rlex Posted March 14, 2021 Posted March 14, 2021 In celebration of the 300th issue of your monthly, close-up on the significant appearances of the number 300 at the highest level of motorsport. At the beginning of the year 2021, the magazine Auto Moto passes a symbolic milestone, that of the 300 issues published . Since its birth in 1982, the famous monthly magazine dedicated to cars and motorcycles has spanned four decades, having gathered 299 issues to date, to which should be added nearly a hundred special issues. In the different disciplines of mechanical sports, on circuit or in rally, the number 300 finds an echo in various values, such as the total of races contested, of kilometers and of laps covered, or the speed in km / h, on two or four wheels. Overview of his most significant appearances . 300 races The first Formula 1 driver to reach the 300 Grand Prix mark in 2010, Rubens Barrichello shares this honor with four world champions. Kimi Räikkönen holds the current record (330) and should improve it by participating in the 2021 season. Also active, Fernando Alonso (312) has Barrichello's mark in his sights (323), while Michael Schumacher (307 ) and Jenson Button (306) complete the club of five. On two wheels, Valentino Rossiis the only one to have exceeded this threshold, accumulating 354 GP in the premier class (500 cm3 / MotoGP). On the other hand, in the world rally championship, the more limited number of rounds in a season makes this objective of 300 contested events inaccessible. At the initiative of the young retiree Jari-Matti Latvala, it was set at 209 departures, in February 2020. 300 km All the races on the F1 World Championship calendar have a distance of just over 300 km. All? No, only one still resists statistics, in the small Principality of Monaco. Due to the hourly average much lower than anywhere else, the Monegasque event has been around 260 km since 1968. In rallying too , the total of 300 km represents the minimum regulated distance to be covered. But that was before the health crisis … Last January, the shortest Monte-Carlo Rally in history had only 257 km of specials. 300 turns In relation to the number of laps to go in a race, the number 300 often contains a scent of endurance . On the occasion of the 24 Hours of Le Mans , the lead car generally reaches the stage of 300 loops at dawn and the record in this matter belongs since 2010 to the Audi R15 Plus TDI with 397 laps of 13.629 km. But it can also concern a speed test : in the United States, from 2014 to 2019, IndyCar drivers engaged in the Iowa 300 used to engulf, in less than two hours, 300 laps of this small 0.894 mile (1.44 km) oval. 300 km / h In the streets of Monaco , Formula 1s push back the limits of reasonableness, in particular by tumbling at 290 km / h near the rails at the exit of the tunnel. To see the odometer exceed 300 km / h in the city, you have to look to the night Singapore Grand Prix, allowing a maximum speed of 320 km / h. And since 2016, Baku's urban layout in Azerbaijan has raised the bar even higher. In favor of its immense straight line, the single-seaters can come close to 360 km / h! Very close to the absolute speed record in the race, set at 370.1 km / h by Kimi Räikkönen in Monza as part of the 2005 Italian Grand Prix. In MotoGP too, the 300 km / h milestone was easily crossed on transalpine soil, at Mugello, with a peak of 356 km / h! No. 300 It is rare that a number such as the 300 is assigned during a race . At the highest level of motor sports, this concerns the field of rally-raid through its flagship event, the Dakar . This is an important number, since it is traditionally attributed to the outgoing winner of the car category . Last January, it was affixed to the door of Carlos Sainz's Mini buggy and it will logically be worn by Stéphane Peterhansel during the 2022 edition.
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