Freestyle BMX

Freestyle BMX is a creative way of using bicycles originally designed for bicycle motocross racing. It can be split into several disciplines, although riders will generally participate in more than one discipline. These are Street, (skate)Park, Vert, Trails and Flatland. Rather confusingly, in competitions, park riding is often referred to as 'Street'.

Street

Street riding occurs on public streets or private property, typically within cities and towns. Without purpose-made ramps, riders have to improvise with banks, walls, rails, gaps, etc. In fact, almost anything can be used as an obstacle, and it is precisely this that draws people to street riding. Riders enjoy street riding because they are not constrained to what a skatepark designer has planned for them to ride, so it allows a good deal of creativity. Street riding progresses relentlessly. Obstacles and tricks that were considered too big or technical to attempt become commonplace.

Many professional BMXers are street riders who are employed for the exposure they get through video parts and magazines, rather than for their competition results. However, these riders generally don't get paid the huge sums that the big competition riders get, as most of the big money comes from placing in events such as the X Games. However, riders like Van Homan, who is a progressive street rider, often enter the X Games and manage to place quite high.

Street bikes are different from those used on park or dirt. Typically they will have two or four stunt (axle) pegs for grinding. They are usually the heaviest and strongest type of BMX bike. A considerable number of street riders set up their bikes without hand brakes.

Some street riders may also ride park and dirt, but the set up of street bikes can make the latter difficult.

Park

Skateparks are used by BMXers as well as skateboarders, and both draw inspiration from the other. Skateparks themselves can be made of wood or concrete, or in the case of local council-supplied parks, metal.

Styles of riding will differ between wood and concrete parks - wood lends itself to technical tricks, while concrete is more suited to a fast, flowing style, with riders searching for gaps, and aiming to air higher from the coping.Concrete parks usually tend to contain bowls and pools. However, it is not unusual for riders to merge the two styles in either type of park.

Concrete parks are commonly built outdoors due to their ability to withstand years of exposure to the elements. Concrete parks are also often publicly funded due to their permanent and costly nature. Parks made from wood are popular with commercial skateparks due to ease of construction, availability of materials, cost, and the relative safety associated with falling on wood instead of concrete. Parks designed with BMX use in mind will typically have steel coping that is less prone to damage than concrete or pool coping.
Common obstacles include:

• quarter pipes - literally, quarter of a pipe - riders air from it and perform tricks on a platform above the ramp
• spines - two quarter pipes back to back
• flat banks - a flat bank set at an angle of roughly 40 degrees from horizontal
• wall rides - a vertical wall above either quarter pipes or flat banks
• miniramps - two small quarter pipes facing one another, like a halfpipe, but with a short flat area between.
• hips - essentially two quarter pipes or flat banks, each with one edge at a right angle or a more aggressive angle to the other.
• box jumps - a steep quarter pipe like lip with a deck extending to a landing often less steep than the lip.
• pyramids - a four way wedge or transition box.
  

Vert

Perhaps the most extreme of the BMX disciplines, a Vert ramp consists of two quarter pipes set facing each other (much like a mini ramp), but at around 10-15 feet tall (around 2.5 to 3.5 metres) high. The biggest ramp ever used in competition is the X-Games big air ramp at 27 feet tall. Both 'faces' of the ramp have an extension to the transition that is vertical, hence the name.
Riders go up each face, performing tricks in the air before landing into the same face. A typical run involves going from one side to the other, airing above the coping each side. Also possible are 'lip tricks' - tricks on the platform at the top of the ramps before dropping into the ramp.

Mat Hoffman popularised the sport in the early 90s, and holds the record for the highest jump of 27' out of a 25' ramps (a total of over 15.5 metres from the ground). He achieved this by being dragged along a field by a friend with a motorbike and hitting one face of the ramp. On one attempt, he lost control at the peak of his jump, and the resulting crash caused life-threatening injuries such as losing his spleen. Remarkably, despite his age and injuries in the past, he still competes to this day.

The danger of the discipline (and scarcity of full-size vert ramps) puts most riders off, and as such, there are a small number of top professionals who remain at the top of the sport for many years. Most notable are Dave Mirra (US) and Jamie Bestwick (UK) who have won almost all the major international competitions in the past 5 years.

Trails

A photo of some trails courtesy of barendbmx.co.uk Trails are, as the name suggests, lines of jumps built from dirt (heavily compacted mud). The jumps consist of a steep take off, called a lip, with an often slightly less steep landing. The lip and landing are usually built as separate mounds, divided by a gap. The gap is measured from the topmost part of the lip, horizontally to the topmost part of the far side of the landing. Gaps typically range from only a couple of feet to over twenty feet. A moderate gap is around twelve feet.

Trails riding is sometimes also referred to as Dirt Jumping. Most riders that ride trails maintain that a subtle difference exists in the style and flow of "dirt jumps" and "trails"; trails riders focus more on of a flowing smooth style from one jump to the next whilst performing more stylish tricks, while dirt jumpers try to perform the craziest tricks they can without much thought to their style or smoothness. this flowy trails style is popularized by riders such as mike aitken, chase hawk and chris doyle.

Although many regard trails and street as being completely opposite, the attraction is similar—trails riders build their own jumps so their riding is limited only by their creativity and resourcefulness.

Dirt jumping bikes are heavier than bmx racing bikes but lighter than freestyle bikes. Often a bmx jump bike will have only a rear brake and they might also sport a gyro. The gyro will allow them to do airborne tricks such as barspins. But most trails riders dont ride gryos, they run a sinlge straight cable from the lever to the brakes.

Flatland

Flatland BMX occupies a position somewhat removed from the rest of freestyle bmx. People who ride in the above disciplines will generally take part in at least one of the others, but flatlanders tend to only ride flatland. They are often very dedicated and will spend several hours a day perfecting their technique.

Flatland also differs from the others in that the terrain used is nothing but a smooth, flat surface (e.g. an asphalt parking lot, basketball courts, etc.). Tricks are performed by spinning and balancing in a variety of body and bicycle positions. Riders almost always use gnurled aluminum pegs to stand on to manipulate the bike into even stranger positions.

Flatland bikes typically have a shorter wheelbase than other freestyle bikes. Flatland bikes differ from dirt jumping bikes and freestyle bikes in one way. The frames are often more heavily reinforced due to the fact that the people riding flatland often stand on the frames. This shorter wheelbase requires less effort to make the bike spin or to position the bike on one wheel. One of the primary reasons flatlanders often ride only flatland is a result of the decreased stability of using a shorter bike on ramps, dirt and street.

A variety of options are commonly found on flatland bikes. The most unifying feature of flatland bikes is the use of four pegs, one on the end of each wheel axle. Flatland riders will choose to run either a front brake, a rear brake, both brakes, or no brakes at all, depending on stylistic preference.

History of freestyle

Freestyle BMX was pioneered by in the late 1970s and early 1980s. early pioneers of freestyle BMX included Bob Haro, R.L. Osborne, Mike Buff, Pat Romano, Dizz Hicks, Eddie Fiola, Mike Dominguez, Dave Vanderspeck, Stu Thompson, Woody Itson and Tinker Juarez. The 1980s saw a major level of growth in freestyle popularity, but the 1990s brought a general decline in the interest on the sport. This brought the so-called "rider-owned" bicycle companies to the sport, which allowed for more freedom in designing, producing and building bicycle parts and accessories than the traditional corporate companies would allow.

Some of freestyle's major innovators in the 1980s and 1990s included: Eddie Fiola, Mike Dominguez, Brian Blyther, Ron Wilkerson, Hugo Gonzalez(s), Dave Voelker, Rick Moliterno, Vic Murphy, Pete Agustin, Mat Hoffman, Dave Mirra, Kevin Jones, Rick Moliterno,Ryan Nyquist, Dennis McCoy, Ruben Alcantara, Jamie Bestwick, Jay Miron, Joe Rich, and Taj Mihelich.

The first freestyle World Championships were held in Vancouver, Canada during Expo86 in 1986. That which was won by Northern California's Hugo Gonzalez. At present many freestyle contests are held year-round around the world, being the X-Games, the Metro Jams, the Backyard Jams, and the BMX Freestyle Worlds among the more notorious.

Tricks

While there innumerable tricks that can be performed, and many new tricks are being created every day, there are a few basic tricks that form the staples of BMX riding in trails, street and park riding, and are often combined to create new tricks.

Base tricks

• Bunny hop - Jumping the bike off the ground without using a jump. Performed by pulling back on the handlebars, and then leveling out the bike by pushing back on the pedals/pushing forward on the handlebars
• Air - Simply, getting both wheels off of a ramp and landing on the same face you came off.
• Grind - Sliding the bike along an object, usually coping (the metal edge of a ramp), a handrail or ledge, using anything other than both wheels.
• Fakie - Riding backwards. Made more difficult due to the fact that most rear bicycle hubs will force the cranks to rotate backwards while the back wheel is rolling backwards.
• Manual - Riding with the front wheel held in the air, without pedalling. A coasting wheelie.
• Nose Manual Basically the same as a manual except you balance on your front wheel instead of your back wheel, usually a bit harder.
• Wallride - Riding with both tires on a vertical or near vertical wall.
• Endo - Stopping the bike with the front wheel, and raising the rear wheel into the air.
  
