1000 km Silverstone

1000 km Silverstone

The 1000 km of Silverstone (also known as the 6 Hours of Silverstone) is an endurance sports car race held at Silverstone Circuit. First run in 1976 as part of the World Sportscar Championship, the race continues today with the Le Mans Series.

History

In 1975, a round of the World Championship of Makes was not held in Britain for one of the first times since 1966. The 1000 km Brands Hatch which had been run almost consecutively during that period went under hiatus while track upgrades were carried out. Following upgrades of its own in 1975, plans were made for sportscars to return to Britain by using Silverstone instead of Brands Hatch. The event was a six hour endurance, part of the Group 5 World Championship.

The first running consisted of a small field as some season competitors chose not to compete. British drivers John Fitzpatrick and Tom Walkinshaw managed to upset the factory teams by scoring the inaugural victory in a BMW. The following year, competition grew as the factory Porsche team, under the guise of Martini Racing, earned their first of two consecutive victories for drivers Jochen Mass and Jacky Ickx. The Porsche factory team was not able to continue their streak into 1979 when their lead car crashed, leaving the privateer Gelo Racing Porsche to a dominant win.

1980 saw the first victory by a sports-prototype. Alain de Cadenet managed to win the home event as a driver, team owner, as well as a constructor when he and Desiré Wilson won by 18 seconds in a car of his own design. A Group 5 car took its final victory in 1981 with the all-German Velga Racing Team before the class was phased out.

1982 was the first year of the Group C category in the World Championship, although the race that year was actually won by an older Group 6 Lancia. The first Group C victory came in 1983 as Porsche returned to their factory dominance of the event, going on to win the 1984 and 1985 events as well. In 1986 British success returned as the Jaguar factory team was able to upset Porsche for the first time since the company had returned to racing. Jaguar then began to dominate in a fashion similar to Porsche, as they too won the next two years. American Eddie Cheever co-drove in each of the three victories.

No race was held in 1989 as Donington temporarily replaced Silverstone on the schedule, but sportscars returned in 1990 for a shorter 480 km event. Jaguar returned to their winning ways straight away before going on to earn a fifth straight victory in a 430 km event in 1991. Only after Jaguar officially retired from the World Championship was another manufacturer able to once again earn victory at Silverstone, this time being Peugeot. A lack of entrants however lead to the cancellation of the World Championship, temporarily ending endurance racing at the circuit. The race did make a one year comeback in 2000 as part of the American Le Mans Series. The race served as a precursor to the European Le Mans Series that followed in 2001.

In 2004, the new Le Mans Endurance Series was created to resurrect several 1000 km endurance races in a modern era. Among these was Silverstone, running at its original distance. Once again, British success started off the return of the event as Allan McNish and the British Audi team won the event. Audi and McNish won again the following year, this time under the control of the French Oreca team, although the race was heavily hampered by rain. Silverstone took a brief hiatus in 2006 as Donington replaced the event once again, only to return once again in 2007. Peugeot earned their second victory, this time with a diesel-powered Le Mans prototype.

Winners

† - Race went under a 6 hour time limit. Only 776km of the 1000km scheduled were covered.

External links

* [http://www.lmes.net/2007/uk/silverstone/index.asp Le Mans Series] - 2007 1000 km of Silverstone


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно сделать НИР?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • 1000 km Nürburgring — Nürburgring 1000km Rennen Le Mans Series Venue Nürburgring First race 1953 Fi …   Wikipedia

  • 1000 km de Silverstone — Cuatro sport prototipos en los 1000 km de Silverstone de 2008. Los 1000 km de Silverstone es una carrera de resistencia que se disputa con sport prototipos y gran turismos en el circuito de Silverstone, Reino Unido. Tuvo otras duraciones… …   Wikipedia Español

  • 1000-km-Rennen von Monza 1982 — Das 20. 1000 km Rennen von Monza fand am 18. April 1982 auf dem Autodromo Nazionale Monza statt. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Ergebnisse 1.1 Schlussklassement 2 Literatur 3 Einzelna …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • 1985 1000 km of Silverstone — The 1985 Silverstone 1000 km was the third round of the 1985 World Endurance Championship. It took place at the Silverstone Circuit, Great Britain on May 12, 1985.Official resultsClass winners in bold. Cars failing to complete 75% of the winner s …   Wikipedia

  • 1988 1000km of Silverstone — The 1988 Autosport 1000 km was the fourth round of the 1988 World Sportscar Championship season. It took place at the Silverstone Circuit, United Kingdom on May 8, 1988.Official resultsClass winners in bold. Cars failing to complete 75% of the… …   Wikipedia

  • 1987 1000km of Silverstone — The 1987 Autoglass 1000 km was the fourth round of the 1987 World Sports Prototype Championship. It took place at the Silverstone Circuit, United Kingdom on May 10, 1987.Official resultsClass winners in bold. Cars failing to complete 75% of the… …   Wikipedia

  • 1986 1000km of Silverstone — The 1986 Kouros 1000 km was the second round of the 1986 World Sports Prototype Championship. It took place at the Silverstone Circuit, Great Britain on May 4, 1986.Official resultsClass winners in bold. Cars failing to complete 75% of the winner …   Wikipedia

  • 1984 1000 km of Silverstone — The 1984 Grand Prix International 1000 km was the second round of the 1984 World Endurance Championship. It took place at the Silverstone Circuit, Great Britain on 13 May, 1984.Official resultsClass winners in bold. Cars failing to complete 75%… …   Wikipedia

  • Circuito de Silverstone — Localización Silverstone, Northamptonshire y Buckinghamshire, Inglaterra …   Wikipedia Español

  • Healey Silverstone — Heck …   Deutsch Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”