This article is intended to inform motorracing fans that almost solely put their interest in Formula 1. It will be pointed out that there are other racing disciplines, which are equally appealing and worth following.
(note: the article is written from a Dutch point of view)

Formula 1: yeah, it's logical that anyone interested in motorracing is familiar with F1, because media attention is obvisiously drawn mostly to the Royal Class of motorsport. This also means that other motorsport disciplines generally will be staying in the dark zone. It's quite obvious this not being in the interest of racing lovers.
Broad media attention regarding Formula 1 is nice of course, but the sole benefit for the fans is viewing F1 events on TV. Watching F1 events in reality isn't an option for most fans because of the high costs involved. Just three decades ago this was quite different: in the eighties of the last century, when the Netherlands was still able to organize a F1 GP, an average race lover still could afford buying a ticket giving access to the circuit surroundings. Alas this has become virtually impossible due to the disappearance of F1 from the Netherlands since 1985.

Possibilities and costs
It is a pity to be said, but one can argue that the Dutch autosport fan who wants to visit high level international racing events, will have to go abroad. Regarding Formula 1, the belgian GP will be the first event to consider. It's a great pity however that as a result of Mr. Ecclestone's excertions the entrance fees in comparison by the 1980's have risen by more than 1000 percent. The price of a general ticket at the time being about 60 dutch guilders (approx. 22 Pounds), at present the fee is 240 Pounds or more! It must be noted however that Mr. Ecclestone has provided Formula 1 a fenomenal boost, allowing for lucrative sponsor contracts. More's the pity the fan's accessibility to interesting places has suffered as well (impossible nowadays, the years preceding 1985 the cars and the drivers were accessible by the public to some extent; pictures elsewhere on this site do account for this statement).

Alternatives
Apart from the wealthy, does this deprive us from possibilities enjoying live motorracing in international grand manner? Certainly not, although (as noted earlier) one has to travel abroad. At a fair distance from our country one can enjoy viewing high level motorsports, including the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM) and the German Formula 3 Championship.
For the sake of surveyability and regarding the fact that the internet can provide ample information about the mentioned racing disciplines, the remainder of this article will solely cover sportscar racing.
In contrary of what many people may think, this autosport branch is the oldest. While Formula 1 dates back only to 1950, sportscar races already got organised at the end 19th century. Naturally the sportscars of the day were not recognizable as easy as present ones, but on principle every racecar featuring 2 seats and mudguards is regarded a sportscar.
Sportscar racing has a long and exciting history: in the beginning of the 20th century it's center of gravity was situated in France. Races were organized from town to town using public roads. While this inevitably caused a number of victims amongst competitors and spectators, the French government decided to ban road races.

Le Mans
In the French town of Le Mans (at the time already in possession of a full-fledged car industry), the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO), catched the idea of organizing an international racing event north of the town on secured roads. In 1906 it went ahead; under approval of local authorities the world's first Grand Prix took off. Essentially it was a kind of endurance trial lasting two days (stopping each day before dark). Each day the competitors had to lap the 64 miles long triangular track six times (thus covering a total of 12 laps = 768 miles). The track consisted of oil sprayed sand/gravel, while temporary passthroughs were paved by wooden planking. Considering the length (time) and the hard struggle during the race, one can argue that endurance racing must have been invented then. In the end the race was won by the Hungarian born Ferenc Szisz driving a Renault.
Giving an impression of the cars taking part in the event, a picture showing a contemporary Renault racer is placed below. The photograph has been taken by the author in 2006 when watching a glorious tour of museum cars on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the first GP at Le Mans.



A new idea
Afterwards the emerging nationalistic mindsetting in Europe took an increasing grasp on international racing events, ultimately leading to claiming a Grand Prix by other countries. That was the way it went and in 1907 the 'Kaiserpreis' was held in Germany (winner: Felice Nazarro driving a FIAT). As a result the Automobile Club de l'Ouest had almost no chance left in organizing major motorsports events. Hence the ACO thought over matter and a marvellous idea emerged: an exhausting trial without interruption over 24 hours should be organized!
This meant good news for carbuilders; one has to consider that at the time the cars were far from perfect. Apart from the skill to drive his (or her) car along bumpy mostly unpaved roads, a car owner had to be in possession of technical skills as well, because at certain intervals several moving parts had to be lubricated and often on-the-fly repairs had to be carried out. A severe test that lasted 24 hours would offer a nice opportunity in obtaining better quality and stamina of their products.

