To celebrate this year’s National Motorsport Week, the guys at Hankook, official tyre supplier to the Junior World Rally Championship and DTM, has compiled a list of 10 things you didn’t know about motorsport.
1. The British motorsport industry employs around 38,500 people and contributes nearly £5 billion to the UK economy.
2. Children can start racing from the just 8 years old with competitions designed for all different age groups.
3. Unlike standard car tyres, racing tyres used in top motorsport are usually filled with nitrogen instead of compressed air to achieve a more consistent tyre pressure.
4. Nine times World Rally Champion and 2001 Junior World Rally Champion, Sebastian Loeb was a gymnast before becoming a rally driver.
5. Normal road tyres are made to last between 35,000 and 60,000 miles. Racing car tyres are designed to last just 30 to 200 miles, depending on the tyre compound.
6. Rearview mirrors were only introduced after racing drivers started using them in the 1900s. Their original purpose was to show drivers if their competitors were gaining on them.
7. The softer option tyre that Hankook supplies to DTM is around 1.0 to 1.5 seconds faster per lap than the standard tyre – a big difference with just seconds between podium places!
8. Famous racing driver Sir Stirling Moss now narrates children’s TV series Roary the Racing Car.
9. The first purpose-built race track, Brooklands, was constructed in Weybridge, Surrey.
10. There are more than 700 registered motorsport clubs in the UK, with over 200,000 members.
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