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.
- Main article: Stock car racing
Stock car racing is the American variant of touring car racing. Usually conducted on ovals, the cars may resemble 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 Brickyard 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 ¼ 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 ¼ 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.
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 rough 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
Use of flags
Main 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 |
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The race has started or resumed after a full caution or stop, or the race is proceeding normally. |
End of hazardous section of track. |
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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. |
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Debris or slippery patches on the track. |
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The car with the indicated number must pit for consultation. |
The session is halted; all cars on course must return to pit lane. |
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The car with the indicated number has mechanical trouble. |
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The driver of the car with the indicated number has been penalized for misbehaviour. |
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The driver of the car with the indicated number is disqualified or will not be scored until they report to the pits. |
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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. |
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The race is stopped—all cars must halt on the track or return to pit lane. |
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One lap remains. |
A slow vehicle is on the track. |
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The race has concluded. |
Accidents
For the worst accident in racing history see Pierre Levegh. (See also Deaths in motorsports)
See also
External links
Sanctioning bodies
Related sites