Endurance racing (motorsport)

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.

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 world's first organized 24-hour automobile race event was held on a 1-mile oval track at Driving Park, Columbus, Ohio on July 3–4, 1905.

[1] Beginning on the afternoon of July 3, four cars from Frayer-Miller, Pope-Toledo, Peerless and White Steamer raced for a $500 silver trophy.

A protest was filed by the Frayer-Miller and Peerless teams, alleging the Pope-Toledo was not owned by the driver, instead sent from the factory with an engine built for racing.

[2] The first 24-hour race to take place at a dedicated motorsport venue was at Brooklands in England, eleven days after its opening in 1907.

This format meant the race took place for 12 hours each between 8 am to 8 pm and between it, the cars were locked up overnight to prevent maintenance work from being performed on them.

[3] The 2001 Dakar Rally saw competitors cover a distance of 10,739 kilometres (6,673 mi) with a winning time of 70 hours over 20 days with three classes of cars, motorbikes, and trucks.

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.

LMS champions and runners-up in all four categories receive an automatic entry to the following year's 24 Hours of Le Mans.

[9] The Intercontinental GT Challenge is world sports car racing endurance series run by the Stéphane Ratel Organisation, like the GTWCEEC.

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 and 5 extended this to a real-time simulation of 24 hour events.

In the 2018 stealth video game Hitman 2, a level takes place amidst an endurance race in Miami, Florida, with a target being a racer in the event.

[10] 1960 also saw the inaugural FIM Endurance Cup initially made up of four races, the Thruxton 500, Montjuich, Warsage, and the Bol d'Or.

[12] This race has taken place since 1986 and its winners list include four times Champ Car champion Sébastien Bourdais (in 1996).