Gitanes
For the French bicycle manufacturer, see Gitane. Gitanes is a French brand of cigarettes owned and manufactured by Imperial Tobacco following their acquisition of Altadis in January 2008, having been owned by SEITA before that. Gitanes was launched in 1910 in all which were filterless. In 1918, Gitanes Maïs were introduced. Which were a success in the rural areas of France. In the 1930s, the first graphic ads for Gitanes appeared. In 1956, the first filtered Gitane variant was introduced. In 1981, the "Light" versions are first marketed. In 1986, the first Gitanes Blondes were launched, which had become available internationally in 1987. However, they were a commercial failure. In 1988, the first "Extra light" versions were marketed. In 1991, Gitanes ultra lights were introduced. In 1990/1991, a simultaneous launch of a new version of Gitanes Blondes ultra light were brought on the market. Gitanes are sold in many varieties of packages; the cigarette was made with a darker or brun tobacco, in contrast to the more widespread blonde.
In honour of the name, the packet shows the silhouette of a Spanish gypsy woman playing the tambourine. There is a distinction between the "blonde" style of the current Gitanes, the classic style of Gitanes Brunes, both of which are sold in Europe and South America; the classic Gitanes Brunes tobacco achieved its characteristic and distinctive "bite" by using a fire-flued method of curing the tobacco, a "rice" type of rolling paper which differs from most other cigarettes. The result was a cigarette which had both a distinctive aroma. Gitanes Blondes are available, filtered, in Regular; the Gitanes Brunes are available in 70mm versions and unfiltered. In 2010, the size and content of the regular Gitanes were reduced. Gitanes Maïs are made with yellow corn paper. Production in France was halted, with one factory remaining operational in the Netherlands; this was due to the rise on tobacco levies imposed by the French Government in the wake of enforced EU health directives, which has forced up the price of French cigarettes to the level of those in the US, with the more aggressively promoted brands such as Marlboro now taking the majority market share."Gauloises and Gitanes exit France".
BBC News. 1 September 2005. The 90s were successful for Gitanes in terms of brand engagement. In an effort to increase awareness, the brand began sponsoring motor-sports such as Formula One racing and the Dakar Rally; these activities helped to attract a wider range of potential customers while avoiding any dilution of the brand image and thus retained the loyalty of its more artistic core customer base. In July 2016, the French government considered a ban on both the Gitanes and Gauloises cigarette brands because they were deemed "too stylish and cool"; the ban would apply to brands including Marlboro Gold, Lucky Strike and Fortuna. It is the result of a new public health law based on a European directive that says tobacco products "must not include any element that contributes to the promotion of tobacco or give an erroneous impression of certain characteristics". Four major tobacco companies have written to the government seeking clarification on the potential law, calling for an urgent meeting to discuss the details of the plan.
In the letter they accuse French health minister Marisol Touraine of an "arbitrary and disproportionate" application of EU directives. Since the 1930s, many advertisements have been made to promote the Gitanes brand; the first art-deco packet design was produced by Maurice Giot in 1927. An image of a Gypsy dancer, designed by Molusson, first appeared on the cigarette packets in 1943. In 1947, Max Ponty refined the figure to a silhouette to create an image, still in use today on the Gitanes Blonde packet; the dancer silhouette was reworked by many famous poster designers, including Savignac in 1953 and Morvan in 1960.. The boxes have always featured the colours black and white. Gitanes had a long-standing partnership with the Equipe Ligier team. Following the acquisition of the Matra Formula One team's assets, Ligier entered Formula One in 1976 with a Matra V12-powered car, won the 1977 Swedish Grand Prix with Jacques Laffite; this is considered to have been the first all-French victory in the Formula One World Championship.
