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History of the 24 Hours at Daytona |
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At the end of last month the motorsport season once again jumped into life with the race that kick starts the season, the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona. The Daytona International Speedway, home to the 24 hour race is a superspeedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is a 2.5 mile (4 km) tri-oval race track facility with a seating capacity of 168,000 spectators. It hosts races of motor vehicles of various kinds, including go-karts, dirt bikes, motorcycles, sports cars, modified pickup trucks, and stock cars. The facility also includes a 3.56 mile (5.7 km) road course and a 180-acre infield, including the 29 acre Lake Lloyd. The beginning  The
Speedway was to built after NASCAR was founded by William France
Sr. at Daytona
Beach, Florida in 1947. The original premiere event in the series was
held
at the Daytona
Beach Road Course. France began planning a new track for the premiere
event
in his fledgling series in 1953. On August 16 1954 he signed a contract
with
city officials to create this new track that would become famous as the
Daytona
International Speedway. Ground was broken on November 25 1957. The soil
underneath the
banked corners was dug from the infield of the track, and the large
hole in the
infield was filled with water and is now known as Lake Lloyd. The
speedway
opened on february 22 1959 to a crowed of 41,000 people. In 1962, a few
years after the track was built, a 3 hour sportscar
racing event was introduced, the Daytona Continental, and counted
towards the Worlds Sportscar Championship. The first Continental was
won by Dan Gurney, driving a Ford-powered Lotus 19 despite being a
factory diver for Porsche at the time. Many Porsche 718 were driven by
privateers, but these 1600cc cars were considered rather underpowered
for a short and fast race despite having won the twisty Targa Florio or
the tough 12 Hours of Sebring. In 1964, the event was expanded to 2000km (1220 miles), doubling the classic 1000km distance of races at Nürburgring, Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps and Autodromo Nazionale Monza. While the distance amounted to roughly the half of the distance the 24 Hours of Le Mans winners covered at that time, it was similar in length to the Sebring 12 Hours, held elsewhere in Florida a few weeks later each year. Starting in 1966, though, the Daytona race was styled after the even more famous 24 Hours of Le Mans race itself. The 24 Hour History  As in the Spa 24 Hours (introduced in 1924) and the 24 Hours Nürburgring (since 1970), the purpose of the event is to determine which team of drivers can take their sports car or Gran Turismo the farthest in a fixed time period (24 h), rather than the shortest time over a fixed distance as in conventional auto racing. Unlike the French Le Mans event, the Daytona race is conducted entirely over a closed course within the speedway arena without the use of any public streets. Most parts of the steep banking are included, interrupted with a chicane on the back straight and a sweeping, fast infield section which includes two hairpins. As the French classic is held in the middle of June, the night there is as short as possible, unlike at the Daytona race, which is held in the wintertime (as of 2006, the race is held in the last week of January) or early February in the longest of all 24 Hours race nights. Lights installed around the circuit to allow night racing (and therefore prime-time television coverage) by the headlight-less cars of NASCAR in the late 1990s are left on, reducing the darkness along the course (with the infield section still not as well-lit as the main oval). However, the stadium lights are turned on only to a level of 20%, similar to the stadium lights at Le Mans, where the track is lit similarly, with brighter lights around the pit straight, and decent lighting similar to street lights around the circuit. A car must cross the finish line after 24 hours to be classified, which leads to dramatic scenes where damaged cars wait in the pits or on the edge of the track close to the finish line for hours, then restart their engines and crawl across the finish line one last time in order to finish after the 24 hours and be listed with a finishing distance, rather than dismissed with DNF (Did Not Finish). This was the case in the initial 1962 Daytona Continental (then 3 hours), when Gurney's Lotus had established a lengthy lead when the engine died, and he parked it at the top of the banking, just short of the finish line. When the three hours had elapsed, Gurney drove the car the last few feet across the finish line using either gravity, the starter motor, or a combination of both (the debate continues to this day) to not only salvage a finishing position, but actually win the race. After having lost in 1966 both at Daytona and at Le Mans to the Fords, the Ferrari Prototypes staged a triumphant 1-2-3 side-by-side parade finish at the banked finish line in 1967. To celebrate the victory over the rival at his home race, Ferrari named its V12-powered road car Ferrari Daytona after the race.  