Sports Car Racing

Sports car racing is a type of auto racing that is run on a circuit and that sees competition from specific types of sports racing cars. Sports car racing has automobiles that are two-seated and have enclosed wheels. These types of cars were made as a hybrid between open wheel cars and tour racing cars. Sports car racing is associated with the Le Mans 24 Hours endurance race, introduced back in 1923 and still being run today. Sports car racing emphasizes endurance over distance traveled, as so individual races can last as long as 24 hours. Similar to a marathon's discipline, in this sport, reliability and strategy are more important than high speeds. Obviously no driver is going to want to attempt racing at top speeds for 24 hours straight. This is why sports car racing requires a strategy, including pit stop strategies and the changing of drivers. Unlike some racing sports which are won by strong individual efforts, sports car racing is a team sport dominated by team managers, as well as drivers.

A History Of Sports Car Racing

Sport car racing history began in the 1920's decade as cars used in endurance racing sports as well as the Grand Prix were mostly identical. By the 1930's Grand Prix cars were optimized for high performance and favored shorter racers. Fenders and second seats were eventually dropped. However, sports car racing history shows that open-road endurance races were still being run across Europe and the circuits were frequently made up of dusty roads. Therefore there was still a need for fenders, traveling mechanics and navigators. 1950s sports car races were highly regarded and considered just as important as the Grand Prix competition while major auto brands like Ferrari, Maserati, Jaguar and Aston Martin invested lots of money into their cars. Vintage sports car racing's history suggests that the 12 Hours Of Sebring, the 24 Hours of Daytona and the 24 Hours Of Le Mans were the three-point pinnacle of achievement in sports car racing.

Sports Car Racing Today

Today there are many types of sports cars that are allowed to race. They can be divided according to two major categories, sports-prototype and Grand Touring. (However, these two divisions can also be mixed together for single races) Sports-Prototype involves cars that are super high-tech cars and considered the most advanced in the automotive industry. The highest level of sports-prototype cars are built for racing and have enclosed wheels. Sports-prototypes are often one-of-a-kind machines and usually do not have to resemble road-going vehicles. Grand Touring racing is the more common form of this sport, and is divided into Grand Touring 1 and Grand Touring 2, as well as special classes for 3 and 4 level cars. The Grand Touring division requires that the car closely resemble the production version of the same name.

Sports car racing is one of the most exciting and high-tech auto racing sports today, all the more so when you know the fast moving history behind the race.