Auto racing
Auto racing (also known as
automobile racing,
autosport or
motorsport) is a
sport involving
racing automobiles.
Motor racing or
motorsport may also mean
motorcycle racing, and it can further include
motorboat racing and
air racing. It began in
France in the late nineteenth century and is now one of the world's most popular, and perhaps the most thoroughly
commercialized,
spectator sports.
The start
Auto racing began almost immediately after the construction of the first successful
petrol-fuelled
autos. In
1894, the first contest was organized by Paris magazine
Le Petit Journal, a reliability test to determine best performance. That first race now is called
Paris to Rouen 1894. Competitors included factory vehicles from
Karl Benz's Benz & Cie. and
Gottlieb Daimler and
Wilhelm Maybach's DMG.
A year later the first real race was staged in
France, from
Paris to
Bordeaux. First over the line was
Émile Levassor but he was disqualified because his car was not a required four-seater.
An international competition began with the
Gordon Bennett Cup in auto racing.
The first auto race in the
United States, over a 54.36 mile (87.48 km) course, took place in
Chicago,
Illinois on
November 2,
1895,
Frank Duryea winning in 10 h and 23 min, beating three petrol-fuelled cars and two electric. The first trophy awarded was the
Vanderbilt Cup.
City to city racing
 |
Fernand Gabriel driving a Mors in Paris-Madrid 1903 |
With auto construction and racing dominated by
France, the French automobile club ACF staged a number of major international races, usually from or to Paris, connecting with another major city in Europe or France.
These very successful races ended in
1903 when Marcel
Renault was involved in a fatal accident near
Angouleme in the Paris-Madrid race. Eight fatalities caused the French government to stop the race in
Bordeaux and ban open-road racing.
1910-1950
The
1930s saw the radical differentiation of racing vehicles from high-priced road cars, with
Delage,
Auto Union,
Mercedes-Benz,
Delahaye and
Bugatti constructing stream-lined vehicles with engines producing up to 450 kW(612HP) with the aid of multiple superchargers. From
1928-
1930 and again in
1934-
1936, the maximum
weight permitted was 750 kg(1654Lbs), a rule diametrically opposed to current racing regulations. Extensive use of aluminium alloys was required to achieve light weight, and in the case of the Mercedes, the paint was removed to satisfy the weight limitation, producing the famous
Silver Arrows.
See: Grand Prix motor racingAs of today regulations are defined by the
FIA.
There are many categories of auto racing. Categories are defined by the
Appendix J to the international motor sports code.
Single-seater racing
Main article: Open wheel racing
Single-seater (
open-wheel) racing is perhaps the most well-known form of motorsport, with cars designed specifically for high-speed racing. The wheels are not covered, and the cars often have aerofoil wings front and rear to produce downforce and enhance adhesion to the track.
Single-seater races are held on specially designed closed circuits or street circuits closed for the event. Many single-seater races in North America are held on "oval" circuits and the
Indy Racing League races mostly on ovals.
The best-known variety of single-seater racing is the
Formula One World Championship, which involves an annual championship of around 18 races a year featuring major international car and engine manufacturers such as
Ferrari,
Mercedes-Benz (McLaren),
BMW (Sauber),
Toyota,
Honda, and
Renault in an ongoing battle of technology and driver skill. Formula One is, by any measure, the most expensive sport in the world, with some teams spending in excess of 200 million US dollars per year. Formula One is widely considered to be the pinnacle of motorsports. In North America, the cars used in the
National Championship (currently
Champcars and the
Indy Racing League) have traditionally been similar to
F1 cars but with more restrictions on technology aimed at helping to control costs.
Other single-seater racing series are the
A1 Grand Prix (the world cup of motorsport),
GP2 (formerly known as
Formula 3000 and
Formula Two),
Formula Nippon,
Formula Renault 3.5 (also known as the World Series by Renault, succession series of
World Series by Nissan),
Formula Three and
Formula Atlantic.
There are other categories of single-seater racing, including
kart racing, which employs a small, low-cost machine on small tracks. Many of today's top drivers started their careers in karts.
Formula Ford represents a popular first open-wheel category for up-and-coming drivers stepping up from karts.
Rallying
Main article: Rallying
Rallying, or rally racing, involves highly modified production cars on (closed) public roads or off-road areas run on a point-to-point format where participants and their co-drivers "rally" to a set of points, leaving in regular intervals from start points. A rally is typically conducted over a number of stages of any terrain, which entrants are often allowed to scout beforehand. The co-driver uses the "pacenotes" to help the driver complete each stage as fast as possible, reading the detailed shorthand aloud over an in-car intercom system. Competition is based on lowest total elapsed time over the course of an event.
The top series is the
World Rally Championship (WRC), but there also regional championships and many countries have their own national championships. Some famous rallies include the
Monte Carlo Rally and
Rally Argentina. Another famous event (actually best described as a "
rally raid") is the
Paris-Dakar Rally. There are also many smaller, club level,
categories of rallies which are popular with amateurs, making up the "grass roots" of motorsports.
