Formula 1 Grand Prix

For shear, in-the-moment exhilaration, few spectator sports compare with Formula One racing. Whether you’re a diehard petrolhead or simply someone fascinated by formula racing's glamorous past (and present), attending one of the Grand Prix races is a major bucket-list achievement—and an awful lot of fun.

Formula One (F1) emerged from the older, less formalized European tradition of Grand Prix motor racing, which became popular at the close of the 19th century. These early contests often took place on public roadways and weren’t uniformly regulated, whether from safety or rules-of-play standpoints. Following World War II, the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), made efforts to institute rules and codes for single-seat motor racing, and launched F1.

We’ve come a long way from the days of goggled daredevils careening in rickety autos between towns in the French countryside. Today’s sleek, fine-tuned F1 open-wheel racecars can snarl around specially designed circuits or closed-off road courses at speeds well beyond 200 miles per hour. And each driver is required to be the holder of an FIA Super License. Which definitely isn’t something you can get at the local DMV. We tried.

Like the Olympics or the World Cup, the F1 Grands Prix thrill partly because of their international flavor. They’ve been held all over the world, from China to Argentina, and feature some of the globe's finest drivers squaring off. That said, Europe remains the Grand Prix epicenter, given its long formula-racing history and tradition, and there’s no more esteemed F1 event than the Monaco Grand Prix (the Circuit de Monaco). This famously intricate race through Monaco’s twisting streets ranks with the Indianapolis 500 and the 24 Hours of Le Mans, in the so-called “Triple Crown of Motorsport” (which, thus far, only one driver—the legendary Graham Hill—has won).

The number of Grands Prix in a given year varies (19 will be held in 2015). The weekend-long affairs include practice and qualifying runs ahead of the main event.

Watching the races on TV is one thing; seeing (and hearing) them in person cranks the energy up about 1,000 notches. You can shop for tickets for any F1 Grand Prix over at the official Formula One website. Here’s to roaring turbocharged engines and hairpin turns!