In total the team won 8 races, got 47 podiums and earned 373 points during their partnership with Gitanes. In 1996, the sister company Gauloises became the new sponsor, ending a partnership that lasted 19 years. In 1997 the team was sold to Alain Prost and became Prost Grand Prix in 1997. Prost GP, despite substantial financial backing by large private French companies, failed to make the team competitive and went bankrupt in 2002. After retiring from racing following the death of his friend Jo Schlesser, Guy Ligier decided to found his own team and had engineer Michel Tétu develop a sports car named the JS1; the Cosworth-powered JS1 took wins at Albi and Monthlery in 1970, but retired at Le Mans and from the Tour Automobile de France. For 1971, Ligier had the JS1 developed into the JS2 and JS3; the JS2 was homologated for road use and used a Maserati V6 engine, while the JS3 was an open-top sports-prototype powered by a Cosworth DFV V8 engine. The JS3 failed to finish the minimum distance in Le Mans.
Therefore, it was retired, Ligier installed the Cosworth DFV in the JS2 road car, finishing second overall at Le Mans in 1975. Guy Ligier switched his efforts into Formula One. Gitanes sponsored various teams in the Dakar Rally from its first season in 1979 until tobacco sponsorship was banned by the French government. In t
Matra-Simca MS670
The Matra-Simca MS670 was a Group 5 prototype race car introduced in 1972 for the World Championship for Makes. The MS670 replaced the previous Matra-Simca MS660C; the MS670 only made one appearance in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Matra entered four cars, Jean-Pierre Beltoise/Chris Amon in the older Matra-Simca MS660C, François Cevert/Howden Ganley, Henri Pescarolo/Graham Hill and Jean-Pierre Jabouille/David Hobbs. Hill/Pescarolo won the race by a lap from Cevert/Ganley, Beltoise/Amon retired with engine failure and Jabouille/Hobbs retired with a broken gearbox. In the World Championship for Makes, Matra had scored twenty points, earning it seventh in the championship; the first race of the season was the 1973 24 Hours of Daytona and Matra entered one car using the MS670 driven by Cevert/Beltoise/Pescarolo and retired from the race with engine failure. The driver line ups for the 1973 Vallelunga 6 Hours were Cevert/Beltoise and Cevert/Pescarolo/Gérard Larrousse, all drivers using the new Matra-Simca MS670B, Cevert/Pescarolo/Larrousse won and Cevert/Beltoise retired with engine failure.
The driver line ups for the next two races, starting with the 1973 1000km of Dijon were Cevert/Beltoise and Pescarolo/Larrousse. Pescarolo/Larrousse won Cevert/Beltoise finished third; the 1000km of Monza saw Pescarolo/Larrousse third and Cevert/Beltoise eleventh. The driver line ups for the 1000 km of Spa were Pescarolo/Amon/Hill and Pescarolo/Larrousse/Amon, Pescarolo/Larrousse/Amon finished third and Pescarolo/Amon/Hill retired with engine failure; the team skipped the Targa Florio but entered the 1000km of Nürburgring with Cevert/Beltoise and Pescarolo/Larrousse driving but both cars retired with engine failure. Matra entered four cars for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Pescarolo/Larrousse, Cevert/Beltoise, Jabouille/Jean-Pierre Jaussaud and Patrick Depailler/Bob Wollek. Pescarolo/Larrousse won the race, Jabouille/Jaussaud finished third, Cevert/Beltoise retired with an accident caused by a puncture and Depailler/Wollek retired with a broken oil pump and engine failure; the 1000km of Zeltweg returned to two cars with Pescarolo/Larrousse winning the race from Cevert/Beltoise.