Porsche repeated this show in their 1-2-3 win in the 1968 24 Hours. After the car of Gerhard Mitter had a big crash caused by tyre failure in the banking, his teammate Rolf Stommelen supported Vic Elford/Jochen Neerpasch. When the car of the longtime leaders Jo Siffert/Hans Herrmann dropped to second due to a technical problem, these two also joined the new leaders while continuing with their car. So Porsche managed to put 5 of 8 drivers on the center of the podium, plus Jo Schlesser/Joe Buzzetta on 3rd place, with only Mitter being left out. In 1972, due to the energy crisis, the race was shortened to 6 hours, while for 1974 the race was cancelled altogether. In 1982, following near continous inclusion on the World Sportscar Championship, the race was finally dropped as the series attempted to cut costs by using shorter races then before, as well as to have to force teams to fly equipment outside of Europe. The race continued on as part of the IMSA GT series. 2006 Race  In the 2006 event, teams which are traditionally linked to Porsche made an effort to "reconquer" Daytona, like Brumos Racing, which has fielded Porsches traditionally numbered as No 58 and No 59 since the 1970s. Porsche factory drivers were also scattered around the teams running Porsche engines in their DPs, and it was German Lucas Luhr who set the pole position time with the No 23 Crawford-Porsche of Alex Job Racing. In the race, the car that was also driven by Mike Rockenfeller and Patrick Long led for some time, but lost time during a repair of a driveshaft, and finished only 3rd ahead of the No 58 Red Bull Brumos Fabcar-Porsche with fellow Porsche works driver Sascha Maassen. Two Riley-Lexus finished 1-2, with Target Chip Ganassi's all-star line-up of Scott Dixon, Dan Wheldon and Casey Mears taking the overall win. The GT class saw, as usual, virtually dozens of Porsches, and their faster drivers like Wolf Henzler. The Pontiac GTO.R of experienced team The Racer's Group not only set the GT pole, but also lead much of the early part of the race, battling with the best 911s of the new 997 series, finishing 10th overall ahead of 21 prototypes. The TPC Racing Porsche did three laps more and took the GT win plus ninth overall, though. The second best non-Porsche 996 GT was the other TRG GTO.R at 26th overall, 13th in GT. 2007 Race  With Porsche
dominating
the line up for the 2007 24 Hours at Daytona the racing world was
asking if this year was going to belong to Porsche in the Daytona
Prototypes, we knew that Porsche had a very good chance in the GT field
but could they beat the powerful Pontiac and Lexus engines in DP.
Porsche unfortunately never threatened the top three but the Porsche
Riley of Brumos Porsche put up a good fight just missing out on a
podium finish by 4 laps crossing the line in 4th place.Porsche did however dominate the GT field and for the majority of the race looked like taking all top three podium spots, in a 24-hour battle of speed, weather, fatigue and the largest single class to compete in the Rolex 24 At Daytona, Scooter Gabel, Jean-Francois Dumoulin, Carlos de Quesada and Marc Basseng overcame them all, claiming the GT victory in the 45th anniversary of North America's premier endurance race in the No. 22 Alegra Motorsports/Fiorano Racing Porsche GT3.   |
porschesport.com Home News Porsche Art Links Contact us Forum Merchandise Monthly Feature Race Cars For Sale  Above Porsche poster from 1975 The race has had several names over the years. Since 1991, the Rolex Watch Co. is the title sponsor of the race under a naming rights arrangement, replacing Sunbank (now SunTrust) which in turn replaced Pepsi in 1984. Winning drivers of all classes receive a steel Rolex Cosmograph watch, with the race logo and year of race engraved at the back of the watch and is probably the most prestigious way to acquire one whilst skipping the infamous waiting list. The watch is considered as one of the most sought after non-vintage models should one appear up for sale.  Above the 1981 Porsche Factory Poster Lights were installed in 1998 so that the Pepsi 400 could be held at night. However, the race was delayed until October that year due to thick smoke from wildfires that summer. The Pepsi 400 has been held under lights ever since.  Above Daytona at night  Above Porsche poster celebrating the 1, 2, 3 win of 1968. In Memory In the history of the Daytona International Speedway as 2006, many people have been killed at the speedway. Marshall Teague became track's first fatality, in a practice crash in 1959. Slick Johnson died from injuries in an In the history of the Daytona International Speedway (as of 2005), many people have been killed at the speedway. Marshall TeagueARCA race in 1990. Bruce Jacobi, Ricky Knotts, Friday Hassler and Talmadge Prince were killed in qualifying races. Neil Bonnett and Rodney Orr were killed in practice sessions for the 1994 Daytona 500; and Dale Earnhardt — the first person ever to be killed in struck and killed track worker the Daytona 500 — died on the final lap in 2001.Ray PaprotaRoy Weaver in 2004 during the IPOWER Dash Series 150.  Above the Gulf Porsche 917's where well  Above the 1987 Porsche Daytona Poster.  Above the Ruby Tuesday Championship Racing Team (Alex Job Racing)  Above thw 2007 GT2
Winner of Alegra Motorsports/Fiorano Racing.
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