Endurance races are among the most traditional disciplines in motorsport. The first major endurance races were held in Europe as early as the beginning of the 20th century. One of the most significant early events was the 1904 Gordon Bennett Race in Bad Homburg, which is regarded as a major milestone in international motorsport.
Endurance racing with a rich motorsport history
With the construction of permanent circuits such as the Nürburgring and the Hockenheimring, motor racing increasingly shifted from public roads to purpose-built racing circuits. Races covering 300, 500 or even 1,000 kilometres quickly became major crowd-pullers and served as a testing ground for technical innovations, reliability and endurance.
Historic Championship ’81 continues the endurance racing tradition
This unique motorsport culture lives on today in the Historic Championship ’81. As Germany’s oldest historic racing series and part of the German Historic Motor Racing Championship (DHAM), the series brings GT and touring cars built up to 1981, as well as selected sports cars, back onto the track.
The races last 90 minutes and include a mandatory pit stop – a format that demands not only driving skill but also perfect strategy and well-coordinated teamwork. It is precisely this combination that has made classic endurance racing so fascinating for decades.
Tickets for the 2026 race event
Motorsport icons from the 1960s to the 1980s going head-to-head
The grid of the Historic Championship ’81 brings together a host of automotive icons from the 1960s to the early 1980s. The range of competing cars extends from compact touring cars to high-performance GT vehicles.
For spectators, this creates a spectacular display of historic racing technology in action. At the same time, drivers and teams face a genuine endurance test, where only perfectly coordinated procedures, consistency and reliability determine success or failure.
