 to 1957 (13 times before World War II, and 11 times from 1947).
Like the older Targa Florio and later the Carrera Panamericana in Mexico, the MM made grand tourers like Alfa Romeo, BMW, Ferrari, Maserati, Mercedes-Benz, and Porsche famous.
The race brought out an estimated 5 million spectators.
From 1953 until 1957, the Mille Miglia was also a round of the World Sports Car Championship.
Since 1977, the "Mille Miglia" has been reborn as a regularity race for classic and vintage cars. Participation is limited to cars, produced no later than 1957, which had attended (or were registered to) the original race. The route (Brescia–Rome round trip) is similar to that of the original race, maintaining the point of departure/arrival in Viale Venezia in Brescia.
Unlike modern day rallying, where cars are released with larger professional-class cars going before slower cars, in the Mille Miglia the smaller, slower, lower displacement cars started first.
The race was established by the young Counts Aymo Maggi and Franco Mazzotti, sports manager Renzo Castagneto and motoring journalist Giovanni Canestrini, apparently in response to the Italian Grand Prix being moved from their home town of Brescia to Monza. Together with a group of wealthy associates, they chose a race from Brescia to Rome and back, a figure-eight shaped course of roughly 1500 km—or a thousand Roman miles. Later races followed twelve other routes of varying total lengths.
The event was usually dominated by local Italian drivers and marques, but three races were won by foreign cars. The first one was in 1931, when German driver Rudolf Caracciola (famous in Grand Prix racing) and riding mechanic Wilhelm Sebastian won with their big supercharged Mercedes-Benz SSKL, averaging for the first time more than 100 km/h in a Mille Miglia.
The race was briefly stopped by Italian leader Benito Mussolini after an accident in 1938 killed a number of spectators. This race saw 11 spectator fatalities; a Lancia Aprilla being driven by Angelo Mignanego and Dr. Luigi Bruzzo just before they entered Bologna went off the road and crashed into a whole group of spectators lining the road to watch the race. Ten people were killed.
The race was known for its danger not only to drivers but also to spectators. Over its 30-year history, a total of 56 people died. The deaths involved 24 drivers/co-drivers and 32 spectators.
Racing the Mille Miglia ended after two fatal crashes involving multiple people occurred during the 1957 race. From 1958 to 1961, the Mille Miglia resumed as a rally-like event limited to legal speeds with a few special stages that were driven at racing speed. After 1961, this once-prestigious race was no more.
nascar
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. It is considered to be one of the top ranked motorsports organizations in the world and is one of the largest spectator sports in America. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and his son, Jim France, has been the CEO since August 2018. The company is headquartered in Daytona Beach, Florida. Each year, NASCAR sanctions over 1500 races at over 100 tracks in 48 US states, as well as in Canada, Mexico, Brazil and Europe.
NASCAR, and stock car racing as a whole, traces its roots back to moonshine runners during Prohibition, who grew to compete against each other in a show of pride. This happened notably in North Carolina. In 1935, Bill France Sr. established races in Daytona Beach, with the hope that people would come to watch races and that racers would race for him, as other organizers tended to fleece the winners of their payouts. This was a success, and the series was founded in 1948. Races were held in several divisions, which eventually morphed into what is the "ladder:" the Cup Series at the top, the Xfinity Series second, and the Truck Series third, with smaller series spread out below. Chevrolet, Ford and Toyota compete in each series.
The vast majority of NASCAR drivers are American, but drivers from Canada, Mexico, Europe, and other places have competed. All Cup Series races are held across America. There are 36 points-paying races in a season, along with the pre-season Clash and mid-season All-Star race. NASCAR runs races primarily on ovals, including superspeedways, short tracks, and dirt tracks, but also road courses and street circuits.
Stock car racing in the United States has its origins in bootlegging during Prohibition, when drivers ran bootleg whiskey made primarily in the Appalachian region of the United States. Bootleggers needed to distribute their illicit products, and they typically used small, fast vehicles to better evade the police. Many of the drivers would modify their cars for speed and handling, as well as increased cargo capacity.
On March 8, 1936, a collection of drivers gathered at Daytona Beach, Florida. The drivers brought coupes, hardtops, convertibles, and sports cars to compete in an event to determine the fastest cars, and best drivers.