Ice Racing
Main article: Ice Racing
Touring car racing
Main article: Touring car racing
Touring car racing is a style of road racing that is run with production derived race cars. It often features exciting, full-contact racing due to the small speed differentials and large grids.
The
V8 Supercars originally from
Australia,
BTCC,
Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters originally from
Germany, and the
World Touring Car Championship held with 2 non-European races (previously the
European Touring Car Championship) are the major touring car championships conducted worldwide.
The
Sports Car Club of America's
SPEED World Challenge Touring Car and GT championships are dominant in North America while the venerable
British Touring Car Championship continues in
Great Britain. America's historic
Trans-Am Series is undergoing a period of transition, but is still the longest-running road racing series in the U.S. The
National Auto Sport Association also provides a venue for amateurs to compete in home-built factory derived vehicles on various local circuits.
Stock car racing
For certain races the race track might tell the racers that they need to use restrictor plates the restrictor plates make the cars not be able to reach a certain speed because on that race track it might be hard to turn or if you go too fast you crash so they put the restrictor plates on for safety
Main article: Stock car racing
Stock car racing is the American variant of touring car racing. Usually conducted on ovals, the cars look like production cars but are in fact purpose-built racing machines which are all very similar in specifications. Early stock cars were much closer to production vehicles; the car to be raced was often driven from track to track.
The main stock car racing series is
NASCAR and among the most famous races in the series are the
Daytona 500 and the
Pepsi 400 they also run the
Nextel Cup. NASCAR also runs the
Busch Series (a junior stock car league) and the
Craftsman Truck Series (
pickup trucks).
NASCAR also runs the
Featherlite series of "modified" cars which are heavily modified from stock form. With powerful engines, large tires, and light bodies. NASCAR's oldest series is considered by many to be its most exciting.
There are also other stock car series like
IROC in the United States and
CASCAR in
Canada.
British Stock car racing is a form of Short Oval Racing This takes place on shale or tarmac tracks in either clockwise or anti-clockwise direction depending on the class, some of which allow contact.
Races are organised by local promoters and all drivers are registered with BRISCA and have their own race number.
What classes exist depends on the promoters, so events in
Scotland at Cowdenbeath can be very different from an event at
Wimbledon Stadium in
London.
Drag racing
Main article: Drag racing
In
drag racing, the objective is to complete a certain distance, traditionally 1/4 mile, (400 m), in the shortest possible time. The vehicles range from the everyday car to the purpose-built
dragster. Speeds and elapsed time differ from class to class. A street car can cover the 1/4 mile (400 m) in 15 s whereas a
top fuel dragster can cover the same distance in 4.5 s and reach 330 mph (530 km/h). Drag racing was organised as a sport by
Wally Parks in the early
1950s through the
NHRA (National Hot Rod Association) which is the largest sanctioning motor sports body in the world. The NHRA was formed to prevent people from
street racing. Illegal street racing is not drag racing.
Launching its run to 330 mph (530 km/h), a top fuel dragster will accelerate at 4.5
g (44 m/s
-2), and when braking and parachutes are deployed, the driver experiences deceleration of 4
g (39 m/s
2), more than space shuttle occupants. A single top fuel car can be heard over eight miles (13 km) away and can generate a reading of 1.5 to 2 on the
Richter scale. (NHRA Mile High Nationals 2001, and 2002 testing from the National Seismology Center.)
Drag racing is often head-to-head where two cars battle each other, the winner proceeding to the next round. Professional classes are all first to the finish line wins. Sportsman racing is handicapped (slower car getting a head start) using an index, and cars running faster than their index "break out" and lose.
Drag racing is mostly popular in the
United States.
Sports car racing
Main article: Sports car racing
In
sports car racing, production versions of sports cars and purpose-built prototype cars compete with each other on closed circuits. The races are usually conducted over long distances, at least 1000 km, and cars are driven by teams of two or three drivers (and sometimes more in the US), switching every now and then. Due to the performance difference between production based sports cars and sports racing prototypes, one race usually involves many racing classes. In the US the
American Le Mans Series was organized in 1999, featuring GT, GTS, and two prototype classes, LMP1 (Le Mans Prototype 1) and LMP2. Audi currently dominates the Prototype classes but don't discount the Acura/Honda debut as they've just officially announced and confirmed their entry for 2007 at 2006 New York Auto Show. Another series based on Le Mans began in 2004, the
Le Mans Endurance Series, which included four 1000 km races at tracks in Europe. A competing body,
Grand-Am, which began in 2000, sanctions its own set of endurance series, the
Rolex Sports Car Series and the
Grand-Am Cup. Grand-Am events typically feature many more cars and much closer competition than American Le Mans.
Famous sports car races include the
24 Hours of Le Mans, the
24 Hours of Daytona and the
12 Hours of Sebring.
Offroad racing
Main article: Offroad racing
In
offroad racing, various classes of specially modified vehicles, including cars, compete in races through off-road environments. In North America these races often take place in the desert, such as the famous
Baja 1000.In Europe, "offroad" refers to events such as autocross or rallycross, while desert races and rally-raids such as the
Paris-Dakar,
Master Rallye or European "bajas" are called Cross-Country Rallies.
