it would be fascinating to learn which drivers are the best at gauging distance between their cars and the chicanes and walls... Nascar? F1? Rally? SCCA? Indycar? IMSA? Drift? Dirt track? Baja?

This is how close an F1 driver was to the barriers. I'll guess that's a 1/4 to a 1/2 inch 

things with wheels... rice field tractors

 

see them in action, with the driver on a plate behind them and when that gets moving, the driver is gliding along like a snowboarder https://www.facebook.com/kanokphan.homsuwan/reels

I am sure that if we could take that wall apart, we'd find a super magnet set on "repulsion mode" is the reason these cars seem to be able to avoid hitting it by inches at that speed

there's a change of location at 2:17, and the cars race at the camera... very cool to see

slips and spins at Spa-Francorchamps Six Hours Classic 2025, mostly due to one jackass (#472!) leaking oil, obvious by the CLOUD of smoke behind him, who DID NOT get OFF the damn track. Made other driver wreck instead

some people watch races for the the crashes... well, this You Tuber makes videos of JUST the crashes. Save time, watch these video clips from around the world to get caught up on all the crashes of each week of the year

in 1969 Volkswagen sought to launch the Formula Super Vee, a category meant to bridge the gap between Formula Vee and Formula 3

the VW 1600 engine had already proven itself in various racing applications, however, Gene Beach unlocked the engine’s potential in 1969.

The SV16 featured a mid-engine layout, which provided optimal weight distribution and handling characteristics. The suspension system was another highlight, designed to provide exceptional handling and control. 

A major improvement over the standard Formula Vee, which used VW suspension, while the Formula Vee was less expensive to build and race, the Super Vee had the potential to keep up with Formula Ford and other open-wheel cars.

the Beach SV16 debuted at the Daytona 24-Hour race in January 1970 

https://thegentlemanracer.com/2025/07/project-car-beach-sv16/

the last lap of the Sydney 500, amazing. Skip to the 10:45 mark! Enjoy! Red Bull vs Monster, Camaro vs Mustang!

First to the Finish, a new six-episode original series on Prime Video, that chronicles the 2024 season of the Mazda MX-5 Cup Championship series on Prime Video

https://www.mazdausa.com/discover/introducing-the-first-to-the-finish-mx-5-cup-docuseries

I wonder if any race had the vast number of famous people that the 12 hours of Sebring, 1970, did.

On track:

Steve McQueen, Peter Revson, Mario Andretti, Dan Gurney, Vic Elford, Sam Posey, Bobby Rahal, Carroll Shelby, Jo Siffert, Masten Gregory, Peter Gregg, Don Yenko, Janet Guthrie

Covering the race:

Bill Warner, Bernard Cahier, Chris Economaki, 

Parade lap:

Briggs Cunningham

https://glorydaysofracing.com/wp-content/uploads/Seb70-2020-Signed.pdf

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1970_12_Hours_of_Sebring#:~:text=When%20the%20teams%20descended%20upon,faster%20than%20Chris%20Amon's%20time

I don't know if I've mentioned before, that Peter Revson's uncle founded Revlon cosmetics. 

great racing to start the days blogging, Goodwood's last race of the event where Alfas and Lotus Cortinas try to keep up with a pair of Galaxies, and for the first time, I see the course tow truck (Land Rover) in action

did you ever hear of Team Carl, the drag racing bikers, who robbed banks to pay for racing? Thanks Kim!

Ferrari has revealed that it used a brilliant trick to get Red Bull faked into pitting Sergio Perez at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

"Box opposite Red Bull."

However, the message was not real as Leclerc was long committed to a one-stop, and Ferrari was using the call to only make it look like it was going for a two-stop.

The trickery worked as Red Bull responded and pulled Perez into the pits immediately to cover off Ferrari.

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner admitted after the race that a combination of Perez’s tyre condition plus it seeing that "Ferrari were gearing up for an undercut" was behind its decision to stop the Mexican.

With Leclerc having no intention of stopping, that meant Perez had to recover all the ground lost with the tire change, which he ultimately failed to do, as he finished 1.3 seconds behind his Ferrari rival.

https://us.motorsport.com/f1/news/ferrari-dummy-radio-message-abu-dhabi/10403174

the most amazing thing I've ever seen in NASCAR, and it's probably the first time it's ever been done. That's the most incredible thing, to find that someone did something new, for the 1st time in 53 years of Nascar racing. His sponsors got unlimited free publicity today too! BE A MOOSE!

Ross Chastain floored it, on the last lap, and pushed a slingshot move around the outside of everyone on the track, by full throttle accelerating against the wall.... around 1/2 the track!

With the final caution and Briscoe staying out, Chastain was now in a hard battle with Hamlin for that fourth and final spot to Phoenix.

