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Template:/box-header1 Motorsport (also known as auto racing or motor racing) has existed almost as long as the automobile itself. It originated in France in 1894 with a "reliability test" between Paris and Rouen that was organised by Le Petit Journal. The following year saw the first stage race take place between Paris and Bordeaux and automotive competition was born. Motorsport can take place on- and off-road on purpose-built closed road circuits, temporary street circuits, ovals, and special stages on asphalt, gravel or snow. The variety of machinery is even wider and ranges from vehicles that are derived from production road cars – such as touring cars and GT cars – to high-tech purpose-built formula cars and GP motorcycles. See the section on Racing disciplines below. Competition is not confined to conventional first-past-the-flag races, but can include speed contests (such as drag racing), time trials (such as rallying) and skill tests (such as motorcycle trials). Click on the Categories and Articles tab to find motorsport-related content or click on the Get involved tab to find out how you can take part in some of Wikipedia's motorsport-related WikiProjects and help us to improve our coverage of this subject. Template:/box-footer
The Brabham BT46 was a Formula One racing car, designed by Gordon Murray for the Brabham team, owned by Bernie Ecclestone, for the 1978 Formula One season. The car featured several radical design elements, the most obvious of which was the use of flat panel heat exchangers on the bodywork of the car to replace conventional water and oil radiators. The concept did not work in practice and was removed before the car’s race debut, never to be seen again. The cars, powered by a flat-12 Alfa Romeo engine, raced competitively with modified nose-mounted radiators for most of the year, driven by Niki Lauda and John Watson, winning one race in this form and scoring sufficient points for the team to finish third in the constructors championship. The “B” variant of the car, also known as the fan car, was introduced at the 1978 Swedish Grand Prix as a counter to the dominant ground effect Lotus 79. The BT46B generated an immense level of downforce by means of a fan, claimed to be for increased cooling, but which also extracted air from beneath the car. The car only raced once in this configuration in the Formula One World Championship; Niki Lauda winning the 1978 Swedish Grand Prix at Anderstorp. The car was withdrawn before it could race again and the concept declared illegal by the FIA. The BT46B therefore preserves a 100% winning record. (More...) Henri Toivonen (August 25, 1956 – May 2, 1986) was a Finnish rally driver born in Jyväskylä, the home of Rally Finland. His father, Pauli Toivonen, was the 1968 European Rally Champion for Porsche and his brother, Harri Toivonen, became a professional circuit racer. Toivonen's first World Rally Championship victory came with a Talbot Sunbeam Lotus at the 1980 Lombard RAC Rally in Great Britain, just after his 24th birthday. He is still the youngest driver ever to win a world rally. Toivonen switched to driving for Lancia before finally signing up for a full WRC programme in 1985. Despite nearly ending up paralysed at a rally in Costa Smeralda early in 1985, he returned to rallying later that year. He won the last event of the season, the RAC Rally, as well as the 1986 season opener, the Monte Carlo Rally, which his father had won exactly 20 years earlier. Toivonen, driving a Lancia Delta S4, died in a mysterious accident on May 2, 1986 at the Tour de Corse rally in Corsica, while leading both the event and the championship. His American co-driver, Sergio Cresto, also died when the Lancia plunged down a ravine and exploded. The fatal accident had no close witnesses and the remains of the car were merely blackened spaceframe, making it impossible to determine the cause of the accident. Within hours of the accident, Jean-Marie Balestre, the President of the FISA, had banned the powerful Group B rally cars from competing the following season, ending rallying's popular supercar era. Although Toivonen is remembered for his exuberant driving style on gravel, he started his career in circuit racing and was also very competitive on tarmac. During the 1986 Rally of Portugal, he drove his Delta S4 at the Estoril track, and recorded a lap time which reportedly would have qualified him in sixth position at that year's Formula One Portuguese Grand Prix. Eddie Jordan, with whose Formula Three team Toivonen made a few guest appearances, claimed that he was certain that Toivonen would have become a winner in Formula One and compared his performances to Ayrton Senna. The annual Race of Champions, originally organised in Toivonen's memory, awards the winning individual driver the Henri Toivonen Memorial Trophy. (More...)	Kurt Busch and Joe Nemechek running together in a NASCAR Nextel Cup race at Talladega in 2005 "The first time I fired up a car, felt the engine shudder and the wheel come to life in my hands, I was hooked. It was a feeling I can't describe. I still get it every time I get into a race car." – Mario Andretti. "You do things, you f**k people, it's racing." – Niki Lauda. "It doesn't matter if you're in a wheelchair or have healthy legs. If you have the will to do something, you can get it done. I race the same as anyone else does; I just don't use my feet. And, I never give up." - Evan Evans, the first paraplegic competitor to win a professional off-road racing title. ...that NASCAR founder Bill France, Sr. examined photographs and newsreels for three days before determining that unofficial 1959 Daytona 500 race winner Johnny Beauchamp had actually finished second behind Lee Petty? ...that American sports car racing driver Dick Thompson was known as the "Flying Dentist"? ...that Andy Papathanassiou, a former college football player who was the first person hired as a NASCAR pit crew coordinator, started use of trained athletes to cut pit stop times from 19 down to 13 seconds? ...that the Daytona Beach Road Course was the site of fifteen world land speed records, and the course was instrumental in the formation of NASCAR?