They also have coarses that are in the woods such as mud pits that the vehicles have to go through on the track. It is basically a coarse to se whose vehicle can go through the worst terain with the best time overall.
Hillclimbing
Main article: Hillclimbing
In Hillclimbing they take already off-road cappable vehicles and put special parts on them so they can handle very ruff terain such as hills with rocks and divits so that the vehicle has to have very good traction and fast acceleration so that they can quikly push off of the rocks and holes. They also have a series of Hillclimbs the person with the fastest time overall out of the whole competition wins and there are different hills in the competition with different oppstacles that the vehicle has to overcome.
Kart racing
Main article: Kart racing
Although often seen as the entry point for serious racers into the sport,
kart racing, or karting, can be an economic way for amateurs to try racing and is also a fully fledged international sport in its own right. World-famous F1-drivers like
Michael and
Ralf Schumacher and most of the typical starting grid of a modern Grand Prix took up the sport at around the age of eight, with some testing from age three. Several former motorcycle champions have also taken up the sport, notably
Wayne Rainey, who was paralysed in a racing accident and now races a hand-controlled kart. As one of the cheapest ways to go racing, karting is seeing its popularity grow worldwide.
Go-karts, or just "karts" - seem very distant from normal road cars, with dimunitive frames and wheels, but a small engine combined with very light weight make for a quick machine. The tracks are also on a much smaller scale, making kart racing more accessible to the average enthusiast.
Legend car racing
Main article: Legend car racing
Other categories
*
Autocrossing
*
Autograss*
Board track racing*
Demolition Derby*
Dirt speedway racing*
Dirt track racing*
Drifting*
Folkrace*
Grand Prix Truck Racing*
International Sporting Code*
Rallycross*
Road racing*
Short track motor racing*
Slalom*
Solo*
Sprint car racing*
Street racingMain article: Racing flags
In open-wheel, stock-car and other types of circuit auto races, flags are displayed to indicate the general status of a race and to communicate instructions to competitors in a race. While the flags have changed from the first years (e.g. red used to start a race), these are generally accepted for today.
| Flag | Displayed from start tower! Displayed from observation post | | The race has started or resumed after a full caution or stop, or the race is proceeding normally. | End of hazardous section of track. |
| Full course caution condition for ovals. On road courses, it means a local area of caution. Depending on the type of racing, either two yellow flags will be used for a full course caution or a sign with 'SC' (Safety car) will be used as the field follows the pace/safety car on track and no cars may pass. | Local caution condition â€" no cars may pass at the particular corner where being displayed. |
| Yellow flag with red stripes |
| Debris or slippery patches on the track. |
| The car with the indicated number must pit for consultation. | The session is halted; all cars on course must return to pit lane. |
| The car with the indicated number has mechanical trouble. |
| The driver of the car with the indicated number has been penalized for misbehaviour. |
| The driver of the car with the indicated number is disqualified or will not be scored until they report to the pits. |
| Blue flag with yellow stripe |
| A car must allow another car to pass if the flag is blue only. With an orange or yellow stripe, it simply serves as a warning that faster traffic is behind. | A car is being advised to give way to faster traffic approaching. |
| The race is stoppedâ€"all cars must halt on the track or return to pit lane. |
| One lap remains. | A slow vehicle is on the track. |
| The race has concluded. |
For the worst accident in racing history see
Pierre Levegh. (
See also Deaths in motorsports)
*
Car handling*
Engine tuning*
Import scene*
List of Auto Racing tracks*
Race track*
Racing game*
Sim racingSanctioning bodies
*
The FIA - The Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile site*
The official web site of the Grand American Road Racing Association*
The official Champ Car World Series site*
The official Le Mans Series site*
The official American Le Mans Series site*
National Hot Rod Association *
International Hot Rod Association*
BriSCA F1 Stock Cars*
National Auto Sport Association*
Sports Car Club of America*
Rallye Pardubice Amateur rallye from Czech.(cz)
*
Indy Racing League (IRL)*
National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR)*
International Motor Sports Association (IMSA)Related sites
*
Land speed record racing*
Nostalgia drag racing*
Vintage racing*
The Official Formula One Website with news, results and stats* http://www.motorsport.com: Covering All Forms of Auto Racing
* http://www.trackbytes.com Full coverage of SPEED World Challenge and American Le Mans Series
* http://www.autosport.com AutoSport Magazine
* http://www.speedtv.com SPEED TV Network
* http://www.motorstv.com Motors TV Network
* http://www.rennleitung.de: Rennleitung
*
Auto Racing News*
The-Paddock.net covers a wide range of Sportscar-Racing series , including ALMS & Grand-Am
*
Rally News and Photo*
Rallystuff.net (Unofficial WRC Fan Site)
