Integrityfarms:
Am just imagining which roads we have in this nation to ply this car race

Integrityfarms:
Am just imagining which roads we have in this nation to ply this car race

Naijacost22:
what the hell? A camry as and off road racing vehicle? WOW

Integrityfarms:
Am just imagining which roads we have in this nation to ply this car race

naptu2:
The heroes of my childhood were Mario Andretti (because he won everything that a human being can win), Richard “The King” Petty (because he broke almost every bone in his body) and Nigel Mansell (just because).

I watched them on “The Champions” ( “They run, they jump, they fly. They are The Champions!” I’ve searched everywhere on the internet for that show and I still can’t find it) and ABC Wide World of Sports. Later on there was the George Michael Sports Machine, Trans World Sports and Gillette World Sports Special.

I didn’t know the names of the various series back then. I knew different types of cars by sight and I knew the names of the most famous races, but I didn’t know the names of the series.

So what I’m going to do is that I’m going to post pictures of every category of car that I remember and I’m going to state the name of the series that each type of competes in.

There was no Formula E back then, so I’m not going to post pictures of any formula E car. I’m also not going to post any old car (well, maybe I might post one or two) because it’s too hard to find the ones I want and I’m feeling lazy.

So here goes.

1) Formula 1
I knew the cars, I knew some of the drivers (Mansell and Andretti), I of course knew the Monaco Grand Prix, but I had no idea that it was called Formula 1 until 1990.

Formula 1 cars are open wheel and open cockpit cars and the races are held on racetracks. Formula 1 races are held all over the world. Here’s a picture of a formula 1 car (a Ferrari).


I also saw another type of race car (in films, magazines, etc.) and I thought it was from a different category of auto racing. I didn’t know that they are actually older formula 1 cars. Here’s a picture of a 1950s Maserati 250F.




2) Indycar
I also knew about the Indianapolis 500, but I didn’t know that it was part of a series. The Indianapolis 500 is the most important race in the Indycar championship. Indycar cars are also open wheel and open cockpit cars and the races are primarily held in North America. Indycar races are also held on racetracks and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway was one of the only two American racetracks that I knew. Here is a picture of an Indycar race car.



3) Stock car
The only other American racetrack that I knew was the Daytona International Motor Speedway. They always talked about it on the ABC Wide World of Sports and the George Michael Sports Machine. The cars were obviously different from Formula 1 and Indycar cars. The cars are closed wheel and closed cockpit cars. They look more like the cars that you see on the street than Formula 1 cars. They are called stock cars.

I found out the name of this series in the late 1980s. It’s called Nascar. Nascar is not the only stock car racing series, but it’s the most famous and it’s primarily held in North America. Here’s what stock cars look like.



4) Sports car racing

Sports car racing is divided into two

a) Prototype
For some reason these were the cars that really captured my imagination. It might be because they were used in lots of movies, or maybe it was because of Le Mans, I’m not sure, but these were the cars that I dreamt about.

These are closed wheel and closed cockpit race cars. They don’t look anything like street cars. They are clearly race cars, but they are also closed wheel and mainly closed cockpit cars (there are a few open cockpit cars)

The Le Mans 24 hours is an exceptional race. It’s one of the most famous races in the world. Drivers race their cars around a racetrack for 24 hours. Teams are allowed to change drivers during the course of the race. Many 1950s and 1960s movies were made about this race. The Le Mans 24 hours is not the only sports car race, neither is it the only 24 hour race, but it is definitely the most famous. Here are some prototype sports cars.
A Le Mans prototype (open cockpit)


A Porsche 956 (closed cockpit) prototype


Martini 6 (1983 Lancia LC2) prototype


b) GT
Grand Tourers (GT) racing is a type of sports car racing that is done on a racetrack. The cars are actually meant to be street cars. The rules state that the car must be available for sale to the general public before it can be entered in a GT race.

Quite a few car companies found a way to circumvent this rule in the 1990s. They produced cars that are basically prototypes and sold a few of them (usually less than 20) to the public.

The first car that I’m going to post is a proper GT racer. The other cars are basically like prototypes, but the manufacturers sold a few of the cars to the general public in the 1990s or early 2000s.

GT cars race alongside prototypes in races such as the Le Mans 24 hours, but they are categorised differently (i.e. there is a prize for the first prototype and a prize for the first GT car)

Ford GT at the 24 hours of Le Mans


Mercedes CLK GTR (only 20 were sold to the public, for homologation purposes) and it cost more than a million dollars.


Porsche 911 GT1. Only 22 of these cars were sold to the public, for homologation purposes. Although it’s called a 911, the car actually has very little to do with the actual Porsche 911.

Toyota GT-One. Only 2 of these cars were sold to the public.


2016 Mercedes Benz AMG GT3


5) Rally.
Rally racing is a long distance form of racing that usually takes place off road (deserts, forests, etc.). It is the most common form of auto racing in Nigeria (particularly in northern Nigeria). A rally was held to mark Nigeria’s independence in 1960 (it was flagged off by Sir Ahmadu Bello) and a race from Sokoto to Argungu has been held in recent years as part of the Argungu Fishing Festival.

The most famous rally race was the Paris-Dakar rally. Participants raced across the Sahara Desert from Paris in France to Dakar in Senegal. However, the race faced many problems, including African civil wars, drivers getting lost or injured, spectators and residents getting injured and threats by Islamic militants and it was moved to South America in 2009 (it is now known as the Dakar Rally).

Peugeot (504 & 505) and Mitsubishi (Lancer and Impreza) were very successful in the Paris-Dakar rally. Here are pictures of rally cars.

Peugeot 505 rally car


Hyundai i20


6) Drag racing
There are many types of cars that are used in drag racing, but 99% of the cars that I saw being raced on sports shows were rail cars. Other cars were raced in movies, but on actual sports shows the cars were always rail cars. So when I think of drag racing I think of rail cars.
Drag racing cars are the fastest of all race cars and rail cars are the fastest of all drag racers. The races are usually held on straight tracks (which are often runways of abandoned airports). The cars go so fast that it wouldn’t make sense to have tracks with bends and turns. Various kinds of fuels are used to increase the speed of the car. The most common fuel is nitro (nitromethane). You can often see flames trailing behind these cars as they race and the cars are going so fast that they often have to be stopped by parachutes.

Here is a picture of a dragster (rail car).


7) Kart
Karting has become popular in Nigeria since the late 1990s. A company called Hemenga Grand Prix set up a circuit at the Tafawa Balewa Square car park in the late 1990s and now there are karting facilities at malls and places like the GET Arena in Lagos. Here is a picture of a kart race.



8 ) Soap box derby
I first found out about soap box derbies in a book that I read in the early 1980s. It’s actually a form of karting, but I consider it to be a different sport. It’s basically racing for kids. The cars are usually built by parents and their children. The cars have no engines and races are usually held on slopes (either natural or artificial) and the cars are propelled by gravity. Here’s a picture of a soap box derby car.