What was THE greatest endurance racing car of all time?

[c9/89]

I'd love to know!
It seems to me that my screen name is very highly regarded in these terms and another one of my fav's was the Porsche 917:bow: Legendary! Your thoughts:scratchchin:?

[Podie]

917... perhaps the 962...

[Eric Mc]

Not long after the magazine Motor Sport was relaunched they conducted a survey to see what was the greatest racing car of all time. The winner was the Porsche 917.

I wouldn't argue with that.

[GarrettMacD]

Original Ferrari Testarossa
Ferrari 250 LM
Ford GT40
Ferrari 512S
Porsche 917 LH
Porsche 934
Porsche 935*
Porsche 956
Porsche 962
Jaguar XJR-11/12
Sauber C9 !

(*My own particular favourite)

All great sportscars...

But, just for the sound, anything with a Matra Flat 12 engine !!!

[Podie]

Oooh, the Ferrari 512 was

Must admit I'm a huge fan of the CanAm cars... Chaparrals, Ferrari 612's, McLaren's etc

C9 is a good choice...

[anonymous-user]

well the 956 must come close, it, along with the successor, the 962, dominated le mans and the group C 1000km endurance races throughout the 80s but...
there are loads to choose from, the early Bentleys would pound round brooklands for hours at a time in the twenties and thirties, jaguar in the fifties won many a race with the C and D types, Ford/Ferrari in the sixties though there has not been a decade of dominance quite like the 80s.

[ettore]

The greatest endurance car statistically must be the 956/962. The 917 is probably the most iconic but you would also have to include the various GT40 derivatives, the D Type Jaguar, the Audi R8, the WO Bentley, the 8C Alfa and possibly the XJR6/9/12...

The best sounding is the Matra.

[bikerkeith]

Every car mentioned in this thread is very special, but it has to be a Porsche 917. Even for somebody who has said elsewhere that I don't get excited about Porkers, the 917 was just outrageously powerful and a superb racing machine. I've got a shot of a blue and orange Gulf 917 (at Goodwood this year) as my wallpaper on the home PC.

[anniesdad]

Statistics show it's the Audi R8.....no?

Like a very loud butterfly......."PHLUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU"

[Graham]

donkey 333sp is my favourite.... the noise pure music

[GarrettMacD]

anniesdad said:

Statistics show it's the Audi R8.....no? Like a very loud butterfly......."PHLUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU"

Is that consecutive Le Mans wins with the same car? I thought the 956 and/or 962 had the record for the total amount of Sportcar (Group C) wins???

Also, the 935 had loads of race wins to its name.

Then again, there are more sportscar series to race in nowadays - ELMS, ALMS, PLM, etc.


935 is still deadly though! Moby Dick ???

[The DJ 27]

Graham said:

donkey 333sp is my favourite.... the noise pure music

That and the Rafanelli Lola from the 2000 ALMS series. No Judd V10 has ever sounded better, or louder, than it did in the back of that car

Best sportscar of all time has to be the 956/962. Private teams had equipment almost equal to that of the factory Rothmans boys, and it dominated Group C for years. That, and it's one of the best looking racing cars ever built.

Audi R8, Jaguar XJR-9, Pug 905 and the Porsche 911 GT3RS (think about it) should be on the list as well

[FourWheelDrift]

Any of these in the early days.
Bentley Speed Six (Double Le Mans winners)
Alfa Romeo 8C-2300 (Le Mans winners 4 in a row)
Jaguar D Type (3 Le Mans wins in a row)

Then a choice in later years of:-
Porsche 917
Ford GT40/GT
Porsche 956/962.

[panclan]

For me, the best car has to be the XJR11/12, but the most successful car is the Audi R8, with over 50 wins in 5 years www.crash.net/uk/en/feature_view.asp?cid=28&fid=5887

[scuffham]

yup,

much as I love the old stuff, the R8 has set the bar way higher

[The DJ 27]

But what serious opposition has the R8 faced? I'm not taking anything away from it, because it's an awesome racing car, but it's hardly had to deal with works Jaguar's, Lancia's or a lot of seriously quick privateer teams using equal equipment, as the 956/962 had to

[scuffham]

you mad?

just look at the current ALMS line up.....

[Eric Mc]

It's just that sports car racing does not have the kudos it once had (which is real pity). Back in the 60s, 70s and even early 80s, winningg a major sportscar race was just as impressive as winning an F1 race.

As a reuslt, there was serious involvement from major manufacturers and racing teams. Nowadays, it is a fairly "low profile" form of motorsport with minimal involvement from the big players.

[rubystone]

scuffham said:

you mad? just look at the current ALMS line up.....

Go on then, tell me....it's only taken the field 6 years to catch up with Audi - and the FIA have had to resort to hobbling it with restrictors to let anyone else get close to it.

I echo the comment - through no fault of their own, Audi have had no serious competition to the R8 - the Bentely was kitted out with their FSI engine and God knows what else to let it win Le Mans in 2003.

But seriously Simon, which particular cars in the ALMS field are you referring to?

[scuffham]

well, off the top of my head:

Zytec
Lola
Pescarolo
Dome
Courage
DBA 03S
Dallara

now, you can argue who are this lot, but they have to cover the worlds best sports prototype makers, just becuse no BIG car manufacturer is not invoved does not mean they are not serious.

The R8 is by no means the fastest car out there, but it's reliability and basic strenght wins though most of the time, just look how much punnishment they seem to be able to take...