By early 1947, Bill France saw the potential for a unified series of racing competitors. France announced the foundation of the "National Championship Stock Car Circuit", otherwise known as NCSCC. NASCAR was founded by William France, Sr. on February 21, 1948 with the help of several other drivers of the time.
As NASCAR has made moves to improve its national appeal, it has begun racing at new tracks, and ceased racing at some traditional ones – a sore spot for the traditional fan base. Another topic on the NASCAR circuit is the increase in foreign born drivers and the effects they may have on the future of NASCAR.
petit le mans
The Petit Le Mans (French for little Le Mans) is a sports car endurance race held annually at Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia, United States. It has often used the rules established for the 24 Hours of Le Mans by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO), which are slightly modified if necessary, mainly to allow additional cars to compete.
The race was founded by Road Atlanta owner Don Panoz and first run on October 10, 1998 as part of the IMSA season. The 1999 edition was one of the original events of the American Le Mans Series. The 2010 and 2011 editions were also part of the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup, but the 2012 race for the brand-new World Endurance Championship was controversially dropped in favour of Bahrain. Since 2014 the race has been one of the crown jewel events of the IMSA SportsCar Championship.
From 1998 until 2013, Petit Le Mans covered a maximum of 1600 km (which is approximately 394 laps) or a maximum of 10 hours, whichever came first; only once, in the rain-stopped 2009 race, had the leading team failed to complete 1600 km. Since 2014, the duration is 10 hours, without distance limitations. In addition to the overall race, teams of two or three drivers per car compete for class victories in different categories, divided into prototypes and grand tourers. Class winners of the event originally received an automatic invitation to the following year's 24 Hours of Le Mans, however this was removed in 2012.
The race is regarded as one of the major endurance races in the world and is among the biggest sports car races in North America alongside the 24 Hours of Daytona and 12 Hours of Sebring. Rinaldo Capello holds the record of most race wins, having won in 2000, 2002, 2006, 2007 and 2008.
pikes peak
Pikes Peak is the highest summit of the southern Front Range of the Rocky Mountains in North America. The ultra-prominent 4.302.31 m fourteener is located in Pike National Forest, 19 km west of downtown Colorado Springs, Colorado. The town of Manitou Springs lies at its base.
The mountain is named in honor of American explorer Zebulon Pike, even though he was unable to reach the summit. The summit is higher than any point in the United States east of its longitude.
The Pikes Peak International Hill Climb (PPIHC), also known as The Race to the Clouds, is an annual automobile hillclimb to the summit of Pikes Peak in Colorado, USA. The track measures 19.99 km and has over 156 turns, climbing 1440 m from the start at Mile 7 on Pikes Peak Highway, to the finish at 4302 m, on grades averaging 7.2%. It used to consist of both gravel and paved sections, but as of August 2011, the highway is fully paved; as a result, all subsequent events will be run on asphalt from start to finish.
The race is self-sanctioned and has taken place since 1916. It is currently contested by a variety of vehicle classes. The PPIHC operates as the Pikes Peak Auto Hill Climb Educational Museum to organize the annual motorsports event.
In 1984 the first European racers took part in the PPIHC with Norwegian Rallycrosser Martin Schanche (Ford Escort Mk3 4x4) and French Rally driver Michèle Mouton (Audi Sport quattro), thereby starting a new era for European teams in the almost unknown American hillclimb.
The Pikes Peak International Hill climb currently consists of six divisions.
porsche supercup
The Porsche Supercup (officially known as Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup, known as Porsche Michelin Supercup prior to 2007) is an international one-make production stock car racing series supporting the FIA Formula One World Championship organized by Porsche Motorsport GmbH.
Porsche Supercup drivers compete in identical Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars. On average, 24 race cars take part in each race. Most circuits visited by the series are European, although circuits in Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, the United States and Mexico have been included in the calendar as well.
Since 1993 the Porsche Michelin Supercup has run as support to the FIA Formula One World Championship. The number of races has grown from the original nine to total 13 in 2006, although decreasing to 11 in 2017 and eight in 2020. Prior to 1993, the series was known as the Porsche Carrera Cup.
Points are assigned to the first 15 finishers of each race and all races count towards the championship. To receive points, a driver must compete in multiple races per season. Since 2008, there have been two bonus points awarded for the driver who secures pole position in qualifying.
