Motorsport Prospects Weekly Debrief for October 18, 2021 – SRO Updates their Driver Ranking Criteria and More

This week the Motorsport Prospects Weekly Debrief features a variety of news race drivers can use including track day tips from the Mayor of Hinchtown, the hardest part of going faster, what charities need to know when sponsoring motorsport and how to overcome the tough times when racing.

Don’t forget to check out last week’s spotlight on motorsport-related charity Grid4Good and get ready for a new edition of the Sustainable Motorsport Round-Up this Friday. It may very well be a two-parter!

Now, here is the news race drivers can use by reputable authorities from across the internet.

Driver Development News, Tips & Techniques

• Before you head out to your next track day, check out IndyCar Driver James Hinchcliffe’s No. 1 Tip for Your Next Track Day.

• Check out this recording on YouTube of this Aim Sports webinar with Peter Krause called The Hardest Part Of Going Faster.

• The second edition of FIA Girls on Track – Rising Stars is getting ready to be hosted at the Circuit Paul Ricard on October 21-27th. Good luck to everyone participating!

• You are thankfully hearing more and more about the importance of mental health, not just in sports but in life in general and rightfully so. Autosport has a great article on How Formula 1 teams look after their mental health, something near and dear to Lando Norris as he explains in another Autosport feature.

• As sports car racing team Madpanda gears up for an expanded two-car program, they have indicated that they are also hoping to develop young driving talents and are planning a series of winter tests to evaluate potential future members, including TCR ace Franco Girolami.

• For those young drivers considering sports car racing, Ashton Harrison discusses how her selection to the HPD Academy has accelerated her GT3 race debut.

• We all know about Sir Lewis Hamilton’s achievements. But did you know that there were Black racing drivers who race back in the 70’s,80’s, 90’s and 00’s? In celebration of Black History Month Next Racing Generation Motorsport are hosting an Audience with Hall of Fame of Black Racing Drivers on October 21st where you can listen to stories from Tony Chambers, Winston Graham, Clive Anderson and Carol Glenn. Full details can be found here. If you cannot attend in person or you can join via Zoom – Click this link.

• Here is a great article on Formula Female called Smashing the stereotype – the story of Formula Female that is well worth reading no matter what gender you are as it goes to show what perseverance can achieve.

• Motorsport can have the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. Enzo Mucci discusses how to overcome the tough times in the video below.

• SRO Motorsports are set to revamp their driver ranking system and there are some significant changes affecting not only gentlemen drivers but young drivers looking to make the move into GT racing.

The Business of Being a Race Driver

• Social media is absolutely key to ensuring your brand is visible but can be a bit of a pain to do consistently. In Why you need a social media calendar (and how to plan this month’s posts in just one day!), Megan Lingner talks about how you can organize your social media posts in an organized and efficient manner.

• Charities have often been involved in motorsport sponsorship but they are not your typical business. If you are considering approaching a charity for sponsorship, here is a great article on How Not to Sell Sponsorship: A Guide for Charities.

• The Motorsport Coaching podcast (one of my 8 podcasts all race drivers should subscribe to) has a great episode on sponsorship. You’ll learn: What sponsorship looks like during a pandemic, What sponsors are looking for, Do’s & Don’t about sponsorship proposals, and Retaining new sponsors. You can listen to the episode here.

• Today (October 18, 2021) is the last day to enter the Win a VP Racing Sponsorship competition. Full details can be found here.

Drive & Testing Opportunities

• Britain West Motorsport has testing opportunities available with their F1600 cars at Shannonville Motorsport Park on October 28th and 29th. For details contact the team at 519.756.1610.

Series News

• As Pirelli is unveiled as the F4 British Championship tire supplier for 2022, Formula Scout does its usual comprehensive job in assessing Britain’s changing single-seater landscape.

• The W Series has announced that the top eight in the championship will automatically qualify for 2022 season. This does not include members of the W Series Academy who are guaranteed drives until the end of the 2022 season.

• With the new, expanded F2 calendar just announced, series organizer Bruno Michel has indicated that F2 set to help teams financially although no details were provided.

• HWA Racelab announced they were leaving both F3 and F2 with Van Amersfoort Racing taking their place on the grid. Interestingly, the team went outside to pick their F3 team manager and they explained to Formula Scout why.

• Euroformula Open is preparing for a technical upgrade of its car and tires with the changes set to be introduced in 2023. The major technical upgrade will include the arrival of an updated chassis and body kit for the lightweight Dallara 320 and new 17-inch tires from Michelin.

• Ligier have announced that there will be upgrades for the Ligier JS P4 and JS2 R in 2022. New cars or upgrade kits will be mandatory for Ligier’s one-make Series’ from 2022.

• Praga Cars have announced details of their six-round UK calendar for 2022. The winning prize will be a used factory R1 and will be presented to the team owner or individual owner of the R1 that wins the 2022 Praga Cup.

• There is a new BMW M4 GT4 in development for 2023. The car, based on the new G82-model road car, will replace the current F82-generation GT4 car that debuted in 2018 and has collected numerous wins and championships around the world in various GT4 championships.

• Last week I mentioned that Stephane Ratel had his annual SRO Motorsports press conference. A number of announcements were made including changes to driver rankings and the Gold Cup. You can watch the full press conference here.

• Finally, NASCAR have announced their Next Gen engine package details.

Esports & Sim Racing

• TCR Virtual launches today (October 18, 2021) and Race Department discusses how this is different from typical Esports. You can also watch the video below.

Business of Motorsport

• You can get all the details of the recent FIA World Motor Sport Council here.

• In addition to the above decisions, here are a few more FIA-related plans set to become reality.
  • FIA releases plan to create African racing series
  • FIA working on motorsport-wide driver ranking system

• Speaking of the FIA, ever wonder how their track grading system works? Jalopnick has a great explanation.

• Tony Stewart shook up the NHRA with the announcement that he is starting his own team.

• Lewis Hamilton has launched an initiative to support Black STEM education.

• Here is a great article on the Australian Formula Student initiative of including motorsport in a high school education program.

• Sports-Tech Biz looks into the question of “Would you say there’s any connection between Ferrari’s competitive performance in Formula 1 and their quarterly sales?” Read the article for their detailed answer.

From the Motorsport Prospects Archives

The Motorsport Prospects Marketplace in partnership with Racing Edge has featured a wide array of very cool race cars for sale recently. Here is a sample:

• 1990 Shelby Can-Am “prototype” One-of-One
• 2013 Lola-Mazda B12/60 – LMP1
• Elan (Van Dieman) F2000
• 1978 Porsche 911 Euro SC
• Riley Daytona Prototype Track Day Car MK XXII
• 2011 Oak Pescarolo 01 Judd LMP1
• 1990 NISSAN NPT-90 Prototype
• 1964 Crosslé 5S
• 1985 Lola-Hart THL1 Beatrice Lola Formula 1
• 1967 Alfa Romeo GTV

Not sure if any of these are still available but a new race car is featured every Wednesday on the blog.

The Last Lap

Here are a bunch of motorsport-related tidbits that caught my eye last week.

• The New Super-Car Club in Miami: The Concours released a video of their $220 million race track.

• This is an older video from last July but shows drivers from Ferrari Racing Days enjoying laps at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway which must be very very cool!

• Finally, here is a Czinger 21C Hypercar lapping and crushing the lap record at Laguna Seca.

That’s it for me for this week. Stay safe and I will see you at the track!