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.

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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.

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.

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Camaro at launch, with Altered Vision in the right lane. Wheelstand, or “wheelie”, means torque has been wasted lifting the front end, rather than moving the vehicle.

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/s2), 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.

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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. 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.

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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, 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.

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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.

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A modern Formula One car: Michael Schumacher’s Ferrari at the 2005 United States Grand Prix.

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, McLaren 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.

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Fernand Gabriel driving a Mors in Paris-Madrid 1903

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 is one of the world’s most popular spectator sports and perhaps the most thoroughly commercialized.

History

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

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 streamlined 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.

Links

Sanctioning bodies

• The Official Formula One Website with news, results and stats
• 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)

Student Racing Teams

• Sponsor the University of Manchester Racing Team
• Madison Motorsports, VA

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