Dutch driver Patrick Huisman is the most successful driver in the championship, having won four straight titles between 1997 and 2000.
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rolex sports car series
The Rolex Sports Car Series was the premier series run by the Grand American Road Racing Association. It was a North American-based sports car series founded in 2000 under the name Grand American Road Racing Championship to replace the failed United States Road Racing Championship. Rolex took over as series sponsor in 2002.
It ran a mixture of classes of sports prototypes and Grand Touring-style cars. In 2003, the series debuted their custom prototype chassis, known as Daytona Prototypes, named after their premiere event, the Rolex 24 at Daytona.
The series staged the North American Endurance Championship, featuring three of its premier races at Daytona, Watkins Glen, and Indianapolis.
On September 5, 2012, Grand-Am announced that it would be merging the Rolex Sports Car Series with the American Le Mans Series to form a unified road racing championship to be known as United SportsCar Racing, later retitled as the TUDOR United Sports Car Championship. The final Rolex Sports Car Series race was held on September 28, 2013 at Lime Rock Park.
Following the failure of the United States Road Racing Championship in 1999, the new Grand American Road Racing Association announced their intentions to adopt a format similar to the one used in the USRRC, centering on the 24 Hours of Daytona. This series was seen as an alternative to the former IMSA GT Championship, which had since been replaced by the American Le Mans Series in 1999. The new series would run two classes of Sports Racing Prototypes identical to the rules used in the new FIA Sportscar Championship in Europe, while Grand Touring-style cars would consist of three classes: GTO for larger production-based race cars, GTU for smaller production-based race cars, and AGT for American tube frame cars. The league would also acquire the Six Hours of Watkins Glen, giving the league a second endurance race alongside the Rolex 24 at Daytona to compete with the ALMS' 12 Hours of Sebring and Petit Le Mans. GTO and GTU would be renamed GTS and GT for 2001 to better match the classes used by the similar American Le Mans Series.
targa florio
The Targa Florio was a public road endurance automobile race held in the mountains of Sicily near the island's capital of Palermo. Founded in 1906, it was the oldest sports car racing event, part of the World Sportscar Championship between 1955 and 1973. While the first races consisted of a whole tour of the island, the track length in the race's last decades was limited to the 72 km of the Circuito Piccolo delle Madonie, which was lapped 11 times.
After 1973, it was a national sports car event until it was discontinued in 1977 due to safety concerns. It has since been run as Targa Florio Rally, a rallying event, and is part of the Italian Rally Championship.
The race was created in 1906 by the wealthy pioneer race driver and automobile enthusiast, Vincenzo Florio, who had started the Coppa Florio race in Brescia, Lombardy in 1900. The Targa also claimed to be a worldly event not to be missed. Renowned artists, such as Alexandre Charpentier and Leonardo Bistolfi, were commissioned to design medals. A magazine was initiated, Rapiditas, which aimed to enhance, with graphic and photographic reproductions of the race, the myth of the car and the typical character of modern life, speed.
By the early to mid-1920s, the Targa Florio course had been shortened to 108 km and had become one of Europe's most important races, as neither the 24 Hours of Le Mans nor the Mille Miglia had been established yet. Grand Prix races were still isolated events, not a series like today's F1.
The Targa was continued as a national event for some years, before a crash in 1977 where hillclimbing specialist Gabriele Ciuti went off the road and crashed at the fast curves at the end of the Buonfornello straight after some of the bodywork flew off his BMW-powered Osella prototype. The race was forcibly taken over by local police and was stopped on the 4th lap, ending the Targa Florio for good.
Although the Targa Florio was a rally-type race that took place on closed-off public mountain roads with (aside from straw bales and weak guardrails at some of the turns, the latter were installed by the island's government) practically no safety features, only 9 people – including spectators – died at the event over the 71 year and 61 race history using a total of 6 circuit configurations. This number is relatively small compared to other open road races, like the Mille Miglia.
trans-am series
The Trans-Am Series presented by Pirelli is a sports car racing series held in North America. Founded in 1966, it is sanctioned by the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA). Primarily based in the United States, the series competes on a variety of track types including road courses and street circuits. Trans-Am is split into the TA and TA2 classes for silhouette racing cars, while its production classes are the GT (grand touring), SGT (super grand touring), and XGT (extreme grand touring).
