34 replies to this topic

[huisne]

I am starting to really get into endurance/sportscar racing and I would like to read about / see some of the classic races of the past. As I am relatively new to this kind of racing, I am not only interested in the distant past, but you can also mention races that happened a few years ago.   Doesn't matter if it's European or American, Le Mans or Blancpain, etc.,  I'm interested in everything. 

[Victor_RO]

Le Mans 2011.

 

/end-of-thread 

[Peat]

American Le Mans Series, circa 2007, was the t!ts.

[swintex]

BOAC 1000km, Brands Hatch, 12th April 1970

 

EDIT: Sorry, I didn't read the OP properly, I only read the title. But still, it was quite a good race!

Edited by swintex, 18 June 2015 - 09:00.

[scheivlak]

Le Mans 1969!

 

Sebring 1970

Spa 1970

[Gyno]

VLN Nurburgring 24hr is the greatest of them all.

[WhiteSGPlayer]

YouTube channel ALMSOfficialVideos uploaded tonnes of classic and modern races from its history. Unfortunately after its death it doesn't post races anymore, but it's still a great archive

[DampMongoose]

1986 Kouros 1000km Silverstone, the Jag's first victory having returned to Group C. 

[DampMongoose]

Rather than one I attended, the 1968 Targa Florio makes incredible reading.

[Dan333SP]

[Imateria]

Le Mans 2008.

 

Petit Le Mans 2008

 

Silverstone 2004

[Dan333SP]

 

 

 

All Road America ALMS between 2010 and 2012. Excellent races.

[sjakie]

Le Mans 1988

[GSiebert]

American Le Mans Series, circa 2007, was the t!ts.

Yes 2007 and 2008 ALMS were great ! Porsche and Acura P2 cars fighting against Audi.

[Pontlieue]

Sadly I only really started to follow sportscar racing in 2012, but Silverstone and Spa from this year are among the greatest of any kind of racing I've seen in the past 15 years. And yes, Le Mans 2011 is already a classic, even if it just happened four years ago. I still regret that I only watched a few hours of it.

[TennisUK]

Le Mans 2011.

 

/end-of-thread 

+1, my first Le Mans in the flesh, too

[JHSingo]

American Le Mans Series, circa 2007, was the t!ts.

 

I loved ALMS 2007-2008. Those battles between the Audi LMP1s, and the Porsche/Acura LMP2s, were epic. With the Audis faster on the straights, and the LMP2s much more nimble, there were some cracking races.

[RSNS]

The ones I only know about from movies and reports:

Spa 70 should figure there.

Le Mans 69 was a thriller to the very end.

Monza 69 was fantastic, too.

Zeltweg 1971

For the ones I watched, this season's races have been rather exciting.

ALMS was very entertaining, as can be seen from the movies posted.

The McNish period was very exciting, too: he was faster than the others in overtaking, and it was a marvel to watch the on boards

Some great names in endurance racing:

Moss; Gendebien, Phil Hill, Siffert, P. Rodriguez, Redman, Ickx, Mass, Bell, Bellof, Schumacher (M), McNish, and the present day ones – Kristensen.

I am certainly missing much of was exciting.

[superden]

Hmmm, anything with a 956/962 in it.

[Amz964]

Le Mans 2011.

 

/end-of-thread 

 

THIS   top 2 covered by only 13 seconds after 24 hours just brilliant.

[thegamer23]

 

Edited by thegamer23, 18 June 2015 - 18:26.

[ElJefe]

Just pick any Group C era race. I miss the eighties... Group B rallying, Group C sportscars and F1 with Senna, Prost, Piquet and Mansell. 

[TIPO61]

Riverside Times GP 1962 AND 1965. The USGP there in '60 was pretty damn good too.

[Afterburner]

This one's surely a candidate:

 

 

Boy do I miss the ARX-02a.

[Imateria]

 

Would you like us to explain the difference between sportscar and touring car racing to you?

[Risil]

Oh go on then. As the professor said, if you're wondering, probably half the rest of the class is too.

