Race track

A race track (racetrack, racing track or racing circuit) is a facility built for racing of vehicles,
athletes, or animals (e.g. horse racing or greyhound racing). A race track also may feature
grandstands or concourses. Race tracks are also used in the study of animal locomotion.

An aerial view of the Killarney motorsport

race track in Cape Town, South Africa

Touring Car race at Brands Hatch circuit

A racetrack is a permanent facility or building. Racecourse is an alternate term for a horse racing
track, found in countries such as the United Kingdom, India, Australia, Hong Kong, and the United
Arab Emirates. Race tracks built for bicycles are known as velodromes. Circuit is a common
alternate term for race track, given the circuit configuration of most race tracks, allowing races to
occur over several laps. Some race tracks may also be known as speedways, or raceways.

A race course, as opposed to a racecourse, is a nonpermanent track for sports, particularly road
running, water sports, road racing, or rallying. Many sports usually held on race tracks also can
occur on temporary tracks, such as the Monaco and Singapore Grands Prix in Formula One.

A typical racecourse
History

Some evidence remains of racetracks being developed in several ancient civilizations. The most
developed ancient race tracks were the hippodromes of the Ancient Greeks and the circuses (circi)
of the Roman Empire. Both of these structures were designed for horse and chariot racing. The
stadium of the Circus Maximus in Ancient Rome could hold 200,000 spectators.

Racing facilities existed during the Middle Ages, and records exist of a public racecourse being
opened at Newmarket, in London, in 1174. In 1780, the Earl of Derby created a horse-racing course
on his estate at Epsom; the English Derby continues to be held there today. Racecourses in the
British Isles are based on grass, known as turf tracks. In the United States, the race tracks are soil.

Motorcycles racing on a highly banked

board track in 1911

With the advent of the automobile in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, race tracks were
designed to suit the nature of powered machines. The earliest tracks were modified horse-racing
courses. Racing automobiles in such facilities began in September 1896, at Narragansett Park in
Cranston, Rhode Island. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway was opened in August 1909.

Beginning in the early 1900s, motorcycle races were run on high, banked, wooden race tracks called
board tracks. During the 1920s, many of the races on the AAA Championship circuit were run on
such board tracks. Modern racetracks are designed with spectator safety being paramount,
following incidents of spectator and track marshals fatalities. These often involve run-off areas,
barriers, and high fencing.
Sports

Autódromo José Carlos Pace Racetrack

showing safety fencing

Motorcycle ice racing

View of a race track from a race car at

Wakefield Park, Australia

Racetracks are used for:

Animal sports

Camel racing

Greyhound racing

Harness racing

Horse racing
Human sports

Bobsleigh

Cycle sport

Skeleton (sport)

Track and field

Motor sports

Auto racing

Drag racing

Kart racing

Motorcycle racing

Stock car racing

Track racing (motorcycles)

Truck racing

Drift racing

Configurations

Horseracing track, Happy Valley

Racecourse in Hong Kong, showing
grandstands

Some racetracks offer little in the way of permanent infrastructure other than the track; others
incorporate spectator facilities such as grandstands, hospitality or facilities for competitors, such as
pit lanes and garages, paddocks and stables. Several racetracks are incorporated into larger venues
or complexes, incorporating golf courses, museums, hotels, and conference centres. Some
racetracks are small enough to be contained indoors, for sports such as motocross, track cycling,
and athletics.
Many racetracks are multi-use, allowing different types of sport on the same track, or incorporating
many tracks in one venue. Commonly, running tracks are incorporated within general use or soccer
stadiums, either permanently visible or covered by stands or pitches.

Many horse and motorsport tracks are configurable, allowing different routes or sections. Some
venues contain smaller tracks inside larger ones, with access tunnels and bridges for spectators.
Some racetracks incorporate a short course and a longer course which uses part of the shorter one,
usually the main straight, such as Brands Hatch. The Le Mans road race venue is centred on a
smaller permanent circuit within its complex.

The ACI Vallelunga car racing track near

Rome, Italy, a typical meandering layout
with run-off areas

Surfaces

Stadion Haunstetten, a sand track

Surfaces include:

All-weather running track (Tartan) (athletics)

Artificial turf (electric radio controlled off-road racing)[1][2]

Asphalt/tarmac (motorsports, athletics, cycling)

Carpet (electric radio controlled racing)[3][4]

Concrete (motorsports)

Dirt (horses, greyhounds, automobiles, motorbikes (track racing), stock cars, radio controlled off-
road racing, cycling)

Grass (horses, amateur motorsports, cross country running)

 Ice (speed skating – when on dirt tracks, bobsleighs, speed skating, ice motor racing)

Sand (horses, camels, greyhounds, rally raid)

Wood (cycling) (board track racing – now defunct)

Motorsport

Race tracks are primarily designed for road racing competition through speed, featuring defined
start-finish lines or posts, and sometimes even a series of defined timing points that divide the track
into time sectors. A racetrack for cars (i.e. a car track) is a closed circuit, instead of a street circuit
utilizing temporarily closed public roads.

