UK and Ireland

UK and Ireland

Legends racing UK at Croft circuit

Running since the late 1990s, Legends Racing UK visit tracks all over the British Isles, and ran a 15 round championship, however they did not visit Scotland this year.

3 races are held – 2 heats and a final – at a round of the championship, the heats lasting between 7 and 12 laps depending on the circuit, with the final a few laps longer. The grid for race 1 is drawn by lots, with the reverse for Heat 2, and in the final the grid is formed by the reverse of the drivers points in the previous two races – meaning the most successful driver will start at the back. In each race however, all rookies start at the back of the grid.

Historically, Legends racers from the UK have performed well at the world finals, winning Semi-pro and masters divisions.

Mexico and Australia

Mexico

A Legends racing series has been announced in Mexico for 2009, consolidating a true ladder system for the NASCAR Corona Series. The series will be open for drivers 12 years and older, and is marketed as being the step before the NASCAR Mexico T4 Series.

Australia

Legends have raced on Australian speedway circuits for years as a minor category. Aussie Racing Cars developed from Legends with a focus on becoming more capable circuit racing cars and have expanded their bodyshells to include more modern styles but still the same Yamaha motorcycle engines.

Scotland

Scotland

Scottish Legends Championship race start at Knockhill

Brought to Scotland by Aly Hunter, and with only 6 cars taking to the grid in April 2000 at Knockhill, it is now the norm to find around 20 cars taking part, with 25 competing in the support races at the 2007 BTCC meeting. 2007 saw all of the races took place at Knockhill, but the series has organised “away” rounds at Croft and Anglesey in recent years. The series observes the same race format rules as the UK Legends, however the races are 8 and 10 laps long for the heats and final respectively.

Legends are available for race or track hire at Knockhill.

USA

USA

Drivers can be classified into four different divisions. The Pro Division is for the experienced drivers. The Masters Division features drivers 40 years and older. The Semi-Pro Division is the novice class, featuring the drivers that are new to the sport or have been inactive in other forms of racing for a while. Finally, there is the Young Lions Division, which is designated for drivers between the ages of 12 and 16.

Famous graduated Legends Car drivers include Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Reed Sorenson, David Ragan, Kyle Busch, and Kurt Busch.

Britain, Italy, France, Germany, Japan and the USA

Growth of sports car racing at a national level - Britain, Italy, France, Germany, Japan and the USA

In national rather than international racing, sports car competition in the 1950s and early 1960s tended to reflect what was locally popular, with the cars that were successful locally often influencing each nation's approach to competing on the international stage.

In the USA, imported Italian, German and British cars battled local hybrids, with initially very distinct East and West Coast scenes; these gradually converged and a number of classic races and important teams emerged including Camoradi, Briggs Cunningham and so on. The US scene tended to feature small MG and Porsche cars in the smaller classes, and imported Jaguar, Maserati, Mercedes-Benz, Allard and Ferrari cars in the larger classes.

A breed of powerful hybrids appeared in the 50s and 60s and raced on both sides of the Atlantic, featuring European chassis and large American engines - from the early Allard cars via hybrids such as Lotus 19s fitted with large engines through to the AC Cobra. The combination of mostly-British chassis and American V8 engines gave rise to the popular and spectacular Can-Am series in the 1960s and 1970s.

In Britain 2-litre sports cars were initially popular (the Bristol engine being readily available and cheap), subsequently 1100 cc sports racers became a very popular category for young drivers (effectively supplanting 500 cc F3), with Lola, Lotus, Cooper and others being very competitive, although at the other end of the scale in the early to mid 1960s the national sports racing scene also attracted sophisticated GTs and later a crop of large-engined "big bangers" the technology of which largely gave rise to Can-Am but soon died out. Clubmans provided much entertainment at club-racing level from the 1960s into the 1990s and John Webb revived interest in big sports prototypes with Thundersports in the 1980s. There was even enough interest in Group C to sustain a C2 championship for a few years; at 'club' level Modified Sports Car ("ModSports") and Production Sports Car ("ProdSports") races remained a feature of most British race meetings into the 1980s, evolving into a "Special GT" series that was essentially Formula Libre for sports or saloon cars. After a relative period of decline in the 1980s a British GT Championship

Italy found itself with both grassroots racing with a plethora of Fiat based specials (often termed "etceterinis") and small Alfa Romeos, and exotica such as Maserati and Ferrari - who also sold cars to domestic customers as well as racing on the world stage. Road races such as the Mille Miglia included everything from stock touring cars to World Championship contenders. The Mille Miglia was the largest sporting event in Italy until a fatal accident caused its demise in 1957. The Targa Florio, another tough road race, remained part of the world championship until the 1970s and remained as a local race for many years afterwards.

As the French car industry switched from making large powerful cars to small utilitarian ones, French sports cars of the 1950s and early 1960s tended to be small-capacity and highly aerodynamic (often based on Panhard or Renault components), aimed at winning the "Index of Performance" at Le Mans and Reims and triumphing in handicap races. Between the late 1960s and late 1970s, Matra and Renault made significant and successful efforts to win at Le Mans.