In the final race of the 1973 season, the Watkins Glen 6 Hours, Pescarolo/Larrousse won but Cevert/Beltoise retired with broken ignition. In the World Championship for Makes, Matra had scored one hundred and twenty four points, earning it first-place in the standings; the first race of the season was the 1000km of Monza and the driver line ups were Pescarolo/Larrousse and Beltoise/Jean-Pierre Jarier but both cars retired with engine failure using the new Matra-Simca MS670C. The driver line ups for the 1000 km of Spa were Jarier/Jacky Ickx and Pescarolo/Larrousse, Jarier/Ickx won the race and Pescarolo/Larrousse retired with a broken head gasket; the 1000 km of Nürburgring saw Pescarolo/Larrousse driving. Beltoise/Jarier won Pescarolo/Larrousse finished fifth. Pescarolo/Larrousse won the 1000 km of Beltoise/Jarier finished fourth. Matra entered four cars for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Pescarolo/Larrousse, Jabouille/François Migault, Jaussaud/Wollek/José Dolhem and Beltoise/Jarier in the new Matra-Simca MS680.
Pescarolo/Larrousse won the race, Jabouille/Migault finished third, both Jaussaud/Wollek/Dolhem and Beltoise/Jarier retired with engine failure. The 1000km of Zeltweg returned to two cars with Pescarolo/Larrousse winning the race and Beltoise/Jarier finishing third; the team returned to the MS670C for the remainder of the season. Beltoise/Jarier won the Watkins Glen 6 Hours and Pescarolo/Larrousse retired with a broken gear shift lever. In both the 1000km of Le Castellet and 1000km of Brands Hatch Beltoise/Jarier won from Pescarolo/Larrousse. For the final race of the 1974 season, the Kyalami 6 Hours, Pescarolo/Larrousse won from Beltoise/Jarier. In the World Championship for Makes, Matra had scored one hundred and twenty four points, earning it first in the championship for the second consecutive season but at the end of the year Matra pulled out of motor racing
British Racing Motors
British Racing Motors was a British Formula One motor racing team. Founded in 1945 and based in the market town of Bourne in Lincolnshire, it participated from 1951 to 1977, competing in 197 grands prix and winning seventeen. BRM won the constructors' title in 1962. In 1963, 1964, 1965 and 1971, BRM came second in the constructors' competition. BRM was founded just after the Second World War by Raymond Mays, who had built several hillclimb and road racing cars under the ERA brand before the war, Peter Berthon, a long-time associate. Mays' pre-war successes inspired him to build an all-British grand prix car for the post-war era as a national prestige project, with financial and industrial backing from the British motor industry and its suppliers channelled through a trust fund; this proved to be an unwieldy way of organising and financing the project, as some of the backers withdrew, disappointed with the team's slow progress and early results, it fell to one of the partners in the trust, Alfred Owen of the Rubery Owen group of companies.
Owen, whose group manufactured car parts, took over the team in its entirety. Between 1954 and 1970 the team entered its works F1 cars under the official name of the Owen Racing Organisation. Berthon and Mays continued to run the team on Rubery Owen's behalf into the 1960s, before it was handed over to Louis Stanley, the husband of Sir Alfred's sister Jean Owen. A factory was set up in Spalding Road, Lincolnshire, behind Eastgate House, Mays' family home, in a building called'The Maltings'. Several people involved with ERA returned to the firm to work for BRM, including Harry Mundy and Eric Richter; the team had access to a test facility at Folkingham aerodrome. The first post-war rules for the top level of motor racing allowed 1.5-litre supercharged or 4.5-litre aspirated engines. BRM's first engine design was an ambitious 1.5-litre supercharged V16. Rolls-Royce was contracted to produce centrifugal superchargers, rather than the more used Roots type; the design concept of the V16 had not been used extensively on automobiles before so that design problems were many and the engine did not fire for the first time until June 1949.
It proved to be outstandingly powerful but its output was produced over a limited range of engine speed, coming on if the throttle was applied carelessly, resulting in wheelspin as the narrow tyres proved unable to transfer the power to the road. This made the car touchy to drive. Engineer Tony Rudd was seconded to BRM from Rolls-Royce to develop the supercharging system and remained involved with BRM for nearly twenty years; the Type 15, the designation for the V16 car, won the first two races it started, the Formula Libre and Formula One events at Goodwood in September 1950, driven by Reg Parnell. However, it was never to be so successful again; the engine proved unreliable and difficult to develop, the team were not up to the task of improving the situation. A string of failures caused much embarrassment, the problems were still unsolved when the Commission Sportive Internationale announced in 1952 that for 1954, a new engine formula of 2.5 litres aspirated or 750 cc supercharged would take effect.