It was not until 1923 however, that the first 24 hours race could be held at Le Mans. At last the long preparation time did pay off, leading to near perfect regulations; it was obligatory for instance to have a spare tyre on board (not unwise, regarding the almost eleven miles lenght of the circuit, which was now situated east of the town). A well considered measure put in place in the 1920's was the obligation of hoods-up starting. As the competitors had to stop shortly after starting, just for lowering the hoods, this surprisingly fast led to the design of sophisticated hood mechanisms. Other fine developments of which the pampered present-day motorist hardly has notion include the perfection of windscreen wipers and the development of disc brakes. Furthermore it will hardly be a surprise that the well-known dotted white line in the middle of the road was introduced first at the Sarthe circuit. The worldwide usage of this invention is showing the ultimate proof of benefit with regard to this legendary race.




The first 24 hours race was won in 1923 by the Frenchmen Lagache and Leonard, driving a Chenard & Walcker Sport (#9 far left on the picture above). With competitors from a.o. Italy and Great Britain this first event wasn't a typical French festivity after all. Competitors nowadays not only come from Europe, but from Japan and the United States of America as well. Through the years the event went through several ups and downs, one of the ups being the participation of the British team Bentley. The six so called 'Bentley Boys' managed winning the 24 hours race four times in a row from 1927 till 1930 (picture below). These legendary successes, together with those of Jaguar and Aston Martin in the 1950's, even today still attract a lot of British competitors and spectators. Another 'up' were the Ford-Ferrari wars in the 1960's, ultimately won by Ford.



The Le Mans 24 hour race remained a single organized event until 1953. That year it was incorporated in the newly formed FIA World Sportscar Championship (WSC). As a result the Le mans event was joined by other endurance races, such as the Nürburgring 1000 Km, the Sebring 12 hours, and the Daytona 24 hours (nowadays these races belong to the classics as well). It's still a pity that the Italian classic road race 'Mille Miglia' had to be banned in 1957 due to being too dangerous for spectators and competitors, followed for the same reason in the 1970's by the other Italian road race 'Targa Florio' which was held at Sicily.
Motorracing was extremely dangerous at that time because of lacking on elementary safety regulations. Organizers felt  they were offering enough safety by piling up some haybales at dangerous corners, but spectators often stood right behind. It was inevitable that some bad day it all had to go wrong, which occurred during the 1955 Le Mans 24 hours race, when Pierre Levegh's Mercedes hit a slower competitor and hurled into the crowd, killing 84 spectators (worst accident in motorsport history). This caused turmoil among European politics and some countries put a ban on motorsport (in Switserland even until june 2007). In France there was a push in effecting this too, but considering the unique role this country had played in developing the motorcar, it was decided keeping racing possible (they realized that besides offering entertainment, racing had infuence on future thriving of the car industry). Having learnt a precious lesson, the Automobile Club de l'Ouest started an extensive safety project, securing spectator areas in order to prevent such catastrophes once and for all. That way it proved possible to organize the 24 hours again in 1956.

