Auto racing (also known as
automobile
racing or
car racing) is a
motorsport involving
racing
cars. It is one of the world's most watched
television
sports.
History
The beginning of racing
Racing began soon after the construction of the first successful
petrol-fueled automobiles. The first race
ever organized was on April 28, 1887 by the chief editor of Paris
publication Le Vélocipède, Monsieur Fossier. It ran 2 kilometers
from Neuilly Bridge to the Bois de Boulogne. It was won by
Georges Bouton, in a car he had constructed
with
Albert, the Comte de Dion, but
as he was the only competitor to show up it is rather pointless to
call it a race.
On July 22, 1894 the first real contest was a reliability test from
'Paris to Rouen',
(Concours des Voitures sans Chevaux
(Horseless Carriage Competition)), organised by the Parisian
magazine
Le Petit Journal.
The
Comte Jules-Albert de Dion
was first to arrive in Rouen on his steam car, but a Panhard et
Levassor was judged to be the winner.
In 1895, the
Paris-Bordeaux-Paris Trial was
held and this was the first real race as all competitors started
together. The winner was
Émile
Levassor in his
Panhard-Levassor 1205 cc model. He
completed the course (1,178 km or 732 miles) in 48 hours and 47
minutes, finishing nearly six hours before the runner-up.
The first regular auto racing venue was Nice, France, run in late
March 1897 as a "Speed Week." To fill out the schedule, most types
of racing event were invented here, including the first hill climb
(Nice - La Turbie) and a sprint that was, in spirit, the first drag
race.
An international competition, between nations rather than
individuals, began with the
Gordon Bennett Cup in auto
racing.
The first
auto race in the United States took place in Chicago,
Illinois.
The course
went from the South side of the city, North along the lakefront to
Evanston,
Illinois and back again on November 28, 1895 over an 54.36
mile(87.48 km) course, with Frank
Duryea winning in 10 hours and 23 minutes, beating three
petrol-fueled and two electric cars.
City to city racing
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. Nine fatalities caused
the French government to stop the race in Bordeaux and ban
open-road racing.
1910-1950
The 1930s
saw the transformation from high-priced road cars into pure racers,
with Delage, Auto
Union, Mercedes-Benz, Delahaye, and Bugatti constructing
streamlined vehicles with engines producing up to 450 kW (612
hp), aided by multiple-stage supercharging. From 1928-1930 and again
in 1934-1936, the maximum
weight permitted
was 750 kg, 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
racing
Categories
Single-seater racing
In single-seater (
open-wheel) the wheels
are not covered, and the cars often have aerofoil wings front and
rear to produce
downforce and enhance
adhesion to the track. In Europe and Asia, open wheeled racing is
commonly referred to as "Formula", with appropriate hierarchical
suffixes. In North America, the "Formula" terminology is not
followed (with the exception of F1). The sport is usually arranged
to follow an "international" format (such as F1), a "regional"
format (such as the Formula 3 Euro Series), or a "domestic", or
country-specific format (such as the German Formula 3 championship,
or the British Formula Ford).
The best-known variety of single-seater racing,
Formula One, involves an annual World
Championship for drivers and constructors
In
North America, the cars used in the
National
Championship (currently the
IndyCar
Series, and previously
CART) have
traditionally been similar though less sophisticated than
F1 cars, with more restrictions on technology aimed
at controlling costs.
Other international single-seater racing series are the
A1 Grand Prix (unofficially often referred to
as the "world cup of motorsport"), and the
GP2 (formerly known as
Formula 3000 and
Formula
Two). Regional series include
Formula
Nippon and
Formula V6 Asia
(specifically in Asia),
Formula
Renault 3.5 (also known as the World Series by Renault,
succession series of
World Series
by Nissan),
Formula Three,
Formula Palmer Audi and
Formula Atlantic. In 2009, the
FIA Formula Two Championship
brought about the revival of the F2 series. Domestic, or
country-specific series include Formula Three, Formula Renault,
Formula Ford with the leading
introductory series being
Formula
BMW.
Single seater racing is not limited merely to professional teams
and drivers. There is a large amateur 'club racing' scene catering
for those who want to race single seaters against similar people
all over the world. In the UK the major club series are the
Monoposto Racing Club, BRSCC
F3 (Formerly ClubF3, formerly ARP F3), Formula Vee and Club Formula
Ford. Each series caters for a section of the 'market', with some
primarily providing low cost racing whilst others aim for an
authentic experience using the same regulations as the professional
series (BRSCC F3).
