I am surprised there is no thread here abt the RoC.
So, copy pasting what I wrote on another forum here.
What is Race of Champions (RoC) ?
Race of Champions is an event that takes place at the end of every calender year. It is basically a racing event in which drivers from different fields (F1, WRC, NASCAR, etc..) compete in identical machinery on parallel tracks.
It was started in 1988 in the memory of Henri Toivonen and Sergio Cresto. Henri was a rally driver born in 1956 in Finland. Sergio Cresto was his co-driver and they were active for abt 11 years from 1975-1986. They participated in abt 40 rallies and won 3 of them. their death during the 1986 Tour de Corse, a world rally around the island of Corsica, shocked the world and lead to the banning of Group B cars from WRC.
Group A cars were basically production cars with very light modifications. Group B had no restrictions. This meant almost unlimited power with very high boost turbochargers and superchargers. This led to cars becoming more and more powerful and Henri Toivonen said during the fatal Tour de Corse that the car was too powerful for the track. Anyway, after this fatal crash in which the car was burned beyond identification, Group B cars were banned.
So, coming back to the RoC, it was started in 1988 by Michèle Mouton and Fredrik Johnson in the memory of Henri toivonen and Sergio Cresto.
Every year has featured an individual champion, and many have featured other contests. The top individual wins the Henri Toivonen Memorial trophy and given the title, Champion of Champions.
The Nations Cup was added in 1999. Each nation fields one rally driver and one circuit racer. The Nations Cup was added in 1999. Each nation fields one rally driver and one circuit racer. The second driver often comes from the World Rally Championship, Formula 1, NASCAR, CCWS, IRL, or Grand Prix.
After three years based at the Stade de France in Paris, it was announced on 2006-12-17 that the 2007 event would be held at the new Wembley Stadium in London on 16th December 2007.
The Good Cause
The drivers taking part in RoC also help to raise money for ICM which carries out ground-breaking research into brain damage and head trauma.
The ICM will be The ROC's official charity for the fourth consecutive year and a portion of profits from tickets sales will be given to the charity, whose representatives are expected to be at Wembley Stadium.
They will also receive signed, exclusive racing gear to auction from the drivers, as well as appeals on TV broadcasts.
Schumacher added: "I will race in London because The Race of Champions is supporting ICM, an initiative which I am extremely proud about being part of.
"To me, combining the racing and the charity is the perfect option.
"My part in this organisation is rather small, as the other founder members are extraordinary people, but I am happy to at least support ICM with trying to heighten the awareness about it."
For more information on ICM visit the website at
ICM.
The Line-up for this year's RoC
England ---- Andy Priaulx(European Touring Car Championship champion, and three times World Touring Car Championship champion) and Jenson Button(Formula 1 driver for Honda F1)
Finland -- Marcus Grönholm(Double WRC champion) and Heikki Kovalainen(winner of 2004 RoC and current Formula 1 driver)
France --- Yvan Muller(British touring car champion) and Sébastien Bourdais(F1 test driver)
Germany --- Sebastian Vettel(F1 driver) Michael Schumacher (7-time F1 world champion and one of the greatest drivers ever)
Norway --- Henning Solberg and Petter Solberg (both WRC drivers and brothers. Petter has won the WRC championship in 2003 in a Subaru)
Scandinavia --- Tom Kristensen(7-time winner of the Le Mans 24-hrs) and Mattias Ekström (DTM driver for audi and has won the DTM championship once)
Scotland --- Alister McRae(Actually WRC champion Colin McRae was supposed to take part but he died along with his young son in a helicopter crash in September 2007. So, his younger brother Alistair replaced him in the RoC) and David Coulthard (veteran F1 driver)
USA --- Travis Pastrana(motorsports competitor who has won championships and X Games gold medals in several events, including supercross, motocross, freestyle motocross, and rally racing) and Jimmie Johnson (current NASCAR NEXTEL Cup race car driver )
Details of results for The Nations cup
Results of the Race of Champions
I dont think it is... it happens just once a year.
Glad to see Alister McRae participate (after the recent tragedy in the family), surprised to see Sebastien Loeb didn't, also surprised to see Gronholm and Petter both didn't cut it...
Tried to get the £35 tickets, but all were sold. Only available ones were £75. Missed the event, but saw it on BBC here. Awesome show, nice post.
@anni .yes most probably on sunday,probably can catch up if you are in brum.