Automobile Racing Essay, Research Paper

Automobile Racing

International competitiveness, testing the capabilities of specially designed

automobiles and the skill of their drivers, over tracks and courses of differing

lengths and construction, this is automobile racing. The first car race

considered is the one held in France in July 1894, in which the winner averaged

24 kilometers per hour, when 100 automobiles set out from Paris to Rouen. The

first race in North America was held in Chicago, Illinois, in the year 1895.

The excitement generated by the possibility of driving at higher and higher

speeds has made automobile racing one of the world’s major spectator and

participant sports. Early races were held in two forms; pure speed races and the

others tested engine reliability, which later became known as rallies. In

rallies, cars attempt to achieve and maintain a set speed between points. The

first races were held on public roads, but with increasing concern for spectator

safety, special closed-circuit tracks were built for rally racing. The most

common racing track is a paved oval with banked corners, from 200 m to 4000 m in

length. The difference between road and track racing ultimately led also to

different vehicle construction; four major types of racing cars are now built.

Pure racing machines, such as those used in Grand Prix\Formula 1 and in Indycar,

are built for power and endurance at speeds of more than 320 km/h (200 MPH). In

the past stock cars used to be production automobiles modified for track racing,

but are built now solely for the purpose of racing. Sports cars used for racing,

such as rallies, may be either rebuilt production vehicles or pure racing

machines. Drag racers are cars built to accelerate rapidly to high speeds over

very short straight tracks, or drag strips, generally about 400 m (3 mi) long.

The race most popularly associated with the sport is the Indianapolis 500, so

called because contestants must cover 500 mi (about 805 km); it has been held

annually on Memorial Day weekend since 1911. With crowds averaging 400,000, it

is the best-attended single-day sports event in the world. This year the Indy

500 will not involve most teams from Indycar\CART, Championship Auto Racing

Teams, the regulatory body which is now being opposed by the IRL, Indycar Racing

League, whose owner also owns the Indy 500 track. The elite Grand Prix races are

held at various international sites, such as S?o Paulo, Brazil, and Johannesburg,

South Africa, and through the streets of Monte Carlo, Monaco. Points scored by

winners of these races are totaled to establish the world champion driver. The

24-hour race at Le Mans, France, is the most famous road endurance race. The

annual stock car Daytona 500 in Florida and the U.S. Nationals for drag racing

at Indianapolis Raceway Park are classics in their respective fields. Growth in

auto racing has shifted away from producing speed. Today the engineers of

racing are not focusing their efforts to generate more speed, but to improve

cornering speeds, fuel economy and the braking of the their creations. Straight

away speeds have not risen significantly since the 1960’s. In spite of this,

racing cars have shaved seconds off previous track or course records each year

due to advances in aerodynamics, brakes, tires and chassis design. Wings, which

first appeared in the mid-1960’s, were a major development allowing speed to

increase but also allowing the car to be safe for the driver. Wings are

basically airplane wings turned upside down. Instead of lifting, the wings

force the car down. Today because of the downforce provided by wings, an

Indycar can run upside down on the ceiling. Due to the improvement in car

design which has led to faster speeds, but also several deaths, many racing

organizations are changing rules for the safety of the drivers. Such examples

are NASCAR implementing restrictor plates to slow the cars, Formula 1 changing

from methanol burning engines to gasoline burning engines, and Indycar adding

pop-off valves, which open if engine pressure is to high thus exposing the

engine to atmospheric pressure and leading to low power production form the

engine. Auto racing advancement and research has also helped the commercial

automobile industry. The majority of the worlds auto makers have one or more

entries in the 24-hours at Le Mans race. This race is chosen because the strain

put on the car could equal strain put on a car by an average consumer in a year

or more. This can show the immediate reliability of new or revised components.

The auto makers may test new engines, chassis, or something as simple as head

lights. The turbocharger got its start in racing. The turbo uses exhaust gases

to spin a turbine. This then turns a compressor fan that will compress air as

it enters the engine. More air is then in the combustion chamber and it is also

under pressure. When fuel is added and the mixture is ignited, the compressed

air will provide more power than an uncompressed combustion.

As time has passed safety of the car has followed directly behind improvements

in performance of racing cars. Race tracks and courses are lined with safety

barriers to stop a car if it gets off the track out of control. Drivers wear

flame retardant clothing from head to toe, even undergarments must be flame

retardant. The bodies of the cars are made to fall to pieces on contact. This

is better than the car remaining in one piece because more of the force of

impact is absorbed by the car and not the driver. The hardest known material is

used to make the chassis and body, carbon, but in a form called carbon fiber.

This is safe because parts of the car are less likely to break off from the car.

These pieces are a great hazard to all drivers who are on track at the same time.

As the popularity of automobile racing continues to rise, the quality of all

people involved in racing will follow suit. Developments and competition in

recent years have led to revolution in the racing world as competing leagues

strive to become the world’s racing authority. The technology in racing becomes

updated and remodeled each year which will ultimately see its way into the

consumer world.