Spa 24 Hours

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The Spa 24 Hours is an endurance racing event held annually in Belgium at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps. Conceived by Jules de Their and Henri Langlois Van Ophem just one year after the first 24 Hours of Le Mans, the race was run under the auspices of the Royal Automobile Club Belgium (RACB).

It was held for the first time in 1924 over a 9.3 mile circuit on public roads between the towns of Francorchamps, Malmedy and Stavelot. The present 6.9760 km circuit was inaugurated in 1979.

The Spa 24 Hours were part of the European Touring Car Championship from 1966 to 1973. The event also counted towards the World Sportscar Championship in 1953 and 1981. As on the Nürburgring, both a 24h and a 1000km race is held at Spa, as the 1000km Spa for sports car racing were introduced in 1966.

Cars entered included Russian Moskvitch and engine sizes ranged from 996cc NSU Prinz TT to the luxurious V8-powered Mercedes-Benz 300 SEL 6.3, tuned by Mercedes-AMG to the so-called "Red pig" . This heavy and fast vehicle with 6834 cm³ and 420 hp finished only 2nd in 1971, as frequent refuelling was necessary, and tyre wear was also high.

With the participation of Swiss Lilian Bryner on the victorious Ferrari 550 of the BMS Scuderia Italia team, the 2004 race marked the first time in history that a female driver has won a 24 hour endurance race in a Gran Turismo with more than 500hp.

At the 1996 and 1997 24 Hours Nürburgring, Sabine Reck had won in a BMW M3 touring car following Group N rules, with about 321hp.

[edit] Results on 14km track

Year Car Pilots Distance Average
1924 Bignan Henri Springuel / Henri Becquet
1925 Chenard-Walcker André Lagache / René Leonard
1926 Peugeot André Boillot / Louis Rigal
1927 Excelsior Robert Sénéchal / Nicolas Caerels
1928 Alfa Romeo Boris Ivanowski / Attilio Marinoni
1929 Alfa Romeo Robert Benoist / Attilio Marinoni
1930 Alfa Romeo Attilio Marinoni / Pietro Ghersi
1931 Mercedes-Benz Dimitri Djordjadze / Goffredo Zehender
1932 Alfa Romeo Antonio Brivio / Eugenio Siena
1933 Alfa Romeo Louis Chiron / Luigi Chinetti
1934 Bugatti Jean Desvignes / Norbert Mahe
1935 No race held
1936 Alfa Romeo Francesco Severi / Raymond Sommer
1937 No race held
1938 Alfa Romeo Carlo Pintacuda / Francesco Severi
1939
1947
No races held
1948 Aston Martin St John Horsfall / Leslie Johnson
1949 Ferrari Luigi Chinetti / Jean Lucas
1950
1952
No races held
1953 Ferrari 375MM Pinin Giuseppe Farina / Mike Hawthorn World Sportscar Championship
1954
1963
No races held
1964 Mercedes-Benz 300SE Robert Crevits / Gustave Gosselin 3962,100 164,825
1965 BMW 1800 Pascal Ickx / Gérard Langlois van Ophem 3812,591 158,855
1966 BMW 2000ti Hubert Hahne / Jacky Ickx 4048,368 168,681
1967 Porsche 911 Jean-Pierre Gaban / Norbert Van Assche 4052,883 168,867
1968 Porsche 911 Erwin Kremer / Willi Kauhsen / Helmut Kelleners 4004,827 166,867
1969 Porsche 911 Guy Chasseuil / Claude Ballot-Lena 4272,231 187,006
1970 BMW 2800CS Gunther Huber / Helmut Kelleners 4252,407 177,183
1971 Ford Capri RS Dieter Glemser / Alex Soler-Roig 4385,100 182,690
1972 Ford Capri RS 2600 Jochen Mass / Hans-Joachim Stuck 4498,436 187,431
1973 BMW 3.0 CSL Toine Hezemans / Dieter Quester 4422,980 184,290
1974 BMW 3.0 CSi Jean Xhenceval / Alain Peltier / Pierre Dieudonné 4147,289 172,804
1975 BMW 3.0 CSi Pierre Dieudonné / Jean Xhenceval / Hughes de Fierlandt 4249,270 177,053
1976 BMW 3.0 CSL Jean-Marie Detrin / Nino Demuth / Charles Van Stolle 4087,904 170,329
1977 BMW 530i Eddy Joosen / Jean-Claude Andruet 4083,835 170,159
1978 Ford Capri Gordon Spice / Teddy Pilette 4315,594 179,816

