Professional Car Racing For Beginners

At Velocity Mazda, we’re pretty proud of Team Joest, and we’ll be bringing you the latest updates on team news and competitive events. At Mazda, racing is in our DNA.

 

Almost since cars were invented there has been a group of individuals passionate about making them faster and more powerful. Since then several types of racing have developed. If you’re new to the sport, you may not know the difference between Formula One, IndyCar, NASCAR, World Endurance Championship and WeatherTech Championship races. We’re here to help.

 

Formula One

 

Formula One traces its roots to the first days of racing when cars competed on public streets. It’s the most political, the most well-known and the most prestigious form of racing. Events are international with this year’s 21 races happening around the world in places like Bahrain, China, Monaco, Singapore and Spain. The October 21 event takes place in Austin, Texas.

 

• The Cars — F1 cars look nothing like regular cars. Individual teams create them, so each chassis, internal component and aerodynamics element is unique. They’re pure race cars with one seat and an open cockpit. Most are made completely out of carbon fiber composites. Teams almost fanatically guard information about their engine’s power output, but according to technical regulations, a V-6 supplies somewhere around 600 horsepower and each vehicle’s drivetrain kicks in an extra 160 horses on demand.

 

• The Track — Formula One cars don’t race on ovals, they compete on specially built road courses or street circuits that are opened temporarily for the event. F1 cars can go in excess of 240 mph, but the twists and turns of the course often make drivers reduce their speed well below what they’re capable of.

 

Formula One teams have budgets in the hundreds of millions. Drivers like Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso are some of the highest paid professional athletes in the world.

 

IndyCar Racing

 

IndyCars are also formula cars. They are all open-wheel and made of carbon fiber racers that compete on road tracks, short-term street courses and permanent oval racetracks.

 

• The cars — IndyCars are heavier than F1 cars. They all run the same chassis and have 2.2-litre turbocharged engines from either Honda or Chevrolet. Power, brakes, aerodynamic kits all change depending on the course and the regulations. Like F1 cars, they have a push-to-pass system they can use up to 10 times during a race for a boost of speed while overtaking other drivers. Cars lap at an average of 230 miles an hour, but on street courses there’s a much wider variation depending on terrain.

 

• The track — While tracks vary, the most well-known race, the Indianapolis 500 takes place every year at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It’s often called the Greatest Spectacle in Racing and along with the Monaco Grand Prix and 24 Hours of Le Mans is part of the Triple Crown of Motorsports. The track itself is 2.5 miles around, and drivers complete that distance 200 times for a total distance of 500 miles. It is may be the biggest one-day sporting event every year on the planet and is the most prestigious IndyCar event.

 

Legendary Mario Andretti won races in IndyCar, Formula One, Nascar and other races. His son and grandson Michael and Marco followed in his footsteps. Many count Brazilian Helio Castroneves as the greatest racecar driver of all time. American A.J. Foyt is also a pillar when it comes to open-wheel racing.

 

Mazda is committed to helping promising drivers develop their skills. We’ll cover the Mazda Road to Indy in an article coming soon.

NASCAR

 

Stock car racing uses vehicles that are customized for race track driving. There are three national series, each with different drivers and cars.

 

• The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series is where you’ll find pros like Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Cars weigh 3,450 pounds and have up to 900 horses, with the ability to go 200 miles an hour.
• The NASCAR Nationwide series has slightly lighter, slightly slower cars and gives rivers a chance to develop their skills on their way to the Sprint Cup Series.
• The NASCAR Camping World Truck series is unique in that it has beefed-up pickups with high horsepower engines that can reach up to 180 mph.

World Endurance Championship

 

WEC races have different classes of cars that all compete on the same track. The governing body is the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA). World championship goes to the manufacturers and drivers that score at the top over the course of the season.

 

• The cars – Advanced Le Mans prototypes are the fastest closed-wheel cars in circuit racing. They have different names depending on what series they participate in. Depending on the series, other cars could be based on anything from a Ferrari to a Maserati to a Mazda MX-5. Cars reach speeds as high as 250 mph.

 

• The track – Endurance races take from six to up to 24 hours. They occur on tracks in England, Belgium, France, Japan, China and the United States. Tracks have irregular shapes and are hilly and twisty. For each car, two or more drivers typically split the race in 40 minute shifts.

WeatherTech Sports Car Championship

 

• The cars – There is one flagship class prototype category and two grand tourer classes. Starting last year, the prototype class included LMP2 cars and Daytona Prototypes. Teams in that class must choose from a limited number of chassis and have to stay with the same basic car over the course of a season. Grand tourer classes match either the Automobile Club de l’Quests GTE specs or comply with FIA GT3 requirements.

 

• The track – Races might be as brief as an hour and 40 minutes or last up to a full 24 hours. Each track is different. For example, the Long Beach Street Circuit was inspired by the Monaco Grand Prix and takes place on a course built on city streets. The 24-hour road course at Daytona uses a combined road course that incorporates NASCAR’s tri-oval along with an infield road track.

 

This guide barely scrapes the surface. Drag racing, for example, happens on a straight track with a short distance with drivers seeking to accelerate as fast as possible. Off-road racing events are often point to point, with each event having unique rules.

 

Racing is such an exciting sport with passionate enthusiasts in every genre. Each draws its own type of participant and spectator.

 

Mazda participates in racing because it’s part of feeling the pure freedom of being one with the machine. Whether they’re building a family-friendly sedan, an MX-5 or a prototype Mazda’s goal is to create cars that are light, intuitive, powerful and fast. They invest in every level of racing from grassroots to IndyCar.

 

If reading about racing makes you want to be behind the wheel of a sleek, powerful machine, we can help. There’s nothing like the feel of a new Mazda, and we can put you behind the wheel of one today. Come by Velocity Mazda for a test drive or get in touch to find out more.

 

Sources:

https://insidemazda.mazdausa.com/press-release/mazda-team-joest-tests-endurance-daytona/

https://www.imsa.com/

https://sportscarchampionship.imsa.com/

https://www.formula1.com/en/championship/races/2018.html

https://www.carthrottle.com/post/here-s-the-difference-between-f1-and-indycar/

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