Maybe there are some Motorsport enthusiasts here and if so I hope you guys know this weekend is THE race weekend ! Total 24h of SPA Francorchamps is, together with the 24h du Mans and 24h of Nürburgring the ultimate endurance racing challenge for top notch teams.



Some history about endurance and SPA Francorchamps : after the cancellation of the FIA GT championship in 2009 there were some dark clouds gathering over Spa, but a solution was at hand: from 2011 the Total 24 Hours of Spa became the headliner of the Blancpain Endurance Series, a new initiative of the SRO Motorsports Goup. The new championship is reserved for GT3-cars and has an enormous success, resulting in 60-car starting grids. In 2015 SRO creates the Blancpain GT Series, combining endurance and sprint races. The Total 24 Hours of Spa remains the blue chip event of the new series, and sees its status confirmed when in 2016 it is included in the new Intercontinental GT Challenge, the first truly global GT3 championship.



This year 63 GT3 cars are competing during 24 hours in 3 different groups. The current GT3 cars are :

Porsche 991 Cup
Porsche 991 GT3 R
Ferrari 488 GT3
Lamborghini Huracan GT3
McLaren 650 S GT3
Jaguar GT3
BMW M6 GT3
Aston Martin V12 GT3
Mercedes-AMG GT3
Audi R8 LMS
Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3

I have had a chance to drive on the SPA Francorchamps track myself during 5 or 6 track days and I really believe this circuit is one of the most beautiful in Europe. One of the most dangerous as well. For me those guys are really incredible... amazing how they manage to keep concentrated and full throttle during relays of one or two hours... especially during the night.



If you like Motorsport, and especially if you have never watched an endurance race, I strongly recommend to take some time and join the LIVE broadcast on Dailymotion. The whole 24h race is being broadcasted live with comments in french and english :

French Live broadcast : http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5ux8iy
English Live broadcast : http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5ux86z

The race started on Saturday at 16:30 (local time) and, at the moment I write this post, 19h30 of race are still ahead !



Enjoy the live show and don't hesitate to leave your comments if you love endurance racing, too

 

We typically don't get more then a few hours of coverage for many of the 24h races here in the US. I have not attended a 24h race, but did get to watch through the night during a 12h Petit LeMans (Road Atlanta) about 15 years ago.

And no question races are more interesting when you have personally driven on the track.

Enjoy your time there.

 

Also quite impressive, live onboard cameras : http://www.24hoursofspa.com/live-plus

Most do not work anymore as the cars are have been destroyed in accidents... (no drivers have been injured) Only the Bentley #8 and the Lamborghini #63 are still in the race.

 

Race teams think Sebrings the hardest race... Just sayin.

Side note I need a slow car so I can do La Rogue flat out.

 

Quite possible, I've only been on European tracks + Abu Dhabi, hence can't talk about Sebring @Foo2rama

 

I think the issue with Sebring is that the roughness. Easy to lose grip on a bump, and the repeated jolts can take their toll on mechanicals.

 

Exactly. Plus the heat and humidity on the drivers.

Sebring is super tough on the cars. The back section and front straight are concrete slabs.

I'm not knocking LeMans or Spa, my friend an ex Porsche factory mechanic says they lived in fear of Sebring.

Here is one of the most insane feats of driving I've ever seen. Bonus at Spa.

 

Yeah this video is well known - this is how a vintage Porsche must be driven - always a pleasure to watch it again, thanks for posting but nothing comparable to the chassis and handling guys have in GT3 nowadays

 

Fox Sports Go coverage of the 24 Hours of Le Mans has been getting better each year... this year it was literally 24 hours uninterrupted as I think they either forgot to cut the feed to ads, or just gave us all a gift.

 

An incredible race.

The performance balance puts the cars to a similar level and the result is really amazing :

- 36 out of 63 cars hit a lap time in the same second during the qualifiers
- 6 cars finish the 24h race with less than 1 lap as time difference (less than 2min30)
- less than 1 minute between the winner and the 3rd after 24 hours

This means only the drivers, the balls of steel and the teams can make the difference

I think this was the most exciting and incredible 24h of Spa Francorchamps since the beginning of this format (2011), superb, I've spent 16 hours out of 24h watching the live broadcast can't wait for the 2018 race now

 

Cannot watch a series that allows a Bentley Continental be balanced to race with with true sporting cars. Bentley is a 5000lb street car. Brakes wouldn't last two laps in stock form.

 

I've almost spit my tea have to agree here but they aren't bad in this series and I don't believe they pull the others down to get balanced. Those cars have only the stock appearance, at the end

How about a Jaguar GT3?

And if you want to laugh too, next year there might be a newcomer from Japan. Just google Toyota Prius GT300

 

The GT3 format is moving further away from the production cars every year (this is the way any production-based racing goes if it survives long enough) so nowadays they're not modified from stock, but rather built from the ground-up to a formula and then balanced on weight and power (via intake restrictors)
GT3 prides itself on the diversity of manufacturers, so they're willing to let a newcomer in even if it's Bentley, even if in stock form they weigh more than full-size cars and some SUVs

 

I have to laugh at Toyota anyways. I thought so many times they had LeMans in the bag and they lost. 1999, 2016, 2017. Formula 1 is another. Until they win I cannot/will not take them seriously.

 

Problem with this why should Porsche bother? They should take their Cayenne and win races with it just to prove the rules are ridiculous. Can call it Fahrenheit 451 racing.

 

Well Bentley's the outlier, in a class stuffed with Ferraris, Lamborghinis and the like; plus the racing itself is very interesting - much more so than Bernie's Single-File Parade

I'm still sad nobody ever took a Cayenne to the Dakar, though VAG was focusing on campaigning their VW diesels there during the time

 

Gt3 is still production based... with a fixed power to weight ratio. I've got no issue with Bentley in there.

GT 1 was BS but made some of the most bat xxxx crazy road cars of all time. With 25 road going models required for homologation. GT 2 was the one I think most of you are railing against as those where basically shiloute racers with nothing in common with the production cars.

My issues are Vettes in GT3 with basically no ties to the production cars. Esp when Vipers went into GT1 and 2 with production chassis and engines! Go Oreca!

What I would love to see is a fixed engine and driver cell with no other rules outside of tires and car widths and length. Just a fixed box that you cannot exceed no other aero rules. F1 is too regulated aero wise and engines are making the most difference.