There are other categories of single-seater racing, including
kart racing, which employs a small,
low-cost machine on small tracks. Many of the current top drivers
began their careers in karts.
Formula
Ford once represented a popular first open-wheel category for
up-and-coming drivers stepping up from karts and now the
Formula BMW series is the preferred option as it
has introduced an aero package and slicks, allowing the junior
drivers to gain experience in a race car with dynamics closer F1.
The
Star Mazda Series is another
entry level series.
Students at colleges and universities can also take part in single
seater racing through the
Formula SAE
competition, which involves designing and building a single seater
car in a multidisciplinary team, and racing it at the competition.
This also develops other soft skills such as teamwork whilst
promoting motorsport and engineering.
In 2006, producer
Todd Baker was
responsible for creating the world's first all-female Formula
racing team.
The group was an assemblage of drivers from
different racing disciplines, and formed for an MTV reality pilot which was shot at Mazda Raceway
Laguna Seca.
In December, 2005 the
FIA gave approval to
Superleague Formula racing which
debuted in 2008 whereby the racing teams are owned and run by
prominent sports clubs such as
AC Milan and
Liverpool F.C..
After 25 years away from the sport, former
Formula 2 champion
Jonathan Palmer reopened the F2 category
again, most drivers have graduated from the
Formula Palmer Audi series. The category
is officially registered as the
FIA Formla Two
championship. Most rounds have two races and are support races to
the
FIA World Touring
Car Championship.
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 major touring car championships conducted worldwide are the
V8 Supercars,
British Touring Car
Championship,
Deutsche
Tourenwagen Masters, and the
World Touring Car
Championship. The European Touring Cup is a one day event open
to
Super 2000 specification touring cars
from Europe's many national championships. Another World series is
the
FIA GT Championship, which
features the
Spa 24 Hours on their
schedule. There is also the
FIA GT3 that
takes place in races across Europe as well as the less powerful
GT4's. Other GT championships include the
British GT championship for
GT3 and GT4 cars,
Super GT and
International GT open.
The
Sports Car Club of
America's
SPEED World
Challenge Touring Car and GT championships are dominant in
North America. 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.
Production car racing
Production car racing or known in the US as showroom stock, is an
economical and rules restricted version of touring car racing,
mainly to restrict costs.
Many series follow the
Group N regulation
with a few exceptions. There are several different series that are
run all over the world, most notably, Japan's Super Taikyu and
IMSA's
Firehawk Series which ran between the 1980s to 1990s all over the
United States.
One-make racing
One-make, or single marque, championships often employ
production-based cars from a single manufacturer or even a single
model from a manufacturer's range. There are numerous notable
one-make formulae from various countries and regions, some of which
– such as the
Porsche Supercup and,
previously,
IROC –
have fostered many distinct national championships. Single marque
series are often found at club level, to which the production-based
cars, limited modifications, and close parity in performance are
very well suited. Some of the better-known single-make series are
the
Radical European
Masters,
SEAT Cupra
Championship,
John Cooper Mini Challenge, and
Clio Cup, and at a more modest budget,
Ginettas,
Caterhams,
BMWs, and
MX5s. There are also single-chassis
single seater formulae, such as
Formula Ford,
Formula Renault,
Formula BMW, and
Formula
Vee, usually as "feeder" series for "senior" race formula (in
the fashion of
farm teams).
Stock car racing
Stock car racing is the most
popular form of racing in the United States.
Primarily raced on
oval tracks,
stock cars resemble production cars but are in fact purpose-built
racing machines which are built to tight specifications.
The largest stock car racing governing body is
NASCAR. NASCAR's premier series is the
Sprint Cup Series, its most famous races
being the
Daytona 500 and the
Brickyard 400. NASCAR also
runs several feeder series. The
Nationwide Series, and
Camping World Truck Series (a
pickup truck racing series) conduct
races across the entire
continental United States.
The
NASCAR Canadian Tire
Series conducts races across Canada and the
NASCAR Corona Series conducts
races across Mexico.
NASCAR also governs several smaller regional series.
NASCAR also governs the
Whelen
Modified Tour. Modified cars are best described as hybrids of
stock cars and open-wheel cars. They are heavily altered from
stock, with powerful engines, large tires, tubular chassis and
light bodies. The Whelen Modified tour is NASCAR's oldest series.
