Endurance racing (motorsport)

Endurance racing is a form of motorsport racing which is meant to test the durability of equipment and endurance of participants. Teams of multiple drivers attempt to cover a large distance in a single event, with participants given a break with the ability to change during the race. Endurance races can be run either to cover a set distance in laps as quickly as possible, or to cover as much distance as possible over a preset amount of time.

One of the more common lengths of endurance races has been running for 1000 km, or roughly six hours. Longer races can run for 1000 mi, 12 hours, or even 24 hours. Teams can consist of anywhere from two to four drivers per event, which is dependent on the driver's endurance abilities, length of the race, or even the rules for each event.

At club level racing, a race taking either 30 minutes or 1 hour could be considered as an endurance race.

Origins of endurance racing
Coppa Florio was an Italian car race started in 1900, and renamed in 1905 when Vincenzo Florio offered the initial 50 000 Lira and a cup designed by Polak of Paris. The Brescia race visited the route Brescia-Cremona-Mantova-Brescia. In 1908, the race used the Circuito di Bologna: Bologna-Castelfranco Emilia-Sant'Agata Bolognese-San Giovanni in Persiceto-Bologna. Since 1914 most of the Coppa Florio was co-organized with the Targa Florio near Palermo, Sicilia, running four or five laps, 108 km each.

The Targa Florio was an open road endurance automobile race founded in 1906- the track length of the last decades was limited to the 72 kilometres of the Circuito Piccolo delle Madonie, which was lapped 11 times.

The Mille Miglia was an open-road endurance race which took place in Italy 24 times from 1927 to 1957.

The first 24 hour race to take place on a closed course was at Brooklands, eleven days after its opening in 1907. This incurred the wrath of local residents and would lead to the Double Twelve race. This format meant the race took place for 12 hours each between 8am to 8pm and between it, the cars were locked up overnight to prevent maintenance work from being performed on them.

The 2001 Dakar Rally saw competitors cover a distance of 10,739 km with a winning time of 70 hours over 20 days with three classes of cars, motorbikes, and trucks.

Automobile endurance racing
In the beginning of formalised endurance racing, the races tended to be for sports cars while the Grand Prix cars of the era began to evolve into the open wheel racing cars of today and ran over shorter distances. Over time sports cars began to evolve away from their roots as a production based alternative to pure-bred racing machines of Grand Prix cars, which led to the creation of GT and touring car racing classes, and these classes continued to embrace the endurance format. Multiple drivers per car was an early adaptation as the rigors of endurance racing quickly overcome the abilities of most racing drivers to compete solo, although solo attempts on 24 hour races like Le Mans would continue into the 1950s.

The various endurance formats were appealing to manufacturers, not only as alternatives to the expense of Grand Prix racing, but also because of its increased relevance to road going models.

Triple Crown
In automobile endurance racing, three events have come to form a Triple Crown. They are considered three of the most challenging endurance races over the decades: the 24 Hours of Daytona, 12 Hours of Sebring, and 24 Hours of Le Mans. Hans Herrmann was the first in 1970 to win the three races, and Timo Bernhard the most recent (2010). No driver has won the three events in the same year, although Hurley Haywood and Al Holbert have won the three races at least twice each.

Bold on year indicate at which race the driver achieved his Triple Crown.

Endurance racing championships
Strong spectator figures, media interest and television coverage of endurance racing's Triple Crown events (24 Hours of Daytona, 12 Hours of Sebring, and 24 Hours of Le Mans) has led to the establishment of several endurance racing series — thereby giving teams the opportunity of running their cars in Championship events throughout the year.

The FIA World Endurance Championship is an international sports car racing series organized by both the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) and the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). It supersedes the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup run in 2010 and 2011, and uses similar rules to the ALMS/USCC and ELMS below. The series features both Le Mans Prototypes and GT cars. The 24 Hours of Le Mans is included as a feature race. The other races are 6 hours long and take place in countries all over the world such as Bahrain, Brazil, Japan, and the United States. The WEC is considered a revival of the defunct World Sportscar Championship which ended in 1992.