[TimRTC]

The 2014 and 2015 12 Hours of Bathurst GT races were both pretty epic, with really close finishes. 2014 was simply amazing with Shane Van Gisbergen driving a McLaren P1 like every lap was the last.

 

 

 

The 2014 British GT final at Donington was also pretty memorable, with lots of drivers in close contention and numerous leader changes over the race. I was there so not sure how it looked on TV, but here you go:

 

[scheivlak]

Hmmm, anything with a 956/962 in it.

Anything? To me, the years of total domination by Porsche (they finished 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8 in 1983,1-2-3-4-5-6-7 in 1984, 1-2-3-4-5 in 1985 and 1-2-3-4-5-6-7 in 1986 in Le Mans) were the low years of sports car racing. Just plain boring at times.

[FerrariV12]

Bit of a latecomer to this discipline really, the first sportscar race I ever deliberately sat down to watch was Le Mans 1999, didn't watch the whole thing as back then there wasn't round the clock coverage we get these days plus I was only 16 so the parents would have sent me to bed at some point anyway :\

 

But I really enjoyed that one, seeing one of the F1 drivers I followed in the early 90s grab pole and lead before a crap pit stop put the Mercs out front, I didn't really enjoy the bit that led to the CLRs being withdrawn, but I remember waking up from my enforced sleep and seeing the BMW out front with a Toyota driven by of all people Ukyo Katayama charging down the leader, I was hooked after that year. Plus while it failed in the race the Nissan R391 is probably still my favourite looking sports prototype ever, I'm probably in a small minority there but yeah

 

A year later in 2000 I clearly remember being on a night out in town for one of the first times ever, I kept sneaking off to phone home to annoy the parents into checking Ceefax for the latest standings through the night, "yeah son Audis are still 1-2-3, make sure you're home by 2"

 

But ultimately sportscar racing is one branch of the sport where my nostalgia level is quite low, I really appreciate being able to these days watch the full 24 (or 12, 6, whatever) hours in full of a race without having to resort to highlights or on-off coverage.

Edited by FerrariV12, 19 June 2015 - 00:09.

[sjakie]

 

But I really enjoyed that one, seeing one of the F1 drivers I followed in the early 90s grab pole and lead before a crap pit stop put the Mercs out front, I didn't really enjoy the bit that led to the CLRs being withdrawn, but I remember waking up from my enforced sleep and seeing the BMW out front with a Toyota driven by of all people Ukyo Katayama charging down the leader, I was hooked after that year. Plus while it failed in the race the Nissan R391 is probably still my favourite looking sports prototype ever, I'm probably in a small minority there but yeah

 

 

I remember the incar footage from the Toyota, Katayama's eyes checking every corner of the car while correcting his course when the tyre blew on the run to Indianapolis. Amazing recovery but his challenge for the win was over...

[Meanstreak]

 

Sure, exciting finish but as a complete race... And after how many overly cautious safety car periods was that? ALMS was truly a master of manufacturing close finishes even in the longer races. At least Petit Le Mans 2008 comes to mind.

 

Generally same thing could be said about most close ALMS finishes posted in this thread. For me, just takes the enjoyment away and makes it so artificial. I bet TUSC will be the last pro series on this planet to start using slow zone/VSC procedure  

Edited by Meanstreak, 20 June 2015 - 01:10.

[SonnyViceR]

Sure, exciting finish but as a complete race... And after how many overly cautious safety car periods was that? ALMS was truly a master of manufacturing close finishes even in the longer races. At least Petit Le Mans 2008 comes to mind.

 

Generally same thing could be said about most close ALMS finishes posted in this thread. For me, just takes the enjoyment away and makes it so artificial. I bet TUSC will be the last pro series on this planet to start using slow zone/VSC procedure  

 

(Sorry that I'm here again but)

 

You are dead wrong, there were only four cautions in that race, for total of 15 laps during 12 hour period. Even ACO would have problems catching that today. The reason Risi and Flying Lizard were so close was because the tires of the 430 were losing pace horribly to those of Porsches. And the awesomeness of that finish is made even more awesome by the fact that in those days there effectively was no BoP nonsense in GT2, or if there was it was extremely light (or success ballast like in FIA GT), not the GT3 imitating crap we have now in GT3. It was genuine finish, and possibly the best single one I've seen.

