Short History of Endurance Racing

Endurance racing is unique. Traditional racing is generally made up of short sprints whereas Endurance racing is continuous racing over long distances and for many hours. It’s the riders job to circulate as fast as possible for up to a hour at a time and only stopping for fuel, tyres and rider changes. Whist the bike in is the pit’s it’s up to the team of mechanics to change the tyres and fuel the bike. A typical pit stop is around 22 seconds.

Early races

One of the earliest endurance races on record was the Paris-Rouen run in 1894. It was not until 1901 that the first officially accredited race occurred from Boston to New York.

These early races were as much about personal stamina and determination as speed. The first TT race on the Isle of Man in 1907 would have been as much about surviving the rugged island circuit as winning the race. Early records for the Bol d’Or show entry lists of only one rider per bike and up until the 60s just finishing a twenty-four hour race was an achievement.

Development and experimentation

The 70s and 80s saw Endurance racing establish itself as the arena for development and experimentation, with a wide variety of experimental and one-off or ’special’ machines being entered by both factories and privateers alike. Between the mid-80’s and mid-90’s, the big-four Japanese factories took an increasing interest in Endurance as it became more and more competitive. The major European races saw a huge upsurge in interest, with huge crowds packing the track side. The most famous race is the Le Mans 24 hours with crowds reaching a staggering 125,000.