Sebring Raceway
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Sebring Raceway is a road course auto racing facility located in Sebring, Florida. The raceway occupies a portion of Hendricks Field—currently an active airport for private and commercial traffic—but formerly, a United States Army Air Forces training base during 1941 to 1946, where pilots learned to fly the B-17 Flying Fortress.
Sebring Raceway is one of the oldest continuously-operating race tracks in the United States, its first race being run in 1950. Many consider Sebring to be one of the classic race tracks in North American sports car racing, and the 12 Hours of Sebring, 24 Hours of Daytona, and 24 Hours of Le Mans to be the trifecta of sports car racing.
Track configuration
The course of the track is 3.7 miles (6.0 km) long (reduced from its original 5.2 miles (8.4 km) configuration). It is a seventeen-turn road course with long straights, several high-speed corners, and very-technical slower corners. Many of the turns and points along the track are named for the early teams and drivers. Click on the accompanying layout of the track to see the locations. There is very little elevation change around the track and little camber on the surface—which provides a challenging track for drivers—especially when it rains.The course still runs on old sections of World War II-era landing fields that were constructed of concrete sections with large seams. The transitions between sections are quite rough and often, sparks fly from the undercarriages of the cars as they travese them.
Races
Sebring is most notable for hosting the 12 Hours of Sebring, sanctioned at various times by the FIA, IMSA, and now, the American Le Mans Series, known as ALMS. However, this is a very active track, with numerous club and historic events throughout the year.
Racing history
The first auto race at Sebring was held in 1950. This race was the brain child of Alec Ulmann, who worked with his wife, Mary Ulmann, and fellow businessman, Colonel C.D. Richardson to put on the inagural race—modeled after the famous 24 Hours of Le Mans. The race was held on New Year's Eve in 1950, this first race attracted thirty racecars from across North America.
The first 12 Hours of Sebring was held 15 March 1952. The next year, the 12 Hours was scheduled as the first race of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, FIA, sports car world championship. In 1959, the racetrack hosted a Formula One race, its only Formula One event. It being poorly attended, the next United States Grand Prix was held at Riverside.
The FIA withdrew its sanctioning of the 12 hours sports car event in 1972. At that time the emerging International Motor Sports Association, IMSA, began sanctioning the race. During the 1980s and 1990s the track itself underwent a number of modifications—both to improve the track and to accommodate the active airport to the north—the length of the track was shortened, some sections were removed and others, repaved. Currently, the track is santioned by the American Le Mans Series, founded in 1999 and popularly known as ALMS.
The track now is owned by Panoz Motorsports.
External links
- [The Official site]
- [A narrative describing the first race]
- [A drivers description of the various track configurations]
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