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Revision as of 00:10, 14 October 2018 by The359(talk | contribs)(Undid revision 863921424 by Rebestalic (talk) Neither worked. Logo for the circuit is not necessary, this is not an article about the circuit.)
The Spa 24 Hours was conceived by Jules de Their and Henri Langlois Van Ophem just one year after the inaugural 24 Hours of Le Mans was run. It debuted in 1924 over a 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) circuit on public roads between the towns of Francorchamps, Malmedy and Stavelot, under the auspices of the Royal Automobile Club Belgium (RACB). The present 7.004 kilometres (4.352 mi) circuit was inaugurated in 1979.
Cars entered have spanned from the Russian Moskvitch and models with sub-1 liter engines such as the NSU Prinz TT to the luxurious V8-powered Mercedes-Benz 300 SEL 6.3. Tuned by Mercedes-AMG, the 6834 cc and 420 hp (313 kW) so-called "Red pig" finished as high as second in 1971.
With the participation of SwissLilian Bryner on the victorious Ferrari 550 of the BMS Scuderia Italia team, the 2004 race marked the first time in history that a female driver was part of the winning team of a 24-hour endurance race in a Gran Turismo with more than 500 hp (370 kW).
The best manufacturer wins the Coupe du Roi (King's Cup), which is not necessarily the race winners. The cup is won by the manufacturer with the most points, accrued by cars that are made by the same manufacturer.[1] For example, Australian car manufacturer Holden won the Coupe du Roi in 1986 despite their cars finishing the race in 18th, 22nd and 23rd positions outright.[2]
The current version of the Spa 24 Hours is an event under the Blancpain Endurance Series calendar, although it was previously run as part of the FIA GT Championship featuring GT1 and GT2 machinery, and by various touring car series. Currently, the cars run fall under the FIA GT3 and GT3 Cup classifications.