Race tracks can host individual or team sports. Racetracks can feature rolling starts, or fixed starts,
with associated equipment (starting blocks, cages, wheel traps etc.) They invariably feature a pit
lane, and usually timing equipment.

Track layout

Some car tracks are of an oval shape, and can be banked, which allows almost universal spectator
views or high speed racing (cycling, stock cars). A famous one is Nardò where high-speed
manufacturer testing often takes place, and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Some oval tracks are
variations on an oval shape, for practical reasons or to introduce varying difficulties such as
Talladega (a tri-oval). Most race tracks have meandering circuits with many curves, chicanes and
changes in height, to allow for a challenge in skill to the competitors, notably motocross and touring
car racing – these tend to predominate throughout most of the world, but especially in Europe.
 Photograph from space of Nardò Ring in
Italy, it is 12.6 kilometres (7.8 mi) long and
is perfectly round – the image was taken
from the ISS at an angle making it appear
elliptical.

Road circuits

Flatter meandering motorsport courses are sometimes called 'road circuits', originating in the fact
that the earliest road racing circuits were simply closed-off public roads. Some car racetracks are
specifically configured in a long straight, namely drag racing.

True road circuits are still in use, e.g. the Australian GP has been run in Adelaide and continues to be
in Melbourne on regular city streets. The most famous of these are the Monaco GP, and the Circuit
de la Sarthe circuit in Le Mans, France. These are not permanent facilities built for racing (although
parts of the Circuit de la Sarthe are purpose-built, and closed to the public).

Converted airfields

After World War II, many wartime airfields, particularly in Great Britain, were left without further use.
This coincided with a post-war boom in motorsport, and many airfields were converted to race
tracks, where the circuit layout usually combined parts of the runways and the surrounding
perimeter taxiways. The famous British track at Silverstone is a former Class A airfield, as are Castle
Combe and Goodwood. The long runways were perfect for drag strips such as at Santa Pod
Raceway. This type of track also appears on the popular motoring show Top Gear, which is filmed at
Dunsfold Aerodrome, in Surrey, United kingdom
See also

Animal locomotion

Auto racing

List of motor racing circuits by FIA grade

List of horse racing venues

References

1. "2015 IFMAR Yatabe Worlds: Astrogate" (http://www.neobuggy.net/2014/12/01/2015-ifmar-yat

abe-worlds-astrogate/) . Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20160304040845/http://ww
w.neobuggy.net/2014/12/01/2015-ifmar-yatabe-worlds-astrogate/) from the original on 4
March 2016. Retrieved 29 December 2015.

2. "Subject: Electric Section Postal Vote Result & Electric date change" (https://web.archive.org/w
eb/20150218063550/http://news.efra.ws/fileadmin/news/2014/12/Result%20postal%20vot
e%20November%20Electric%20IFMAR2014%26Datechange%20%281%29.pdf) (PDF).
International Federation Of Model Auto Racing. 14 December 2014. Archived from the original (h
ttp://news.efra.ws/fileadmin/news/2014/12/Result%20postal%20vote%20November%20Electr
ic%20IFMAR2014&Datechange%20%281%29.pdf) (PDF) on 2015-02-18.

3. "IFMAR Electric Track Racing and Technical Rules" (https://web.archive.org/web/20140822091

429/http://www.ifmar.org/pdf/rules/ifmar_wc_electric_track_2014.pdf) (PDF). IFMAR. 2014.
Archived from the original (http://www.ifmar.org/pdf/rules/ifmar_wc_electric_track_2014.pd
f) (PDF) on 2014-08-22. "The track surface for 1/12th Class is recommended to be indoors
on standardised needle carpet."

4. "ROAR Rulebook" (http://www.roarracing.com/downloads/2013_ROAR_Rule_Book.pdf)

(PDF). ROAR Racing. 2013. p. 14. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20150817060529/htt
p://www.roarracing.com/downloads/2013_ROAR_Rule_Book.pdf) (PDF) from the original on
2015-08-17.

External links

trackpedia.com (http://www.trackpedia.com/wiki/Main_Page) Worldwide Motor Racing track

wiki
racingcircuits.net (http://theracingline.net/racingcircuits/racingcircuits/) Worldwide Motor
Racing track database

When the going gets rough (http://www.formula1.com/news/features/2008/7/8146.html) –

tyres and track surfaces

AudioTrackGuides.co.uk (https://web.archive.org/web/20090429122157/http://www.audiotrackg
uides.co.uk/) Audio walkthroughs of motor racing circuits, for use with games.

Trackreviewers.com (http://trackreviewers.com/) Motorsport Track Reviews and Information