  
  

Grind Tricks

• Feeble grind - A grind when the rear peg is grinding and the front wheel is rolling along the top of the ledge or rail.
• Smith grind - The opposite of the feeble grind. The front peg is grinding along the edge while the back wheel is rolling on the top of the ledge or rail.
• Double peg grind/50-50 - Grinding along with both pegs on the ledge or rail.
• Icepick grind - Grinding balanced only on the rear peg, with the front of the bike held in the air.
• Toothpick grind - Grinding along only on the front peg, with the rear of the bike in the air.
• Crooked grind - Grinding along a rail with the front peg on one side, the bike crossing over the rail, and the opposite rear peg on the other side. For example, the front right peg on the rail, and the rear left peg on the rail.
• Pedal Grind - Grinding on the pedal with the front tire on the rail or ledge, much like a feeble grind. Generally done by pegless riders.
• Luc-E Grind - Grinding with the forward pedal and rear peg, with the front peg hanging below the grind obstacle.
• Magic Carpet grind - Grinding on just the pedal.
• Levetator Grind - Front peg and pedal, with the back peg in the air.
• Disaster Grind/Sprocket Grind - Grinding along using the sprocket.

Air Tricks

• X-Up - Turning the bars 180˚ or beyond while holding onto them.
• One hander/no hander - Letting go of the handlebars with one hand/both hands.
• One footer/no footer - Removing one foot/both feet from the pedals.
• Seatgrab - Grabbing the seat with one or both hands.
• Tiregrab - Grabbing the front tire with one or both hands.
• 180/360/540/720/900 - Spinning the bike the number of degrees indicated, left or right.
• Backflip/Frontflip - Rotating the bike 360 degrees on the vertical axis, backwards/forwards.
• Tabletop - Tilting the bike flat on its side while in the air.variations : 'old school tabletop' with bars facing up, 'downtable' or 'pancake' with bars facing down
• Turndown - pulling the bike up vertically whilst turning the bars down until they are rotated 180˚ from the frame.
• Lookback - Similar to the turndown, except the bike is horizontal and the rider is facing backwards.
• Barspin - Spinning the bars 360 degrees while letting go of them.
• Tailwhip - Spinning the bike frame 360 degrees underneath you whilst holding the handlebars.
• Can-Can - Lifting one foot off the pedal and thrusting it to the opposite side of the bike.
• Candybar - Lifting one foot off the pedal and thrusting it over the handlebars.
• No-Footed Can-can - Lifting both feet off the pedals and thrusting them to one side of the bike.
• Superman - Lifting both feet off the pedals and thrusting them backwards.
• Nothing - Releasing the bike entirely.
• Busdriver - Rotating the handlebars 360 degrees while still holding on to one end of the handlebars through their rotation. Like a bus driver turning a corner.
• Truckdriver - The combination of a Barspin and a 360. The rider will typically throw the bars in the opposite direction of the spin. For example spinning 360 degrees clockwise and throwing the bars 360 degrees counter clockwise.
• Toboggan - Turning the handlebars 90 degrees while letting go of the furthest grip to grab the seat instead.

Lip Tricks

• Fufanu - Leaving the ramp, then placing the rear tire on the coping, while holding the nose of the bike in the air, and returning nose first into the ramp.
• Abubaca - As above, but returning into the ramp backwards, or fakie.
• Stall - Stalling at the top of the ramp; common variations include double peg stall, smith/feeble stall.
• Sprocket Stall - Stalling straight out of the ramp, sprocket on the coping, front tire on the deck and back tire below the coping.
• Disaster - Leaving the ramp, spinning 180 degrees, and landing with one wheel in and one wheel out of the ramp.
• Ice pick - Stalling at the top of the ramp with only the rear peg, while holding the nose in the air.
• Nosepick - Stalling at the top of the ramp with only the front tire on the coping, while holding the rear of the bike in the air.
• Toothpick - Stalling at the top of the ramp with only the front peg, while holding the rear of the bike in the air
• Tailtap/Tiretap Stalling up on the deck of the ramp with the rear tire and hopping back in.
• footjams - jumping onto the deck of a quarterpipe and jamming youre foot into the front tire causing youre back end to come up in the air. many variations on this trick can be performed.

Bikes

Freestyle bikes all use 20 inch wheels. Frame sizes and geometry vary, but the top tubes are usually 20-21 inches long. Some riders customize store bought bikes, although most riders build custom bikes from the ground up to suit their preferences and style of riding. Generally, street riders use smoother tires for more grip on concrete, and usually have two or four axle pegs for grinding. Park riders use a similar setup, but some prefer four pegs and twin brakes for better control. Dirt riders usually don't have pegs, and use more knobby tires for better grip in the loose dirt. Dirt bikes also tend to run only a rear brake, Dirt bikes also usually have 36 spokes for less weight. Vert bikes usually use the smoothest tires of all. Flatland riders bikes usually run four pegs, a smaller frame, and a smaller front sprocket as maneuverability and not speed is the basis of flatland. Brakes depend on preference, and many riders have brakeless bicycles. In fact most aspects of a freestyle BMX bike's setup are based on personal preference. Above all a freestyle BMX should be as simple and strong while remaing light and nimble.

Before there was a "true" freestyle bicycle, riders used BMX racing frames for jumping and for performing flatland maneuvers. Bob Haro was the founder of the first freestyle bicycles company, Haro Bikes.[1] Most of the early Haro Freestyler bicycles are collectible items that sell for several thousand dollars. [2] The first freestyle bicycles were not as riding style-specific as modern ones; what made them suitable for flatland usually was the addition of bolt-on components, like standing pegs, platforms for the frame, the forks or the chainstays near the rear dropouts, and front and rear brake cable detangler systems like the ACS Rotor for the rear brake and the Potts Mod, a hollow stem wedge bolt for the front brake. By mid-90s, riding style differentiation in frames and components became the norm.

The bike shown is a little out dated now that smaller sprockets integrated headsets and new bottom brackets that do not allow the use of one piece cranks have come into play.

BMX Specific Bicycle Parts

• Gyro / Rotor - A device that prevents the rear brake cable from becoming tangled during barspins, tailwhips, or any tricks that require the handlebars to spin 360 degrees or more. A 'gyro' is a two piece device that floats under the stem and rotates on ball bearings. The top cable from the rear brake lever connects to one half of the device while the bottom cable from the rear brake connects to the other half. When the brake lever is pulled the 'gyro' raises and in turn pulles the lower cable attached to the brake. This allows the bars to be spun around infinately.
• Axle Pegs - Short 4 to 5 inch long tubes, enclosed on one end, which bolt on to the axles of freestyle BMX bikes. These add either a standing platform for Flatland BMX tricks or are used to slide coping, ledges or handrails in skateparks or on street.
  

MotoX

Supermoto

Supermoto (also called Supermotard due to its strong foothold in France) is a cross-over of motocross and road racing. Races are commonly held on road racing tracks with an off-road section in the infield; approximately 70% tarmac and 30% dirt. The motorcycles used are frequently custom-created combinations of off-road motorcycles and road-racing rims/tires. Riders also wear a combination of road race and offroad equipment, normally leathers and a motocross helmet and boots. Unlike normal motorcycle racing, the emphasis lies on slower (<100>

History

Supermoto has its origins in the 1970s where ABC’s Wide World of Sports was the highest-rated sports show in the United States. In 1979, ABC commissioned a made-for-TV event to be included in the series, named Superbikers, whose intention was to find the ultimate all-around motorcycle racer. Superbikers was then manifested as a yearly event run at southern California's Carlsbad Raceway. The show's tarmac-and-dirt courses were intended to draw on talent from the worlds of off-road, flat-track and road-racing. World and National Championship-winning motorcycling greats such as Kenny Roberts and Jeff Ward, whose respective sports at the time were road-racing and motocross, participated in the races. The Superbikers quickly became a huge Nielsen rating contender, running until 1985, at which point ABC was forced to cancel the show due to new management and budget cuts; its cancellation also initiated a long sabbatical of the sport in the USA. The European racers who participated in the sport at Carlsbad, however, brought it back to Europe with them, where it quickly gained popularity in countries such as France.

2003 signalled the resurrection of the sport in the United States with the birth of the AMA Supermoto championship.

Machines

Prior to the 1990s, supermotos, including the precursor motorcycles used in Superbikers, were converted open-class two-stroke motocross or enduro bikes. The motorcycles currently used for Supermotard racing are predominantly single-cylinder 4 stroke powered dirtbikes with 17" or 16.5" wheels. The smaller rims allow the use of up to 5.5" wide superbike road racing slicks and are often hand grooved on the rear tire to facilitate slightly better acceleration on the dirt stretches of a motard course. Suspension is lowered and slightly stiffened in comparison with a stock motocross bike, and braking power is improved with oversize rotors and calipers as well. Despite the lack of trees on supermoto courses, 'bark busters' (hand guards) are frequently added to supermoto bikes due the extreme cornering angles achieved by riders.

