Endurance races for cars are long-lasting competitions, even up to 24 hours, which require drivers to have a particular stamina. They are raced aboard Touring, Gran Turismo, Sport or prototype cars. In some cases, these are competitions that have made the history of motoring, such as the Mille Miglia or the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Usually, the first association that comes to mind when it comes to car racing is that with speed . Racing cars that devour the asphalt at over 300 km / h, drivers who attack the curves as if they never want to brake, single-seaters that whiz under the stands so fast that they are almost invisible. These are the images that the word motoring evokes to mind. Yet, there are competitions in which speed is not the most important variable , but where resistance counts, the ability to push beyond one’s limits and stay behind the wheel for hours and hours, grinding kilometers after kilometers. It’s the crazy world of car endurance .
What is endurance in sport and motoring
In reality, the term endurance is not a peculiarity of motoring and motorsport . There are endurance specialties in many sports, such as cycling, running or horse riding. The English word, in fact, translates with the Italian ” resistance ” and is used to define all those competitions that have a particularly long duration and therefore require athletes a considerable effort over time.
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How endurance car races work and how long they last
Currently, in motor racing, endurance races are held exclusively on the track , within racetracks that guarantee high levels of safety. A single endurance race of this type can last up to 24 hours .
In the past, in addition to track races, endurance road competitions were also planned, held in streets open to traffic. Their high danger, however, has led to their progressive cancellation or transformation into track races. Heirs of those old endurance road competitions are the current rallies , which however have very different rules and methods of development (and are not part of endurance races).
Endurance machines
Obviously, in order to face such particular competitions, suitable machines are needed. From an aesthetic point of view, endurance cars wink at Formula 1 single-seaters . They are light (up to 850 kg), equipped with powerful engines (even higher than 1000 horsepower) and therefore capable of exceeding 200 km / h. In general, endurance cars can be divided into four categories :
- Touring , designed and built in series for road use and adapted to racing;
- Gran Turismo , designed and built in limited numbers and adapted to racing;
- Sport
- Prototypes
The most important endurance races for cars
Among the endurance competitions of the past, there are some that have really made the history of motoring, such as the Mille Miglia (which now only exists in the form of historical re-enactment) or the Targa Florio (the oldest, today it has become a rally). . Among the races that are still held, however, one cannot fail to mention the 24 Hours of Le Mans , which is also a stage of the World Endurance Championship (WEC) . The latter is today the international competition par excellence in the sector. Since 2012, it has been managed by FIA and includes 6 races (which also include the 6 Hours of Monza and the famous 6 Hours of Spa ), open to cars Sport Prototypes (LMP1 and LMP2) e Gran Turismo (GTE-Pro and GTE-Am), to which the very powerful have been added from 2021 Hypercar . Other endurance races of international standing are the 24 Hours of Nurburgring in Germany, the 12 Hours of Bathurst in Australia, the 24 Hours of Daytona and the Petit Le Mans in the United States .