Meanwhile, the organisers of all the grands prix counting for the world championship elected to run their races for Formula Two for the next two years, as Alfa Romeo had pulled out of racing and BRM were unable to present raceworthy cars, leaving no credible opposition to Ferrari other than outdated Lago-Talbots and the odd O. S. C. A.. The V16s continued to race in minor Formula One races and in British Formula Libre events until the mid fifties, battles with Tony Vandervell's Thin Wall Special Ferrari 375 being a particular highlight of the British scene; the Type 25 was BRM's next car. It used an oversquare 2.5 L atmospheric four-cylinder engine designed by Stewart Tresilian and it arrived late and took a lot of development. The P25 was unsuccessful, not winning a race until a victory at the Dutch Grand Prix in 1959. Colin Chapman helped to improve the car in 1956. Stirling Moss believed that the BRM engine was superior to the Coventry-Climax unit used in his Cooper, a P25 was run in 1959 by the British Racing Partnership, for Moss, Rob Walker backed the construction of a Cooper-BRM to gain access to the engine.
The P25 was becoming competitive just as the rear-engined Cooper started to become dominant. The P48 was revised for the 1.5 L rules in 1961, but once again BRM's own engine was not ready and the cars had to run with a Coventry-Climax four-cylinder unit in adapted P48 chassis, achieving little in terms of results. The firm moved to a purpose-built workshop on an adjoining site in the spring of 1960, but when the 1.5-litre atmospheric Formula One regulation was introduced in 1961, Alfred Owen was threatening to pull the plug unless race victories were achieved soon. By the end of the 1961 season BRM had managed to build an engine designed by Peter Berthon and Aubrey Woods, on a par with the Dino V6 used by Ferrari and the Coventry C
Calvados (department)
Calvados is a department in the Normandy region in northwestern France. It takes its name from a cluster of rocks off the English Channel coast. Calvados is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790, it was created from a part of the former province of Normandy. The name "Orne inférieure" was proposed for the department, but it was decided to call the area Calvados after a group of rocks off its coast. One popular legend ascribes its etymology to the Salvador, a ship from the Spanish Armada that sank by the rocks near Arromanches-les-bains in 1588, it is more however, that the name Calvados was derived from calva dorsa, meaning bare backs, in reference to two sparsely vegetated rocks off its shore. After the allied victory at Waterloo the department was occupied by Prussian troops between June 1815 and November 1818. On 6 June 1944, the Allied forces landed on the beaches of the Bay of the Seine in what became known as the Battle of Normandy. Calvados belongs to the region of Normandy and is surrounded by the departments of Seine-Maritime, Eure and Manche.
To the north is the Baie de la Seine, part of the English Channel. On the east, the Seine River forms the boundary with Seine-Maritime. Calvados includes the Bessin area, the Pays d'Auge and the area known as the "Suisse normande"; the most notable places in Calvados include Deauville and the elegant 19th-century casino resorts of the coast. Agriculture dominates the economy of Calvados; the area is known for producing butter, cheese and Calvados, the apple spirit that takes its name from the area. The President of the General Council is the centrist Jean-Léonce Dupont, the former dominant figure of the right and centre in the department; the Conseil General of Calvados and Devon County Council signed a Twinning Charter in 1971 to develop links with the English county of Devon. The inhabitants of Calvados are called "Calvadosiens" and "Calvadosiennes". In 1999, Calvados had 648,299 inhabitants. Age distribution in Calvados: 75 years and older: 7.2% 60–74 years old: 13.16% 40–59 years old: 25.52% 20–39 years old: 28.53% 0–19 years old: 25.6% The Bayeux Tapestry is on display in Bayeux and makes the city one of the most-visited tourist destinations in Normandy.
