It’s no secret to anyone who knows me that I am obsessed with auto racing. My tastes don’t run in the typical-American-race-fan vein of NASCAR or nothin’, but on either end of the automotive spectrum – I love the technology (and personality) of Formula One, and sometimes even more so, I am awestruck by anything that runs on a short track, sideways, on dirt.
Having seen my fair share of both (and many other) varieties of racing, there are some distinct differences – for instance, at an F1 race, you can’t pay an extra ten bucks to be able to walk through the pits with a camera, meet the drivers, and almost get run over by push trucks (most open wheel cars [sprints, midgets, etc.] have compression-start engines, and need to be pushed to turn over) between heat races.
Conversely, at a dirt track race, you’re not going to see cars employing the highest technology in the world to propel them around the track. An F1 car’s engine is capable of reaching 19,000 rpm, an almost incomprehensible number to anyone who has ever looked at the tachometer in their own car. To slow down, how about a pair of air-cooled carbon fiber brakes, that get so hot under rapid deceleration that they actually glow red?
All of this talk is nice, and all, but how about some pictures? This gallery is a mix of the intimate, up-close-and-personal world of dirt track sprint car racing, and the flashy, high-speed universe that Formula One cars populate. There are also a few other random racing photos that I figured you’d like to see, to complete your experience. Enjoy.