There are also other stock car governing bodies, such as
Automobile Racing Club of
America and
United
Speed Alliance Racing.
In the UK,
British Stock car
racing is also referred to as "Short Circuit Racing". This
takes place on shale or tarmac tracks - usually around 1/4 mile in
length. The governing bodies for the sport are the Oval Racing
Council (ORC) and BriSCA. Both bodies are made up of individual
stadium promoters. There are around 35 tracks in the UK and upwards
of 7000 active drivers. The sport is split into three basic
"divisions" - distinguished by the rules regarding car-contact
during racing. The most famous championship is the
BriSCA Formula One stock
cars. Full contact formulas include Bangers, Bombers and Rookie
Bangers - and racing features Demolitions Derbies, Figure of Eight
racing and Oval Racing
Semi Contact Formulas include BriSCA F1, F2 and Superstox - where
bumpers are used tactically.
Non-contact formulas include National Hot Rods, Stock Rods and
Lightning Rods.
UK Stock car racing started in the 1950s and grew rapidly through
the 60s and 70s.
Rallying
Rallying, or rally racing, involves two
classes of car. The modified Group A, but road legal,
production-based cars and the Group N Production cars compete 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 "special stages" of any
terrain, which entrants are often allowed to scout beforehand at
reduced speeds compiling detailed shorthand descriptions of the
track or road as they go. These detailed descriptions are known as
"pace notes." During the actual rally, the co-driver reads the pace
notes aloud (using an in-helmet intercom system) to the driver,
enabling them to complete each stage as quickly as possible.
Competition is based on lowest total elapsed time over the course
of an event's special stages, including penalties.
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,
Rally Argentina,
Rally Finland and
Rally
GB. 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 motor sports.Rallying is the most widely used sport
around the world as it can race on any circuit type. As well as the
WRC there is the
British Rally Championship,
Intercontinental Rally
Challenge,
African Rally
Championship,
Asia-Pacific Rally
Championship and endurance rally events like the
Dakar Rally.
Targa Racing (Targa Rally)
Targa is a tarmac-based road
rally which is run all around the world.
This began
with the Targa
Florio. There are many races including
Targa Tasmania held on the Australian island
state of Tasmania run annually since 1992.
The event takes its
name from the Targa
Florio, a former motoring event held on the island of
Sicily. The competition concept is
drawn directly from the best features of the Mille Miglia, the
Coupe des Alpes and the Tour de Corse.
Other events around
the world include the Targa
Newfoundland based in Canada, Targa
West based in Western Australia, Targa New Zealand
and other smaller events.
Drag racing
In drag racing, the objective is to complete a given straight-line
distance, from a standing start, ahead of a vehicle in a parallel
lane. This distance is traditionally ¼ mile (400 m), though 1/8
mile (200 m) has become popular since the 1990s. The vehicles may
or may not be given the signal to start at the same time, depending
on the class of racing. Vehicles range from the everyday car to the
purpose-built
dragster. Speeds and elapsed
time differ from class to class. Average street cars cover the ¼
mile in from 10 to 15 seconds whereas a
top fuel dragster takes 4.5 seconds or
less, reaching speeds of up to 530 km/h (330 mph). Drag racing
was organized as a sport by
Wally Parks
in the early 1950s through the
NHRA (National
Hot Rod Association). The NHRA was formed to discourage
street racing.
Launching, a top fuel dragster will accelerate at 3.4
g (33 m/s²), and when braking parachutes are
deployed the deceleration is 4 g (39 m/s²), more than the
Space Shuttle experiences. A top fuel car can
be heard over 8 miles (13 km) away and generates a reading of
1.5 to 2 on the
Richter
scale.
Drag racing is two cars head-to-head, 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
(a lowest e.t. allowed), and cars running under (quicker than)
their index "break out" and lose. The slowest cars, bracket racers,
are also handicapped, but rather than an index, they use a
"dial-in". Bracket racing has been viewed as the main cause of the
loss of public interest in drag racing. People don't understand why
the slower car wins or why somebody needs to hit the brakes to
avoid going too fast. Many local tracks have also complained that
bracket racers will also go out of their way to spend as little as
possible while at the track by bringing their own food, beverages,
fuel and supplies thus, making it more difficult for tracks to make
money on these events. This causes gate prices to rise and tracks
losing interest in having such events.