 

What you are describing is the NASCAR way of doing things in Grand-Am and now USCC (and admittely last few years of IMSA in ALMS too with the million year long cautions), the old ALMS wasn't full of fake SC fests. No free laps and GWC phantom cautions. Also as side point, in North America the tracks aren't asphalt carparks for the most part, so when car makes a mistake and ends up on kitty glitter in say Laguna Seca, it does mean getting stuck there and not receiving free out of jail card like in these Grade 1 etc tracks.

 

Of course I hope the modern slow zones would be implemented there as well today, but I've pretty much given hope on North America by now anyway with USCC.

 

---

 

As for 2011 LM being the greatest ever - ehh it was very good but only really between Audi and Peugeot, elsewhere not so (except Rebellion vs Pescaro was quite fascinating too IIRC). But 2010 Le Mans was infinitely more exciting to me in ALL classes

- Fast but exploding Peugeots against slow but reliable Audis - that was David vs Goliath. Also big power still on regs

- Trillion privateer LMP1s

- Interesting HPD triumph in LMP2, and no forced down pro-am crap and cost capped cars quite yet

- Melting down GT1s and all the weirdness that surrounded that camp, last hurray for category I used to love

- GT2 still when competitive and relatively fair (and not divided into useless sub categories), also quite bit of unexpected turn of events out there and all favorites seemed to drop out

 

Anyway that was my favorite LM of this decade (maybe even century), but most of the 90's events and late Group C Le Mans are my ultimate favorites. Le Mans 1999 is probably at the top of all, maybe. I don't know, difficult to decide.

Edited by SonnyViceR, 20 June 2015 - 01:34.

[Meanstreak]

You are dead wrong, there were only four cautions in that race, for total of 15 laps during 12 hour period. Even ACO would have problems catching that today. The reason Risi and Flying Lizard were so close was because the tires of the 430 were losing pace horribly to those of Porsches. And the awesomeness of that finish is made even more awesome by the fact that in those days there effectively was no BoP nonsense in GT2, or if there was it was extremely light (or success ballast like in FIA GT), not the GT3 imitating crap we have now in GT3. It was genuine finish, and possibly the best single one I've seen.

I stand corrected then, if I need to because it was a question.
 

What you are describing is the NASCAR way of doing things in Grand-Am and now USCC (and admittely last few years of IMSA in ALMS too with the million year long cautions), the old ALMS wasn't full of fake SC fests. No free laps and GWC phantom cautions. Also as side point, in North America the tracks aren't asphalt carparks for the most part, so when car makes a mistake and ends up on kitty glitter in say Laguna Seca, it does mean getting stuck there and not receiving free out of jail card like in these Grade 1 etc tracks.

I never watched Grand-Am, but there's little difference between how ALMS did them, not just during the last couple of sinking ship seasons, and how TUSC is now doing them, so don't blame this on "Nascar" especially as the sporting side/race direction is lead by ex-IMSA people. (And wait, there's now old-ALMS and old-old-ALMS? Or maybe just rose-tinted glasses. Most ALMS videos posted in this thread were from the last couple of years.)

I particularly remember 2008 Petit Le Mans (had to be 2008, because 2009 was the flood red flag and the following ones weren't close). There were probably as many safety cars as there were hours in the race, and some were some pretty shady ones, such as pulling the safety car out for a car that spins but after it manages to leave the gravel trap all by itself. And a common thing even in the short races was a final FCY conviniently just couple of laps to go. If nothing else came up, seagull poo on the track would do it.

Edited by Meanstreak, 20 June 2015 - 03:04.

[John B]

I liked IMSA during the Porsche-Nissan-jaguar era before the split (sound like any other US racing series?). Also agree about 2007-8 ALMS. Enjoyed watching the races at Lime Rock which included David Brabham making up 8 seconds in the last 15 minutes and winning with a late pass. Some high power teams including Penske, Audi, andretti, Highcroft.

[Tarzaan]

1998 Le Mans