Race track
- motor racing
- motorcycle racing
- track racing (motorcycles)
- stock car racing
- drag racing
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Surfaces
Surfaces include:
- Concrete (motorsport)
- Asphalt (motorsport, athletics)
- Grass (horses, amateur motorsport)
- Dirt (automobiles, motorbike (track racing), stock car, horses, greyhound)
- Sand (horse, camel, greyhound)
- Wood (cycling) (board track racing - now defunct)
- Ice (Ice racing - when on dirt tracks, Bobsleigh, speed skating)
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Configurations
Some racetracks offer little in the way of permanent infrastructure bar the actual 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, 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 athletics tracks are incorporated within general use or soccer stadiums, either permanently visible or covered by stands/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.
Most racetracks are of an oval shape, often banked, which allows almost universal spectator views or high speed racing (cycling, stock cars), but are often criticised for lack of excitement. Some tracks are variations on an oval shape, for practical reasons or to introduce varying difficulties. Many racetracks 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. 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 racetracks are specifically configured in a long straight, namely drag racing. Some races will be held only over the straight portion of a track (some horse racing and sprint athletics).
Racetracks are primarily designed for competition through speed, featuring defined start/finish lines/posts, and sometimes even defined timing points. Some sports merely measure endurance, or how long a competitor can race. Racetracks can host individual or team sports. Racetracks can feature rolling starts, or fixed starts, with associated equipment (starting blocks, cages, wheel traps etc.)
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See also
- Auto racing
- List of auto racing tracks (UK: motor racing tracks)
- List of auto racing tracks in the United States
- List of horse racing venues
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External links
- Racetrack Database Racetrack information and locations.
- Trackpedia's guide to world automobile race tracks
- Motor Racing Circuits Database
- Race and PaddockbBomb Discussion
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