Clément Vigniel’s Post

MOTORSPORTS: WHEN 325,000 SPECTATORS TURNED UP TO WATCH 24 HOUR OF of CARS RACING Formula 1 is the most popular type of auto racing or motorsports. With Formula 1’s 24 races calendar set to begin on March 2 in Bahrain, motorsports fans are in for a thrill. Well, 2024 has already been interesting with motorsports fans experiencing the adventurous twists and turns of the Dakar 2024 Rally in Saudi Arabia. The excitement and thrill of fast-moving cars in intense competition has drawn big crowds. Formula 1, which is considered the most elite type of motorsport, continues to witness a rise in race events attendance. After Formula 1 events were opened to the public after the Covid pandemic, 5.7 million spectators attended the 22 races in 2022. This number grew to over 6 million spectators across the 22 races held during the 2023 season. This rise in attendance has partly been attributed to Formula 1: Drive to Survive docuseries. The sixth season of the series documenting the F1 2023 season was released on February 23 2024 on Netflix. The 2023 British Grand Prix at Silverstone had a weekend attendance of 480,000 people. The 2023 Australian Grand Prix, United States Grand Prix, and Mexico City Grand Prix also attracted over 400,000 F1 fans. Formula 1 is familiar with huge crowds in Motorsports. Apart from Formula 1, thousands of motorsports fans have graced popular racing events. 325,000 spectators were present at the 24 Hours of Le Mans race circuit on the centennial race held on 10 and 11 June 2023. 24 Hours of Le Mans is a 24-hour endurance race that takes place annually in France. Millions of fans attend events virtually through streaming platforms. For instance, the 2022 World Rally Championship Safari Rally held in Kenya recorded a global viewership of about 80 million. This month, as Formula 1 gears towards a thrilling 2024 season, local Safari Rally fans will witness a charged-up Easter weekend at Hell’s Gate in Naivasha during the 2024 WRC Safari Rally. #motorsport #motorracing #formula1 #bahraingp #f12024 #wrc

Grand Prix motorcycle racing is the highest class of motorcycle road racing events held on road circuits sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM). Independent motorcycle racing events have been held since the start of the twentieth century. 1]and large national events were often given the title Grand Prix. 2]The foundation of the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme as the international governing body for motorcycle sport in 1949 provided the opportunity to coordinate rules and regulations in order that selected events could count towards official World Championships. It is the oldest established motorsport worldGrand Prix motorcycles are purpose-built racing machines that are unavailable for purchase by the general public and unable to be ridden legally on public roads. This contrasts with the various production-based categories of racing, such as the Superbike World Championship and the Isle of Man TT Races that feature modified versions of road-going motorcycles available to the public. The current top division is known as MotoGP since 2002 when the four-stroke era began. Prior to that, the largest class was 500cc, both of which form a historical continuum as the official World Championship, although all classes have official status. The championship is currently divided into four classes: the eponymous MotoGP, Moto2, Moto3 and MotoE. The first three classes use four-stroke engines, while the MotoE class uses electric motorcycles. The most successful rider in Grand Prix history is Giacomo Agostini with 15 titles and 122 race wins. In the top-flight series, Agostini holds the title record with eight, followed by Valentino Rossi with seven and active rider Marc Márquez with six. As of 2023, Rossi holds the record for most top-flight race wins with 89. #motogp #motogpriders #AD04 #JZ53 #HB88 #DP95 #KA17 #VR46 #AB19 #SL22 #MV25 #Al29 #DP26 #CC35 #BS38 #AE41 #AR42 #PE44 #SR45 #TR53 #LB76 #MM93 #JL99 #JF94

RACE SERIES NEWS: New #rallying category added to #FIAMotorsportGames 2024 Rallying will be a major highlight at the #FIA Motorsport Games 2024 in #Valencia, Spain, on October 23-27. This edition will introduce a new All-Stars category, featuring top rally drivers, alongside the returning #Rally2, #Rally4 and Historic Rally categories. "Rallying can be a little different depending on the country," explained Carlos Sainz, the double FIA World Rally Champion and four-time #Dakar Rally winner. "Tarmac, for example, is not the most usual surface on continents like #Africa and #SouthAmerica. The FIA Motorsport Games was created to concentrate, during a single weekend, all the motorsport activity worldwide. For this, sporting regulations should encourage every country to be present, so I welcome this increase of categories, especially in rallying.” FIA road sport director Andrew Wheatley added, “Female and male competitors from around the globe, representing their national ASN in modern and historic cars, will be joined by the world's top rally drivers to compete in Spain, showcasing the depth, talent and incredible diversity within the rallying community. We are proud to build on the success of the 2022 edition with new features and expanded categories, which reflect our commitment to promoting dynamic competition in rallying."   Read more here: https://lnkd.in/eh94y4Qi #motorsportengineering #PMWExpo #motorsport  #technology

