Road racing (motorsport)

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Road race TT on Isle of Man on temporary circuit

The term road racing is used in motorsport for racing on a road paved with asphalt , concrete or compacted gravel .

Road racing is, among other things, the umbrella term for all types of organized motorsport racing events that are carried out on a racetrack with a road-like course and a stabilized lane, mostly with asphalt pavement. The umbrella term is used in particular to distinguish between enduro and rally sports , but also oval races .

In particular, the term is still used today for the motorsport competitions on closed, public roads, which are particularly widespread in the British Isles , in order to distinguish them from races on permanent racetracks. In colloquial language, the word street racing is also understood as a synonym for officially unapproved and therefore illegal street races .

history

Motorsport developed in the late 19th century from the races of the first owners of motor vehicles. These first races took place on public roads. The first race with automobiles led from Paris to Rouen on July 22, 1894 ; the first hill climb on January 31, 1897 from Nice over a total of 17 kilometers up to the mountain village of La Turbie . The race from Paris to Madrid was stopped prematurely in 1903 after several deaths. Was limited then mostly on shorter courses, but were repeatedly passed through, such as the first grand prix at Le Mans in 1906, and next to it arose road race , the circuit races . For the first time, special racetracks were built that allowed high speeds, such as the AVUS in Berlin with its two long straights and a banked curve or Monza in Italy, also with banked curves. In Spa-Francorchamps , Belgium , a triangular course made up of country roads was expanded by introducing bypasses for high speeds.

The international six-day motorcycling rides were largely held on public (paved and unpaved) roads until the Second World War.

Route of the Solitude

Road racing was still very common even after World War II. In the 1960s, various road races such as the Carrera Panamericana 1953 , the Targa Florio 1955 or the Mille Miglia 1957 were an integral part of the sports car world championship . The motorcycle world championship was also partly held on public roads, such as the Stuttgart Solitude until 1965 or even the Yugoslavian Grand Prix until 1990 . The race was driven near Opatija on a coastal road that branched off into the mountainous hinterland after a few kilometers, from there back to the Adriatic Sea.

Road race on Kreisstraße 82 at the Trier hill climb 2011

In Germany and continental Europe, almost all road races disappeared, the last in the 1990s, mostly due to a lack of safety compared to permanent racetracks. The last German road races include hill climbs , for example .

In some road races these days, for safety reasons, the participants are started individually and only drive against time. In contrast to the classic mass start, it is not the participant who crosses the finish line first who wins, but the participant who covers the specified distance the fastest.

Some traditional street races such as the Monte Carlo Rally became rally events and even formed the basis of rally sport. The road races were increasingly divided into rally sport events and circuit races. Others, such as the Carrera Panamericana or the Targa Florio , became competitions for historic racing cars. Road races continue to play a major role in automotive racing in the field of classic car events. In addition to reissues of historic street races, such as the Mille Miglia , there were also new ones, such as the 2000 km through Germany . However, the maximum speed is not relevant for this special touristic form, uniformity and reliability are the more important factors here.

"Real street races"

"Real road races": TT on the Isle of Man

In the British Isles and the Czech Republic, on the other hand, a large number of these motorcycle racing events have continued to this day . They are very popular with fans and are also referred to as "real-road-racing" ( German : "Echte Straßenrennen"). The most popular of these are found in the British Isles. From the most famous road race, the Isle of Man TT , experts like Helmut Dähne even claim "A TT victory is worth more than a world championship title" . In Ireland, a complete championship, the Irish Road Race Championship, is only held on public roads.

background

Similar to a street circuit , the affected streets are temporarily closed to traffic and the route is delimited with fences, crash barriers or, as is common at the beginning of motor sports, with bales of straw at sensitive areas. The entire infrastructure that is permanently installed on permanent motorsport racetracks such as the Hockenheimring in the form of grandstands, parc fermé or boxes , for example , is only required for the short duration of the racing event and is created for it. Most of the streets closed off for this purpose form a triangle or square. When these roads were built, however, their planners did not intend to use them in this way. Rather, the fact that the road layout meets the needs of racing events was recognized in retrospect and then used for the purpose. In addition, almost all mountain races in which no laps are driven, but only from point A (start) to point B (finish), are legal road races.

Exemplary events

Road racing for motorcycles in the British Isles and the Czech Republic

Route of the North West 200

(Abstract)

Road races for automobiles in Germany

Schleizer triangle

(Abstract)

No longer held road races for motorcycles

(Selection)

Historic road races for automobiles that are no longer held

(Abstract)

See also

swell

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ DMSB Motorradsport handbook 2015 , red part - page 14, German Motorcycle Sports Act (DMSG), Chapter IV. Organization of competitions , accessed on September 22, 2015.
  2. ↑ IndyCar calendar 2012 is available at motorsport-total.com from December 22, 2011, accessed on September 23, 2015.
  3. ^ Motorcycle races on public roads. Eggersdorfer.info. Retrieved September 15, 2015 .
  4. ↑ The ride on the razor blade. Süddeutsche Zeitung, May 22, 2010, accessed on September 16, 2015 .
  5. ↑ Irish Road Championship: Only real road race Championship , motorsportarchive.de, accessed on September 23, 2015. (English)
  6. ^ Motorcycle races on public roads. Eggersdorfer.info. Retrieved September 15, 2015 .