Sports car racing

GTP sports cars racing at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in 1991

Sports car racing is a form of circuit racing, with purpose-built cars that nevertheless have enclosed wheel wells and often have closed cockpits.

A kind of hybrid between the purism of open-wheelers and the familiarity of touring car racing, this racing is forever associated (and owes its continued existence) to the annual Le Mans 24 Hours endurance race, one of the oldest motor races still in existence. There are currently two series of sports car races based on the rules in use at Le Mans, the American Le Mans Series in North America and the Le Mans Endurance Series in Europe.

The prestige of Ferrari, Porsche, Lotus, Maserati, Alfa Romeo, Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar, and Aston Martin derives in part from success in sports car racing. Road cars sold by these manufacturers have in many cases been very similar to sportscars raced, both in engineering and styling. It is this close association with the 'exotic' nature of the cars used that serves as a useful distinction between sports car racing and Touring Cars.

Contents

1 Types of Sports Car Racing

1.1 Other Divisions

2 History

3 Sports Car Racing Series

Types of Sports Car Racing

There are many kinds of sports car racing that can be broadly broken down into two categories: Prototype racing and Gran Turismo (GT) racing. These two categories are often mixed together in a single race.

Prototype racing is the highest level of competition in the classification of the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO), the sactioning body for Le Mans, and the model for the American Le Mans Series. Prototypes are purpose-built racing cars, with enclosed wheels, and either open or closed cockpits, with few restrictions regarding bodywork, engine style and size, or tyres. Prototypes may be (and often are) one-of-a-kind machines, and need bear no relation to any road-going vehicle.

The Sports Car Championship (SCC) is a prototype racing series which is sanctioned by FIA. The cars raced in this category are very similar to the Le Mans Prototypes, and with minor modifications can compete in either series.

Gran Turismo racing is the most common form of sports car racing, and is found all over the world, in both international and national series. Under the ACO rules, Gran Turismo cars are divided into two categories, Gran Turismo Siloheut (GTS) and Gran Turismo (GT). GTS cars are purpose-built race machines based upon production exotic cars with homologation production limits of 25 cars (for small manufacturers, such as Saleen) or 100 cars (for major manufacturers like DaimlerChrysler). As the name of the class implies, the exterior of the car closely resembles that of the production version, while the internal fittings may differ greatly. GT cars are very similar to the FIA GT3 classification, and are 'pure' GT cars; that is production exotic cars with relatively few internal modifications for racing.

FIA divides GT cars into 2 categories, called GT and N-GT. These divisions are very close to the ACO rules outlined above, and again some crossover racing does occur, particularly in the N-GT class. Historically, these are the GT2 and GT3 classes, merely renamed.

In 1998, FIA dropped the old GT1 category because of rising costs. The GT1 class was for the purebred supercars and purpose-built race cars, such as the McLaren F1 and Toyota GT-One. Rising costs coupled with declining entries led to the death of this class, and its replacement by GT2 (FIA) and Le Mans Prototype (ACO).

Other Divisions

In North America, the Grand-Am Sports Car series maintains its own interpretation of sports car racing, dividing its races into three classes. Grand-Am GTS and GT is very similar to that of the American Le Mans series, while the Daytona Prototype is an entirely new creation. DP sport's, as they are often called, are pure-racing machines, unlimited by production homologation restrictions, but are sharply limited in terms of approved technology and power. A form of amateur sports car racing throughout the United States is with clubs such as the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA). In the 1970s SCCA had a class of racing called "Grand-am" which later became its own sanctioning body and is where Pontiac got the idea for a new car name.

In Japan, the All-Japan GT Championship (JGTC) divides cars into two classes, called GT500 and GT300. These cars follow an entirely different concept of sports-car racing from that in Europe or North America, featuring partial-tube frame chassis, widely divergent engine layouts, and so on. The numbers in the classifications refer to the maximum power available to each class; this is achieved through the use of engine restrictors. Proponents of the series claim that the JGTC cars are the fastest sports cars in the world, while critics deride the series as being a 'look-alike' and not 'real' GT racing.

History

Back in the 1950s, these cars were also used for open-road endurance races across Europe such as the Mille Miglia, Tour de France and Targa Florio, but the high casualty rate eventually forced the end of this undeniably romantic but also dangerous form of motor sport.