I remember the Speed Racer movie (love it or hate it), and although it was a financial flop, it impacted me with some artistic inspiration.

 

Physics-wise the designs of the film's race tracks just makes sense for it's jet-propelled cars. It's like driving on a giant HotWheels track.

 

But would such a motor sport be possible in real life? We already have the technology, but I've never seen racing jet cars on a roller coaster-esque track in real life.

There is a company called Anki that makes toy car race tracks that are encoded with positioning information. The toy cars have cameras on them that read the track and use that information to stay on the track. The cars themselves are operated remotely. Something like this scaled up considerably might provide you the sort of speed racer track you are imagining.

http://thenextweb.com/insider/2013/11/11/anki-drive-reveals-secret-track-technology-guides-ai-controlled-cars/

There is a company called Anki that makes toy car race tracks that are encoded with positioning information. The toy cars have cameras on them that read the track and use that information to stay on the track. The cars themselves are operated remotely. Something like this scaled up considerably might provide you the sort of speed racer track you are imagining.

http://thenextweb.com/insider/2013/11/11/anki-drive-reveals-secret-track-technology-guides-ai-controlled-cars/

 

So it would be full-scale cars (or bikes in case a motorcycle version got made) with onboard computers that monitor the properties of the track to keep from crashing?

So it would be full-scale cars (or bikes in case a motorcycle version got made) with onboard computers that monitor the properties of the track to keep from crashing?

The technology could be applied that way. Encode a track and place software in vehicles that ensure they read the track while still responding to human control in terms of speed and passing.

I'm personally a fan of Speed Racer and have not seen the film or cartoons. Does the construction of such a race track benefit society in some way?

It could be applied to civilian roads, and maybe even upgraded over a few more years for use in off-road vehicles, allowing the latter to detect information about what kind of surface they're driving on, right?