Classic 12 Hours of Sebring Added to US Historic Schedule
Picture: HSR President David Hinton at the Classic 24 at Daytona.
US-based HSR have today announced a new historic endurance even to compliment their biannual Classic 24 Hour at Daytona – the Classic 12 Hours of Sebring, Pistons and Props. The event will take the same format – though 12-hours shorter – as the successful Daytona event with the inclusion of a celebration of the aviation history of the south Florida circuit.
HSR President David Hinton and Sebring International Raceway President Wayne Estes unveiled the new event at the driver briefing for this weekend’s historic meeting at Sebring,
“We met with Wayne during the recent Classic 24 Hour at Daytona presented by IMSA and decided even before the final checkered flags flew that we had to do a similar event at Sebring International Raceway,” Hinton said. “Wayne and his team here at Sebring then had the amazing idea to make this not only a celebration of the 12 Hours but also the rich aviation history and heritage of the very facility on which we race each year. We look forward to what will certainly be a unique and exciting event.”
“Combining Sebring’s aviation heritage and six decades of endurance racing history into one event will make for a truly spectacular weekend,” Estes said. “We look forward to working with HSR and the Sebring Airport Authority to build this into a diverse and entertaining event that captures the imagination of aviation and automotive enthusiasts alike.”
The new event will feature period race cars in action on the full current Sebring layout. The circuit was first used for an endurance six-hour event in 19050, and promoter Alec Ulmann ran the first 12-hour race in 1952 – the event rapidly becoming one of the world’s leading sportscar races and still run today.
Having recently attended the Daytona event, the possibilities open to the HSR to make this event the perfect foil to that endurance classic seem obvious and Florida could become the place to be for historic motorsport at the tail of the season.