Sportscar racing in America
In Great Britain, where they were encamped during Worldwar II, many American soldiers had fallen in love with the cranky little sportscars like the MG Midget. At home after the war many spent their pay at importing the cars they liked so much. Inevitably some would compare speed, and this is where the Sportscar Club of America (SCCA) has its origins.
Thanks to the SCCA sportscar racing became popular in the United States. In the mid sixties the Can-Am Championship emerged. As the name states, the series was contested on circuits in the USA and Canada. The championship was very appealing, in particular due to the (nearly) lack of regulations (hence leading to very big and powerful engines) and not in the least because of the abundant prizemoney.
The lean regulations rapidly led to innovations in technical and aerodynamic areas; the Chaparral 2A for instance, already in 1965 featured a chassis partially made of glassfiber reinforced polyester (in fact a forerunner of the modern monocoque chassis made of carbonfiber). Who might think that the downforce increasing wings were invented in Formula 1, got it wrong: although as early as 1956 (during the 1000 km sportscar race at the Nürburgring) was experimented with a wing on a Porsche Spyder, it nevertheless was the Can-Am Chaparral 2C geting the honor of being the first race car in the world which successfully applied an adjustable wing during a race. This wing was mounted on two uprights at the rear of the car (today still common).
All this naturally attracted many European drivers and car manufacturers. Can-Am was flourishing in the late sixties/early seventies and its glory reached far across American borders. After the 1973 oilcrisis however, it became increasingly difficult to keep the gas guzzling monsters racing.
Some of the (blown) engines at that time had reached a power output of 1500 bhp, not equalled by any other sportscar even today. Inevitably the organizers had to adjust the regulations in favor of less powerful engines. Another reason for adjusting was to prevent dominating the series by certain makes. These changes together with steeply rising costs caused participants to lose interest. In 1980 the Can-Am series ceased.



Did exist in the USA during Can-Am's heydays no employment for FIA regulated WSC sportscars anymore? Luckily there was, and besides that sportscar racing had reached a true professional level, urging the demand for a special tailored organisation that could lead this motorsport branch. In 1971 the 'International Motor Sports Association' (IMSA) was established by initiative of some prominent SCCA members. IMSA was officially recognized by FIA in 1973 and in that year the IMSA GT Championship was launched, which incorporated the 12 hours of Sebring as a WSC eligible event. The GT Championship thrived well and in 1981 the series was expanded with the 'Grand Touring Prototype' (GTP) class. Soon however the GTP class got overwhelmed by group C sportscars of Asiatic and European origins (most successful car was the Porsche 962).



End of the World Sportscar Championship
This was clearly not what the IMSA organisation aimed for. At the same time sportscar racing in Europe had equal experience; years on a row Porsche had dominated the Le mans 24 hour race. In 1984 the storm came to a burst: ACO as well as IMSA introduced new regulations which banned the successful GTP and Le Mans prototypes of previous years. In particular Porsche was hit by these changes as they had invested heavily in IMSA and Le Mans prototypes. As a result Porsche dicided to boycot both IMSA and ACO organized events and so did a few other manufacturers. Soon afterwards it turned out that WSC proved not to be viable without participation of the big carmakers and the championschip (which dated back to 1953) came to an end.
By then the wellknown classic endurance races (Le Mans, Sebring and Daytona) had reached worldwide recognition, which enabled them to survive solely. The absence of the big companies enabled private teams to prosper a few years (French driver/constructor Jean Rondeau winning the 1985 Le Mans 24 hours race in a car bearing his name), in 1987 however the great marques were back on the scene.

Crisis and salvation
The same year (1984) conflict arose between the organizers (IMSA and Grand-Am) of the American endurance classics Sebring and Daytona, throwing sportscar racing in the USA in deep crisis for several years. The troubled bodies kept soldiering on considerable time with new series that they had devised (USRRC by IMSA and Trans-Am by Grand-Am). Although sometimes European drivers and manufacturers joined the competition, the series were lacking real international flavor.
Ultimately Don Panoz, a manufacturer of nicotine-pads, brought salvation to the ailing American sportscar racing scene in 1999. Don was an autoracing adept and he already had established a small sportscar factory bearing his surname. He also had aquired the Road Atlanta circuit in the state of Georgia. Co-operating with IMSA he took the initiative in grounding the American Le Mans series (ALMS). As the name suggest ALMS regulations are based on those of the Le Mans 24 hours race (thus providing a new approach to Europe and the ACO). After the turn of the century the ALMS developed into the most important sportscar racing series in the western hemisphere. Best known ALMS events featuring international participation are the Sebring 12 hours race and 'Petit Le Mans', a six hours race held on the above mentioned Road Atlanta circuit.
The Daytona 24 hours race on the other hand, stayed a classic on its own (governed by Grand-Am), but nowadays it's importance seems to be diminishing and the question arises if the event will be able to survive in future.
ALMS races can be very interesting for fans to watch, not only because of the competative racing, but also because manufacturers regularly use the ALMS series as a testbed for new GT's and prototypes. Often these new cars can later be seen racing at Le Mans.
It's a pity that US sportscar events seldom are broadcast live on TV in Europe; whith a bit of luck a live-stream can be watched on the internet (usually a live stream link can be found at the ALMS site or at a racing community forum like 10Tenths). Furthermore, depending on the outcome of broadcast rights negotiations, the digital (pay)channel MotorsTV sometimes does broadcast reviews of ALMS races. Click here for info.

