Goodbye or good riddance to motorsport's ugly duckling?
The end of the Daytona Prototype era may have passed with little fuss for those outside the United States. But the sometimes-bizarre cars should be remembered for a job well done
They were - or at least started out as - the ugly ducklings of the sportscar world. They forsook 20 or 30 years of technological advancements in motorsport. And they weren't as quick as what had gone before.
Daytona Prototypes had the odds stacked against them in our European eyes, but is it time to reinterpret the place in history of a class that bowed out earlier this month at the Petit Le Mans enduro at Road Atlanta?
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Gary Watkins has, for reasons best known to himself, devoted all his working life to covering sportscar racing. This season is his 33rd as a motorsport journalist, during which time he has reported on major long-distance events on four continents and approaching 80 24-hour races. He reckons a degree in political philosophy makes him well qualified for covering the sometimes Machiavellian world of international sportscars.
Gary, who also writes for Motor Sport, Autocourse, RACER and others, lives in Surbiton close to the former workshops of the Cooper Formula 1 team but spends more time on the road than at home for most of the year.
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