Sports Car Racing

Sports car racing might sound like another generic term for auto racing, but it is in fact a particular type of circuit auto racing with a specific type of sports car: two seats and enclosed wheels (as opposed to the open wheel cars).

Sports car racing is quite popular around the world, and it is one of the oldest auto racing traditions. It started in 1923, in France (where else?), with the first 24 Hours of Le Mans (24 Heures du Mans in French) endurance race, which has run continuously since.

The most common international form of sports car racing is known as Grand Touring, with four divisions as prescribed by the FIA: GT1 through GT4. GT1 cars are also known as Grand Touring Cars, and GT2 as Series Grand Touring Cars, by the FIA. In contrast with other forms of auto racing that are more specific to a particular region, such as Formula One in Europe or NASCAR style stock car racing in the United States and the English-speaking world, sports car racing is quite popular throughout the world, and there are important sports car racing events and championships in North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Australia.

Besides Grand Touring, the other, less widespread form of sports car racing is the Sports prototype. Sports prototype cars and Formula One cars are the two most influential types of race vehicles responsible for most of the innovation in the field of auto racing, race safety, and new technologies.

The highly acclaimed video game series Gran Turismo (which is the original Italian for Grand Touring) is based on GT sports car racing, with its latest title released on October 1, 2009 for PSP. The most prestigious real-world GT championship in Europe is the FIA GT Championship, commissioned by the FIA.