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Motorsport is probably one of the most, if not the most, exhilarating form of sport that we have today. Thousands of people flock at the venues to witness the extremity of the sport. Millions witness it from far away on TVs, computers, and what not. The prime reason for such fandom and reverence is that the thrill and excitement it imparts to the spectators, is almost as much as it does to the competitors. MotoGP, F1, Dakar Rally, WSBK, Motocross, Supercross, Drag racing and many more. The disciplines may be different but if one looks closely, there’s one thing that is common to the recipe of this spectacle.
It is an unassailable fact that Homo sapiens is the most dominant species on Earth. And I’d like to believe that one of the many reasons for that is the competitive spirit that they possess. Right from the very beginning, human race has been a part of a race, within themselves and beyond. This competitive spirit, this race, has materialized in many ways in the form of sports and then, in some not very good ways too.
So, when the humans entered the era of machines, it was imperative that they compete. Not just the humans, but the machines too. Now if one thins out the mechanical crowd along the lines of thinking that we follow, there are vehicles. Follow that a bit further and we have cars and motorcycles. Man-Made machines built for convenience, being pit against each other because nothing escapes that proverbial ‘fire’ inside.
We will be focusing mostly on motorcycle racing with a touch of car racing here and there. Internationally, motorcycle racing has been in existence for around a century now. Motorcycle racing grew parallel to motorsport and an example can be the motorcycle class in the Paris-Vienna race which was a town-to-town race held around the 1890s. But the definition of proper motorcycle was still a blur because a tricycle, de Dion was the premier in these kind of races. But then, proper 2-wheelers like the Werner laid the foundation the motorcycle racing that we see today.
Probably the biggest turnaround in the history of motorcycle racing came in 1904 with the formation of Fédération Internationale du Motocyclisme. It was later renamed to Fédération Internationale Motocycliste (FIM) in 1949. They created the international cup for motorcycle racing. 5 nations namely- Austria, Denmark, France, Germany and Britain were united under this cup. The first international cup followed in 1905 at Dourdan, France. The most popular one of all the European motorcycle races, was the Tourist Trophy (TT) and the first one took place 1907 on the Isle of Man, which is still one of the world’s most popular motorcycle races even today.
After the formation of the FIM, the sport of motorcycle racing began to expand. This expansion included the betterment of road racing and addition of other disciplines like Endurance races, Trials, Motocross and drag racing. An example of endurance racing can be the Daytona 200 which started in 1937. The circuit used was the same one used for the Daytona 200 for cars. Grand Prix racing also began around the same time i.e. the Belgian Grand Prix started in 1921 while the German and Dutch Grand Prix began in 1925. But motorcycle road-racing world championships were not established until 1949. In these events, the motorcycles were divided into categories based on displacement.
Motorcycle trials date back to even before the World War I. Motocross was introduced on the European continent in the 1940s and due to the terrain-based difficulty of the race, it became a popular spectator sport by the 1960s. After being popularized in European region, it reached North America and became a scheduled series of events around 1970. Drag Racing was another very popular sport in America and the first events can be dated back to 1950s which means that Drag Racing and Endurance races were the pre-dominantly popular forms of motorcycle racing in the American region.
This was a brief account of the history of motorcycle racing and the various disciplines of motorcycling in the world. In the next part we will take a look at the history of motorcycle racing in India.
It is an unassailable fact that Homo sapiens is the most dominant species on Earth. And I’d like to believe that one of the many reasons for that is the competitive spirit that they possess. Right from the very beginning, human race has been a part of a race, within themselves and beyond. This competitive spirit, this race, has materialized in many ways in the form of sports and then, in some not very good ways too.
So, when the humans entered the era of machines, it was imperative that they compete. Not just the humans, but the machines too. Now if one thins out the mechanical crowd along the lines of thinking that we follow, there are vehicles. Follow that a bit further and we have cars and motorcycles. Man-Made machines built for convenience, being pit against each other because nothing escapes that proverbial ‘fire’ inside.
We will be focusing mostly on motorcycle racing with a touch of car racing here and there. Internationally, motorcycle racing has been in existence for around a century now. Motorcycle racing grew parallel to motorsport and an example can be the motorcycle class in the Paris-Vienna race which was a town-to-town race held around the 1890s. But the definition of proper motorcycle was still a blur because a tricycle, de Dion was the premier in these kind of races. But then, proper 2-wheelers like the Werner laid the foundation the motorcycle racing that we see today.
Probably the biggest turnaround in the history of motorcycle racing came in 1904 with the formation of Fédération Internationale du Motocyclisme. It was later renamed to Fédération Internationale Motocycliste (FIM) in 1949. They created the international cup for motorcycle racing. 5 nations namely- Austria, Denmark, France, Germany and Britain were united under this cup. The first international cup followed in 1905 at Dourdan, France. The most popular one of all the European motorcycle races, was the Tourist Trophy (TT) and the first one took place 1907 on the Isle of Man, which is still one of the world’s most popular motorcycle races even today.
After the formation of the FIM, the sport of motorcycle racing began to expand. This expansion included the betterment of road racing and addition of other disciplines like Endurance races, Trials, Motocross and drag racing. An example of endurance racing can be the Daytona 200 which started in 1937. The circuit used was the same one used for the Daytona 200 for cars. Grand Prix racing also began around the same time i.e. the Belgian Grand Prix started in 1921 while the German and Dutch Grand Prix began in 1925. But motorcycle road-racing world championships were not established until 1949. In these events, the motorcycles were divided into categories based on displacement.
Motorcycle trials date back to even before the World War I. Motocross was introduced on the European continent in the 1940s and due to the terrain-based difficulty of the race, it became a popular spectator sport by the 1960s. After being popularized in European region, it reached North America and became a scheduled series of events around 1970. Drag Racing was another very popular sport in America and the first events can be dated back to 1950s which means that Drag Racing and Endurance races were the pre-dominantly popular forms of motorcycle racing in the American region.
This was a brief account of the history of motorcycle racing and the various disciplines of motorcycling in the world. In the next part we will take a look at the history of motorcycle racing in India.
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