Juno Beach Centre at Courseulles-sur-Mer, commemorates the D-Day landing of the Canadian liberation forces at Juno Beach during World War II in 1944. The cult of Saint Thérèse de Lisieux brings large numbers of people on pilgrimage to Lisieux, where she lived in a Carmelite convent; every September, Deauville hosts the Festival of the American Movie and the beach resort of Cabourg hosts the Festival of the Romantic Movie. Annually, the city of Caen celebrates the festival of the electronical cultures called "Nordik Impakt" & The festival of Beauregard, just around Caen; the local dialect of the Norman language is known as Augeron. It is spoken by a minority of the population. Calvados is one of the most visited areas in France because of its seaside resorts which are among the most prestigious in France with their luxurious hotels, green countryside, castles, the quiet, the chalk cliffs, the typical Norman houses, the history of William the Conqueror, Bayeux, the famous D-day beaches and numerous museums about the Second World War.
The culinary specialties from the verdant countryside of Calvados are abundant: cider, calvados and Pont-l'Évêque cheeses. One of the advantage of Calvados is to be near large urban centers. Calvados is therefore preferred for holidays and for weekends and sometimes considered as the countryside of Paris. Calvados, via the port of Ouistreham, is an entrance to the continent from Britain. There are two airports: Deauville-Saint Gatien; the department of Calvados has several popular tourist areas: the Bessin, the Plain of Caen, the Bocage Virois, the Côte de Nacre, the Côte Fleurie and the Pays d'Auge. Several beaches of Calvados are popular for water sports, including Cabourg and Merville-Franceville-Plage. Tourist capacity: 7,818 hotel rooms 13,734 camping sites 1,176 beds 619 rural gites This ranking takes into account all the municipalities having over 10% of second homes in the departement of Calvados. 80% of owners are from the Paris area, 10% are English and 10% are local. According to the general census of the population of 1 January 2006, 18.9% of housing available in the department were second homes.
Aquatic sports are played on the coasts and beaches, for example, kite surfing and beach volleyball. Stade Malherbe Caen is a professional football team from Caen, who play in Ligue 1. Arrondissements of the Calvados department Cantons of the Calvados department Communes of the Calvados department Calvados Stratégie – Calvados Development Agency Economic news from Calvados General Council website Prefecture website Calvados at Curlie Encyclopædia Britannica's guide to D-Day
Renault Sport
Renault Sport Racing and Renault Sport Cars, both known as Renault Sport or Renaultsport, are the motorsport and special vehicles divisions of Renault. Renault Sport was established in 1976 as a merger between the Alpine and Gordini competition departments. Renault Sport Racing organises many Renault-backed one-make championships worldwide and is in charge of Renault group's official involvement in motor racing, including Formula One. Renault Sport was created at the end of 1976, when Renault closed down the Alpine competition department, located at Dieppe, moved all the racing activities to the Gordini factory at Viry-Châtillon, just outside Paris; the Dieppe-based Alpine department specialised in the construction of race car chassis while the Viry-Châtillon-based Gordini focussed on engines. However, several conflicts emerged between them, Renault took the decision to unify both departments into a single location in order to achieve a greater integration and harmony; the company concentrated principally on developing a car for Formula One, although it participated in other series.
In 2002, the Viry-Châtillon factory became the engine department of the Renault F1 team and Renault Sport was moved to Les Ulis and renamed Renault Sport Technologies. On 3 February 2016, Renault announced a reorganisation of its performance activities; the Formula One operation and RST's former motorsport branch were put under the new Renault Sport Racing division. RST's former roadcar branch at Les Ulis became the Renault Sport Cars division. Gordini-tuned Renault cars won many rallies during the 1950s and 1960s, Alpine, being a subsidiary of Renault, won the first World Rally Championship in 1973. In the WRC, Renault had some success with cars such as the R5 Turbo and the R17 Gordini until it left international rallying in late 1994; the European Rally Championship was won three times by a Renault car. On 21 February 2013, Renault Sport Technologies announced its official return to international rallying in the European Rally Championship. † Without Renault Sport assistance. In 1979, the Marreau brothers finished in second place in the cars category at the Rally Dakar driving a Sinpar-prepared 4L 4x4.