The Trans-Am Series was created in 1966 by Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) President John Bishop. Originally known as the Trans-American Sedan Championship, the name was changed to the Trans-American Championship for 1967 and henceforth. The series has in fact gone by at least twenty different names through the years. Some were linked to sponsors, some not.
Over the years, the series has raced on a variety of different types of race tracks (Permanent and temporary road courses / street circuits / airport circuits) all over the country, as well as at venues in Canada, Mexico, and even San Juan, Puerto Rico in 2003. Since 2015, Trans Am has been a national series (Continental U.S. only), racing at tracks primarily throughout the East Coast, South, and Midwest. In 2017, the new stand-alone West Coast Championship was added to the Trans-Am Series. Currently, there are six races on the schedule, two of which are joint, or "shared" races with the national Championship series, in which drivers from both championship series race together in the same races, but only earn points in the championship series that they are entered in.
wec
The FIA World Endurance Championship, abbreviated as WEC, is an auto racing world championship organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) and sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The series supersedes the ACO's former Intercontinental Le Mans Cup which began in 2010 and is the first endurance series of world championship status since the demise of the World Sportscar Championship at the end of 1992. The World Endurance Championship name was previously used by the FIA from 1981 to 1985.
The series features multiple classes of cars competing in endurance races, with sports prototypes competing in the Hypercar (LMH or LMDh) and LMP2 categories, and production-based grand tourers competing in the LM GTE Pro and Am categories. World champion titles are awarded to the top-scoring drivers and manufacturers over the season, while other cups and trophies will be awarded for drivers and private teams.
The World Endurance Championship was first run in 2012 as a replacement for the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup, following much of the same format and featuring eight endurance races across the world, including the 24 Hours of Le Mans. There were four categories: LMP1 and LMP2 prototypes along with GTE grand tourers, divided into GTE Pro for teams with professional driver line-ups, and GTE Am for teams featuring a mixture of amateur drivers.
In the year 2024, it will officially mark the first season in the category's history since the inaugural season in 2012 that the LMP2 class would not be on the grid in the FIA WEC due to increased demand in grid sizes in the Hypercar & Incoming GT3-Spec based LMGT3 classes for full season entries. However it will still take part appearing in the 24 Hours of Le Mans race.
Five titles are to be decided and awarded in the current season (as of 2024) based on total point tally, with two being deemed world championships: Hypercar World Endurance Drivers' Championship and Hypercar World Endurance Manufacturers' Championship. The points system is similar to that used in the FIA's other world championships, awarding points to the top ten finishers on a sliding point margin scale from first to tenth. Cars finishing the race but classified eleventh or further are awarded a half point. For 8 and 10-hour races, points are worth roughly 1.5x as much (i.e. 25 points for a win is worth 38 points at these races). For the 24 Hours of Le Mans, points are worth roughly 2x as much.
wrc
The World Rally Championship (abbreviated as WRC) is an international rallying series owned and governed by the FIA. Inaugurated in 1973, it is the second oldest of the FIA's world championships after Formula One. Each season lasts one calendar year, and separate championship titles are awarded to drivers, co-drivers and manufacturers. There are also two support championships, WRC2 and WRC3, which are contested on the same events and stages as the WRC, but with progressively lower maximum performance and running costs of the cars permitted. Junior WRC is also contested on five events of the World Rally Championship calendar.
A WRC season typically consists of 13 three- to four-day rally events driven on surfaces ranging from gravel and tarmac to snow and ice. Each rally is usually split into 15–25 special stages which are run against the clock on up to 350 kilometres of closed roads.
Manufacturers must register to be eligible to score in the World Rally Championship for Manufacturers and must compete in every rally of the season with Group Rally1 specification cars (World Rally Car between 1997 and 2021).
As the manufacturers use the highest performance car and usually employ the best drivers it is usually the case that these crews and cars take the majority of drivers/co-drivers championship points. Thus, combined with the money invested by the manufacturer teams, promotion of the WRC only tends to include the manufacturer crews and privateers in the Rally1 car or World Rally Car. These crews are given Priority 1 (P1) status on rallies and contest the stages before other crews. However it is not unusual for competitors in lower performance cars to take points in the drivers or co-driver's championships.
wrx
The FIA World Rallycross Championship (official abbreviation is World RX) is a rallycross series organised by the FIA in conjunction with series promoter Rallycross Promoter GmbH (founded by Red Bull and KW25). From the inaugural season in 2014 to 2020, IMG Motorsport fulfilled the role of promoter.
