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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.
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 homologationHomologation is a technical term, derived from the Greek for "agree," which is used in English to signify the granting of approval by an official authority. This may be a court of law, a government department, or a professional body, any of which would no production limits of 25 cars (for small manufacturers, such as Saleen ) or 100 cars (for major manufacturers like DaimlerChryslerDaimlerChrysler AG ( NYSE:DCX), with headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany and Auburn Hills, Michigan, is a prominent automobile and truck manufacturer, formed in 1998 by the buyout of the Chrysler Corporation (USA) by Daimler-Benz (Germany). The merger whic). 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 19981998 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar), and was designated the International Year of the Ocean''. Events January January 1998 A massive ice storm, caused by El Nino, strikes New England, southern Ontario and Quebec, resulting, 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 McLarenThe name McLaren can refer to the following: Bruce McLaren, racing driver and founder of the Team McLaren racing team Team McLaren, racing team which is most noted as a Formula One constructor but has also competed in Le Mans, CanAm, and Indianapolis 500 F1 and ToyotaToyota Motor Corp. TMC (In Japanese: ) is an automobile manufacturer in Japan, based in Toyota, Aichi. History Origins in Toyota Automatic Loom —1936 The origins of the company are found as an automobile section of Toyoda Automatic Loom, implemented in Se 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).