The World Championship was usually an endurance series, although during
its existence has covered some sprint races, even hillclimbs. The official
name of World Championship was unfortunately often changed. Some of them are:
Sportscar World Championship, World Endurance Championship, World Championship
for Makes (or for Manufacturers), and World Sports Prototypes Championship.
During its history we can find, in my opinion, several different periods.
The first era dated from 1953 to 1961. Every season had about 6 races in which
prototypes, serial sportcars, or GT cars of all classes could start. Points
were awarded to the top six finishers. The situation was totally changed in
1962-65 when the FIA decided to pay more attention to GT cars. They were grouped
to three categories with separate classifications. Hillclimbs, sprint races
and other smaller races expanded the championship, which had now about 15
races per year. The most famous races like Le Mans, 12 h Sebring, Targa Florio,
or 1000 km Nürburgring, counted toward the prototype championship. However,
the points valuation wasn't very tabular so the FIA returned to the original
form of championship having about 6 to 10 races. Possibly the most famous
era of World Championship was between 1966 and 1971 when we saw such cars
like Ford GT40, Ford Mk IV, Lola T70 Mk III, Ferrari 330 P4 or 512 S and a
legendary Porsche 917. Many sportscars were excluded in 1972 when a 3 litre
limit was established. Points were then awarded to the top ten finishers.
There was also a separate classification for GT cars (1968-75). In this fourth
period (1972-77) many manufacturers lost their interest (Ferrari - 1973, Matra
- 1974, Porsche - 1976, Renault - 1976 and Alfa Romeo - 1977) and the championship
died in 1978 as the European Sportscar Championship. In 1976 a separate championship
for GT and new silhouette (group 5 cars) was introduced. This was the fifth
era of the World Championship (1976-81). Because of absolute Porsche domination,
starting in 1978 points were awarded in two divisions. In 1979 prototypes
were admitted to start again after canceling their own championship. The last
era was 10 years belonging to the group C cars. This was the period of the
World Championship with the prettiest and quickest machines. In 1991 the FIA
changed the rules to bring more attention of manufacturers to F1. The starting
field decreased by four times and in the last race we saw only eight cars
starting (but also 8 finishing). Many world manufacturers built group C cars
- Porsche, Ford, Lancia, Jaguar, Nissan, Mazda, Toyota, Aston Martin and Peugeot.
The most successful makes of World Championship were Porsche with most titles
followed by Ferrari which was withdrawn after 1973 season.