The United SportsCar Championship (USCC) is a US sports car racing series organized by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA). The season begins with the 24 Hours of Daytona, traditionally held in the last weekend of January or the first weekend of February. There then follows a further 12 races, including the famed 12 Hours of Sebring, 6 Hours of Watkins Glen and Petit Le Mans. The USCC includes Le Mans Prototypes and Le Mans-spec GT cars as well as unique Daytona Prototypes and Daytona-spec GT cars. The series is considered to be the successor of the defunct IMSA GT Championship as well as the American Le Mans Series and Rolex Sports Car Series that directly followed it.

The European Le Mans Series (ELMS) is a European sports car racing endurance series run by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). It is similar to the American Le Mans Series (ALMS). The ELMS is seen as a rebirth of the old European Le Mans Series which was created by IMSA and the ACO, but only ran in 2001. LMS champions and runners-up in all four categories receive an automatic entry to the following year's 24 Hours of Le Mans. All races used to be 6 hours long, but the format was changed to 3 hours in 2013; currently, it has been reextended to 4 hours. With the debut of the World Endurance Championship in 2012, the series has dropped LMP1 and now features LMP2 as its premier category, in addition to LMPC and GT categories.

The Asian Le Mans Series (AsLMS) is an Asian sports car racing series run by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). It uses the same car categories and regulations as the ELMS, and also provides automatic entries to the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The series is related to the former Japan Le Mans Challenge that turned into the older Asian Le Mans Series (which was cancelled after one season).

The Blancpain Endurance Series (BES) is a European sports car racing endurance series run by the Stéphane Ratel Organisation. It is similar to the ELMS, but it uses performance-balanced GT3 cars instead of GTE cars or prototypes and holds 3-hour races instead of 6-hour races. The series is centered around the 24 Hours of Spa. One of the key emphases of the series is being friendly for amateur and gentlemen drivers, and there are numerous non-pro classes in addition to the premier GT3 Pro class. The series began in 2011 and saw increased involvement in 2012 and 2013.

In popular culture
Endurance motor racing has proven a popular subject for depiction in videogames, and on film. The Lee H. Katzin film Le Mans, starring Steve McQueen, used real race footage, and enjoys cult status. The 1986 arcade game WEC Le Mans was the first to portray endurance racing in a videogame, while Gran Turismo 4 extended this to a real-time simulation of 24 hour events.

Motorcycle endurance racing
In the early days of endurance racing cars and motorcycles raced side by side, but the two were soon separated.

The most famous motorcycle endurance race, the Bol d'Or, was first run on the circuit of Vaujours, near Paris in 1922. Only one rider was permitted per bike and there was no stopping other than for refuelling.

Motorcycle endurance racing began to expand after the second World War as new races began to emerge, among them the 24 Hour Race in Warsage, Belgium in 1951, the 24 Hours of Montjuïc in Barcelona in 1957, 24 hours in Monza, Italy in 1959, and the Thruxton 500 mile endurance race at Thruxton in 1960.

1960 also saw the inaugural FIM Endurance Cup initially made up of four races, the Thruxton 500, Montjuich, Warsage, and the Bol d'Or.

The popularity of motorcycle endurance racing increased in the 1970s with the arrival of four-cylinder machines from Japan. In 1976 the FIM Endurance Cup became the European Championship and in 1980 a World Championship.

Notable motorcycle endurance races
Motorcycle endurance classics:
 * 24 Hours of Le Mans
 * 24 Hours of Liège
 * Thruxton 500
 * Suzuka 8 Hours
 * Bol d'Or
 * Albacete 8 Hours

Notable motorboat endurance races
Note: both of these take place on the Seine River
 * Six Hours of Paris (defunct)
 * 24 Heures Motonautiques de Rouen

Other forms

 * In addition to the annual car and motorcycle race, the Circuit de la Sarthe also holds 24 hour races in cycling, karting, trucks, and road skating.


 * An unique event involving an endurance race between lawn mowers takes place in the United Kingdom, called the "BLMRA 12 Hour Race".