In 1991 Italian manufacturer Gilera released the 'Nordwest' model, the first factory produced supermoto. Other European manufactures quickly followed suit, among them KTM, Husqvarna, Husaberg AB and CCM Motorcycles; all manufacturers whose emphasis were off-road models at the time. Models were developed for both track and road use. It took another 10 years, until the mid 2000s for Japanese manufacturers, such as Yamaha (2004), Honda (2005) and Suzuki (2005) to start introducing supermoto models in the European market, emphasising more domesticated models for road use rather than outright racing. Dual-purpose motorcycles such as the Kawasaki KLR650 are good examples of this. In the spring of 2006, Italian bike manufacturer Ducati announced their entry in the class with the "Hypermotard" machine which has more in common with streetfighter-type motorcycles than realistically being considered a supermoto. KTM currently has available a 950 "V" twin that could be described as the ultimate road going supermoto. Aprilia also has two new (450 and 550) SXV v-twin supermotos for sale.

Due to the popularity and versatility of these motorcycles, some owners modify them for street usage. In order to do this, headlights, taillights, and street-legal tires among other occasional modifications are needed, while some, such as the Husqvarnas and newer KTMs, come street legal from the factory. These motorcycles make excellent city-goers as their upright seating position provides comfort and great visibility. Their narrow frames and light weight also make them incredibly maneuverable, as well as easier to ride in less than ideal road conditions that make most sportbikes have to slow down.

Freestyle Motocross

Freestyle Motocross (also known as FMX) is a recent variation on the sport of motocross. It concentrates not on speed or racing, but on the acrobatic ability of the rider in the air. Riders perform jumps and stunts ranging from 80-150 feet in length (24-45 meters). The two main types of freestyle events are Big Air and Freestyle Motocross.

Big Air (also known as Best Trick) is a best-of-three competition in which each contestant is allowed three attempts at the same jump. The best trick or variation of the three attempts gives the rider his score. The event is judged by a panel of ten judges scoring on a 100 point scale, judging for the style, level of trick difficulty, best use of the course. The rider with the highest single score wins the competition. The jump is usually over 100 feet (30 meters) in length). Big Air requires a rider who is capable of channeling all his intensity into a single maneuver.

Freestyle Motocross is the older of the two disciplines. Riders compete in a series of two routines of 90 seconds to fourteen minutes in length on a freestyle course. The course consists of multiple jumps of varying lengths and angles, and is usually one to two acres in area (.4 to .8 hectres). Like Big Air, a panel of judges assigns each contestant a score based on a 100 point scale. In order to please the judges, riders must have the ability to execute difficult tricks and employ a number of variations over different jumps. Notable Freestyle motocross events include Red Bull X-Fighters, the X-Games, Gravity Games, Big-X, Moto-X Freestyle National Championship, and Dew Action Sports Tour

Freeriding is the original freestyle motocross. It has no structure, and is traditionally done on public land. Riders look for natural jumps and drop-offs to execute their tricks on. Some freeriders prefer to jump using sand dunes. In many ways, freeriding requires more skill and mental ability. Notable freeriding locations include Ocotillo Wells and Glamis Dunes in California, Beaumont, Texas, and Cainville, Utah. You should be prepared to get dirty if you are trying this yourself.

Equipment

FMX riders typically use much of the same riding gear as MX racers. This includes a helmet, goggles, gloves, boots, jersey and MX pants. They may supplement this with additional gear like elbow and knee pads for added protection.

The bikes are motocross bikes modified specifically for FMX use. Along with standard suspension and motor tuning the bikes will also have many aftermarket parts to lower weight and improve performance. Riders will often shave down the seat foam to give a wider range of motion for their bodies and cut the rear fender so that it's not in the way when doing tricks. This can give the bikes a distinct look from standard racing bikes. Some riders even attach handles to their bikes in various places to aid with tricks, Travis Pastrana was one of the first to do this during the X-Games.

Tricks

Freestyle motocross employs many tricks of varying difficulty.

• The trick with the most variants is the “Backflip”, first attempted by Carey Hart in 2000.

• Backflip Can-Can
• Backflip Candy Bar
• Backflip Cliffhanger
• Backflip Cordova
• Backflip Heel Clicker
• Backflip Lazyboy
• Backflip Nac-Nac
• Backflip Nac-Nac to Heel Clicker
• Backflip No Footer
• Backflip No Footed Nac-Nac (Landed by European Rider)
• Backflip No Hander
• Backflip No Handed Lander
• Backflip One Footer
• Backflip One Hander
• Backflip One-Handed Nac-Nac
• Backflip Saran Wrap
• Backflip Superman
• Backflip Superman Indian Air (Also called Indian Air)
• Backflip Superman Seat Grab
• Backflip Superman Seat Grab Indian Air
• Backflip Whip
• Backflip Whip No-Footer
• Backflip Whip No-Footer to One-Hander Lander

• Perhaps the most difficult of all tricks is the “Body Varial,” also called the “Carolla” after its inventor Chuck Carothers.
• The 'Can-Can' is one of the simplest FMX tricks. It involves the rider taking one of his legs and sticking it out on the otherside of the bike in front of him.
• The 'Cliffhanger' consists of the rider placing his feet on top of or underneath the handlebars and than reaching up towards the sky as if he were standing on the edge of a cliff. Variations of this include the 'Jackhammer' and the 'Christ Air'
• The "Coffin/Dead Body" involves the rider sticking his legs between his arms and stretching back so he is laying flat above the bike, as if he were in a Coffin. The “Double Backflip” was completed by Travis Pastrana. This trick was pulled off for the first time ever in competition during the 2006 X Games.
• Double Grab
• Fender Grab
• Hart Attack
• The “Heel Clicker” is another elementary FMX trick. It consists of the rider clicking his heels together over the handlebars while in the air.
• Holy Grab
• Holy Man - (Superman no handed let go)
• The “Kiss-of-Death,” where the rider moves his body straight up and his motorcycle straight down, is one of the more difficult tricks.
• Ladder
• The “Lazy-Boy” was invented by Travis Pastrana. The trick has been pulled by many freestyle motocross riders, and is often used in competition. It involves the rider lying flat on his back with his legs under the handlebars and his arms out behind him. It resembles a man lying down on a couch or Lazy-Boy chair, hence the name.
• The 'McMetz' involves the rider lifting himself off the bike and taking his arms, placing them underneath the handlebars and than pulling them out by taking his hands of the bars. He than sits back down on the bike before landings. Variations include the 'Double McMetz' were the trick is performed twice in one jump.
• Another difficult trick is “The 360” A.K.A “Mulisha Twist,” a complete full spin first landed by Brian Deegan in the 2003 X Games Freestyle MotoX competition.
• The “Nac-Nac,” invented by supercross star Jeremy McGrath, is one of the original FMX tricks. It is executed by dismounting the motorcycle while in the air.
• CatWalk
• No Footer
• No Footed Can
• No Hander
• No Hander One Footer
• No Foot Nac-Nac
• Nothing
• Rock Solid
• Rodeo Air
• Ruler
• Sidewinder
• Stale Fish (Saran Wrap)
• Star Fish (Extended Bar Hop)
• Suicide Can
• Superman
• Superman Indian Air (Indian Air)
• Superman Seat Grab
• Surfer
• Topside No Footed Can - (known as the switchblade)
• Tsunami
• The Whip
• Turntable Superman Nut Grab
  

Types Of Landings

• No Hander Lander (First landed by Mike Jones)
• One Handed Lander
• Sterlizer (First landed by Clifford Adoptante also know as the Flyin Hawaiian)
• Side Saddle Lander (First landed by Brian Deegan)
• Standard lander ( standing up on pegs )
• Blind Jerry ( cover eyes with both hands )
  

Skateboarding

Skateboarding is the act of riding on or performing tricks with a skateboard. A person who skateboards is referred to as a skateboarder or skater.

Skateboarding—often portrayed in the media as an extreme sport—can be an art, hobby, or a method of transportation.Because of its creative aspects, it can also be seen as an art form. Skateboarding has been shaped and influenced by many skateboarders throughout the years. A 2002 report by American Sports Data found that there were 12.5 million skateboarders in the world. Eighty percent of skateboarders polled who had used a board in the last year were under the age of 18, and 74 percent were male.

Skateboarding is a relatively modern sport—it originated as "sidewalk surfing" in the United States—particularly California—in the 1950s. A key skateboarding trick, the ollie, was only developed in the late 1970s.

History

The first skateboard originated sometime in the 1950s and coincided with the initial popularization of surfing in California. The earliest skateboards were homemade and constructed of flat wooden planks attached to roller-skate trucks and wheels. Skateboarding was originally called "sidewalk surfing" and early skaters emulated surfing style and moves. Skateboards may or may not have evolved from "crate scooters." Crate scooters preceded skateboards, and were essentially similar except for having a wooden crate attached to the front, which formed rudimentary handlebars. In the film Back to the Future, Marty McFly is seen confiscating such a scooter from an unsuspecting '50s youth, and ripping the crate off to fashion an improvised skateboard.