They won the 1982 edition with a Renault Sport backed Renault 20 Turbo 4x4. Renault Sport powered and sponsored the Schlesser-Renault Elf buggies which won the 1999 and 2000 editions; the 1999 car was the first two-wheel drive Dakar winner. Renault was one of the first car manufacturers involved in the Formula E championship. For the inaugural season, Renault Sport became a technical partner of the series agreeing a title sponsorship deal with the e.dams team which achieved the first FE teams' championship. Before the 2015–16 season, following the introduction of new rules allowing the development of the electric powertrains used in the FE's Spark chassis, Renault announced it would entry as a supplier for e.dams. The new powertrain manufactured by Renault Sport was named Renault ZE 15. For the 2016–17 season, Renault added the Chinese team Techeetah as a powertrain client. In October 2017, Renault Sport Racing announced it would withdraw from FE at the end of the 2017–18 season. From 1977 to 1986 and again between 1989 and 1997, Renault Sport was in charge of Renault's Formula One programme.
Renault Sport F1, created at the end of 2010 and active until 2015, was a subsequent incarnation of Renault's involvement in Formula One and was headquartered in Viry-Châtillon, which functioned as a semi-independent operation. In 2016, the Formula One operation became part of Renault Sport Racing. Alpine prepared engines for Formula Two. In 1973, Renault-Gordini introduced a two-litre V6 engine for F2, the CH, the basis of its future Le Mans and F1 engines. Jean-Pierre Jabouille and René Arnoux won the 1976 and 1977 European Formula Two Championships with Renault-powered cars. Note: During this season Scuderia Everest entered Renault-powered cars, although those were not supplied by Renault Sport. Gordini and Alpine-tuned Renault engines were used in various Formula Three series since the 1960s. Alpine developed cars for the category. In 1979, Alain Prost won the FIA European Formula Three Championship with a Renault engine prepared by Oreca; the last victory of a Renault engine before its withdrawal from the formula at the end of 2003 was in the 2003 Macau Grand Prix with a Sodemo-tuned unit from a Signature Team's Dallara car driven by Nicolas Lapierre.
Renault Sport Technologies announced its return to F3 as an engine supplier with Oreca again as engine tuner for the 2014 FIA European Formula Three Championship. However, this was indefinitely halted because of the lack of power of the Oreca-tuned engine compared to rivals. Renault Sport was responsible for Renault's sports car racing entries during the 1970s, including their win at the 1978 24 Hours of Le Mans race with the Renault Alpine A442. Capitalising on the growing reputation and success of the Super Touring regulations introduced in the early 1990s, Renault made the decision to enter the British Touring Car Championship in 1993 with reigning champion Tim Harvey and Alain Menu signed as their drivers. Renault's first BTCC effort was based on the Renault 19 chassis developed by test driver Jean Ragnot
March Engineering
March Engineering was a Formula One constructor and manufacturer of customer racing cars from the United Kingdom. Although only moderately successful in Grand Prix competition, March racing cars enjoyed much better achievement in other categories of competition, including Formula Two, Formula Three, IndyCar and IMSA GTP sportscar racing. March Engineering began operations in 1969, its four founders were Alan Rees, Graham Coaker and Robin Herd. They each had a specific area of expertise: Max Mosley looked after the commercial side, Robin Herd was the designer, Alan Rees managed the racing team and Graham Coaker oversaw production at the factory in Bicester, Oxfordshire; the history of March is dominated by the conflict between the need for constant development and testing to remain at the peak of competitiveness in F1 and the need to build simple, reliable cars for customers in order to make a profit. Herd's original F1 plan was to build a single-car team around Jochen Rindt, but Rindt became dismayed at the size of the March programme and elected to continue at Team Lotus.
