Formula-free race
As a formula-free race in is racing a race called, in which no defined by their parent Motorsports Association racing formula is used. In the literature, terms such as Formula Libre or Formule Libre are also used synonymously .
Various categories are summarized under the term formula-free races:
- Races for which no technical specifications are set - any vehicle that is accepted by the organizer can be brought to the start here
- Races in which technical specifications deviating from the official racing formulas are used - for example, a different displacement or weight limit
- Races in which vehicles of different categories and classes take part in separate evaluation (class division), whereby individual classes can correspond to valid racing formulas.
The decision of an organizer not to hold a race according to a valid racing formula, but according to one of the categories mentioned as a formula-free event, was in the past, especially in times of economic crisis, usually based on the material available, in order to nevertheless attract the public to be able to offer an appealing field of participants. Particularly in the early days of motorsport, it was often not even necessary to restrict them through technical restrictions due to the generally still low performance standards of the vehicles or those that were sufficiently limited by other limiting factors (e.g. tire technology).
The last Formula Libre race to date was the 1981 Grand Prix of South Africa , which received this status as a result of sports-political disputes between FISA and FOCA .