The implementation of the World Sports
Car Championship in 1953 marked the birth of the modern era of sports prototype racing. It was an organized racing series and was overlooked by a governing body, the F.I.A. (Federation Internationale de l’Automobile-- International Automobile Federation). It organized the series of world-wide races, established rules that governed the design and construction of the race cars, and awarded points relative to the finishing position of a competitor, thereby establishing a competitive environment that attracted the world's best drivers, sponsors, designers, engine and chassis manufacturers, and tire companies.
Revolutionary advancements in engines and aerodynamics were being made in the late 1970s in Grand Prix (Formula One) racing that would eventually find their way into sports car racing. French auto maker Renault introduced the turbocharged engine to
Formula One Racing, and although turbocharging was not a new idea nor was the application of turbocharging new to racing, Renault showed that turbocharged engines could be fuel efficient, reliable, and produce tremendous amounts of horsepower from very small engine capacities, and by the early eighties, all competitors in Formula One racing had switched from conventional engines to turbocharged engines.
It was the cost of developing high performance vehicles coupled with the world-wide recession that saw sports car racing fall into decline again in the early 90s. Ground-effect tunnels and carbon brakes have been prohibited and production based normally aspirated power plants replaced turbocharged engines due to the prohibitive costs associated with development and application. Racing costs were reduced in hope that the privateer teams will come back to bring back the heydays of sports car racing.
