The Spanish Automobile Federation is planning to hold a 48-hour GT endurance race next March. The Maxi Endurance 48 would be the longest continuous car race in the world, but not the longest ever held. Not even close.
The Maxi Endurance 48, set to be held at northwest Spain's F1-grade Circuit of Navarra, will be comprised of nearly every GT racer from the past three or four years. The organizers claim over 80 cars from 28 brands are eligible.
Each team can have 5-8 drivers, each behind the wheel no more than 10 hours in total (or 2 hours and 20 minutes per stint).
Amazingly, this would in no way be the longest continuous car race of modern years. Well, sort of.
The Marathon de la Route was something like a cross between an endurance trial and a rally, but it was a true race held on a circuit. On the North and South circuits of the Nürburgring from the mid-1960s through the 1971 cars raced for 12 hours, 24 hours, 36 hours, 84 hours, and even a mind-bending 96 hours in its final year. Christ.
Drivers regularly clocked in 14 hours stints, but the rules and the race's relation to Europe's classic inter-city rallies are confusing. More information can be found here.
Hopefully the Maxi Endurance 48 gets the funding and race cars it needs, because this is just insane.
(Hat tip to nobody backflips jetpacks!)