Motorsports have long been a thrilling and adrenaline-fueled pursuit, captivating audiences with high-speed races, cutting-edge technology, and the unparalleled skill of drivers maneuvering their vehicles on the edge of control. Motorsports offer many improvements to the car industry as well as the engineering world as a whole. They can do this in an entertaining fashion that can develop tomorrow's world. Motorsports such as Formula One, NASCAR, Indy Car, and endurance racing foster competition and development that affect the safety and efficiency within the sport and consumer markets due to its history.

Motorsports are rich in history dating back to the first-ever race with automobiles in 1895 in Paris, France. Formula One however didn’t start up until 1950 with their compact 1.5 liter straight eight engines producing around 350 horsepower. Interestingly enough, the first Formula One car was made thirteen years prior to the beginning of the racing series, the Alfa Romeo 158. Some of the greatest drivers produced in F1 history are the likes of Michael Schumacher, Ayrton Senna, Jacque Villeneuve, Mario Andretti, and many more. However, IndyCar is also one of the greatest and most-watched motorsports of all time. Back in 1979, a group of racing team owners decided to come together and make their own racing league called the Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART). Indycar didn’t get its prestigious name until January 1st, 2011 after previously being called the Indy Racing League (IRL). A little while after that in 1983, CART officially added the Indianapolis 500 to the race calendar. All was going well with the CART series until some teams were having trouble accumulating money. “Big-money teams like Penske were able to afford to be on the cutting edge of technology, but there were plenty of CART teams that were running old, uncompetitive machinery” (Blackstock). There was a big regulation problem with money which caused teams to lose out on performance due to lack of research and development. All of this controversy led to the bankruptcy of the CART racing series in 2003. After that, the Champ Car racing series took over what CART left behind. Fast forward to 2008, the new Champ Car and IRL series joined forces to make what we call today, IndyCar—moving on from open-wheel motorsports to closed-wheel with endurance racing. This series started up in 1923 with some of the most recognizable car brands: Mercedes-Benz, Ferrari, Alfa Romeo, and Bentley. The first-ever race of this new endurance sport was one of the most highly regarded circuits, The 24 Hours of Le Mans. This new series lasted up until 1992, which disbanded due to unpopular choices being made by the FIA president. It took 20 years to finally start up a new endurance championship in 2012 called the World Endurance Championship (WEC) which is still racing to this day. The history of motorsports is a testament to human ingenuity and technological advancements which have captivated audiences for many years. 

Efficiency is everything in motorsports; that is why there is so much that goes into making and operating the engines used in racing. Formula One engines are 1.6 liter V6 turbocharged units with hybrid technology and an energy recovery system (Dagless). These systems burn less emissions than other motorsport engines due to their electrical benefits which help produce power without burning too much fuel. While these engines are extremely efficient, they take lots of time and precision to maintain during a race weekend. “Scoops on the sides capture air to cool the engine” (Dupzyk); this article shows how quickly these engines produce heat and power, and how they use aerodynamic technology to cool the engines. Indycar engines are extremely similar carrying virtually the same engine with the differences being that they have a 2.2-liter engine with 700 horsepower while F1 engines are 1.6-liter engines with 1000 horsepower. Endurance cars use high-performance engines designed for durability and consistent power output over long periods of time. Unlike F1 and Indycar, endurance teams have the option to pick between multiple engines provided by Gibson Technology Engines. These engines are big 4.2 liter turbocharged V8s which produce around 644-697 horsepower. The power units use advanced technology such as turbocharging, direct injection, and variable valve timing to enhance efficiency and performance while enduring the demands of prolonged racing conditions. These teams also get much more playing room with these engines than any other racing series, making them the most customizable power unit in any motorsport. The diverse array of engines showcases the technological ingenuity made by engineers throughout the years, adding a new dynamic and exciting aspect to the sports. 