European developments
When in the late 1970's sportscar racing worldwide was in difficulties, Formula 1 tycoon Bernie Ecclestone thought it was high time to commercially exploit sportscar racing, just as he had done with Formula 1. By nature of his tight connections with the FIA, this proved no problem with the FIA GT championship (never really materializing however).
When Ecclestone presented his proposals to the ACO, they dicided not to coöperate. Mr. Ecclestone was furious and he threathened to destroy the 24 hours race. In order to sharpen the threat he revamped the Procar series (which had started in 1979) in conjunction with the German manufacturer BMW. The goal was to attract the Le Mans going public by organizing events to be held in advance of F1 races. Wellknown F1 drivers would compete the series driving equally powered BMW M1 sportscars.
Eventually Procar did not succeed and after two years Ecclestone and BMW were forced to sell the series to Alfa Romeo, whose regime provided a silent death for Procar.
The people at ACO were relieved; at last the future of the 24 hours race was secured and organisation remained in own hands. ACO's steadfastness eventually meant there was no need for rising the ticket prices, which is reflected today when comparing sportscar racing and F1 admission fees.

In 1994 the FIA did revive GT racing with the help of gentlemen Jürgen Barth, Patrick Peter and Stéphane Ratel. They succeeded in organising the so called 'BPR Global GT Series', B-P-R resembling the first letters in the surnames of above-mentioned men. The BPR series in 1997 evolved into the present-day FIA GT Championship. Competitors in this championship are solely Grand Tourismo cars, homologated by the FIA (prototype cars are not allowed).

Group C: the 'Golden Age' of sportscar racing
Reality can be paradoxal at times, but fact is that the difficult period described in the previous paragraph did coincide with a legendary era: the Group C one. Eyes of the real sportscar racing lover will begin twinkling when hearing this expression. Mid 1970's motorsport authority FIA recognized that due to the increasing proliferation of racing classes more rigid and clear classification was needed. A new groups division was devised for all non-monoposto racecars, indicating the groups (classes) by letters: group A: salooncars, group B: GT cars, group C: sportscar prototypes.
Pushed by the 1973 oilcrisis the FIA smartly did not limit engine capacity, but instead put a limit on both tank capacity and the number of tankstops (max. 5 times for 1000Km). Thus the designers of sportscars were forced to develop an engine having restricted cylinder capacity (in order to limit fuel consumption) but capable enough to beat other competitors. In the early seventies some manufacturers had started experimenting with the application of exhaust gas driven compressors (called turbo's). Despite the fact that engine capacity for turbo driven engines was allowed half the size of atmosferic feeded engines, it soon turned out that by application of turbo compressors an enormous boost of power could be achieved. Fuel comsumption could surprisingly be kept in range with needs. In the beginning reliability was bad and drivers had to adjust to the so called 'turbo-lag' (which meant that when putting down the throttle the engine at first would react quite normal, but then all of a sudden a enormous powerboost occurred).
Despite these drawbacks however, Porsche in 1974 managed to reach second place at Le Mans with a turbo driven Carrera 911. Few years later the same development took place in Formula 1 (Renault was the first to recognize the advantage of turbo driven engines in this field). In reverse new developments from Formula 1 spilled over to sportscar racing in the early 1980's: amongst them were chassis made of carbon fiber (lighter and more safe than chassis made of aluminium) and the application of 'groundeffect' (invented by the genius Colin Chapman, CEO of the Lotus F1 team at the time). Application of groundeffect is achieved by shaping the car's bottom like an upside-down airial wing, causing fast passing air under the car to rarefy, thus creating downforce. The extent of effectiviness of this principle is shown in the picture below, which is taken at the Porsche museum in Stuttgart: the line up suggests that at racepace the Porsche 956 could easily be driven against the ceiling.



