Motor sports: formula one/rally racing in UK/Britain/England

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Motor sports in the UK


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INTRODUCTION

A brief guide to motor sports in the UK.

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MOTOR RACING

British Grand Prix, Silverstone

Racing driver

The annual international Formula 1 competition is popular in the UK. The winner of the 2008 drivers' championship was the British driver Lewis Hamilton.
The 2009 races will be as follows:

Number	Grand Prix	Location	Date
1	Australian	Melbourne	29 March 2009
2	Malaysian	Kuala Lumpur	5 April 2009
3	Bahrain	Sakhir	19 April 2009
4	Spanish	Catalunya	10 May 2009
5	Monaco	Monte Carlo	24 May 2009
6	Turkish	Istanbul	7 June 2009
7	British	Silverstone	21 June 2009
8	French	Magny-Cours	28 June 2009
9	German	Nürburgring	12 July 2009
10	Hungarian	Budapest	26 July 2009
11	European	Valencia	23 August 2009
12	Belgian	Spa-Francorchamps	30 August 2009
13	Italian	Monza	13 September 2009
14	Singapore	Singapore	27 September 2009
15	Japanese	Suzuka	11 October 2009
16	Chinese	Shanghai	18 October 2009
17	Brazilian	Sao Paulo	1 November 2009
18	Abu Dhabi	Abu Dhabi	15 November 2009

There is a qualification session on the day before each Grand Prix. The drivers try to complete a lap in the fastest time, and this determines the order in which they start on the grid.

The top eight finishers in each Grand Prix score points according to the following scale:
1st: 10 points ; 2nd: 8 points ; 3rd: 6 points ; 4th: 5 points ; 5th: 4 points ; 6th: 3 points ; 7th: 2 points ; 8th: 1 point
The driver with the highest number of points at the end of the season wins the drivers' championship.
Similarly, the construction team with the most points wins the constructors' championship.

The British Grand Prix takes place in the summer at Silverstone race track (in Northamptonshire, about 1 hour from London by car). The location is shown on this map. For details of the race calendar at Silverstone this year, see: http://www.silverstone-circuit.co.uk.
To buy tickets for this event: click here.
From 2010 the British Grand Prix will move to Donington Park: http://www.donington-park.co.uk

For up-to-date grand prix news, see:
ITV: http://www.itv.com/f1 (ITV shows the grand prix races until 2008)
BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/formula1 (BBC shows the grand prix races from 2009)

For further information about the sport, see: http://www.formula1.com/inside_f1/understanding_the_sport

Lewis Hamilton: My Story
(British Formula 1 driver)
Author: Lewis Hamilton
Publisher: HarperSport
Date: November 2007

Lewis Hamilton - Life In The Fast Lane (DVD)
Studio: Warner Music Entertainment
Date: October 2007

Vocabulary

If English is not your first language, here is some vocabulary which may help you to understand a grand prix race on television:

general: formula one (F1), drivers' championship, constructors' championship, track, straight, turn, corner, a hairpin bend, lap number
the race: front row of the starting grid, to be in pole position/on pole, to have a good/bad getaway, to go through, to let through, to pass, to overtake, to make a move, to gain a place, to impede, to be on someone's tail, to close the gap, to close in on, to catch, to cut across, to lead, to be back in contention, to run wide, to be in someone's slipstream, to fall back, to spin, to crash, to retire from the race, to lap someone, to pass the chequered flag, to stand on the podium
the car: pit crew, to make a pit stop, mechanics, engineers, garage, nose, back, rear, wing, inside, outside, cockpit, gearbox, gears, hydaulics, engine, throttle, tyres [soft tyres, intermediate tyres, full/extreme wet weather tyres], traction, grip
problems: a lock-up, engine cut-out, burst tyre, collision, suspension failure, safety car, debris, to spin off

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RALLY RACING

See: http://www.britishrallying.com

(c) Wales Tourist Board. All rights reserved

Network Q Rally

LINKS

London-Brighton veteran car run: Ideas/Album/VeteranCarRun
Sport in the UK: Life/Sport
Monthly guide to events in the UK: Ideas/Events

Home page: Home

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