In Germany, domestic production based racing was largely dominated by BMW, Porsche and Mercedes-Benz, although sports car/GT racing gradually became eclipsed by touring cars and the initially sports car based Deutsche Rennsport Meisterschaft gradually evolved into the Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft. Porsche started to evolve a line of sports prototypes from the late 1950s; noted for their toughness and reliability they started to win in races of attrition such as the Targa Florio and as they grew bigger (via the Porsche 910 to the Porsche 908 and finally the Porsche 917) the Stuttgart marque became first a competitor for overall wins and then came to dominate sports car racing - both they and Mercedes have made intermittent returns to the top level of the sport through the 1970s, 80s and 90s.

Sports car racing has intermittently been popular in Japan - in the 1960s small-capacity sports racers and even a local version of the Group 7 cars as raced in Can-Am were popular; a healthy local sports prototype championship ran until the early 1990s and now the Super GT series provides high-budget exposure to manufacturers, with many international drivers appearing. The Japanese manufacturers have also been frequent visitors to the US sports car scene (Nissan and Toyota in particular during the heyday of IMSA) and to the European scene, in particular Le Mans, where despite many years of trying by all the man Japanese marques the only victory to have been scored by a Japanese marque was by Mazda in 1991.

Touring car racing

World Touring Car Championship 2006: Andy Priaulx leads at Curitiba.

Touring car racing is a style of road racing that is run with production derived race cars. It often features exciting, full-contact racing due to the small speed differentials and large grids.

The major touring car championships conducted worldwide are the V8 Supercars, British Touring Car Championship, Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters, and the World Touring Car Championship. The European Touring Cup is a one day event open to Super 2000 specification touring cars from Europe's many national championships. Another European series is the FIA GT Championship, which features the Spa 24 Hours on their schedule.

The Sports Car Club of America's SPEED World Challenge Touring Car and GT championships are dominant in North America. America's historic Trans-Am Series is undergoing a period of transition, but is still the longest-running road racing series in the U.S. The National Auto Sport Association also provides a venue for amateurs to compete in home-built factory derived vehicles on various local circuits.

Single-seater racing

In single-seater (open-wheel) the wheels are not covered, and the cars often have aerofoil wings front and rear to produce downforce and enhance adhesion to the track. In Europe and Asia, open wheeled racing is commonly referred to as "Formula", with appropriate hierarchical suffixes. In North America, the "Formula" terminology is not followed (with the exception of F1). The sport is usually arranged to follow an "international" format (such as F1), a "regional" format (such as the Formula 3 Euro Series), or a "domestic", or country-specific format (such as the German Formula 3 championship, or the British Formula Ford).

The best-known variety of single-seater racing, Formula One, involves an annual World Championship for drivers and constructors

In North America, the cars used in the National Championship (currently the IndyCar Series, and previously CART) have traditionally been similar though less sophisticated than F1 cars, with more restrictions on technology aimed at controlling costs.

Formula Three car racing at the Hockenheimring, 2008

Other international single-seater racing series are the A1 Grand Prix (unofficially often referred to as the "world cup of motorsport"), and the GP2 (formerly known as Formula 3000 and Formula Two). Regional series include Formula Nippon and Formula V6 Asia (specifically in Asia), Formula Renault 3.5 (also known as the World Series by Renault, succession series of World Series by Nissan), Formula Three, Formula Palmer Audi and Formula Atlantic. In 2009, the FIA Formula Two Championship brought about the revival of the F2 series. Domestic, or country-specific series include Formula Three, Formula Renault, Formula Ford with the leading introductory series being Formula BMW.

Single seater racing is not limited merely to professional teams and drivers. There is a large amateur 'club racing' scene catering for those who want to race single seaters against similar people all over the world. In the UK the major club series are the Monoposto Racing Club, BRSCC F3 (Formerly ClubF3, formerly ARP F3), Formula Vee and Club Formula Ford. Each series caters for a section of the 'market', with some primarily providing low cost racing whilst others aim for an authentic experience using the same regulations as the professional series (BRSCC F3).

There are other categories of single-seater racing, including kart racing, which employs a small, low-cost machine on small tracks. Many of the current top drivers began their careers in karts. Formula Ford once represented a popular first open-wheel category for up-and-coming drivers stepping up from karts and now the Formula BMW series is the preferred option as it has introduced an aero package and slicks, allowing the junior drivers to gain experience in a race car with dynamics closer F1. The Star Mazda Series is another entry level series.

Students at colleges and universities can also take part in single seater racing through the Formula SAE competition, which involves designing and building a single seater car in a multidisciplinary team, and racing it at the competition. This also develops other soft skills such as teamwork whilst promoting motorsport and engineering.

In 2006, producer Todd Baker was responsible for creating the world's first all-female Formula racing team. The group was an assemblage of drivers from different racing disciplines, and formed for an MTV reality pilot which was shot at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.

In December, 2005 the FIA gave approval to Superleague Formula racing which debuted in 2008 whereby the racing teams are owned and run by prominent sports clubs such as AC Milan and FC Porto.