[edit] Results on 7km track

Year Car Pilots Distance Average
1979 Ford Capri Jean-Michel Martin / Philippe Martin 3083,632 128,485
1980 Ford Capri Jean-Michel Martin / Philippe Martin 2952,318 123,013
1981 Mazda RX-7 Tom Walkinshaw / Pierre Dieudonné 3183,952 132,737 World Sportscar Championship
1982 BMW 528i Hans Heyer / Armin Hahne / Eddy Joosen 3132,224 130,808
1983 BMW 635 CSi Thierry Tassin / Hans Heyer / Armin Hahne 3333,726 130,808
1984 Jaguar XJS Tom Walkinshaw / Hans Heyer / Win Percy 3055,485 131,091
1985 BMW 635 CSI Roberto Ravaglia / Gerhard Berger / Marc Surer 3470,000 144,344
1986 BMW 635 CSI Dieter Quester / Thierry Tassin / Altfrid Heger 3463,060 144,232
1987 BMW M3 Jean-Michel Martin / Didier Theys / Eric van de Poele 3338,140 139,908
1988 BMW M3 Altfrid Heger / Dieter Quester / Roberto Ravaglia 3532,460 146,929
1989 Ford Sierra Cosworth Gianfranco Brancatelli / Win Percy / Bernd Schneider 3338,140 139,130
1990 BMW M3 Fabien Giroix / Johnny Cecotto / Markus Oestreich 3247,920 135,330
1991 Nissan Skyline GT-R Anders Olofsson / David Brabham / Naoki Hattori 3587,980 149,456
1992 BMW M3 Steve Soper / Jean-Michel Martin / Christian Danner 3560,220 148,947
1993 Porsche 911 RSR Christian Fittipaldi / Uwe Alzen / Jean-Pierre Jarier 2154,904 144,667
1994 BMW 318is Roberto Ravaglia / Thierry Tassin / Alexander Burgstaller 3625,960 151,047
1995 BMW 320i Joachim Winkelhock / Steve Soper / Peter Kox 3612,532 150,531
1996 BMW 320i Jörg Müller / Thierry Tassin / Alexander Burgstaller 3507,821 145,956
1997 BMW 320i Didier de Radigues / Marc Duez / Eric Hélary 3372,680 140,252
1998 BMW 318i Marc Duez / Eric van de Poele / Alain Cudini 3344,807 139,344
1999 Peugeot 306 GTI Frédéric Bouvy / Emmanuel Collard / Anthony Beltoise 3428,427 142,588
2000 Peugeot 306 GTI Frédéric Bouvy / Kurt Mollekens / Didier Defourny 3330,870 138,686
2001 Chrysler Viper GTS-R Christophe Bouchut / Jean-Philippe Beloc / Marc Duez 3679,104 152,999
2002 Chrysler Viper Christophe Bouchut / David Terrien / Vincent Vosse 3654,059 152,019
2003 Porsche 996 GT3-RS Stéphane Ortelli / Marc Lieb / Romain Dumas 3327,613 138,557
2004 Ferrari 550 Maranello Luca Cappellari / Fabrizio Gollin / Lilian Bryner / Enzo Calderari 3888,144 161,974
2005 Maserati MC12 Michael Bartels / Timo Scheider / Eric van de Poele 4000,896 166,638
2006 Maserati MC12 Michael Bartels / Andrea Bertolini / Eric van de Poele 4092,961 171,034

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