In the mid 1960s, skateboarding went mainstream. A number of surfing manufacturers such as Hobie and Makaha started building skateboards that resembled small surfboards and assembling teams to promote their products. The popularity of skateboarding at this time spawned a national magazine, Skateboarder Magazine and the 1965 international championships were broadcast on national television. The growth of skateboarding at this time can also be seen in Makaha's sales figures which quoted $4 million worth of board sales between 1963 and 1965 (Weyland, 2002:28). Yet by 1966 sales had dropped significantly (ibid) and Skateboarder Magazine had stopped publication. Skateboarding's popularity dropped and remained low until the early 1970s.

Second generation

In the early 1970s, Frank Nasworthy started to develop a skateboard wheel made of polyurethane. The improvement in traction and performance was so immense that the popularity of skateboarding started to rise rapidly again, and companies started to invest more in product development. Many companies started to manufacture trucks (axles) especially designed for skateboarding. As the equipment became more maneuverable, the decks started to get wider, reaching widths of 10 inches and over in the end, thus giving the skateboarder even more control. Banana board is a term used to describe skateboards made of polypropylene that were skinny, flexible, with ribs on the underside for structural support and very popular during the mid-1970s. They were available in a myriad of colors, bright yellow probably being the most memorable, hence the name.

Manufacturers started to experiment with more exotic composites, like fiberglass and aluminum, but the common skateboards were made of maple plywood. The skateboarders took advantage of the improved handling of their skateboards and started inventing new tricks. Skateboarders, most notably the Z-Boys, started to skate the vertical walls of swimming pools that were left empty in the 1976 California drought. This started the vert trend in skateboarding. With increased control, vert skaters could skate faster and perform more dangerous tricks, such as slash grinds and frontside/backside airs. This caused liability concerns and increased insurance costs to skatepark owners. During this era, the "freestyle" movement in skateboarding began, which can be characterized by the development of a wide assortment of flat-ground tricks.

Skateparks increasingly had to contend with high-liability costs that led to many parks closing, Vert skaters therefore started making their own ramps and freestylers didn't need skateparks. Thus by the beginning of the 1980s, skateboarding had died again.

Third generation

The third skateboard generation, from the early/mid eighties to early nineties, was fueled by skateboard companies that were run by skateboarders. The focus was initially on vert ramp skateboarding. The invention of the no-hands aerial (later known as the ollie) by Alan Gelfand in 1976 made it possible for skaters to perform airs off of vertical ramps. While this wave of skateboarding was sparked by commercialized vert ramp skating, a majority of people who skateboarded during this period never rode vert ramps. Because most people couldn't afford to build vert ramps or didn't have access to nearby ramps, street skating gained popularity. Freestyle skating remained healthy throughout this period with pioneers such as Rodney Mullen inventing the basics of modern street skating; the flatground ollie, the ollie kickflip, the heelflip, and the 360 flip, to name a few. The influence freestyle had on street skating became apparent during the mid-eighties, but street skating was still performed on wide vert boards with short noses, slide rails, and large soft wheels. Skateboarding, however, evolved quickly in the late 1980s to accommodate the street skater. Since few skateparks were available to skaters at this time, street skating pushed skaters to seek out shopping centers and public and private property as their "spot" to skate. Public opposition, and the threat of lawsuits, forced businesses and property owners to ban skateboarding on their property. By 1992, only a small fraction of skateboarders remained as a highly technical version of street skating, combined with the decline of vert skating, produced a sport that lacked the mainstream appeal to attract new skaters.

Current generation

The fourth and current generation of skateboards is dominated by street skating. Most boards are about 7¼ to 8 inches wide and 30 to 32 inches long. The wheels are made of an extremely hard polyurethane, durometer (approximately 99a). Additionally, very high durometers offer the benefit of reduced drag on hard surfaces which results in an overall faster ride. The wheel sizes are relatively small so that the boards are lighter, thus making tricks more manageable. Today, modern wheels are currently around 48 to 60 mm in diameter and advances in technology have made them extremely light compared to the wheels of the eighties. Most decks are still constructed out of Canadian Maple, with 7-plys being the industry standard for strength and durability. Board styles have changed dramatically since the 1970s but have remained mostly alike since the mid 1990s. The contemporary shape of the skateboard is derived from the freestyle boards of the 1980s with a largely symmetrical shape and relatively narrow width. During the 90s ramp or vert skateboarding dropped in popularity.

While street skateboarding remains popular, there is a resurgence of other types of skateboarding brewing. Longboarding, pool or bowl skating, slalom and ditch skateboarding are thriving all over the world, albeit below the radar.

Trick skating

See Skateboarding trick for detailed description of trick skating maneuvers

With the evolution of skateparks and ramp riding, the skateboard began to change. Early skate tricks consisted mainly of two-dimensional maneuvers (e.g. riding on only the front wheels (nose manual), spinning like an ice skater on the back wheels (a 360 pivot), high jumping over a bar (sometimes called a "Hippie Jump"), long jumping from one board to another (often over fearless teenagers lying on their backs), and slalom.

In 1976, skateboarding was transformed by the invention of the first modern skateboarding trick by Alan "Ollie" Gelfand. It remained largely a unique Florida trick from 1976 until the summer of 1978, when Gelfand made his first visit to California. Gelfand and his revolutionary manoeuver caught the attention of the West Coast skaters and the media where it began to spread worldwide. An ollie is performed by popping the tail of the skateboard, sliding the front foot towards the nose and lifting up the back foot to level the skateboard out. This results in the skateboarder, along with his or her skateboard, lifting into the air without the aid of foot straps or the skateboarder's hands.

The ollie was reinvented by Rodney Mullen in 1981, who adapted it to freestyle skating by ollieing on flat ground rather than out of a vert ramp. Mullen also invented the ollie kickflip, which, at the time of its invention, was dubbed the "magic flip." The flat ground ollie allowed skateboarders to perform tricks in mid-air without any more equipment than the skateboard itself. The development of these complex tricks by Rodney Mullen and others transformed skateboarding. Skateboarders began performing their tricks down stair sets and on other urban obstacles - they were no longer confined to empty pools and expensive wooden ramps.

The act of "ollieing" onto an obstacle and sliding along it on the trucks of the board is known as grinding, and has become a mainstay of modern skateboarding. Types of grinds include the 50-50 grind (balancing on the front and back trucks while grinding a rail), the 5-0 grind (balancing on only the back truck while grinding a rail) the nose grind (balancing on only the front truck while grinding a rail), and the crooked grind (balancing on the front truck at an angle while grinding). There are various other grinds that involve touching both the trucks and the deck to the rail, ledge, or lip. The most common of these is the smith grind, in which the rider balances over the back truck while touching the outer middle of the board to the grinding surface in the direction from which he or she ollied. Popping and landing on the back truck and touching the inner edge of the board, i.e. popping "over", is known as a feeble grind. Boardslides, lipslides, noseslides, and tailslides are other variations of grinding that are characterized by sliding on an obstacle while balancing on the (usually wooden) deck of the skateboard, rather than on the trucks.

Culture

Skateboarding was originally tied to the culture of surfing. As skateboarding spread across the United States to places that were unfamiliar with surfing or its culture, it developed an image of its own. For example, the classic film short Video Days (1991) portrayed skateboarders as reckless rebels.

The image of the skateboarder as a rebellious, non-conforming youth has declined in recent years. This rift between the old image of skateboarding and the new one is quite visible: magazines like Thrasher portray an image of skateboarding that is dirty, rebellious, and still firmly tied to punk, while magazines like Transworld Skateboarding portray a more modernized, diverse, and controlled image of skateboarding stars. Also as more and more professional skaters use hip hop music as the accompaniment to their videos, many more urban youths and hip-hop fans are drawn to skateboarding—making the whole punk image of skateboarding somewhat less prominent nowadays.

Films like Dishdogz (2005) help improve the reputation of youths committed to skateboarding, depicting the individuals of this subculture as people with a positive outlook on life, prone to poking fun at each other with no hard feelings, and having the healthy competition of sportsmen. According to the film, lack of respect, superior thinking and hostility towards each other is generally frowned upon, albeit each of the characters (and as such, proxies of the "stereotypical" skateboarder) have a firm disrespect for authority and rules in general. Group spirit is supposed to be a heavy influence on each member of the community. Such presentations are devoid of showcasing criminal tendencies, and do not try to tie extreme sports to any kind of illegality.

Female skateboarders

Skateboarding has long been male-dominated, and remains that way as of 2002, at which point an estimated 74 percent of skaters were male.

For many years, there were very few female skaters who became well known in the sport. A rare exception was Peggy Oki from the Zephyr Team (known as Z-boys).

