The disciplines of car racing, side by side.

Britannica describes automobile racing as a sport practised by professionals and amateurs on roads, tracks and closed circuits, and lists Grand Prix, speedway, stock-car, sports-car, drag and midget-car racing, karting and hill climbs among its forms. Wikipedia (a secondary source) groups the major categories as single-seater (open-wheel), touring car, stock car, sports car and endurance (including GT), drag racing, off-road and karting, and adds hillclimb, drifting and autocross to a list of other disciplines. This section follows roughly that grouping, with sim racing added because the FIA now certifies esports competitions.

The disciplines at a glance

The table summarises the research behind each page, and some of its car descriptions (open-wheel, sports car and stock car) rest on Wikipedia, a secondary source; the pages themselves give the source for every point.

Three ways to decide a result

Most disciplines settle a result in one of three ways, and knowing which one applies explains a lot about how an event looks.

• Wheel-to-wheel. Cars start together and the first across the line wins. In multi-class endurance racing, results are also scored within each class. Open-wheel, sports car, touring, GT, stock car and kart racing work this way, and so do rallycross finals.
• Against the clock. Cars run alone or at intervals and the fastest time counts. In a WRC rally, crews start stages at intervals and the lowest total time across every stage wins. Time attack looks for a single fastest lap, and hillclimbs time each run up a closed road. Drag racing is timed too, but run as head-to-head elimination rounds.
• Judged. The FIA describes drifting as judged rather than timed, with scores for line, angle, style and speed.

Shared cars and single drivers

In most forms of racing one driver handles the whole race. Endurance racing is the main exception: two or more drivers take turns in the same car, and in pro-am classes such as IMSA's GTD, RACER says lineups must mix professionals with Bronze- or Silver-rated amateurs. Rallying adds a different kind of teamwork, with a co-driver reading pace notes aloud during each stage.

Where amateurs start

Every discipline has a professional top tier, but the clubs and organizations behind most of them also run events for amateurs. A few examples from the research:

• Rotax suggests new karters research local tracks, take lessons, start in rental karts and join a club before buying a kart.
• SCCA describes autocross as low-barrier, with many newcomers using their daily cars. See autocross.
• NASA's HPDE (High Performance Driver Education) events put drivers on road courses in their own cars with instruction. See track days.
• Most drag strips, according to Sonoma Raceway's NHRA brochure, hold weekly test-and-tune sessions where newcomers can practise without competing.
• SCCA lists its road racing ladder from Race Experience and Drivers' School up to the SCCA Runoffs.

Our getting started guide lays out the usual order, and licences and schools covers the paperwork for wheel-to-wheel racing. Each discipline page below ends with what the sources say about taking part.