These technical highlights were showing the zenith of group C; like occurring earlier in sportscar racing's history, once more the pinnacle of a cyclic evolution was reached and it simply became too expensive developing technique to further extent. Meanwhile Group C had grown immensely popular by the public (spectator numbers rivalling those of Formula 1), but ultimately only one make was dominating (Porsche). While dominance can be a threat to a sport's future, FIA and ACO had to take radical measures in the sport's interest. Once again regulations were changed by banning the turbo driven engines, thus ending the Group C era in 1994 (in Formula 1 the turbo era already had ended in 1988).
Group C's dismiss also caused FIA and ACO to separate again, albeit not in state of war. In coöperation with broadcasting company Eurosport FIA revamped its GT series, tailoring its regulations accordingly. The ACO introduced new independent regulations for the 24 hour race (however closely following FIA's rules about safety). Independance worked out well, resulting in recognition of the annual Le Mans 24 hour race being world's most important sportscar racing event.

In order to enable teams which solely are fielding prototypes to take part in more events (FIA GT doesn't allow prototypes), the ACO in 2006 took initiative in establishing the 'Le Mans series' (LMS). In 2009 the Le Mans series consisted of 5 events lasting 6 hours (or 1000Km) each, allowing all classes to take part according to the then valid ACO regulations. Flourishing of LMS can be told from the fact that effort was made organising similar series in Asia (Asian Le Mans series). The first race of that series on the Asian continent took place in 2009 at the Okayama circuit in Japan. The future however would look somewhat different.
In 2011, the Asian event was held in Zhuhai (China) and this time it was part of the 'Intercontinental Le Mans Cup' (ILMC), which was introduced by the ACO that year. The ILMC was held on three continents (Europe, America and Asia) and it included the 24 hour race at Le Mans as well as selected LMS and ALMS races. In fact, the ILMC was the prelude to the 'World Endurance Championship' (WEC). The WEC is a combined initiative of the FIA and the ACO and thus, in a sense, the World Sportscar Championship (WSC) of yesteryear is revived. The start of the championship in 2012 is a good basis for sportscar racing to increase in importance again internationally.

In order to accentuate the differentiation from the WEC, from 2012 the existing Le Mans Series (LMS) has been renamed 'European Le Mans Series' (ELMS). Furthermore the class format of the ELMS series was adjusted (see 'Sportscar classes' further below).

Summing up the current sportscar racing landscape:

World:

• World Endurance Championship' (WEC)
• FIA GT1/GT3

Europe:

• European Le Mans series
• SPEED Euroseries
• Blancpain Endurance series
• International GT Open
• one make series (e.g. Radical Cup, Ferrari Challenge, Lamborghini Super Trofeo)
• national championship series (e.g. (Dutch) Supercar Challenge, Belcar, ADAC GT Masters)

North America:

• American Le Mans series
• Grand AM Road Racing
• SCCA Club racing
• one make series, like Ferrari Challenge North America

South America:

• GT Brasil
• YPF TC (Argentinië)

Africa:

• Alltech GT challenge (Zuid Afrika)

Asia:

• Super GT series (Japan)
• 24h Series (Dubai)
• GT Asia (GT3, GT4)

Australia/New Zealand:

• Australian GT
• Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge
• GT Racing New Zealand

So far history. To comprehend current practise of endurance racing, one might explore the next subjects:
- sportscar classes
- starting procedure
- driver changes
- Sportscar racing in practise
- Things worth knowing and tips


Sportscar classes

Sportscar classes and regulations in the WEC (and the 24 Hours of Le Mans)

From 2012 the admitted sportscar classes and regulations are defined jointly by the FIA and the ACO.
Sportscar racing is divided by them into two classes, which themselves are split between two subclasses:

• Le Mans Prototype (LMP); these sports cars purpose built for racing are divided into subclasses LMP1 and LMP2.

Both prototype classes have to meet requirements regarding the type of engine and its capacity. Overall we can say that the LMP1 class is the domain of the major car manufacturers, but there are also a number of (semi-professional) privately owned teams present. In the period from 2006 to 2011 the top LMP1 teams usually made use of turbo driven diesel engines, while private teams did apply (cheaper) petrol engines. With the advent of the WEC and the introduction of new environmentally friendly technologies (hybrids), this distribution may gradually change.
The LMP2 class is the main area of the private teams. Through the mandatory use of mass-production derived engines and a price cap on the chassis, participation is possible using a much smaller budget (compared to LMP1).

• Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance (LMGTE); this class for customized commercially available sports cars is divided into the subclasses GTE-Pro and GTE-Am.

Also, as with the prototype cars, both GTE classes must meet certain requirements with regard to the engine type and the engine capacity. As the name indicates, the GTE-Pro class is meant for (semi) professional teams, while the GTE-Am class is aimed at amateurs like gentlemen drivers and runners-up (in GTE-Am often cars from previous years are used).

In addition to the forementioned main requirements, the WEC organization also puts requirements on numerous other technical and safety features in all classes. Furthermore there are regulations governing sporting conduct during the racing events.
The regulations are adjusted annually to technical progress and safety requirements. In this way the basic principles of Endurance racing (sporty competition and technical progress in the safest possible setting) are maintained. Since the introduction of the WEC, the regulations are no longer published on the ACO's website, but instead on the FIA site.
For information on the latest developments in technology and safety one can best visit an Internet site like MulsannesCorner (menu Weblinks, section 'Sportscar racing').

Sportscar classes and regulations in ELMS

From 2012 ELMS knows the format of the following classes: LMP2, LMPC, GTE-Pro, GTE-Am and GTC. In comparison with the previous LMS series, the LMP1 prototypes have disappeared, but the LMPC prototype class has been substituted to compensate for this. The LMPC class can be regarded as a training ground for novice drivers, it is an initiative of the French race car manufacturer Oreca. Besides the two existing GT classes, the GTC class is added (a beginners class like the prototype's LMPC class, but in this case for GT cars).

Sportscar classes and regulations in the ALMS

The American Le Mans Series has the following format of classes: P1, P2, LMPC, GT and GTC. Overall, this is the same format as the ELMS. In this case however, the prototype class is divided into the P1, P2 and LMPC classes (in contrary to ELMS the P1 class is maintained), while the GT's aren't split into Pro and Am. The GTC class corresponds mostly to its counterpart in the ELMS.
The ALMS rules differ somewhat from those of FIA and ACO. This particularly occurs in the field of fuels to be used (as a result of the leading role which the ALMS is performing with respect to 'renewable energy'). The technical regulations however do not deviate much from those of FIA/ACO because the American cars obviously must be fit to be deployed in WEC events.

Action anytime, anywhere
Division in classes does guarantee lots of action on the track; other than is the case with single classes there will always be more overtaking because of speed differences between classes. Drivers in faster cars (e.g. prototypes) have to push their way through the field, even while battling with their own class contenders. In contrary of Formula 1 an endurance race seldom will look like a procession.

Smart viewing aids
It can be difficult (especially for beginning sportscar racing fans) distinguishing which cars belong to which classes and moreover how it becomes clear which cars are on top of the field (certainly after pit-stops have taken place). Luckily easier distinguishing is achieved by a smart on-car position lighting system, called 'Leader lights', see picture below:




The system comprises of three colored lights placed one above another at both sides of the cars. Classes can be distinguised by colours:
LMP1     –  Red
LMP2     –  Blue
LMPC    --  Purple
GT-Pro  –  Green
GT-Am   –  Yellow
GTC      --  no lights used
Car's position can be read as follows: first place in class - 1 light lit, second place - 2 lights lit, third place - all lights lit. In this manner the three forerunners of each class (except GTC) can easily be distinguised at any moment during the race. The lights are handled by race-control by means of the obligatory telemetry system in the cars. Next to this the GT cars must have yellow frontlights fitted (ACO sanctioned events only), enabling faster competitors to perceive slower cars when they enter a curve at night.

Starting procedure
An old custom of the 24 hours race was the famous 'Le Mans' starting procedure: the cars being lined up at the right side of the track and the drivers at the opposite side. When the French tricolore was waved all drivers took a sprint towards their cars, started the engine and drove away. This didn't pose any problem in vintage times, but around 1965 starting velocities had increased to an extent beyond responsibility: many competitors dind't even take time to fasten their seatbelts.

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