As the FIA ABB Formula E World Championship considers sustainable ways to grow the Championship, should more partnerships with ‘rival’ Championships be considered?   City Centre racing has long been a core value of Formula E; in the hundreds of outreach messages I’ve sent to prospective partners over the years, bringing the racing to fans is one of the key selling points of the Championship. However, as the team responsible for building the Formula E schedule will attest, city-centre racing is tough. Navigating national, regional, and local agendas, election cycles, managing residents, and land redevelopment takes time and resources and is all too often unpredictable.    This challenge is compounded when more established championships with a history of circuit racing see Formula E’s success in city racing and adopts a similar strategy.   City Centre racing is expensive; promoters are required to build temporary infrastructure not only for the pitlane and paddock, but for an entire circuit. A city centre/street race can require three to four times the investment required for circuit racing.   Historically, motorsport championships have sought independence, looking to outdo one another, seemingly avoiding collaboration for fear of cannibalising both the audience and the overall ecosystem.    With racing teams such as Andretti Global and McLaren Racing bucking that trend, is now the time for championships to do the same?   Formula E acknowledges North America is a key growth market, and whilst my personal dream to bring the Championship to CES with an ePrix running in and around the exhibition buildings would be incredible, a more realistic approach to building the sport in North America would be to partner with Indycar.   The INDYCAR calendar is comprised of three track formats: Oval, Circuit, and Street. With The 2024 street circuit schedule including St Pete, Detroit, Long Beach, and Toronto. These locations have been developed to minimise disruption to local residents and are all well-established events.    Rather than Formula E seeking to build its own schedule in North America, why not twin with Indycar with ePrix taking place the week preceding or following the Indycar race in these locations? Sharing costs on building venues with established political support will allow both championships to allocate funds to other areas requiring focus.   Coming back to term rivals, are any Championships truly ‘rivals’ to Formula E? Fans of motorsport will always watch motorsport; Formula E's involvement in any other championship is unlikely to impact any existing audience. In its tenth year, Formula E is established and respected in the motorsport ecosystem. It has carved out a clear position. As the Championship continues to grow, achieving growth through thoughtful collaboration in mutually beneficial partnerships is the responsible and sustainable route future partners will seek to be associated with. 

Karting risks losing its unique identity at the altar of Formula 1. Sheila Van Damn, a respected '50s rally driver, and owner of the Windmill Theatre in London, had an all-female kart team. They were captured on TV driving karts around London in the early '60s. Delve deeper, and you'll uncover remarkable anecdotes like competitors driving road-registered karts to competitions. Did you also know that karting used to have several events on the Isle of Man? Sure, you might have caught a video of the Peel GP that circulated a few years ago, but did you know about the Douglas GP and the Southern 100 kart races? Did you know karting has had a female FIA World Champion and multiple female top-level drivers? Even the silver screen holds secrets, with the van in "The Italian Job" belonging to actor David Salamone, doubling as his cherished karting transport. Did you know the Karting World Championship had a round on the streets of Monaco in 1967? Did you know the Heysham Head World Cup was sponsored by John Player and would attract over 20,000 spectators each year? Did you know that Silverstone hosted the SuperKart GP in the 80s, which had hundreds of entries and thousands of spectators? Did you know the last race at Crystal Palace was a kart event? These quirks of karting barely touch the sides of its rich and illustrious history. Almost every other day, something will pop up on the British Historic Kart Club’s Facebook page where someone will post a story about karting that will leave you asking, “How did I not know about this? Karting is amazing!” Despite these treasures, Karting's identity faces erosion as Formula 1's allure intensifies. In the wake of viral incidents, such as the misconceived altercation in 2020, Karting struggles against misrepresentation. As Formula 1 secures and entrenches its dominant place within motorsport, a sport like karting can easily find itself drowned. The sport's top events are now very much starting to look like Formula 5, and the governing bodies don’t seem bothered at all. Is there a way out for karting? It seems unlikely, but I wholeheartedly recommend diving into the various historic karting groups; you’ll never know what you might find.