Danica Patrick June 21 – NHRA driver Scott Kalitta is killed in a qualifying crash April 20 – IRL driver Danica Patrick became the first American woman to win an Indy event at the Indy Japan 300 at Twin Ring Motegi.[1] March 30 – Touring car driver David Leslie and team owner Richard Lloyd have been killed in an aviation accident in Kent, England. March 30 – Dani Pedrosa won the Spanish MotoGP race at Jerez. Yamaha riders Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo finished second and third.[2] March 30 – In the NASCAR Sprint Cup, Denny Hamlin took his first win of the season at Martinsville Speedway. Jeff Burton's 3rd place gave him the lead in the points standings.[3] March 30 – Colin Turkington and reigning champion Fabrizio Giovanardi shared the race wins in the first round of the 2008 British Touring Car Championship season.[4][5] March 30 – Scott Dixon won the first race of the new IndyCar Series season. The former champion started in pole position and led 67 of the 200 laps.[6] March 17 – Jeff Burton won NASCAR's Sprint Cup race – the Food City 500 – at Bristol. It was the first 1-2-3 finish for Richard Childress Racing.[7] The Nationwide Series race was won by Clint Bowyer. Kevin Harvick still leads the standings.[8] March 17 – Garth Tander won all three races in last weekend's V8 Supercars series round at Albert Park in Melbourne, Australia.[9] Template:/box-footer Template:/box-header Formula One World Rally Championship NASCAR MotoGP Formula racing refers to various forms of racing that use open wheeled single seaters, from Formula One to Formula Ford. Wherever there is motor racing, there will often be some form of formula racing. Some formulae use a single design of chassis and engine, while others allow a lot of technical freedom. Stock cars race primarily on oval circuits and are very popular in the United States, where the major championships are run by NASCAR. The cars are built to very strict regulations with "silhouette" body shells that resemble production road car models. Major events include the Daytona 500. Touring cars fall into two main categories of machinery based on production road cars. Some classes – such as the World Touring Car Championship – are heavily production-based with limited modifications, while others – like the DTM – use racing chassis and components with bodywork that mimics the equivalent road cars. Sports car racing is synonymous with endurance racing, in which two or more drivers share each car during the course of a long race. Races in a series typically last around three to four hours, but there are many one-off events that can last for 12 or even 24 hours or cover a set distance such as 1000km. There are two distinct types of sports cars that often share events (each type being divided into classes). Sports prototypes have mid-engined chassis that are fully enclosed in aerodynamically efficient bodywork. Their cockpits can be open or enclosed in a canopy. Sports prototypes are most closely associated with the 24 Hours of Le Mans and notable examples include the Audi R10 and Porsche 962. GT cars (grand tourers) are production-based sports cars that may be mid-, rear- or front-engined. Notable examples include the Viper GTS-R, the 911 GT2 and the Maserati MC12. Kart racing is the first step on the career ladder for most young aspiring drivers. They are constructed with a small, flat chassis, small wheels, a single seat and almost no bodywork. They are powered by small two-stroke engines. Most karting formulae permit entrants as young as seven or eight years old, who will hope to graduate into entry-level single-seater formula racing in their late teens. Rallying takes place on closed roads of asphalt, gravel, mud, or snow. The vehicles are usually modified road cars or production-derived, often with 4WD. Events comprise a series of point-to-point time trials in which competitors begin each timed "stage" at intervals. The highest level is the World Rally Championship; notable events include the Dakar Rally. Drifting is a relatively recent form of motorsport that originated in Japan. Competitors have to induce a controlled rear-wheel slide during their competition runs and are judged according to a number of criteria. Depending on the nature of the competition, the drivers may perform on track individually or compete together in a form of "race". Drag racing is a performance contest between two competitors in similar or identical machinery on a straight dragstrip measuring from 660-1320 ft (201-402 m) in length, on which they accelerate from a standing start. The leading category is Top Fuel, whose engines run on an alcohol-based mixture to produce over 8,000 bhp (6,000 kW). They can cover 1000 ft (305 m) in under 4 seconds with a peak speed exceeding 320 mph (515 kph). Motorcycle sport is a widely varied category. On asphalt, it may take the form of circuit racing, such as MotoGP and the Superbike World Championship, road races like the Isle of Man TT, or even stunt riding competitions. Off-road competition includes Motocross, Freestyle, Enduro and Motorcycle trials. Equipment ranges from unmodified or production-derived machines to the high-technology bespoke racing bikes that are used in MotoGP. 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