The skateboarding boom in the 1990s—coupled with an overall advancement for women's sports—produced more female skaters. Skaters such as Elissa Steamer and Cara-Beth Burnside brought women to a new level.

At present time, competitions for women can be seen at all the major events—such as the X-games, the Gravity Games, and the Slam City Jam.

There are also many female-only skate companies, sessions, and camps to help advance the progress of the female skateboarding movement. There is also an alliance of pro female skaters.There have also been two major skate videos focusing on female skaters - Getting Nowhere Faster and AKA: Girl Skater.

Skate shops

As skateboarding became increasingly popular, so did the need for more products. In the beginning, local surf shops—with little variety in selection—would be the only place to find boards. As a result, skateboard shops started to appear in the West Coast of the U.S., and then later in the East Coast. At present, there are many skate shops along coastal areas—especially in California.
Skate shops carry a variety of accessories such as clothes, skateboarding tools, skateboard videos, stickers, and shoes.

Miscellaneous

Skateboard ban in Norway

The only country ever to ban skateboards was Norway, in the period between 1978 and 1989. The use, ownership and sale of skateboards were forbidden. The ban was said to be due to the perceived high amount of injuries caused by boards. The ban led skateboarders to construct ramps in the forest and other secluded areas to avoid the police.

Military experimentation in the United States

It has been publicly reported that the United States Marine Corps tested the usefulness of commercial off-the-shelf skateboards during urban combat military exercises in the late 1990s. Their special purpose has been described as "for manuevering inside buildings in order to detect tripwires and sniper fire".

Surfing

Surfing is a surface water sport in which the participant is carried by a breaking wave on a surfboard. There are various kinds of surfing, based on the different methods or surf craft used to ride a wave. The basic categories include regular stand-up surfing, kneeboarding, bodyboarding, surf-skiing, bodysurfing, windsurfing, and kite surfing. Further sub-divisions reflect differences in surfboard design, such as long-boards and short-boards. Tow-in surfing involves motorized craft to tow the surfer onto the wave. It is associated with surfing huge waves, which are extremely difficult to ride and sometimes impossible to catch by paddling down the face, due to their rapid forward motion.

Surfers and Surf Culture

Surfers represent a diverse culture based on riding the naturally occurring process of ocean waves. Some people practice surfing as a recreational activity while others demonstrate extreme devotion to the sport by making it the central focus of their lives.

The sport has become so popular that surfing now represents a multi-billion dollar industry. Some people make a career out of surfing by receiving corporate sponsorships, competing in contests, or marketing and selling surf related products, such as equipment and clothing. Other surfers separate themselves from any and all commercialism associated with surfing. These soul surfers, as they are often called, practice the sport purely for personal enjoyment and many even find a deeper meaning through involving themselves directly with naturally occurring wave patterns and subscribe to ecocentric philosophies, or ecosophies.

The Science of Surfing Waves

Several factors influence the shape and quality of breaking waves. These include the bathymetry of the surf break, the direction and size of the swell, the direction and strength of the wind and the ebb and flow of the tide.

Swell is generated when wind blows consistently over a large area of open water, called the wind's fetch. The size of a swell is determined by the strength of the wind, the length of its fetch and its duration. So, surf tends to be larger and more prevalent on coastlines exposed to large expanses of ocean traversed by intense low pressure systems.

Local wind conditions affect wave quality, since the rideable surface of a wave can become choppy in blustery conditions. Ideal surf conditions include a light to moderate strength "offshore" wind, since this blows into the front of the wave.

The factor which most determines wave shape is the topography of the seabed directly behind and immediately beneath the breaking wave. The contours of the reef or sand bank influence wave shape in two respects. Firstly, the steepness of the incline is proportional to the resulting upthrust. When a swell passes over a sudden steep slope, the force of the upthrust causes the top of the wave to be thrown forward, forming a curtain of water which plunges to the wave trough below. Secondly, the alignment of the contours relative to the swell direction determines the duration of the breaking process. When a swell runs along a slope, it continues to peel for as long as that configuration lasts. When swell wraps into a bay or around an island, the breaking wave gradually diminishes in size, as the wave front becomes stretched by diffraction. For specific surf spots, the state of the ocean tide can play a significant role in the quality of waves or hazards of surfing there. Tidal variations vary greatly among the various global surfing regions, and the effect the tide has on specific spots can vary greatly among the spots within each area. Locations such as Bali, Panama, and Ireland experience 2-3 meter tide fluctuations, whereas in Hawaii the difference between high and low tide is typically less than one meter.

In order to know a surf break, one must be sensitive to each of these factors. Each break is different, since the underwater topography of one place is unlike any other. At beach breaks, even the sandbanks change shape from week to week, so it takes commitment to get good waves (a skill dubbed "broceanography" by California surfers). That's why surfers have traditionally regarded surfing to be more of a lifestyle than a sport. Of course, you can sometimes be lucky and just turn up when the surf is pumping. But, it is more likely that you will be greeted with the dreaded: "You should have been here yesterday." Nowadays, however, surf forecasting is aided by advances in information technology, whereby mathematical modelling graphically depicts the size and direction of swells moving around the globe.

The regularity of swell varies across the globe and throughout the year. During winter, heavy swells are generated in the mid-latitudes, when the north and south polar fronts shift toward the Equator. The predominantly westerly winds generate swells that advance eastward. So, waves tend to be largest on west coasts during the winter months. However, an endless train of mid-latitude cyclones causes the isobars to become undulated, redirecting swells at regular intervals toward the tropics.

East coasts also receive heavy winter swells when low pressure cells form in the sub-tropics, where their movement is inhibited by slow moving highs. These lows produce a shorter fetch than polar fronts, however they can still generate heavy swells, since their slower movement increases the duration of a particular wind direction. After all, the variables of fetch and duration both influence how long the wind acts over a wave as it travels, since a wave reaching the end of a fetch is effectively the same as the wind dying off.

During summer, heavy swells are generated when cyclones form in the tropics. Tropical cyclones form over warm seas, so their occurrence is influenced by El Niño & La Niña cycles. Their movements are unpredictable. They can even move westward, which is unique for a large scale weather system. In 1979, Tropical Cyclone Kerry wandered for 3 weeks across the Coral Sea and into Queensland, before dissipating.

The quest for perfect surf has given rise to a field of tourism based on the surfing adventure. Yacht charters and surf camps offer surfers access to the high quality surf found in remote, tropical locations, where tradewinds ensure offshore conditions. Since winter swells are generated by mid-latitude cyclones, their regularity coincides with the passage of these lows. So, the swells arrive in pulses, each lasting for a couple of days, with a couple of days between each swell. Since bigger waves break in a different configuration, a rising swell is yet another variable to consider when assessing how to approach a break.

Artificial Reefs

The value of good surf has even prompted the construction of artificial reefs and sand bars to attract surf tourism. Of course, there is always the risk that one's holiday coincides with a "flat spell". Wave pools aim to solve that problem, by controlling all the elements that go into creating perfect surf, however there are only a handful of wave pools that can simulate good surfing waves, owing primarily to construction and operation costs and potential liability.

Wave intensity classification

Surf breaks can be grouped according to their intensity. There are two variables to consider in determining the intensity of a surf break: the shape of the tube and the angle of the peel line. Tube shape indicates the degree of upthrust, which is roughly proportional to the volume of water being thrown over with the lip. The angle of the peel line reflects the speed of the tube. A fast, "down the line" tube has a peel line with a smaller angle than a slower, "bowly" tube.

Classification parameters

• Tube shape defined by length to width ratio

- Square: <1:1>

- Round: 1-2:1

- Almond: >2:1

• Tube speed defined by angle of peel line

- Fast: 30°

- Medium: 45°

- Slow: 60°

Surfing maneuvers

Surfing begins with the surfer eyeing a rideable wave on the horizon and then matching its speed (by paddling or sometimes, in huge waves, by tow-in). A common problem for beginners is not even being able to catch the wave in the first place, and one sign of a good surfer is being able to catch a difficult wave that other surfers can not.

Once the wave has started to carry the surfer forward, the surfer quickly jumps to his or her feet and proceeds to ride down the face of the wave, generally staying just ahead of the breaking part (white water) of the wave (in a place often referred to as "the pocket" or "the curl"). This is a difficult process in total, where often everything happens nearly simultaneously, making it hard for the uninitiated to follow the steps.

Surfers' skills are tested not only in their ability to control their board in challenging conditions and/or catch and ride challenging waves, but also by their ability to execute various maneuvers such as turning and carving. Some of the common turns have become recognizable tricks such as the "cutback" (turning back toward the breaking part of the wave), the "floater" (riding on the top of the breaking curl of the wave), and "off the lip" (banking off the top of the wave). A newer addition to surfing has been the progression of the "air" where a surfer is able to propel oneself off the wave and re-enter.

"Tube riding" is when a surfer maneuvers into a position where the wave curls over the top of him or her, forming a "tube" (or "barrel"), with the rider inside the hollow cylindrical portion of the wave. This difficult and sometimes dangerous procedure is arguably the most coveted and sought after goal in surfing.

