1979 Ferrari 512 BB LM

Here’s a little competition for you: How many sets of rules have governed international sports car racing from 1953 to the present day? Can you define the difference between the International Championship of Makes and the World Championship of Makes? What was the difference between Group 5 and Group 6? The answers to these three questions, to make it easy, are too many, no, and one!

The history of long-distance sports car racing is—long—and convoluted and often unfathomable. Not all long-distance racing was for sports cars, not all sports car racing was long distance, and what were often called sports car races sometimes didn’t have any sports cars at all! It takes a very considerable level of concentration to get one’s head around the rationale for the racing regulations across the board, and understanding so-called sports car racing is likely to give you a serious headache.