March's launch was unprecedented in its impact. After building a single Formula Three car in 1969, March announced that they would be introducing customer cars for F1, F2, F3, Formula Ford and Can-Am in 1970, as well as running works F1, F2 and F3 teams; the Formula One effort looked promising, with March supplying its 701 chassis to Tyrrell for Jackie Stewart. These cars were a stopgap for Tyrrell, who no longer had the use of Matra chassis and were in the process of constructing their own car. In addition, the factory ran two team cars for Jo Siffert and Chris Amon sponsored by STP. A third STP car, entered by Andy Granatelli for Mario Andretti, appeared on several occasions. Ronnie Peterson appeared in a semi-works car for Colin Crabbe when his works Formula Two commitments allowed; the team constructed ten Formula One chassis that year, in addition to Formula Two, Formula Three, Formula Ford and Can-Am chassis. Stewart gave the March its first Formula One victory, at the 1970 Spanish Grand Prix, both Amon and Stewart took a non-championship race victory, but the works team did not win a Grand Prix.
The 701 had distinctive aerofoil-profile fuel tanks at the sides of the car designed by Peter Wright of Specialised Mouldings. The 701's tanks skirts to help generate any meaningful ground effect. Herd described the 701 as a good 1969 car and not what he would have done had he been able to run a small team for a star like Rindt - the 701 was designed and built quickly and he claims he would have built something more like the 711. For the 1971 Formula One season March Engineering came up with the remarkable 711 chassis, which had aerodynamics by Frank Costin and an ovoid front wing described as the Spitfire or "tea-tray" wing; the car took no wins, but Peterson finished second on four occasions, ending as runner-up in the World Championship. Alfa Romeo V8 powered cars were entered, to little avail; the 1972 Formula One season failed to capitalise on the promise March showed in 1970-71. Three distinct models of the car were used, beginning with the 721, a development of the 711. Peterson and Niki Lauda drove the disappointing experimental 721X factory cars.
Frank Williams ran regular 721 customer cars for Henri Pescarolo and Carlos Pace. The 721X was deemed to be a disaster and abandoned; the 721G was light and quick, the works team soon built their own chassis. The 721G set the trend for future March F1 cars, which for the rest of the 1970s were scaled-up F2 chassis. Meanwhile, March was going from strength to strength in Formula Three; the German team Eifelland entered under its own name a 721 much-modified with distinctive and eccentric bodywork by designer Luigi Colani for its driver Rolf Stommelen. This car was unsuccessful, reverted to conventional 721 form and was used by John Watson to make his F1 debut for John Goldie's Goldie Hexagon Racing team. March's only notable result was Peterson's third place in Germany. 1973 was the low-point for March in Formula One. The four extant 721Gs were re-bodied and fitted with nose-mounted radiators and the crash-absorbing deformable structures that became mandatory that season. Without significant STP money, the March factory team was struggling, running an unsponsored car for Jean-Pierre Jarier, while Hesketh bought a car for James Hunt to race.
Jarier was replaced by Tom Wheatcroft's driver Roger Williamson, who suffered a fatal accident in Zandvoort (at which race March privateer David Purley attempted to resc
Endurance racing (motorsport)
Endurance racing is a form of motorsport racing, meant to test the durability of equipment and endurance of participants. Teams of multiple drivers attempt to cover a large distance in a single event, with participants given a break with the ability to change during the race. Endurance races can be run either to cover a set distance in laps as as possible, or to cover as much distance as possible over a preset amount of time. One of the more common lengths of endurance races has been running for 1,000 kilometres, or six hours. Longer races can run for 1,000 miles, 12 hours, or 24 hours. Teams can consist of anywhere from two to four drivers per event, dependent on the driver's endurance abilities, length of the race, or the rules for each event. Coppa Florio was an Italian car race started in 1900, renamed in 1905 when Vincenzo Florio offered the initial 50 000 Lira and a cup designed by Polak of Paris; the Brescia race visited the route Brescia-Cremona-Mantova-Brescia. In 1908, the race used the Circuito di Bologna: Bologna-Castelfranco Emilia-Sant'Agata Bolognese-San Giovanni in Persiceto-Bologna.