"Hanging Ten" and "Hanging Five" are moves usually specific to longboarding. Hanging Ten refers to having both feet on the front end of the board with all ten of the surfer's toes off the edge, also known as noseriding. Hanging Five is having just one foot near the front, and five toes off the edge.

Common Terms:

• Regular foot - Right foot on back of board
• Goofy foot - Left foot on back of board
• Take off - the start of a ride
• Drop in - dropping into (engaging) the wave, most often as part of standing up
• Drop in on (or "cut off") - taking off on a wave in front of someone else (considered inappropriate)
• Snaking - paddling around someone to get into the best position for a wave (in essence, stealing it)
• Bottom turn - the first turn at the bottom of the wave
• Shoulder - the unbroken part of the wave
• Cutback - a turn cutting back toward the breaking part of the wave
• Fade - on take off, aiming toward the breaking part of the wave, before turning sharply and surfing in the direction the wave is breaking towards
• Over the falls - out of control, going over the front of the wave and wiping out
• Pump - an up/down carving movement that generates speed along a wave
• Stall - slowing down from weight on the tail of the board or a hand in the water
• Floater - riding up on the top of the breaking part of the wave
• Hang-five/hang-ten - putting five or ten toes respectively over the nose of a longboard
• Re-entry - hitting the lip vertically and re-rentering the wave in quick succession.
• Switch-foot - having equal ability to surf regular foot or goofy foot -- like being ambidextrous
• Tube riding - riding inside the curl of a wave
• Carve - turns (often accentuated)
• Off the Top - a turn on the top of a wave, either sharp or carving
• Snap - a quick, sharp turn off the top of a wave
• Fins-free snap - a sharp turn where the fins slide off the top of the wave
• Air/Aerial - riding the board briefly into the air above the wave, landing back upon the wave, and continuing to ride.

Surfing equipment

Surfing can be done on various pieces of equipment, including surfboards, bodyboards, wave skis, kneeboards and surf mat. Surfboards were originally made of solid wood and were generally quite large and heavy (often up to 12 feet long and 100 pounds / 45 kg). Lighter balsa wood surfboards (first made in the late 1940s and early 1950s) were a significant improvement, not only in portability, but also in increasing maneuverability on the wave.

Most modern surfboards are made of polyurethane foam (with one or more wooden strips or "stringers"), fiberglass cloth, and polyester resin. An emerging surf technology is an epoxy surfboard, which are stronger and lighter than traditional fiberglass.

Equipment used in surfing includes a leash (to keep a surfer's board from washing to shore after a "wipeout", and to prevent it from hitting other surfers), surf wax and/or traction pads (to keep a surfers feet from slipping off the deck of the board), and "fins" (also known as "skegs") which can either be permanently attached ("glassed-on") or interchangeable. In warmer climates swimsuits, surf trunks or boardshorts are worn, and occasionally rash guards; in cold water surfers can opt to wear wetsuits, boots, hoods, and gloves to protect them against lower water temperatures.

There are many different surfboard sizes, shapes, and designs in use today. Modern longboards, generally 9 to 10 feet in length, are reminiscent of the earliest surfboards, but now benefit from all the modern innovations of surfboard shaping and fin design.

The modern shortboard began its life in the late 1960s evolving up to today's common "thruster" style shortboard, a three fin design, usually around 6 to 7 feet in length.

Midsize boards, often called funboards, provide more maneuverability than a longboard, with more floatation than a shortboard. While many surfers find that funboards live up to their name, providing the best of both surfing modes, others are critical. "It is the happy medium of mediocrity," writes Steven Kotler. "Funboard riders either have nothing left to prove or lack the skills to prove anything." [1]

There are also various niche styles, such as the "Egg", a longboard-style short board, the "Fish", a short and wide board with a split tail and two or four fins, and the "Gun", a long and pointed board specifically designed for big waves.

Surfing dangers

Surfing, like all water sports, has the obvious inherent danger of drowning, however this danger can be higher than in other water sports. When surfing, a surfer should not assume that they will always have their board to keep them buoyant - the leg rope could break or fall off some other way, and the board could become separated from the surfer by unpredictable wave crashes. A surfer needs to be confident that he/she can safely swim back to the beach unaided without his/her board. However, even if a surfer is confident in their swimming ability, there is always the possibility that the surfer could become unconscious through a head collision with another surfer, their own board, or rocks, reefs, or hard sand on the bottom of the water, in which case they won't be able to swim at all. This is why it's also important to surf with others you know, or at least have someone watching out for you from the beach.

Sharks are also a danger for surfers, with attacks reported from surfers every year.

Rallying

Rallying is a form of motor competition that takes place on public or private roads with modified production or specially built road-legal cars. This motorsport is distinguished by running not on a circuit, but instead in a point-to-point format in which participants and their co-drivers drive between set control points (stages), leaving at regular intervals from one or more start points. Rallies may be won by pure speed within the stages or alternatively by driving to a predetermined ideal journey time within the stages.

History

Brass era

The term "rally", as a branch of motorsport, dates from the first Monte Carlo Rally of January 1911. Until the late 1920s, few if any other events used the term. But rallying i

tself can be traced back to the 1894 Paris-Rouen Horseless Carriage Competition (Concours des Voitures sans Chevaux), sponsored by a Paris newspaper, Le Petit Journal, which attracted considerable public interest and entries from leading manufacturers. Prizes were awarded to the vehicles by a jury based on the reports of the observers who rode in each car; the joint winners were Panhard et Levassor and Peugeot, two companies still in business today.

This event led directly to a period of city to city road races in France and other European countries, which introduced many of the features found in later rallies: individual start times with cars running against the clock rather than head to head; time controls at the entry and exit points of towns along the way; road books and route notes; and driving over long distances on ordinary, mainly gravel, roads, facing hazards such as dust, traffic, pedestrians and farm animals.

The first of these great races was the Paris-Bordeaux-Paris of June 1895, won by Emile Levassor in a Panhard-et-Levassor. His time for the 1,178 km (732 mile) course, running virtually without a break, was 48 hours and 48 minutes, an average speed of 24 km/h (15 mph). Just eight years later, in the Paris-Madrid race of May 1903, the Mors of Fernand Gabriel, running over the same roads, took just under five and a quarter hours for the 550 km (342 miles) to Bordeaux, an average of 105 km/h (65.3 mph). Speeds had now far outstripped the safe limits of dusty highways thronged with spectators and open to other traffic, people and animals; there were numerous crashes, many injuries and eight deaths. The French government stopped the race and banned this style of event. From now on, racing in Europe (apart from Italy) would be on closed circuits, initially on long loops of public highway and then, in 1907, on the first purpose-built track, England's Brooklands. Racing was going its own separate way.

Italy had been running road events since 1895, when a reliability trial was run from Turin to Asti and back. The country's first true motor race was held in 1897 along the shore of Lake Maggiore, from Arona to Stresa and back. This led to a long and thriving tradition of road racing, including events like Sicily's Targa Florio (from 1906) and Giro di Sicilia (1912), which went right round the island, both of which continued on and off until after World War 2. The first Alpine event was held in 1898, the Austrian Touring Club's three-day Automobile Run through South Tyrol, which included the infamous Stelvio Pass.

In April and May 1900, the Automobile Club of Great Britain (the forerunner of the Royal Automobile Club) organised the Thousand Mile Trial, a 15-day event linking Britain's major cities, in object to promote this novel form of transport. Seventy vehicles took part, the majority of them trade entries. They had to complete thirteen stages of route varying in length from 43 to 123 miles at average speeds of up to the legal limit of 12 mph, and tackle six hillclimb or speed tests. On rest days and at lunch halts, the cars were shown to the public in exhibition halls.

In Germany, the challenging Herkomer Trophy Trial was first held in 1905, and the famous Prinz Heinrich Fahrt (Prince Henry Trial) in 1908. The first Alpine Trial was held in 1909, in Austria; by 1914, this was the toughest event of its kind, producing a star performance from Britain's James Radley in his Rolls Royce Alpine Eagle. Then in 1911 came the first Monte Carlo Rally (later known colloquially as the "Monte"), organised by the operators of the famous casino to attract wealthy sporting motorists. The competitive elements were slight, but getting to Monaco in winter was a challenge in itself. A second event was held in 1912.

Two ultra long distance challenges took place at this time, the Peking-Paris of 1907 ("won" by Prince Scipio Borghese and Luigi Barzini in an Itala) and the New York-Paris of the following year (won by George Schuster and others in a Thomas Flyer), which went via Japan and Siberia. Each event attracted only a handful of adventurous souls, but in both cases the winners exhibited characteristics that modern rally drivers would recognise: meticulous preparation, mechanical skill, resourcefulness, perseverance and a certain single-minded ruthlessness. The New York-Seattle race of 1909, if shorter, was no easier. Rather gentler (and more akin to rallying) was the Glidden Tour, run by the American Automobile Association between 1902 and 1913, which had timing between control points and a marking system to determine the winners.

