How fast race cars

If a driver raced nonstop at mph for the next 50 years, he would age 70 microseconds less than the rest of us.

While NASCAR drivers are moving at incredibly fast speeds compared to the crowds in the stands, their speeds are small compared to what Einstein had in mind — like how fast light can travel, million mph. The effect of relativity at the track is small, but it does exist.

As a car enters a turn, it naturally wants to continue in the direction it was originally going. To change direction to follow the curve of the oval-shaped track, a force must be applied. The necessary force comes from the friction between the tires and the track. Friction is the connection between the two that prevents them from sliding against one another. Go too quickly and the friction may not be enough to prevent the car from continuing in its original direction and sliding straight into the wall.

Slow down too much and you fall behind the competition. The way the track is designed can help out here. For instance, the Indianapolis is an km race over laps while the Honda Indy will run for km miles over 90 laps.

Over that time, the series has perfected the F1 vehicle. Formula 1 cars are similar to IndyCars, though their top speed does top off slightly below the comparative series, partially due to their heavier weight of approximately kg 1, lbs.

IndyCar may have top speed, but F1 cars have the advantage of reaching theirs much quicker. They do get quite a bit of use out of them as the average racing year consists of 21 races, each running about km miles each. The number of laps may vary from track to track as the race runs the least number of laps required to exceed km. These are speedways, superspeedways, short circuits and road courses. But, what are the differences? And how do you differentiate between a Speedway and a Super speedway?

Normally D-shaped, or paperclip-shaped Martinsville Speedway. A Superspeedway, like Daytona or Talladega, is longer, wider and quicker than their less-super counterparts. They produce higher speeds, and usually wildly exciting races. The short tracks are ovals less than one mile in length. As the name would suggest, they are shorter in length, but also thinner, meaning less room to run side-by-side.

Check out the highlights of the crazy race. In , stage racing was introduced. When the race gets underway, a specified number of laps from start to finish. Hint: the number at the end of the race title is the number of miles in the race. The race is split into three different stages, designed to make the racing more exciting.

After approximately a quarter of the race is run, a green and white flag is waved, and a caution flag is thrown. This is the end of stage one, and points are awarded for the drivers in the top ten positions. The pace car slows the field down, the cars are allowed to change tyres before the race is restarted for stage two.

This represents a big shift away from the outgoing structure, which has seen LMP1 cars and more specifically, the hybrid entrants in that class pushing the boundaries of speed in recent years.

Kamui Kobayashi set the lap record in qualifying for the 24 Hours of Le Mans in when he clocked a 3m After Porsche pulled out of the WEC at the end of , it developed a no-holds-barred version of its prototype racer, dubbed the Hybrid Evo.

The modified car destroyed several lap records, including a 1m Super Trofeo is a single-make series in which competitors race against each other in identical Lamborghini Huracans. The Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo - which is based on the production version of the road-going supercar - is said to generate hp from its 5.

The Isle of Man TT has a reputation as one of the most dangerous races in the world, with riders regularly chasing mph in sections of the Snaefell Mountain Course. In Kawasaki rider James Hillier briefly clocked mph The overall lap record is held by Peter Hickman, who averaged Hickman set the benchmark on his final lap of the six-lap TT Senior race.

Photo by: Motorsport Images. The National Hot Rod Association NHRA was established in back then drag racers could hit speeds of mph in around nine seconds, the kind of acceleration some modern, road-legal supercars can achieve comfortably.

The next class down from Top Fuel is Funny Car, and while they use the same source of power, their wheelbases are shorter and they tend to bear a closer resemblance to production vehicles. Funny Cars can also breach speeds of mph, and can finish runs in as little as 3. Horner: Perez "ahead of expectation", but no rush for new deal. Hamilton: I don't understand why F1 cars are getting heavier. It has been a tricky past few races for Sergio Perez. The Red Bull driver has mustered just 16 points since the British Grand Prix in July and the team's constructors' championship chances have taken a hit.

Yet the Mexican remains optimistic that he has all the tools he needs to turn his performances around. But he came into the weekend with a streak of recent crashes hanging over him. The technical directive issued by Formula 1 to reduce levels of automation in pitstops has given teams an unwelcome period of adjustment. Although safety was the primary goal, it has already had a significant impact on the title race and puts extra pressure on teams to deliver as the season reaches the business end.

Some 18 drivers have finished runner-up to Lewis Hamilton on his way to wins. The Russian GP was decided by late-arriving rain that allowed some to climb and caused others to plummet.