The Silverstone 24 Hour was a sports car race in
endurance racing, held annually at
Silverstone Circuit
Silverstone Circuit is a motor racing circuit in England, near the Northamptonshire villages of Towcester, Silverstone and Whittlebury. It is the home of the British Grand Prix, which it first hosted as the 1948 British Grand Prix. The 1950 ...
in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
until 2018.
The race was originally organised by
Britcar
Britcar is an endurance sports car racing and touring car racing series in the United Kingdom.
It was formed in 1997, as a result of a discussion in a Nürburgring bar between Willie Moore and James Tucker. Folklore has it that James Tucker and J ...
. The 2009 race was shortened to 500 miles due to the recession. In the 2010 race it was the first time they used the new Arena Circuit, previously they used the Bridge Grand Prix Circuit. The 2013 edition was shortened to 1000 km. For 2015 the race was called the Dunlop 24hr at Silverstone for sponsorship reasons.
On October 2, 2015
Creventic, the promoter and organiser of the
24H Series
The 24H Series is a sports car racing and touring car racing series developed by Creventic and with approval from the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). It features GT3-spec cars, GT4-spec cars, sports cars, touring cars and 2 ...
and the
Touring Car Endurance Series, announced they would organise the Silverstone 24-Hour race in 2016. It was the third round of the
2016 24H Series season and the first round of the
2016 Touring Car Endurance Series season. Every round of the 24H Series can be entered with a GT car, but this race is only open to non-GT cars.
Winners
Participants
Many big name teams have taken part in the race such as Rollcentre Racing, Jet Alliance Motorsport and Duller Motorsport. As of the end of the 2016 race, Duller Motorsport and Rollcentre Racing are the only teams that have won this event more than once.
Factory effort teams have also attempted it such as Ginetta, Mazda and Nissan.
In
2007
File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...
,
Top Gear
Top Gear may refer to:
* "Top gear", the highest gear available in a vehicle's manual transmission
Television
* ''Top Gear'' (1977 TV series), a British motoring magazine programme
* ''Top Gear'' (2002 TV series), a relaunched version of the or ...
took part in this race using a diesel
BMW 3 series
The BMW 3 Series is a line of compact executive cars manufactured by the German automaker BMW since May 1975. It is the successor to the 02 Series and has been produced in seven generations.
The first generation of the 3 Series was only avail ...
for a
Top Gear Challenge. They finished the race, third in class, ahead of one of their rival teams who were also competing with a diesel BMW 3 Series.
In 2012, a team of ex-servicemen took part under the Mission Motorsport banner in a
Nissan 370Z
The Nissan 370Z (known as the Fairlady Z Z34 in Japan) is a 2-door, 2-seater sports car (S-segment in Europe) manufactured by Nissan Motor Company. It was announced on October 29, 2006, and was first shown at an event in Los Angeles ahead of th ...
. They finished in 17th overall, scoring a top ten class result.
In 2015, the Ginetta Nissan LMP3 took its debut 24 hour race start with the factory
Team LNT
Dr Lawrence Neil Tomlinson is one of the UK's most successful entrepreneurs and innovative engineers. He is the founder and owner of the LNT Group and also the owner and chairman of Ginetta, an english motorsports manufacturer and race series ...
squad. Among the driver roster was six-time Olympic champion
Sir Chris Hoy
Sir Christopher Andrew Hoy MBE (born 23 March 1976) is a former track cyclist and Racing driver from Scotland who represented Great Britain at the Olympic and World Championships and Scotland at the Commonwealth Games.
Hoy is eleven-times a w ...
. 2015 also marked the first year for a female scoring outright victory;
Jamie Chadwick
Jamie Laura Chadwick (born 20 May 1998) is a British racing driver who races for Andretti Autosport in Indy NXT. She won the inaugural W Series season in 2019, before retaining her title in 2021 and 2022. She currently holds the records for t ...
aboard the #35 Beechdean Aston Martin.
Since 2016, the race is restricted to touring cars and 24H-Specials.
See also
*
Willhire 24 Hour
The Willhire 24 Hour was an endurance race for production cars held at Snetterton Motor Racing Circuit in Norfolk, England between 1980 and 1994. Over the years, the race included both sports cars and saloon cars. Latterly, it was contested by ...
*
24H Series
The 24H Series is a sports car racing and touring car racing series developed by Creventic and with approval from the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). It features GT3-spec cars, GT4-spec cars, sports cars, touring cars and 2 ...
*
Touring Car Endurance Series
References
{{Automobile endurance races
2005 establishments in England
2018 disestablishments in England
Sports car races
Touring car races
Endurance motor racing
Recurring sporting events established in 2005
Recurring events disestablished in 2018
Auto races in the United Kingdom
24H Series