The first thing most people are taught to do once they get into a car, regardless of whether they are driving, is to buckle their seatbelt. Just like earlier cars, race cars also did not house basic safety features we take for granted such as seatbelts. In the world of motorsports, many systems are governed by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). Most notable is Formula One (F1); but also lower levels of Formula racing such as F2, F3, and F4 (FIA). Formula E and the major endurance racing series are also governed by the FIA as well as many other forms of racing such as subdivisions that look over series like Indy Car. The FIA is able to standardize safety standards in a respective series and adjust them based on the evolution of the sport to maintain a minimum level of safety with its wide net of influence. For instance, Ayrton Senna, one of the most remarkable drivers of all time —argued as one of the greats— died after soaring into a concrete barrier after just seven laps (CDE). “Ayrton Senna was killed at the San Marino Grand Prix, a day after Roland Ratzenberger also lost his life in an accident during qualifying. The tragedies triggered a drive to improve safety standards and they were the last drivers to die at the wheel of an F1 car” (ESPN). This caused the FIA to implement a few changes to improve safety across all of its sports. Crash testing for walls, raising the height of roll bars, and head and neck support device (HANS) systems are required for all drivers, and many more were implemented within the decade (FIA). The FIA has been on a further mission to improve safety. In 2018, the FIA added to its formula series, the Halo. They support this addition to its cars as it has undoubtedly saved many lives. “Centring on three significant major risk types, car-to-car contact, car-to-environment contact, and external objects, tests revealed that in the case of car-to-car incidents, the Halo was able to withstand 15x the static load of the full mass of the car and was able to reduce the potential for injuries significantly” (FIA). The Halo has saved numerous lives in Formula One alone (Dielhenn). With its many variations, the Halo, across all motorsports has done the same. Safety in motorsports has evolved through the decades and its development has not only pushed the limits of the sports but the consumer markets and engineering as a whole to further mature our global society so we can endure more prosperous lives.

Racing has a massive influence on the world and is vast. In a global society where driving is very prominent, in an economic powerhouse, the United States (US) 1.1 billion trips are taken by car a day within the US (BTS). Due to all of this traffic, from the high speeds on interstates to snail paces of crowded city streets, “Between 1913 and 2021, the number of motor-vehicle deaths in the United States (which include all types of motor vehicles, including passenger cars, trucks, buses, and motorcycles) increased 1,018%, from 4,200 deaths in 1913 to 46,980 in 2021. However, the role cars play in daily life is vastly different now than when tracking began” (NSC). It also is to be noted that there has been an increase in drivers since 1913 so the increase in facilities will be skewed. But the tide has turned in the past few decades as safety has become a performance and some technologies have stemmed from the beloved racing series. Most of these features have been rooted in testing for these cars to meet and exceed safety standards set by a governing body. But some of the most vanilla of safety features are a result of motorsports. Chances are, if your car is up to date on safety, it has an Advanced Braking System (ABS), traction control (TC), and most obviously, a three-point seatbelt (Pit Pass). These are just the marketed features you may have been made aware of when looking for a car, but most consumers are unaware of numerous underlying standard features in regards to your car's safety. Alternate composite materials, the safety cage and structure, and even keeping the body in one piece can make it safer; that’s called a monocoque chassis (Pit Pass). Even though these advancements in safety features are rooted in motorsports, so is the performance of cars. With many of the major automotive corporations invested in motorsports, they are able to compete and have the purpose of improving their cars in safety and performance for the sake of the sport. As for Formula One, an average of 1.21 million people watch a race on a given Sunday (Brittle). After 22 races millions of people have exposure to the vast number of sponsorships and brands invested in the entertainment that the sport provides. So from the brand's perspective, if they win on Sunday, they can sell on Monday. This allows the brand to improve things like suspension, aerodynamics, and even rubber compounds in their tires. This goes for all motorsports (Pit Pass). Endurance racing is able to extend the longevity of cars as they often have to race for 24 hours straight in astounding races such as the 24 Hours of Le Mans (FIA). NASCAR specifically has only three engine providers for teams at the moment (Baughman). Indy Car has two (Indy Car). This allows different teams to compete and focus on the other systems such as the suspension and braking systems. Even your local midget car track will have hundreds of sponsors that are appropriate for the target audience. As much as racing is about the drivers, it is also about the manufacturers and the cars they are able to produce. The “pinnacle of motorsport,” F1, has two trophies at the end of the season, one for the driver, and the other for the manufacturer (F1). Often won by the same team, because they go hand in hand, but it is not always the case. Motorsports as a whole can yield the safest and high-performing motor vehicles in the world. In turn, due to the competitive nature of the sport they are able to improve the cars billions of people rely on in their everyday lives.

Motorsports can do this in an entertaining fashion that can develop tomorrow's world. Auto racing has long been a thrilling and adrenaline-fueled pursuit, captivating audiences with high-speed races, cutting-edge technology, and the unparalleled skill of drivers maneuvering their vehicles on the edge of control. They offer many improvements to the car industry as well as the engineering world as a whole. Motorsports such as Formula One, NASCAR, Indy Car, and endurance racing foster competition and development that affect the safety and efficacy within the sport and consumer markets.

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