Racing cars and their history

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This site refers to the racing cars that were participating in motorsports events

Auto Racing

One of the main characteristic of human nature is competition. Many people compete in athletic games or races in order to earn glory or to prove something. One athletic field is Motorsports, which is is the group of competitive events which primarily involve the use of motorized vehicles. Motor racing is the subset of motorsport which involve competitors racing against each other.1

Auto racing (also known as automobile racing, car racing or motorcar racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition.2

An Auto racing championship has five main participants:

  • Official Authorities: All racing championships have Official Authorities that build Technical regulations with rules and constrains for all vehicles intended to race. World official authority for Auto Racing is Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA)3. FIA sets some certain specific criteria according some Technical Regulations, and certifies that a particular racing car matches those criteria. This certification is a "license" that is called Homologation. Generally, Homologation is the granting of approval by an official authority.
  • Manufacturers can build a complete vehicle, or the engine of the vehicle alone. A large amount of components can be produced by independent manufacturers.
  • Cars: An automobile, autocar, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor4. A Sports car is a small, usually two seater, two door automobile designed for spirited performance and nimble handling5, and can runs in competition events.
  • Drivers that can drive the racing vehicles are the sportsmen or sportswomen as in all sporting activities of humans.
  • Others, of course all competition activities of a motor racing championship is nothing without Spectators! All the championships are supported by fans and spectators who watch and, finally, help technology to grow.

Cars and Homologation

Any car that is intented to participate in Motor Racing, must be checked whether it follows certain specific criteria as noted before. Once it is approved, any driver can officially participate in any National and International Auto racing event using the approved (homologated) car.

Approval or Homologation in Motor racing has the following characteristics:

  • it is written on a "Homologation paper"
  • every vehicle has a unique "Homologation Number"
  • general technical specifications and modifications for the specified car are presented in it
  • additional technical modification updates are also allowed to be added in later time, and they are called "homologation extensions"

FIA is responsible for World Racing Events that were and are taking place in all over the world. Some kinds of racing championships are run in open roads, in conditions such as gravel, tarmac or snow, such as Rally Championship or Sports cars Championship or Touring cars Championship. Since '70s Sports cars and Touring cars championships were no longer run in open roads due to safety reasons. All other events are taking place in closed circuits with much higher safety, but with higher speeds.

There are several categories of Racing Cars, with open or covered wheels, that can participate to an "open road" or "closed circuit" motor racing championship.
All categories that have limited modifications allowed, must have specific production numbers of identical examples made, and some restrictions on modifications that can be made to improve its performance. Usually, all racing cars are modified to, or are initially built as Sports Cars, meaning that only one or two seat/doors are necessary. All cars are built by manufacturers.

V8 engines
Materials:
Article
21-4B stainless steel for inlet/exhaust valves
23-8B stainless steel for exhaust valves

See manufacturer's database

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