People that watch different forms of car racing will more often than not ask what the difference is between F1 and Indycar or NASCAR and Stock Car and so on. There are lots of different forms of car racing out there and men should know and appreciate the differences because they can all be entertaining and exciting.
Formula 1 (F1)
Formula 1 racing was started in 1950 and has always been known for racing only on "road courses" which are literally tracks made from the existing streets and roads in a particular city. The F1 series of races is international in scope with races from Montreal to Dubai and everywhere in between. The engines in the cars are also international with manufacturers including Honda, Mercedes, Ferrari and Renault. They are among the fastest race cars in the world reaching speeds of up to 360km/h or 220mph.
F1 races start with a "standing start", which means after a warm-up lap or "Parade Lap" they form into positions on a starting grid. A light, similar to a traffic light will show red, the red disappears and around 3 seconds later the green light will appear signalling the drivers to begin racing. Standing starts were instituted to cut down on accidents going into the first turn at high rates of speed..
F1 cars will race in the rain, sometimes heavy rain. They can switch to treaded tires if need be.
In the "pits" F1 teams are allowed an unlimited amount of crew over the wall to service the vehicle, making pit-stops extremely fast.
The engines in F1 cars used to run on 2.4L non turbocharged V8s but have recently switched to 1.6L turbocharged engines called "power units" because they are designed to recover power lost from the engine to the wheels. They also get a lot of power from a series of electric motors. The engines also run on high octane gasoline.
Official Formula 1 Website
Indy Racing League (IRL) or IndyCar
IndyCar is a league based out of Indianapolis, Indiana, home of the Indy 500 which is one of the most famous races in North America. The same company that owned the raceway also owns the racing league which explains where its name originated from. IndyCar evolved out of the now defunct Cart Racing League and Champ Car League. It used to only race on oval tracks and only in the United States but that has changed slightly in recent years having one or two races in other countries like Canada and Brazil. Also, there is now a roughly 50/50 mix of road and oval courses.
Chevrolet and Honda are the only engine manufacturers that IRL cars use. They are both 2.2L twin-turbo V6s that use E85 Ethanol as fuel.
During pit-stops there is only allowed a maximum of six crew members over the wall working on the car.
They have rolling starts on ovals and standing starts on road courses.
Official IRL Website
NASCAR
NASCAR got its start by the practice of bootleggers outfitting their cars to go faster in order to outrun police cars during prohibition. Because of this the NASCAR racing series has stayed uniquely American with all of its races in the United States. The league even tries very hard to have the cars look similar to cars that people can buy and drive themselves, going so far as to have stick-on headlights. They are closed wheel and closed cockpit.
NASCAR engines are approx. 5.7L Pushrod V8s. No turbos and no fuel injection which means they still use carburettors.
NASCARs run almost exclusively on oval tracks.
The fields are very large, sometimes over 40 cars in one race with rolling starts which leads to a high number of crashes when compared to other forms of racing.
The engines are manufactured by Chevrolet, Ford and Toyota.
Official NASCAR Website
Lesser Known Types of Racing
Touring Car
Touring cars are as close to stock street cars as possible. They compete in road circuits and are most popular in Europe. A manufacturer can sponser a driver by giving them a car which can then be heavily modified yet still be street legal. There are different catagories based on engine displacement and if the car is turbocharged, supercharged or not.
Touring car races have a lot of contact but are not near as fast as NASCAR which means there are less crashes.
Official Touring Car Website
Sports Cars
Sports Cars are purpose built prototype race cars built by most manufacturers, From Nissan to Audi to Chevrolet. They are closed wheel double cockpit. Most of the cars are prototypes of existing models that have undergone some changes and are being raced to test the changes. These cars are not available to the public and are not street legal. However variations on the models are available to buy but not with the body style they race with. Sports Car are most famous for racing in the 24 Hours of LeMans.
Official Sports Car Website
Final Words
I hope this gives everyone a better understanding of the different types of car racing that is out there. Some might not appeal to everyone but having a deeper understanding of them will hopefully give you more enjoyment in whichever type you choose to watch.
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