Horseracing In Great Britain ... The two main forms of horse racing in Great Britain are unobstructed distances races, known as flat racing, and races over fences or over hurdles, known as National Hunt racing... Additionally there is another form of racing which is run on an altogether more informal and ad hoc basis, known as point to point racing...
Sports Car Racing ... A kind of hybrid between the purism of open-wheelers and the familiarity of touring car racing, this style of racing is often associated with the annual Le Mans 24 Hours endurance race... Longer races usually involve complex pit strategy and regular driver changes—sports car racing is seen more as a team sport than a gladiatorial individual sport, and team managers like John Wyer, Tom Walkinshaw, driver-turned-constructor Henri Pescarolo, Peter Sauber and Reinhold Joest have become almost as famous as many of their drivers... The prestige of Porsche, BMW, Ferrari, Lotus, Maserati, Alfa Romeo, Lancia, Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar, and Aston Martin derives in part from success in sports car racing and the World Sportscar Championship...
Greyhound Racing ... In other countries (particularly Australia, Ireland, Macau, Mexico, Spain, the UK and the US), greyhound racing is part of the gambling business, similar to although far less profitable than horse racing... In Florida, where 16 tracks survive, the handle, or amount wagered, on racing has dropped from about $620 million to $300 million in 10 years... The first recorded attempt at racing greyhounds on a straight track was made beside the Welsh Harp reservoir, Hendon in 1876, but this experiment did not develop...
Road Racing ... Road racing occasionally is conducted using the infield and oval portions of tracks making a "roval", such as the 24 Hours of Daytona... Hosting a road racing tradition since 1926 at Phillip Island, Victoria, Australia, the photograph at right shows motorcycle racing at a new track, called the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit, which opened in 1989 with the World Motorcycle Championships...
Thoroughbred Racing In New Zealand ... During the 2008-09 racing season 19 New Zealand bred Thoroughbreds won 22 Group One races around the world...
Grasstrack ... Many famous Speedway riders such as 1976 world champion Peter Collins started their racing careers in Grasstrack... More spectacular racing takes place at larger roped tracks including the Poacher and ASTRA Champion of Champions and Grand Slam meetings in Kent and in particular the most exciting meeting of all at the famous Rhodes Minnis circuit...
Hillclimbing ... It is one of the oldest forms of motorsport, since the first known hillclimb at La Turbie near Nice, France took place as long ago as 31 January 1897. The hillclimb held at Shelsley Walsh, in Worcestershire, England is the world's oldest continuously staged motorsport event still staged on its original course, having been first run in 1905...
Drag Racing ... Basics of drag racing Before each race (also known as a pass), each driver is allowed to perform a burnout, which heats the driving tires and lays rubber down at the beginning of the track, improving traction...
V8 Supercars ... They are strictly governed in most aspects of performance in an effort to keep all the drivers on an even footing to create closer, more exciting racing...
Motorcycle Racing ... Sidecar racing has many sub-categories including: – Sidecarcross (sidecar motocross) – Sidecar trials – F1/F2 road racing True road racing See also: Isle of Man TT See also: North West 200 True road racing is run on tracks built from closed public and/or park roads and sometimes extra pieces of purpose built track... In the past true road racing was very commonplace but today few races have survived and even fewer have been added... Only one truly international championship exists at present by the name of "International Road Racing Championship" (IRRC)...
Track Racing ... Nature of the sport Track racing involves between 4 and 6 sometimes 8 competitors riding around an oval track in a counter-clockwise direction over a set amount of laps - usually 4 to 6 sometimes 8 - with points being awarded to all but the last finisher on a sliding scale...
Auto Racing ... Sixty-nine cars started the 50 km (31 mi) selection event that would show which entrants would be allowed to start the main event, the 127 km (79 mi) race from Paris to Rouen. The entrants ranged from serious manufacturers like Peugeot, Panhard or De Dion to amateur owners, and only 25 were selected for the main race...
Off-road Racing ... On August 14, 2010, a modified Ford Ranger pickup truck, racing in the MDR sanctioned "California 200", careered off the track into a group of spectators, killing eight, and raising questions about the future of offroad racing on public lands... Short course racing Short course off-road racing has races on a circuit of less than five miles (such as Crandon International Off-Road Raceway), which are sanctioned by CORR (or its predecessor SODA), and by World Series of Off Road Racing (WSORR)... Another format made popular by the Mickey Thompson Entertainment Group was called stadium racing, where offroad racing vehicles were used in a temporary offroad racetrack was constructed inside a stadium...
Stock Car Racing ... Today most American stock cars may superficially resemble standard American family sedans, but are in fact purpose-built racing machines built to a strict set of regulations governing the car design ensuring that the chassis, suspension, engine, etc... For example, NASCAR Sprint cup series (the highest racing series in the world) now requires fuel injection... In the UK and New Zealand there is a racing formula called stock cars but the cars are markedly different from any road car you might see...
Endurance Racing (motorsport) ... Origins of endurance racing Coppa Florio was an Italian car race started in 1900, and renamed in 1905 when Vincenzo Florio offered the initial 50 000 Lira and a cup designed by Polak of Paris...
American Quarter Horse ... The American Quarter Horse is well known both as a race horse and for its performance in rodeos, horse shows and as a working ranch horse. The compact body of the American Quarter Horse is well-suited to the intricate and speedy maneuvers required in reining, cutting, working cow horse, barrel racing, calf roping, and other western riding events, especially those involving live cattle...
Racing Flags ... If the session is not under caution or delayed, it is said to be under green-flag conditions, though the flag is not actually displayed. A green flag at the entrance to the pits may indicate that the pits are open...
Further Reading: Horse Racing
Thoroughbred ... The Thoroughbred as it is known today was developed in 17th and 18th-century England, when native mares were crossbred with imported Oriental stallions of Arabian, Barb, and Turkoman breeding. All modern Thoroughbreds can trace their pedigrees to three stallions originally imported into England in the 17th century and 18th century, and to a larger number of foundation mares of mostly English breeding...
Parimutuel Betting ... The parimutuel system is used in gambling on horse racing, greyhound racing, jai alai, and all sporting events of relatively short duration in which participants finish in a ranked order. A modified parimutuel system is also used in some lottery games...