The series currently consists of 12 two-day events driven on closed circuits with mixed surface (mostly asphalt and gravel).
During the first FIA World Rallycross Championship season in 2014, two classes were run, Supercar (later RX1) and the supporting RX Lites series (later RX2). RX Lites teams raced identical cars prepared by OlsbergsMSE. The World RX Championship series was introduced to distinguish it from the FIA European Rallycross Championship, which has been contested since 1976 and was renamed in March 2013.
An electric category was planned to be introduced in 2020, but it was announced in August 2018 that the introduction of a fully electric Championship would be delayed until 2021.
The top-level RX1 Supercars division use 2.0 L, turbocharged, four-cylinder engines, which produce approximately 570–600 hp, and between 840–920 N⋅m of torque.
The second-tier RX2 Supercar Lites division uses a 16-valve, 2.4 L, naturally aspirated, Ford Duratec inline-four engine, making between 310–320 hp and 300 N⋅m of torque.
The RX3 (formerly Super 1600) class uses 1.6 L, naturally aspirated, four-cylinder engines; generating between 220–250 hp and between 190–200 N⋅m of torque.
wtcc
The FIA World Touring Car Championship was an international touring car championship promoted by Eurosport Events and sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). It has had several different incarnations, including a single season in 1987 as the World Touring Car Championship and most recently a world championship (WTCC) that has run between 2005 and 2017. Following the 2017 season, an agreement was reached for the FIA WTCC to become FIA WTCR and use the TCR technical regulations.
The first World Touring Car Championship, which was open to Group A Touring Cars, was held in 1987 concurrent to the long-running European Touring Car Championship (ETCC).
In 2001, the European Touring Car Championship (ETCC) was resumed with support from the FIA, the precursor to the current WTCC. In 2001, the Italian Superturismo Championship became the FIA European Super Touring Championship, with an extra class for Super Production cars alongside the main Super Touring class. In 2002, this evolved into the brand new FIA European Touring Car Championship, using Super 2000 rules, dominated by Alfa Romeo and BMW, but popular with the public due to the intense competition and Eurosport live broadcasts.
The WTCC now uses Super 2000 and Diesel 2000 cars, as cost control is a major theme in the technical regulation. Super 2000 engines are 1.6 L turbo-charged 4-cylinder engines producing approximately 380 bhp. Wheels are 18" in diameter, and large front and rear aerodynamic devices are permitted.
Many technologies that have featured in production cars are not allowed, including variable valve timing, variable intake geometry, ABS brakes and traction control system.
wtcr
The FIA World Touring Car Cup (abbreviated to WTCR, referring to the use of TCR regulations) was an international touring car championship promoted by Eurosport Events and sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). It has had different incarnation of a World Touring Car Cup held between 1993 and 1995. Following the 2017 season, an agreement was reached for the World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) to become WTCR and use the TCR technical regulations. As factory teams were not allowed to compete in WTCR, the series lost the 'World Championship' status of the WTCC, instead becoming a 'Cup'.
On 6 December 2017, during the FIA's World Motorsport Council in Paris, it was approved the formation of the new World Touring Car Cup starting from 2018. The new series would utilize the TCR rules, which have been in use in numerous national and international touring car racing series, including the TCR International Series. As a result of the formation of the WTCR, both the WTCC in its current format and the TCR International Series would be discontinued immediately.
A new format was introduced, with one qualifying session and one race on the first day and a three-phase qualifying session on the second day and two races, with the first one having the top 10 of the grid reversed.
Following various difficulties concerning the WTCR format, WTCR was revised into the world tour format starting from 2023 season. TCR World Tour calendar will consist of races picked from various regional and national TCR series world wide unlike the WTCR format which was based on a season calendar primarily independent from other TCR series.
Cars had to be production models, with a minimum production of 5000 samples in a year. The engine was limited to a displacement of up to 2 liters, turbo charged, and with the aid of restrictors, to a maximum yield of 350 Hp. Each car was assigned a minimum racing weight which is used to balance the performances.
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