World Sportscar Championship
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The World Sportscar Championship was the world series run for sports car racing by the FIA from 1953 to 1992.
The championship evolved from a small collection of the most important sportscar, endurance and road racing events in Europe and North America with dozens of gentleman drivers at the grid, to a professional racing series where the world's largest automakers spent millions of dollars per year.
The name of the series has changed throughout the years, becoming the International Championship for GT Manufacturers in 1962, the dual International Championships for Sports Cars & Sports Prototypes in 1966, the International Championship for Makes in 1968, the World Championship for Makes in the 1972, the World Endurance Championship in 1981, the World Sports Prototype Championship in 1986 and back to the World Sportscar Championship in 1991. However it has generally been known as the World Sportscar Championship since its inception in 1953. The World Sportscar Championship was, with the Formula One World Championship, one of the two major world championships in circuit motor racing.
Contents |
[edit] Races
Among others, the following races counted towards the championships in certain years:
- Mille Miglia 1953-1957
- Carrera Panamericana 1953-1954
- Targa Florio 1955-1973
- 24 Hours of Le Mans 1953-
- 24 Hours of Daytona 1967-
- 12 Hours of Sebring 1963-
- 1000km Nürburgring 1953-
- 1000km Monza
- 1000km Spa
- 1000km Buenos Aires 1954-1972
- Norisring 200 miles 1984-1988
[edit] 1950s
In the first years, now legendary races such as the Mille Miglia, Carrera Panamericana and Targa Florio were part of the calendar, alongside the remaining 24 Hours of Le Mans and 12 Hours of Sebring. Manufacturers such as Ferrari, Jaguar, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche and Aston Martin fielded entries, many times employing professional racing drivers with experience in Formula 1, but the majority of the grids were filled up by gentleman drivers. Classes were split into GT (closed bodywork) and Sports (open bodywork), and were further divided by engine displacement.
[edit] 1962-1965 expansion
In 1962, the calendar was expanded with smaller races, while the FIA attempted to shift the series' focus into GT cars, without success.
[edit] 1966 -1975
Starting from 1966, the S (5 L sports cars ) and P (3 L closed prototypes) classes were the most competitive, and cars such as the Ferrari 512S, Ferrari Prototypes, Ford GT40, Lola T70, Chaparral, Alfa Romeo 33, Porsche 906, Porsche 908, Porsche 917 and Shelby Cobra battled for supremacy on classic circuits such as Sebring, Nürburgring, Spa-Francorchamps, Monza, Targa Florio and Le Mans, in what is now considered the Golden Age of sports car racing.
In 1972, prototypes were limited to 3.0 L engines by the FIA (a move that some cynics believed was made to benefit the French Matra team), and manufacturers gradually lost interest. The remaining prototypes (Lola and Chevron Cars chassis mated to Ford and BMW F2-spec engines entered by private teams) were switched to the short-lived European Sportscar Championship (which ran for one season in 1978), and the World Championship for Makes was geared towards Group 5 and Group 4 GT cars. It was during this period, from 1977 to 1981, that the nearly-invincible Porsche 935 and its evolutions dominated international endurance racing. Prototypes returned, but were usually unable to counter the sea of Porsche 935s and the works Lancia Beta Montecarlo.
[edit] 1980s and 1990s
In 1981, the FIA instituted a drivers championship. In 1982, the FIA attempted to counter a worrying climb in engine output in the production based GT class by introducing new a specification called Group C, a class for closed sports-prototypes (purpose built racing cars) that limited fuel consumption (the theory being that, by limiting fuel consumption, engine regulations could be more relaxed). While this change was unwelcome amongst some of the private teams, manufacturer support for the new regulations was immense. Several of the 'old guard' manufacturers returned to the WSC within the next two years, with each marque adding to the diversity of the series. Under the new rules, it was theoretically possible for normally aspirated engines to compete with the (expensive to maintain) forced induction engines that had dominated the series in the 70's and early 80's. In addition, most races ran for either 500 or 1000 km, usually going over three and six hours, respectively, so it was possible to emphasize the "endurance" aspect of the competition as well. Group B cars, which was a GT class, were also allowed to race, but entries in this class were sparse, and Group B cars disappeared from the series, with sports-prototypes dominating the championship.
Porsche was the first constructor to join the series, with the 956, but soon several other makes joined the series, including Jaguar, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Toyota, Mazda and Aston Martin. As costs increased, a C2 class (originally named C Junior) was created for privateer teams and small manufacturers, with more limits to fuel consumption. In this lower class, most cars used either the BMW M1 engine or the new Cosworth DFL, but, like in the main class, a variety of solutions were employed by each individual manufacturer. Alba, Tiga, Spice and Ecurie Ecosse were among the most competitive in this class. While the Group C formula had brought manufacturers back to the sport, it was again Porsche - with its 956 & 962 Group C line - that continued their domination of the sport.
Although the Group C formula was a success the FIA introduced new rules for the 1991 World Sportscar Championship which meant a new type of sports-prototype; 750Kg machines with contemporary normally aspirated engines, which were purpose-built 3500cc racing units. Although power was generally less than most Group C cars (around 650Bhp compared to around 750Bhp upwards) these type of cars are considered to be the among the quickest type of sportscar ever. However, the take up of these new regulations was not popular so the new rules did not take full effect until the 1992 season. Only a handful of cars built to the new regulations were ready for the 1992 season.