Sports car racing
In
sports car racing, production
versions of
sports cars and/or
grand tourers, and
sports prototype cars compete within their
respective classes on closed circuits. The races are often
conducted over long distances, at least , and cars are driven by
teams of two or three drivers (and sometimes more in the US),
switching every few hours. Due to the performance difference
between production-based sports cars and purpose-built sports
prototypes, one race usually involves several racing classes. In
the US the
American Le Mans
Series (
ALMS) was
organized in 1999, featuring GT1, GT2, and two prototype classes,
LMP1 (Le Mans Prototype 1) and LMP2. Manufacturers such as Audi and
Acura/Honda field or support entries in the Prototype class.
Another series based on Le Mans began in 2004, the
Le Mans Endurance Series, which
included four races at tracks in Europe. A competing body,
Grand-Am, which began
in 2000, sanctions its own endurance series the
Rolex Sports Car Series.
Famous
sports car races include the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the 24 Hours of
Daytona, 24 Hours of
Spa-Franchorchamps, the 12 Hours
of Sebring, and the Petit Le Mans
at Road
Atlanta.
Off-road racing
In
off-road 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."
Kart racing
A sprint kart race in Atwater
California hosted by the International Karting Federation.
Although often seen as the entry point for serious racers into the
sport,
kart racing, or karting, can be
an economical way for amateurs to try racing and is also a fully
fledged international sport in its own right. A large proportion of
professional racing drivers began in karts, often from a very young
age, such as
Michael Schumacher
and
Fernando Alonso. 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.
Despite their diminutive size, karting's most powerful class,
superkart, can have a power-to-weight
ratio of 440 hp/tonne.
Historical racing
As modern motor racing is centered on modern technology with a lots
of corporate sponsors and politics involved,
historical racing tends to be the
opposite. Because it is based on a particular era it is more
hobbyist oriented, reducing corporate sponsorship and politics.
Events are regulated to only allow cars of a certain era to
participate. The only modern equipment used is related to safety
and timing. A historical event can be of various different
motorsport disciplines.
Notably some of the most famous events of
them all are the Goodwood Festival of Speed and Goodwood
Revival in Britain and Monterey
Historic in the United States. Championships range from
"grass root"
Austin Seven racing to the
FIA
Thoroughbred Grand Prix Championship for classic
Formula One chassis.
While there are several professional teams and drivers in
historical racing, this branch of
auto
sport tends to be contested by wealthy car owners and is thus
more amateur and laid back in its approach.
Other categories
- See also :Category:Auto racing by
type
Use of flags
In many types of auto races, particularly those held on closed
courses, flags are displayed to indicate the general status of the
track and to communicate instructions to competitors. While
individual series have different rules, and the flags have changed
from the first years (
e.g. red used to start a race),
these are generally accepted.
Flag |
Displayed from start tower |
Displayed from observation post |
|
The session has started or resumed after a full course caution
or stop. |
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 — no cars may pass at the particular
corner where being displayed. When Stationary indicates hazard
off-course, when Waving indicates hazard on-course. |
|
Debris, fluid, or other hazard on the track surface. |
Debris, fluid, or other hazard on the track surface. |
|
The car with the indicated number must pit for
consultation. |
The session is halted, all cars on course must return to pit
lane. May also be seen combined with a green flag to indicate oil
on track, typically referred to as a 'pickle' flag
combination. |
|
The car with the indicated number has mechanical trouble and
must pit. |
|
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. |
|
The car should give way to faster traffic. Depending on the
series this may be a command or merely advisory. |
A car is being advised to give way to faster traffic
approaching. |
|
The session is stopped. All cars must halt on the track or
return to pit lane. |
|
Depending on the series, either one lap remains or a slow
vehicle is on the track. |
A slow vehicle is on the track. |
|
The session has concluded. |
Accidents
For the
worst accident in racing history see 1955 Le Mans
disaster. (
See also Deaths in motorsports)
Racing car setup
In auto racing, the
racing setup or car
setup is the set of adjustments made to the vehicle in order to
optimize its behaviour (performance,
handling, reliability, etc.). Adjustments can
occur in
suspensions, brakes,
transmissions, engines,
tires, and many others.
See also
References
- Historic Racing
- ESPN.com "Addition of IndyCar champ Hornish
will give Penske third Cup team" Retrieved February 8, 2009
- NHRA Mile High Nationals 2001, and 2002 testing from the
National Seismology Center.
External links
Sanctioning bodies