In Britain meanwhile, the Scottish Automobile Club started its tough annual trial in 1902, the Motor Cycling Club allowed cars to enter its trials and runs from 1904 (London-Edinburgh, London-Land's End, London-Exeter — all these events are still in being as mud-plugging classic trials). In 1908 the Royal Automobile Club held its 2,000 mile International Touring Car Trial, and 1914 the important Light Car Trial for manufacturers of cars up to 1400 cc, to test comparative performances and improve the breed. In 1924, the exercise was repeated as the Small Car Trials.

Inter War years

The First World War brought a lull. The Monte Carlo Rally was not resuscitated until 1924, but since then, apart from World War II and its aftermath, it has been an annual event and remains a round of the World Rally Championship. In the 1930s, helped by the tough winters, it became the premier European rally, attracting 300 or more participants.

In the 1920s, numerous variations on the Alpine theme sprang up in Austria, Italy, France, Switzerland and Germany. The most important of these were Austria's Alpenfahrt, which continued into its 44th edition in 1973, Italy's Coppa delle Alpi, and the Coupe Internationale des Alpes (International Alpine Trial), organised jointly by the automobile clubs of Italy, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and, latterly, France. This last event, run from 1928 to 1936, attracted strong international fields vying for an individual Glacier Cup or a team Alpine Cup, including successful Talbot, Riley, MG and Triumph teams from Britain and increasingly strong and well funded works representation from Adolf Hitler's Germany, keen to prove its engineering and sporting prowess with successful marques like Adler, Wanderer and Trumpf.

The French started their own Rallye des Alpes Françaises in 1932, which continued after WWII as the Rallye International des Alpes, the name often shortened to Coupe des Alpes. Other important rallies started between the wars included Britain's RAC Rally (1932) and Belgium's Liège-Rome-Liège (1931), two events of radically different character; the former a gentle tour between cities from various start points, "rallying" at a seaside resort with a series of manoeuvrability and car control tests; the latter a thinly disguised road race over some of Europe's toughest mountain roads.

In Italy, Benito Mussolini's government encouraged motor sport of all kinds and facilitated road racing, so the sport quickly restarted after WWI, and in 1927 the Mille Miglia was founded, run over a 1,000 mile (1,600 km) loop of highways from Brescia to Rome and back. It continued in this form until 1938.

The Liège of August 1939 was the last major event before WWII, and it became a symbol of defiance against the threat that was looming large. Germany's works teams were out in force, determined to secure for the Reich a victory that had so far eluded them; but they were thwarted by two gifted drivers in French cars, Belgium's Ginet Trasenster (Bugatti) and France's Jean Trevoux (Hotchkiss) who tied for first place. This was one of five Liège wins for Trasenster; Trevoux won four Montes between 1934 and 1951.

Post war years

Rallying was again slow to get under way after a major war, but the 1950s were the Golden Age of the long-distance road rally. In Europe, the Monte Carlo Rally, the French and Austrian Alpines and the Liège were joined by a host of new events that quickly established themselves as classics: the Lisbon Rally (Portugal, 1947), the Tulip Rally (the Netherlands, 1949), the Rally to the Midnight Sun (Sweden, 1951, now the Swedish Rally) the Rally of the 1000 Lakes (Finland, 1951 - now the Rally Finland), and the Acropolis Rally (Greece, 1956). The FIA created a European Rally Championship of ten or twelve events (others being the German Rally, the Sestriere Rally in Italy and the Viking Rally in Norway).

Initially most of them were fairly gentlemanly, but the organisers of the French Alpine and the Liège (which moved its turning point from Rome into Yugoslavia in 1956) straight away made no bones about setting difficult time schedules: the Automobile Club de Marseille et Provence laid on a long tough route over a succession of rugged passes, stated that cars would have to be driven flat out from start to finish, and gave a coveted Coupe des Alpes to anyone achieving an unpenalised run; while Belgium's Royal Motor Union made clear that no car was expected to finish the Liège unpenalised - when one did (1951 winner Johnny Claes in a Jaguar XK120) they tightened the timing to make sure it never happened again. These two events became the ones for "the men" to do. But the Monte, because of its glamour, got the media coverage and the biggest entries (and in snowy years was also a genuine challenge); while the Acropolis took advantage of Greece's appalling roads to become a truly tough event. In 1956 came Corsica's Tour de Corse, 24 hours of virtually non-stop flat out driving on some of the narrowest and twistiest mountain roads on the planet - the first major rally to be won by a lady driver, Belgium's Gilberte Thirion, in a Renault Dauphine.

These events were road races in all but name, but in Italy such races were still allowed, and the Mille Miglia continued until a serious accident in 1957 caused it to be banned.

Outside Europe

In countries where there was no shortage of demanding roads across remote terrain, other events sprang up. In South America, the biggest of these took the form of long distance city to city races, each of around 5,000 to 6,000 miles (8,000-9,500 km), divided into daily legs. The first was the Gran Premio del Norte of 1940, run from Buenos Aires to Lima and back; it was won by Juan Manuel Fangio in a much modified Chevrolet coupé. This event was repeated in 1947, and in 1948 an even more ambitious one was held, the Gran Premio de la América del Sur from Buenos Aires to Caracas, Venezuela — Fangio had an accident in which his co-driver was killed. Then in 1950 came the fast and dangerous Carrera Panamericana, a 1,911 mile (3,075 km) road race in stages to celebrate the opening of the asphalt highway between the Guatemala and US borders, which ran until 1954. All these events fell victim to the cost of putting them on in an increasingly complex and developed world, although smaller road races continued long after, and a few still do in countries like Bolivia.

In Africa, 1950 saw the first French-run Méditerranée-le Cap, a 10,000 mile (16,000 km) rally from the Mediterranean to South Africa; it was run on and off until 1961, when the new political situation hastened its demise. In 1953 East Africa saw the demanding Coronation Safari, which went on to become the Safari Rally and a World Championship round, to be followed in due course by the Rallye du Maroc in Morocco, and the Rallye Côte d'Ivoire in the Ivory Coast. Australia's RedeX Round Australia Trial also dates from 1953, although this remained isolated from the rest of the rallying world.

Canada hosted one of the world's longest and most gruelling rallies during the 1960s, the Shell 4000 Rally. It was also the only one sanctioned by FIA in North America.[1]

Modern times

Rallying became very popular in Sweden and Finland in the 1950s, thanks in part to the invention there of the "specialsträcka", or special stage: shorter sections of route, usually on minor or private roads (predominantly gravel in these countries) away from habitation and traffic, which were separately timed. These at long last provided the solution to the conflict inherent in the notion of driving as fast as possible on ordinary roads. The idea spread to other countries, albeit more slowly to the most demanding events.

The Liège continued as uncompromisingly an open road event run to an impossible time schedule, and remained Europe's toughest rally until 1964, by which time it had turned to the wilds of Yugoslavia and Bulgaria to find traffic-free roads; but in the end the pressures were irresistible. The Coupe des Alpes struggled on until 1973 until it too succumbed, its demise no doubt hastened by the decision of the French motor sporting authorities to select the Tour de Corse as its representative event in inernational rally championships.

The RAC Rally had formally become an International event in 1951, but Britain's laws precluded the closure of public highways for special stages. This meant that it had to rely on short manoeuvrability tests, regularity sections and night mapreading navigation to find a winner, which made it unattractive to foreign crews. Then in 1961 Jack Kemsley was able to persuade the Forestry Commission to open their many hundreds of miles of well surfaced and sinuous gravel roads, and the event was transformed into one of the most demanding and popular in the calendar, by 1983 having over 600 miles of stage. It is now called the Wales Rally GB.

The introduction of the special stage brought rallying effectively into the modern era. It placed a premium on fast driving, and enabled healthy programmes of smaller events to spring up in Britain, France, Scandinavia, Belgium and elsewhere.

Since then, the nature of the events themselves has evolved relatively slowly. The increasing costs both of organisation and of competing has over the last twenty years brought progressively shorter rallies, shorter stages and the elimination of nighttime running, scornfully referred to as "office hours rallying" by older hands. Some of the older international events have gone, replaced by others from a much wider spread of countries around the world, until today rallying is truly a worldwide sport. At the same time, fields have shrunk dramatically, as the amateur in his near-standard car is squeezed out.

Rally car evolution

The main change over that period has been in the cars, and in the professionalisation and commercialisation of the sport. Manufacturers had entered works car in rallies, and in their forerunner and cousin events, from the very beginning: the 1894 Paris-Rouen was mainly a competition between them; while the Thousand Mile Trial of 1900 had more trade than private entries. In 1973, this was taken a step further when the FIA created the World Rally Championship for Manufacturers, won in the first year by Alpine-Renault. Not until 1979 was there a World Rally Championship for Drivers, won that year by Björn Waldegård.

Although there had been exceptions like the outlandish Ford V8 specials created by the Romanians for the 1936 Monte Carlo Rally, rallies before WWII had tended to be for standard or near-standard production cars, a rule supported by manufacturers because it created a relatively even playing field. After the war, most competing cars were production saloons or sports cars with only minor modifications to improve performance, handling, braking and suspension. This kept costs down and allowed many more people to afford the sport using ordinary family cars, so entry lists grew into the hundreds.