The new generation of WSC racing engines, intended to reduce costs and provide more competition, quickly became more expensive than their predecessors, and as they had before, manufacturers again abandoned the sportscar series. In particular, Mercedes and Peugeot elected to either concentrate on or move to F1, citing similar costs to that of an F1 engine program as motive. The more exotic engines were unaffordable for teams like Spice and ADA, thus after the manufacturers left the top class of sportscar racing, the series essentially collapsed. A lack of entries meant the 1993 season was cancelled before the start of the first race.
[edit] 1990s GT
This vacuum in sports car racing was taken up by the BPR Global GT Series in 1994, which also signaled the return of GT cars after an absence of over a decade. The success of the series lead to a friendly takeover by the FIA in 1997, becoming the FIA GT Championship. Prototypes were mainly absent from European tracks (Le Mans being the sole notable exception) until 1997, with the creation of the International Sports Racing Series, which eventually morphed into the short-lived FIA Sportscar Championship. The FIA now maintains GT and prototype racing separate, these cars running together only on ACO-sanctioned events. In 1999, Don Panoz gained permission from the ACO to use its extensive rulebook and founded the American Le Mans Series featuring sprint and endurance races across North America
[edit] Championship Winners
| Year | Winning Constructor (1953 - 1984) |
Winning Team (1985 - 1992) |
Winning Driver(s) (1981 - 1992) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1953 |  Ferrari |
- | - |
| 1954 | Ferrari |
- | - |
| 1955 |  Mercedes-Benz |
- | - |
| 1956 | Ferrari |
- | - |
| 1957 | Ferrari |
- | - |
| 1958 | Ferrari |
- | - |
| 1959 |  Aston Martin |
- | - |
| 1960 | Ferrari |
- | - |
| 1961 | Ferrari |
- | - |
| 1962 | Ferrari (GT+2.0) Porsche (GT2.0) Fiat-Abarth (GT1.0) |
- | - |
| 1963 | Ferrari (P) Ferrari (GT+2.0) Porsche (GT2.0) Fiat-Abarth (GT1.0) |
- | - |
| 1964 | Porsche (P) Ferrari (GT+2.0) Porsche (GT2.0) Abarth-Simca (GT1.0) |
- | - |
| 1965 | Ferrari (P) Shelby (GT+2.0) Porsche (GT2.0) Abarth-Simca (GT1.3) |
- | - |
| 1966 | Ford (P+2.0) Porsche (P2.0) Ford (S+2.0) Porsche (S2.0) Abarth (S1.3) |
- | - |
| 1967 | Ferrari (P+2.0) Porsche (P2.0) Ford (S+2.0) Porsche (S2.0) Abarth (S1.3) |
- | - |
| 1968 | Ford (S) Porsche (GT) |
- | - |
| 1969 | Porsche (S) Porsche (GT) |
- | - |
| 1970 | Porsche (S) Porsche (GT) |
- | - |
| 1971 | Porsche (S) Porsche (GT) |
- | - |
| 1972 | Ferrari (S) Porsche (GT) |
- | - |
| 1973 |  Matra (S) Porsche (GT) |
- | - |
| 1974 | Matra (S) Porsche (GT) |
- | - |
| 1975 | Alfa Romeo (S) Porsche (GT) |
- | - |
| 1976 | Porsche (SP) Porsche (GT) |
- | - |
| 1977 | Alfa Romeo (SP) Porsche (GT) |
- | - |
| 1978 | Porsche |
- | - |
| 1979 | Porsche |
- | - |
| 1980 | Porsche (+2.0) Lancia (2.0) |
- | - |
| 1981 | Porsche (+2.0) Lancia (2.0) |
- | Bob Garretson |
| 1982 | Porsche |
- |  Jacky Ickx |
| 1983 | Porsche (C) Alba - Giannini (C Jnr) Porsche (B) |
- | Jacky Ickx |
| 1984 | Porsche (C) Alba - Giannini (C Jnr) BMW (B) |
- | Stefan Bellof |
| 1985 | - | Rothmans Porsche (C) Spice Engineering (C2) |
Derek Bell (C) Hans-Joachim Stuck (C) Gordon Spice (C2) Ray Bellm (C2) |
| 1986 | - |  Brun Motorsport (C) Ecurie Ecosse (C2) |
Derek Bell (C) Hans-Joachim Stuck (C) Gordon Spice (C2) Ray Bellm (C2) |
| 1987 | - | Silk Cut Jaguar (C) Spice Engineering (C2) |
 Raul Boesel (C) Gordon Spice (C2) Fermin Velez (C2) |
| 1988 | - | Silk Cut Jaguar (C) Spice Engineering (C2) |
Martin Brundle (C) Gordon Spice (C2) Ray Bellm (C2) |
| 1989 | - | Team Sauber Mercedes (C) Chamberlain Engineering (C2) |
Jean-Louis Schlesser (C) Nick Adams (C2) Fermin Velz |
| 1990 | - | Team Sauber Mercedes |
Jean-Louis Schlesser Mauro Baldi |
| 1991 | - | Silk Cut Jaguar |
Teo Fabi |
| 1992 | - | Peugeot Talbot Sport (C1) Chamberlain Engineering (Cup) |
Derek Warwick (C1) Yannick Dalmas (C1) Ferdinand de Lesseps (Cup) |