Inside of 10 to go, it was Briscoe and Bell running 1-2. Hamlin was charging and now in a great spot to advance over Chastain again. Chastain was without little hope. He was playing more defense than offense because his car just didn’t have the speed to close back up to gain another spot or two.

Until the last lap.

“Look, yeah, it’s sinking in that we did something that no one else has ever done,” said Chastain. “That’s hard to do in just the world that we live in in 2022, but definitely our sport.

That lap he turned was a track record at that. He went 18.845-seconds which beat Joey Logano’s pole record from 2014 (18.898-seconds).

https://racereviewonline.net/2022/10/30/video-game-maneuver-by-chastain-on-final-lap-of-xfinity-500-pushed-him-from-10th-to-5th-and-into-the-championship-4-all-we-asked-for-is-a-chance/

Ross Chastain had looked dead and buried moments before, five spots behind Denny Hamlin, who was hoping to nab his fourth straight appearance in the Championship 4.

Until he zoomed past Hamlin. Chastain took fifth in the race at the last moment, keeping his championship dreams alive in the most astonishing unpredictable move no one ever has tried before, and Maritnsville now has a historic moment that will be retold and rewatched, forever.

Bell and Chastain join Joey Logano and Chase Elliott in the final playoff race field, two championship newbies against a pair of past winners.

https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nascar/news/nascar-martinsville-live-updates-results-xfinity-500/dlzzwt45tpeta37traoklc7t

here is a fan's video of the event, without the professional choppy camera work, one long single take of the event. Awesome

this one is pretty good too, skip the first 90 seconds:

Good news, history research has been rewarding for Stephen, and he found a race between two vehicles that predates (by 11 years) what had been said to be the earliest documented self propelled auto race in the world

Steve (Serviside Blog) the most incredible researcher I've ever met or heard of, has already posted that the steam powered wagon race in 1878 in Wisconsin was the earliest documented, http://serviside.blogspot.com/2011/10/first-auto-race-pet-peeve-and-hazards.html

and that predated the 1887 De Dion Bouton time trial in Paris

So that was what I was posting about in 2013 https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-first-car-race-happened-when-worlds.html

But yesterday Stephen sent me a link to an 1867 race! https://www.theengineer.co.uk/content/archive/august-1867-the-first-motor-race

and here is the newspaper record of it https://www.theengineer.co.uk/media/hxohcozt/aug-1867-the-first-race.pdf 

The race was contested by “two road steam carriages”, one constructed Mr Isaac W Bolton of Ashton-under-Lyne, the other by Messrs Daniel Adamson and Co of Newton Moore.

“Mr Isaac W Bolton of Ashton-under-Lyne having only one four and 1/4 inch cylinder 9 inch stroke, the other, made by Messrs Daniel Adamson and Co of Newton Moore, having two cylinders 6 inch diameter 10 inch stroke.”

Run over a distance of around 8 miles, it took place between Ashton-under-Lyne and the showgrounds at Old Trafford, getting underway at 4.30am, possibly to avoid the attention of the authorities.

racing, by the mile, is a result of the Romans using mile markers on their roads, and the British having running races from one to the next a couple hundred years ago

 establishing the mile as a measurement of how far people would race. 

https://www.iheart.com/podcast/105-stuff-you-should-know-26940277/episode/the-4-minute-mile-greatest-sports-story-98104549/

wow, great photo destined to be a banner!

 http://www.backroads.ie/forum/car-related/r-roads/81-random-picture-thread?p=905879#post905879

mini bike racing, skip the first minute and 45 seconds... the last 2 laps are a terrific race

 

https://www.goodwood.com/grr/race/historic/2021/10/video-the-worlds-tiniest-motorcycle-race-is-hilarious

home movie from 1957 Riverside race! Thanks Marc B!

from the first race there in 1957, including Ferrari, Jaguar D types and an XKSS, 2 gull wing 300 SLs and a SLR. At 13:14 is Ol Yeller

 

https://bringatrailer.com/2021/09/28/riverside-at-the-headwaters/

I just learned that Carroll Shelby raced a Austin Healey in the 1954 Carrera Panamericana, crashed, broke his right arm, but went on to continue racing at Riverside, Torrey Pines, Palm Springs, Sebring etc

 in 1955, 56, 57 he raced in 81 and won half of them. 

His racing career was over at age 37 because of his heart condition

From the 2019 movie Shelby American, which never mentioned the lawsuit, but brought up how many beautiful young women he married

1949 Labor Day races in Palmer Alaska

from the collection of Palmer resident Kelley Turney, who is the local antique dealer and collector, known as "The Alaska Picker", and from time to time acquires historical photos of the area.

https://www.mvhphotoproject.org/collection/turney-collection