Washington Auto Racing Website

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...

Enduro ... Certainly part of the confusion stems from the fact that rallies and enduros share two pronounced qualities; they are usually lengthy compared to most forms of motorsport racing and they cover varying off-road terrain, usually without repeating any section of the terrain in the course of an event...

Touring Car Racing ... Whilst not nearly as fast as Formula One, the similarity of the cars both to each other and to fans' own vehicles makes for entertaining, well-supported racing... The lesser impact of aerodynamics also means that following cars have a much easier time of passing than F1, and the more substantial bodies of the cars makes the occasional nudging for overtaking much more acceptable as part of racing... Regulations are usually designed to limit costs by banning some of the more exotic technologies available (for instance, many series insist on a "control tyre" that all competitors must use) and keep the racing close (sometimes by ballast weight where winning a race requires the winner's car to be heavier for subsequent races)...

Historic Motorsport ... Championships range from "grass root" Austin Seven racing to the FIA Thoroughbred Grand Prix Championship for classic Formula One chassis...

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 Australia ... Racing industry Racing in Australia is administered by the Australian Racing Board, with each state's Principal Racing Authority agreeing to abide by, and to enforce, the Australian Rules of Racing... Important races Public interest in Thoroughbred racing, especially during the main spring and autumn racing carnivals, has been growing in recent years with over 100,000 attracted to the running of the Melbourne Cup, the Victoria Derby and the VRC Oaks race meets...

Ice Racing ... In the late 1960s ice racing was staged at a number of rinks in Scotland but the machines used were rally based machines with all season tires Tires Ice racing tires are either studded or non-studded... Through 2008, Menard's Racing in Wisconsin manufactured and sold studded racing tires for cars, and they were required in many ice-racing classes... Motorcycle ice racing Ice racing includes a motorcycle class which is the equivalent of Speedway on ice...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Thoroughbred Racing In New Zealand ... During the 2008-09 racing season 19 New Zealand bred Thoroughbreds won 22 Group One races around the world...

Formula Racing ... Categories such as Formula Three and GP2 are described as feeder formulæ, which refers to their position below Formula One on the career ladder of single seater motor racing... There are two primary forms of racing formula: the open formula that allows a choice of chassis and/or engines; and the control or "spec" formula that relies on a single supplier for chassis and engines... The first racing formulæ Formula One In the process of reviving Grand Prix racing after the end of World War II, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile's Commission Sportive Internationale was responsible for defining the standardised regulations of Formula One in 1946...

Racing ... Forms of racing Further information: List of forms of racing Running a distance is the most basic form of racing, but races may be conducted in vehicles, such as boats, cars and aircraft, or with animals such as horses or dogs... In a relay race members of a team take turns in racing parts of a circuit or performing a certain racing form...

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...

Harness Racing In New Zealand ... The New South Wales bred, Lawn Derby, racing un-hoppled, was the first pacer to break the two-minute barrier in Australia or New Zealand when he recorded 1:59.4 at the Addington track in New Zealand in 1938...

Motorcycle Drag Racing ... The most well-known form of motorcycle drag racing is the Pro Stock Bike category, although several other categories exist, including 1,000 horsepower (750 kW) nitromethane engine...

Greyhound Racing In Great Britain ... This was the first attempt of introducing mechanical racing to the UK, however it did not catch on at the time... Greyhound racing was brought to Britain from America by Charles Munn, an American businessman who obtained the overseas rights to the mechanical lure (hare)... His business partners were Alfred Critchley and Francis Gentle and together they formed the Greyhound Racing Association (GRA) and raised £25,000 to build a racecourse at Belle Vue...

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...

Kart Racing ... Karts vary widely in speed and some (known as Superkarts) can reach speeds exceeding 160 miles per hour (260 km/h), while go-karts intended for the general public in amusement parks may be limited to speeds of no more than 15 miles per hour (24 km/h). A KF1 kart, with a 125 cc 2-stroke engine and an overall weight including the driver of 150 kilograms has a top speed of 85 miles per hour (137 km/h)...

Horse Racing ... Various types of racing have given rise to horse breeds that excel in the specific disciplines of each sport... Breeds that may be used for flat racing include the Thoroughbred, Quarter Horse, Arabian, Paint, and Appaloosa... Harness racing is dominated by Standardbred horses in Australia, New Zealand and North America, but several other breeds, such as the Russian Trotter and Finnhorse, are seen in Europe...