The world’s toughest motor races

As it's the holiday period, Autocar is going a little off piste to take a look at the hardest, toughest motor races there's ever been - and not all are even on four wheels. For the competitors of all these competitions - past, present and future - we salute you.

Le Mans

Think of endurance racing and one name instantly comes to mind and that’s Le Mans. The 24-hour classic has been running since 1923 when it was first won by a Chenard & Walcker at an average speed of 57.21mph. By comparison, 2017’s winning Porsche 919 Hybrid averaged 129.39mph. The German firm is also the most successful over this course, with 19 wins to their name so far. Up until 1969, drivers ran across the track to jump in their cars at the start.

That year, Jacky Ickx refused to run and sauntered over instead, doing his belts up fully before driving off as a protest against the poor safety of not belting in drivers properly. It didn’t stop him winning the race in his Ford GT40.

London to Mexico World Cup Rally

As a way of getting to the 1970 Mexico World Cup, even the keenest football fan would have baulked at 16,000 miles across Europe and South America. Still, it didn’t stop more than 100 cars entering and many driven by the biggest names in rallying at the time. They included Timo Makinen, Paddy Hopkirk, Andrew Cowan and eventual winner Hannu Mikkola (pictured).

He drove a Ford Escort fitted with a big bore 1850cc engine to cope with the high altitudes of the Andes and poor fuel quality along many sections of the route. Many stages lasted more than 500 miles driven flat out, which resulted in only 23 cars making the finish in Mexico City.

Peking to Paris rally

It may have been a rally, but the original Peking to Paris event in 1907 was a straightforward sprint from start to finish. The only rule was first car to Paris scooped the prize, which was a bottle of champagne and all the glory. Each car in the inaugural event carried a journalist to relay the story to their newspaper. With cars in their infancy, it was an impressive effort by Prince Scipione Borghese to win and all the more so when this included a detour to make a dinner invitation in Moscow during the race.

There have been several re-runs of the Peking to Paris since 1990, but none have been as challenging as the first dash across two continents.

International Six Day Trial

When the International Six Days Trial started in 1913, it was more a way to prove motorcycles could cope with the poor roads of the era. After World War One, it developed into a team event, with classes for three-, four- and six-rider groups from competing nations. The event changed its name in 1981 to the International Six Days Enduro, but many still refer to it as the ISDT.

In 1964, actor Steve McQueen rode in the USA’s first ever entry in the event and the Americans needed special permission to enter communist East Germany where that year’s race took place.

Paris-Dakar

Whether it’s in a car, truck or on motorcycle, the Paris-Dakar quickly gained a reputation as the hardest race on Earth from its first running in 1978. As well as special stages through desert that can last up to 500 miles a day, competitors sleep in tents and many amateurs then spend hours every night fixing their broken machinery.

Former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s son Mark famously got lost on the 1982 event for six days. There have been no such problems for Vladimir Chagin, who won the truck category seven times before retiring to become a team manager on the event that now races through South America, the event having been forced away from north Africa because of the deteriorating security situation.

Liège-Rome-Liège

This grueling, non-stop road race was often called the Marathon de la route to acknowledge how far it strained competitors and cars. The first event ran in 1931 and the course left Spa to head in a circuitous manner to Rome before promptly turning round and heading all the way back. Depending on the year, the total distance could be as much as 3200 miles in five days on rough tracks and over mountains.

From 1961 to 1964, the route went via Sofia rather than Rome and there have been attempts to revive the event as a classic rally, but concerns over safety have prevented this.

Tour de France

The Tour de France remains one of the longest-running motor races in history, with the first event taking place in 1899 and the last as recently as 1986. Like the bicycle race it shares its name with, the Tour took in all corners of the country. However, rather than racing on public roads, the event consisted of 16 hillclimbs and circuit races. Total distance over the nine days was 3600 miles including competitive sections.

Bernard Consten notched up four wins in the Touring Car category before the race moved to a single combined entry in 1969. Up until the end of the Tour de France, Bernard Darniche was the most successful driver with four wins in his Lancia Stratos. This picture shows Stirling Moss on the left with his Mercedes-Benz 300SL during the race in September 1956.

