Endurance racing – the true pinnacle of Motorsport

In the spirit of 24 hour races such as Le Mans, Spa, Nürburgring, Suzuka, etc.
This year our “Black Friday” will be a bit different

The 24 Hours of Abrites starts today and I thought it would be best to take you through what I consider the hardest form of motorsport. I want to go through and see what pushed people to achieve the impossible in motorsports – be consistently fast over long periods. I’ll give you an example. F1 cars are super fast, yes, but what happens to the car after 2 hours – you take it apart and rebuild it, same with Rally cars, same with drift cars, same even in DTM. But how about stressing all the mechanical components of a car over 24 Hours? How about being consistently at 200km/h for 24 hours, or jumping a truck for 1000 miles over the roughest terrain on Earth? That is where engineers go to prove themselves.

I.                    History

It all started in the early 1900s when people with too much money and free time on their hands decided to do some measuring of body parts by racing around Italy for fun and 50,000 Lira. The Coppa Florio, later renamed the Targa Florio was the first endurance race and thankfully it is still running strong to this day.



Among the most popular races, the one we must know of next is the 24h of Le Mans – the endurance race which is the current benchmark – 24 hours of grueling torture for the machines, the drivers and the crew. Usually, the drivers in a 24 h race are 4, the crews behind them, are hundreds and since 1923 around Le Mans in the first half of June every year – no one of them sleeps for 24h. I remember around the age of 17 or 18 when my passion for cars was already boiling I decided to watch the full race. I had the element of too much free time on my hands (sadly not the money element), but I found it hard to even watch, let alone participate. One of the most notable changes in all 102 years of Le Mans came in 1988. The FIA said that the Mulsanne straight (which on a normal day is a public road) needs to be modified with a chicane being added to lower the speeds. The record before the change was 407km/h. Le Mans practically gave birth to what we call endurance prototypes today. It gave birth to Group C cars. Legends are still being told about them, collectors still drool over them.
Let me tell you about some that you have seen but maybe don’t remember :

II.              The names of Cars

• Sauber C9/ C11 - The Stuttgart monsters with over 850 hp (900 in qualifying trim) and 900 odd kilos of weight. Talk about a 1:1 power to weight…

The rather factory blocks of the M119 V8s used in these cars with large “KKK” turbos strapped to each side and drivers such as Jochen Mass, Mauro Baldi and Michael Schumacher strapped inside to name a few – the silver arrows’ return to motorsport was a stunning fire breathing dragon.
 

• Mazda 787B (Renown Livery) – If you are a fan of motorsports you must take your hat off when you hear the roar of the 787B’s four rotor naturally aspirated engine hauling down the straight. Imagine what it felt like hearing this in 1991 even with the modified Mulsanne. Just listen to this Japanese Banshee scream!
  
  
  
   



• Porsche 962 – No Group C story can ever be complete without a car with ignition to the left. The 962 – the tamed flat six looking car is one of the most successful Group C vehicles ever produced, holding 21 manufacturer titles in Le Mans, Group C, IMSA, Nürburgring to name a few.

Probably best known for the Rothmans and Kremer liveries. They even succeeded in making a “ROAD CAR” out of it
 

• McLaren F1 GTR LM Tokyo Ueno Clinic – Not many cars can say that they won Le Mans without wanting to participate, but the 1995 GTR was just that – it was forced to participate, Gordon Murray famously said “It’s a road car, it has no place on track” but to his disappointment – the car turned out to be one of the best to ever set tire on an

endurance race tarmac. It was so good that a certain Mercedes of the Benz actually copied it to create the…
 

CLK GTR, famous for being a Mercedes, stunning road cars directly from the GT1 class (even a convertible was available) and also this:
Vipers and Corvettes and even BMWs were always there to prove themselves.
 

My friend, Georgi wouldn’t speak to me if I didn’t mention the Ferrari 250 GTO and their Battle with the Ford GT40s but to me the 80s, 90s, and 00s is where it was at.
 

• Audi R10 TDI – this car marks the end of what I consider cool prototypes – the first diesel car to ever win le mans. And part of that insane AUDI period where they had a 5.2 V10, a 5.0 V10 twin turbo, a V10 TDI, a V12 TDI, W12 and a 1.2 engine. Never to be seen again
  
  
  
   

III.                 The 24h of Abrites. Ready to Race for Great Offers?

This year’s black Friday sale will be a bit different, the 24h of Abrites will bring you the best prices for hardware and new customers.
Before you say anything – there will be a winter promo too…! 

Period of the campaign in the Abrites online shop:
Nov 20, 12:00 AM EEST, UTC/GMT +2 hours – Nov 22, 12:00 AM EEST, UTC/GMT +2 hours

• AVDI Plus – price: 788 euro
• All other hardware -20% ( excluding Battery Support Unit (Charger) - 101.24 CNTVV and all Abrites tough cases)
   

It is a marathon, not a sprint.
See you again next week!

Try to have fun at work.
Alek