The 2024 Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix Sprint Race After four years, Formula 1 returned to China for the Formula 1 Lenovo Chinese Grand Prix 2024. Every year, from 2004 up to 2019, there has been a Chinese Grand Prix. Unfortunately, from 2020 to 2023, the event was canceled as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The good news is that the Chinese Grand Prix is back! The event hosted the first sprint race of the year. The other Grands Prix that will host sprint races are Miami, Austria, Austin, Brazil, and Qatar. The format for this year’s sprint activities is different from last year’s. This year, on Friday, April 19, the only practice session of the weekend and the Sprint Qualifying were held. On Saturday, April 20, the sprint and the traditional qualifying were held, while the race will be held on Sunday, April 21. Unlike other Grands Prix weekends, at a Sprint weekend, teams are allocated 12 sets of tyres instead of the usual 13. The Sprint is a short race that lasts 30 minutes and covers 100 km, which is usually a third of the usual race distance. The driver who sets the fastest lap isn’t awarded any points; however, the top eight finishers are awarded points. The winner of the sprint receives 8 points, the second driver receives 7 points, and so on until the eighth driver who receives 1 point. At the start of the race, Norris defended himself against Hamilton until they both approached Turn 2, where he ran wide and lost the lead. Hamilton took the lead of the race, while Norris dropped to seventh place on the grid. By lap 4, the other Mercedes driver, Russell, was up to ninth place after passing Bottas and Magnussen. By the fifth lap, both Red Bull cars had issues of their own. Verstappen had earlier in the race asked about his battery on the radio, while Perez was given instructions related to engine mapping. Luckily for them, two laps later, those issues were sorted out, and on lap 8, Verstappen moved into second place after passing Alonso. At this point in time, the race leader, Hamilton, was complaining about his car’s performance through the low-speed corners. On lap 9, Hamilton ran wide through the hairpin, which gave Verstappen the DRS advantage over him. On the following lap, on the inside into Turn 9, Verstappen overtook Hamilton, and by lap 11, he was over 2 seconds ahead. By lap 13, Verstappen was ahead of Hamilton by 4 seconds. By lap 16, Verstappen was eight seconds ahead of Hamilton. On the following lap, Alonso and Sainz made contact with each other, which left Alonso with a front tyre puncture. Alonso pitted and retired on lap 18. By the final lap, Verstappen was leading by 11.5 seconds! He went on to win the sprint race ahead of Hamilton and Perez who finished in third place! Photo credit: Formula 1 Find my full race reports and podcasts at: www.zeehumura.com #Formula1 #F1 #Chinesegrandprix #motorsports #womeninmotorsports

🔴 NEWS: Formula 1 is considering glued gravel traps as the best solution to enforcing track limits, as teams and FIA are already in discussions. Pirelli‘s chief engineer Simone Berra said that adding glued gravel traps could help prevent chaos around track limits. These gravel traps have first come into use at the Dutch Grand Prix last year. These are a better solution to real gravel traps with stones that can be dragged on track and damage tyres. 🗣️ “Probably the best solution, and it’s something that I know that the teams are speaking with FIA and FIA is speaking with the teams, is trying to use a solution like we have in Zandvoort where they glue the gravel. That could be a good solution because you don’t bring a gravel into the racing line.” Zandvoort added the glued gravel traps last year, as they wanted to avoid stones to be dragged on track by cars going through gravel at some places. This year, the FIA requested tracks to add or extend gravel traps, with Austria showing the biggest change. ⬇️ What do you think? #F1 #Formula1 #DutchGP #Gravel #F1Race #FIA #F12024 #Race #Racing #Racer #GrandPrix #GP #F1Tech #Official #Car #RaceCar #News #Update #F1Racing #Motorsport #RacingUpdate

#ICYMI: Chip Ganassi Racing’s Renger Van Der Zande was fastest in last night's final free practice for IMSA - International Motor Sports Association’s 27th running of #MotulPetitLeMans. Read more ⤵️ #IMSA #Cadillac #RoadAtlanta #Motorsport #Endurance #Racing #Sportscars

MOTORSPORT MONDAY🏎️ —————————————————————— Welcome to this week’s post! Today I wanted to shortly outline which sports belong to which Federations/Governing bodies. Knowing this will allow you as a spectator/fan to understand the regulatory side of the sport better and to follow along with the behind-the-scenes work and how/why certain decisions are made. So if you follow any motorsports or would like to start, you can find the main* types of sports below, under their respective Federation/Governing body (*not exhaustive lists). 🏎️ FIA-Fédération Internaitonale d’Automobile: -Forumla 1, 2, 3 -F1 Academy -Formula E -Rally -Karting -Endurance Championships 🏍️ FIM- Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme: -Circuit Racing (Including MotoGp and Women’s World Championship) -Motocross -Supercross -SuperMoto -Enduro (Including winter sports-yes winter motorsports!) -Track Racing (Including Speedway-Polish dominant sport!) 🏎️ INDYCAR (Auto racing sanctioning body for American open-wheel car racing): -Indycar: recognized as a member organization of the FIA through the Automobile Competition Committee for the United States BUT sanctioned by INDYCAR 🚗 NASCAR-National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing: -NASCAR ❓❔Which sport do you follow and which one would you like to start following more? I follow Formula 1, 2, 3, IndyCar, Speedway and some Endurance Championships the most! I would like to pay closer attention to MotoGP and Nascar! 💬If you would like to mention any additional comments/questions please feel free to do so below, we would love to chat some more! Until next Motorsport Monday🏎️! ——————————————————————— #motorsport #sportslaw #fia #fim #indycar #nascar