But as public interest grew, car companies started to introduce special models or variants for rallying, such as the British Motor Corporation's highly successful Mini Cooper, introduced in 1962 and its successor the Mini-Cooper S (1963), developed by the Cooper Car Company. Shortly after, Ford of Britain first hired Lotus to create a high-performance version of their Cortina family car, then in 1968 the launched the Escort Twin Cam, one of the most successful rally car of its era. Similarly, Abarth developed high performance versions of the Fiat 124 roadster and 131 saloon.

Other manufacturers were not content with modifying their bread-and-butter cars. Renault bankrolled the small volume sports-car maker Alpine to transform their little A110 Berlinette coupé into a world-beating rally car, and hired a skilled team of drivers too; then in 1974 came the Lancia Stratos, the first car designed from scratch to win rallies, and the dominant asphalt rally car of its time. These makers overcame the rules of FISA (as the FIA was called at the time) by building the requisite number of these models for the road.

In 1980 a German car maker, not hitherto noted for their interest in motorsport, introduced a rather large and heavy coupé version of their family saloon, installed a turbocharged 2.1 litre five cylinder engine, and fitted it with four-wheel drive. Thus the Audi Quattro was born. International regulations had hitherto prohibited four-wheel drive, but FISA accepted that this was a genuine production car and changed the rules. The Quattro quickly became the car to beat on snow, ice or gravel, and in 1983 took Hannu Mikkola to the World Rally Championship title. Other manufacturers had no production four-wheel drive car on which to base their response, so FISA was persuaded to change the rules and open the Championship to cars in Group B. This allowed cars to be much further removed from production models, and so was created a generation of rallying supercars, of which the most radical and impressive were the Peugeot 205 T16 and the Lancia Delta S4, with flimsy fibreglass bodies roughly the shape of the standard car tacked on to lightweight spaceframe chassis, four wheel drive, and power outputs reportedly as high as 600 hp. Further Group B cars were developed by Ford (the RS200), British Leyland (the Metro 6R4) and many others, but these were less successful.

The party did not last. On the 1986 Rallye de Portugal, four spectators were killed; then in May, on the Tour de Corse, Henri Toivonen went over the edge of a mountain road and was incinerated in the fireball that followed. FISA immediately changed the rules again: rallying after 1987 would be in Group A cars, closer to the production model.

Drivers

Most of the works drivers of the 1950s were amateurs, paid little or nothing, reimbursed their expenses and given bonuses for winning (although there were certainly exceptions, such as the Grand Prix drivers who were brought in for some events). Then in 1960 came arguably the first rallying superstar (and one of the first to be paid to rally full time), Sweden's Erik Carlsson, driving for Saab, who, with fellow Swedish manufacturer Volvo, introduced new standards of professionalism to the building, preparation of rally cars and the organisation of their works teams.

In the 1960s, the competitions manager of BMC, Stuart Turner, hired a series of brave and gifted young Finns, skills honed on their country's highly competitive gravel or snow rallies, and the modern professional driver was born. For a couple of decades, Scandinavians dominated the results, except in France where Alpine fostered its own golden generation; then as special stage rallying spread round the world they were challenged by drivers from Italy, Germany, Belgium, Spain and elsewhere. Today, a World Champion may be of any nationality, if he (or she) is gifted enough.

The World Rally Championship now visits nearly all continents, taking its stylish sideways driving style and specialized cars to a vast global market, estimated by some to be second only to the Formula One juggernaut. This has produced unprecedented levels of visibility in recent years, but in many ways removed the motorsport from its grassroots past. For better or worse, rally has become a lucrative business.

Rally types

There are two main forms: stage rallies and road rallies. Since the 1960s, stage rallies have been the professional branch of the sport. They are based on straightforward speed over stretches of road closed to other traffic. These may vary from asphalt mountain passes to rough forest tracks, from ice and snow to desert sand, each chosen to provide an enjoyable challenge for the crew and a test of the car's performance and reliability.

The entertaining and unpredictable nature of the stages, and the fact that the vehicles are in some cases closely related to road cars, means that the bigger events draw massive spectator interest, especially in Europe, Asia and Oceania.

Road rallies are the original form, held on highways open to normal traffic, where the emphasis is not on outright speed but on accurate timekeeping and navigation and on vehicle reliability, often on difficult roads and over long distances. They are now primarily amateur events. There are several types of road rallies testing accuracy, navigation or problem solving. Some common types are: Regularity rally or a Time-Speed-Distance rally (also TSD rally, testing ability to stay on track and on time) [1], another is the Pan-Am or Monte-Carlo-style rally (testing navigation), and the Gimmick rally (testing logic).

Many early rallies were called trials, and a few still are, although this term is now mainly applied to the specialist form of motor sport of climbing as far as you can up steep and slippery hills. And many meets or assemblies of car enthusiasts and their vehicles are still called rallies, even if they involve merely the task of getting there (often on a trailer).

Rallying is a very popular sport at the "grass roots" of motorsport—that is, motor clubs. Individuals interested in becoming involved in rallying are encouraged to join their local automotive clubs. Club rallies (e.g. road rallies or regularity rallies) are usually run on public roads with an emphasis on navigation and teamwork. These skills are important fundamentals required for anyone who wishes to progress to higher-level events. (See Categories of rallies.)

Rally courses

Rally is also unique in its choice of where and when to race. Rallies take place on all surfaces and in all conditions: asphalt (tarmac), gravel, or snow and ice, sometimes more than one in a single rally, depending on the course and event. Rallies are also run every month of the year, in every climate, bitter cold to monsoon rain. This contributes to the notion of top rally drivers as some of the best car control experts in the world. As a result of the drivers not knowing exactly what lies ahead, the lower traction available on dirt roads, and the driving characteristics of small cars, the drivers are much less visibly smooth than circuit racers, regularly sending the car literally flying over bumps, and sliding the cars out of corners.

A typical rally course consists of a sequence of relatively short (up to about 50km/30mi), timed "special stages" where the actual competition takes place, and untimed "transport stages" where the rally cars must be driven under their own power to the next competitive stage within a generous time limit. Rally cars are thus unlike virtually any other top-line racing cars in that they retain the ability to run at normal driving speeds, and indeed are registered for street travel. Some events contain "super special stages" where two competing cars set off on two parallel tracks (often small enough to fit in a football stadium), giving the illusion they are circuit racing head to head. These stages, ridiculed by many purists, seem increasingly popular with event organizers. Run over a day, a weekend, or more, the winner of the event has the lowest combined special and super special stage times. Given the short distances of super special stages compared to the regular special stages and consequent near-identical times for the frontrunning cars, it is very rare for these spectator-oriented stages to decide rally results, though it is a well-known axiom that a team can't win the rally at the super special, but they can certainly lose it.

Pacenotes and reconnaissance

Pacenotes are a unique and major tool in modern rallying. Television spectators will occasionally notice the voice of a co-driver in mid-race reading the pacenotes over the car's internal intercom. These pacenotes provide a detailed description of the course and allow the driver to predict conditions ahead and prepare for various course conditions such as turns and jumps.

In many rallies, including those of the World Rally Championship (WRC), drivers are allowed to run on the stages of the course before competition and create their own pacenotes. This process is called reconnaissance or recce. During reconnaissance, the co-driver writes down shorthand notes (the pacenotes) on how to best drive the stage. Usually the drivers call out the turns and road conditions for the co-drivers to write down. These pacenotes are read aloud through an internal intercom system during the actual race, allowing the driver to anticipate the upcoming terrain and thus take the course as fast as possible.

Other rallies provide organizer-created "route notes" also referred to as "stage notes" and disallow reconnaissance and use of other pacenotes. These notes are usually created using a predetermined pacenote format, from which a co-driver can optionally add comments or transpose into other pacenote notations. Many North American rallies, such as the Rally America National Championship do not conduct recce but provide stage notes through the use of the Jemba Inertia Notes System, due to time and budget constraints. [2]

In the past, most rally courses were not allowed to be scanned prior to the race, and the co-drivers used only maps supplied by the organization. The exact route of the rally often remained secret until race day. Modern rallies have mostly converted to using organizer-supplied notes or allowing full reconnaissance, as opposed to racing the stages blindly. This change has been brought on in large part due to competitor demand. Because pacenotes allow a driver to plan for upcoming turns and road conditions, recce makes the competition experience faster, safer, and more satisfying for the entrant.

Historic rallying

In the wake of the ever-more advanced rally cars of the twenty-first century comes the trend towards historic rallying (also known as classic rallying), in which older cars compete under older style rally rules. [3][4] This is a popular sport and even attracts some of the drivers of the twentieth century back into the driving seat. Many who enter, however, have started their competition careers in historic rallying.

Rally driving techniques

• Scandinavian flick
• Handbrake turn
• Left-foot braking
• Hill jumping
• Heel-and-toe