Since 1914 most of the Coppa Florio was co-organized with the Targa Florio near Palermo, running four or five laps, 108 km each. The Targa Florio was an open road endurance automobile race founded in 1906- the track length of the last decades was limited to the 72 kilometres of the Circuito Piccolo delle Madonie, lapped 11 times; the Mille Miglia was an open-road endurance race which took place in Italy 24 times from 1927 to 1957. The world's first organized 24-hour automobile race event was held on a 1-mile oval track at Driving Park, Ohio on July 3–4, 1905. Beginning on the afternoon of July 3, four cars from Frayer-Miller, Pope-Toledo and White Steamer raced for a $500 silver trophy; the winning Pope-Toledo car covered 828.5 miles. A protest was filed by the Frayer-Miller and Peerless teams, alleging the Pope-Toledo was not owned by the driver, instead sent from the factory with an engine built for racing; the first 24-hour race to take place at a dedicated motorsport venue was at Brooklands, eleven days after its opening in 1907.
This would lead to the Double Twelve race. This format meant the race took place for 12 hours each between 8am to 8pm and between it, the cars were locked up overnight to prevent maintenance work from being performed on them; the 2001 Dakar Rally saw competitors cover a distance of 10,739 kilometres with a winning time of 70 hours over 20 days with three classes of cars and trucks. The 1992 Paris–Cape Town Rally covered a distance of 12,427 km; the 1994 edition saw competitors return for a distance of 13,379 km. The Expedition Trophy, first held in 2005, runs from Murmansk to Vladivostok, for a total distance of 12,500 km; the 1908 New York to Paris Race covered a distance of over 16,000 km, taking 169 days from February 12 to July 30. In the beginning of formalised endurance racing, the races tended to be for sports cars while the Grand Prix cars of the era began to evolve into the open wheel racing cars of today and ran over shorter distances. Over time sports cars began to evolve away from their roots as a production based alternative to pure-bred racing machines of Grand Prix cars, which led to the creation of GT and touring car racing classes, these classes continued to embrace the endurance format.
Multiple drivers per car was an early adaptation as the rigors of endurance racing overcome the abilities of most racing drivers to compete solo, although solo attempts on 24 hour races like Le Mans would continue into the 1950s. The various endurance formats were appealing to manufacturers, not only as alternatives to the expense of Grand Prix racing, but because of its increased relevance to road going models. In automobile endurance racing, three events have come to form a Triple Crown, they are considered three of the most challenging endurance races over the decades: the 24 Hours of Daytona, 12 Hours of Sebring, 24 Hours of Le Mans. Phil Hill was the first in 1964 to win the three races, Timo Bernhard the most recent. No driver has won the three events in the same year. Bold on year indicate. Strong spectator figures, media interest and television coverage of endurance racing's Triple Crown events has led to the establishment of several endurance racing series — thereby giving teams the opportunity of running their cars in Championship events throughout the year.
The FIA World Endurance Championship is an international sports car racing series organized by both the Automobile Club de l'Ouest and the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. It supersedes the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup run in 2010 and 2011, uses similar rules to the ALMS/USCC and ELMS below; the series features both Le Mans GT cars. The 24 Hours of Le Mans is included as a feature race; the other races are 6 hours long and take place in countries all over the world such as Bahrain, Brazil and the United States. The WEC is considered a revival of the defunct World Sportscar Championship which ended in 1992. An early championship was the Australian Endurance Championship, held since 1981; the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship is a US sports car racing series organized by the International Motor Sports Association. The season begins with
