Every year the racing season closes with the annual Race of Champions. The year-end event gives drivers from different racing disciplines a chance to compete against each other on common ground and in identical machinery. And while it doesn't necessarily move every year, organizers try to bring the action to different locations.
Who's the best driver in the world? Hard to say when everyone's driving on different machinery in different series... That's what the annual Race of Champions is all about.
Not everyone can compete in the Race of Champions. You have to be, you know, an actual champion of something. (That something being a professional racing series of some sort.) But us ordinary Joes can do the next best thing: pretend like we're champions while playing with our smartphones.
Every year, the Race of Champions brings the best and brightest from all disciplines of motor racing together for one winner-takes-all blitzkrieg. Last year's event was hosted in Dusseldorf, and in 2011, the season-closer will once again return to Germany.
Tesla Roadster 2.5 with 2010 F1 champion Sebastian Vettel – Click above for high-res image gallery
So far, only three drivers are confirmed for the 2010 Race of Champions, but it's already shaping up to be one for the history books. Not only is the year-end, cross-discipline event returning to Germany – the country that has held the Nations Cup title the past three years running – but now one of the most successful racing drivers alive will finally, for the first time in his career, be on
Michael Schumacher at the 2009 Race of Champions – Click above for high-res image gallery
2008 Race of Champions - Click above for a hi-res gallery
Click above for more shots of the KTM X-Bow for the ROC
The Race of Champions is scheduled to return to its new home at London's Wembley Stadium on December 14th. For those unfamiliar, the annual event pits a host of the best racing drivers in the world against each other on carefully-calibrated equal terms. The event is split between the solo competition and the nations' cup, the latter in which countries send their two best drivers to claim the honors for their homeland.
The team to watch this year is Germany, which puts together one of the most promising young drivers with the most decorated old champion. Sebastian Vettel, who recently left his test seat at BMW-Sauber for an impressive race debut with the erstwhile back-marker Scuderia Toro Rosso, will be teaming up with seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher.