Tour of Britain

The Tour of Britain was part celebrity event and part grudge match between professional drivers from racing and rallying. To win this 1000-mile dash around four of England’s best circuits required skill and planning for special stages on rough roads, as well as navigating at night. The rally drivers dominated, but that didn’t stop F1's James Hunt winning the original 1973 event in a Chevrolet Camaro (pictured).

After that, the rally crowd took over, with wins for Roger Clark, Tony Pond and Ari Vatanen. Among the more unusual cars to enter was a Mercedes 450 SLC that was a company demonstrator commandeered from the showroom for the 1976 event.

Pikes Peak

Like so many hillclimbs, Pikes Peak started out as a trial to prove cars could cope with driving up steep inclines and stay reliable. It’s just the hill in question happened to rise 4725-feet in 12.42 miles and take in 156 corners.

Oh, and until 2011, much of the course still consisted of dirt roads rather than tarmac. With that in mind, the first winner’s time of 20 mins 55.6 seconds looks bravely fast, but not nearly as rapid as Sebastien Loeb’s current record of 8 mins 13.878 secs in a Peugeot 208 T16 in 2016 (pictured).

Daytona 24 Hours

The USA knows how to kickstart its racing season in fine style with the Daytona 24 Hours taking place late in January in Florida as part of the annual Speedweek festival. As it’s winter, it means the nighttime driving is much longer than at Le Mans and drivers have to cope with sustained G force due to the steep banking on much of the course.

As with its French counterpart, Daytona has been won the most times by Porsche, while Hurley Haywood and Scott Pruett share the most wins with five apiece.

Baja 1000

With so much space to play in, it was inevitable that Californians would find a way to make use of the Baja Peninsula. That turned out to be the Baja 1000 off-road race that quickly spawned an entire type of modified Volkswagen Beetle for competition, as well as Tamiya’s famous radio-controlled model. The race itself alternates between a loop or point-to-point course, with the former running over a shorter distance than the name suggests.

Even so, the punishing landscape makes for tough racing and purpose-built machines with huge suspension articulation dominate the podium steps. As well as these Trophy Trucks, the race is open to motorcycles, quads and ATVs.

Land Rover G4 Challenge

The Land Rover G4 Challenge took off where the Camel Trophy ended as a month-long trial of off-road driving, navigating and team spirit for national teams in tailor-made Land Rovers. Participants in the first 2004 G4 Challenge were selected from 16 countries and had to endure 18 months of assessment for fitness, aptitude and mental strength. The 2006 event took in stages in Thailand, Laos, Brazil and Bolivia, while the planned 2008 Challenge was abandoned due to the global economic crisis.

Nürburgring 24

Any 24-hour motor race is hard going, but when it’s at the daunting Nürburgring on the full 15.6-mile Nordschleife track, it takes on a whole new level of involvement. There’s also a huge grid of more than 200 cars taking part, with considerable differences in performance between the quickest and slowest. Add in the variable weather conditions that often affect each race throughout the weekend and competitors can face more challenges than in an entire season of normal circuit racing.

Isle of Man TT

The Tourist Trophy races on the Isle of Man present a unique challenge for motorcycle competitors. The 37.73-mile course is made up entirely of public roads, so the only proper practice is during TT fortnight. This also means there’s no run-off and mistakes are often punished with serious injury or worse. However, the TT is more popular than ever thanks to its refusal to change, so it keeps its place as the ultimate test of rider and machine.

Joey Dunlop is the undisputed King of the Mountain, with 26 wins to his name between 1977 and 2000, though modern racers are now lapping at 134mph on the latest superbikes, which is 10mph faster than Dunlop’s best.

Safari Rally

The Safari Rally may have been dropped from the World Rally Championship calendar in 2003, but it holds a special place in the hearts of competitors and fans. As well as the long stages, high speeds and punishing terrain across Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, there was the unique complication of the red dust that got into every component and crevice.

When it rained, the stages turned to sticky mud-strewn tracks with barely any traction. Long stages added to the challenge, yet many still want to the Safari back in top-flight rallying as one of the world’s great motorsport tests. Here we see Colin McRae storm to victory in his Ford Focus WRC, his 25th - and last - WRC win.