What drives the worldwide popularity of auto racing? Really cool cars, for starters.
This feature was produced in collaboration between Vox Creative and BP. Vox Media editorial staff was not involved in the creation or production of this content.
For nearly as long as there have been cars, there’ve been car races. The first races were in France, designed as publicity for those newfangled horseless carriages. Today, there’s stock car racing and drag racing and formula racing and more, with races held around the world. More than 500 million people worldwide watch Formula 1 racing, the most popular form. It’s where automakers push boundaries — and more and more people are watching.