Choosing a race team is critical for any race driver and this week I bring you tips on how to make the best decision. Whether you are transitioning from karting, a club racer looking to move up or an amateur who is joining the Pro/Am ranks, the right racing team will make all the difference.
In addition to choosing a race team, I bring you details on two driver shootout programs, a look at the BRDC Superstars program, solutions for deaf race drivers and much more.
All this in this week’s edition of the Driver Development Roundup on Motorsport Prospects.
Race Driver Development News & Resources
In Choosing & Getting Chosen by a Race Team, Enzo Mucci looks at “Choosing, attracting and getting picked by race teams is always on race driver’s mind. In this video I will give you some tips on how to handle this area whether you are an amateur or a professional racing driver.”
You can watch the video above and you will be able to use the soon to be relaunched Motorsport Prospects Directory to help you with your race team research.
Registration for the 2023 Team Canada Scholarship Shootout is now open.
The Team Canada Scholarship (TCS) is a yearly competition that is awarded to deserving young Canadian drivers. Run under the auspices of Canadian motorsport veteran Brian Graham of Brian Graham Racing, the winners receive a fully funded drive at the prestigious Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch in England in late October. and the Walter Hayes Trophy race,that takes place the weekend after.
To be selected, the winner has to be racing in at least one of the following series:
- Toyo Tires F1600 Championship (OFFC)
- Formula Tour 1600 Series (Quebec F1600)
- F1600 Championship Series
- F2000 Championship Series
- USF4
- F4 USF Junior
- Karting series (East & West)
or a combination of any of the above series (minimum 7 races or 4 race weekends) in the current competition year. Candidates must be Canadian citizens, at least 16 years of age by October 1st, and no older than 20 by September 1. You can register your interest here.
I mentioned this last week but RACER has some additional background on the PT Autosport Aspiring Driver Shootout which is set to take place in August.
“We’re really positive about this year’s shootout applications,” said Myers, PT Autosport team principal. “We have refined the process and given ourselves a little more time to hopefully reach some of the best candidates out there. We’re not looking for people that are already racing drivers – we’re looking for people who might not have known this was even an option they could pursue, but who dream of a racing career. We’ve been steadily building awareness and exposure, with more applications coming every day, so we’re quite positive that this year is going to be even more successful that our inaugural shootout last year.”
The 2023 PT Autosport Aspiring Driver Shootout will take place on August 1, 2023 to August 3, 2023. Applications are now open. Full details can be found at https://ptautosport.com/aspiring-driver-shootout/,
In the latest episode of the Autosport podcast, “we delve into the prestigious BRDC SuperStars programme, exploring how it nurtures and develops the most promising young British racing talent.” You can listen to the podcast episode here.
The development of female race drivers is increasingly being supported with numerous programs and series having been announced, but there is still much work to be done. Here are a few articles addressing the current situation.
- Alpine’s Girls Mentoring Scheme sets out to provide insight on careers in motorsport, open doors for next generation
- ‘The dream is back’: Can F1 Academy help women join GP grid?
- Lack of women at rookie test shows Formula E must do better
Kickin the Tires looks at how Monon Rahman emerged from NASCAR’s 2019 Drive for Diversity Internship Program to victory lane and history with Venturini Motorsports.
“So, it’s hard to find something, but the diversity internship program helped me commit something earlier in the year. By February or March of 2019, I kind of knew that I had that lined up. The biggest thing out of that was just being able to network and meet people like the internship itself was overall short, about 10 weeks, but I met so many people during that time period.”
I mentioned this a few weeks back but check out S.E.B. Solutions for Deaf Racing Drivers courtesy of Team BRIT.
Top New Zealand single-seater team M2 Competition has set up a driver management company, and one of its first signings is headed to race in Japan.
“M2 team owner and engineer Mark Pilcher and former Indycar team owner Steve Horne have set up the new management firm, and Ngatoa is the second talent whose Japanese move they’ve overseen as at the start of this month Liam Sceats drove for Sutekina in the FRJC season opener at Fuji.”
The AMG Driving Academy’s New Sessions are set up to teach you how to race, and even get your license. Offered on three circuits in the US, the programs are geared for everyone from beginners to those looking to enter SCCA competition.
Episode 39 of MotiV8 Training’s Motorsport Coaching Podcast focuses on mental health and performance with sports psychologist Caroline Anderson. In this show you’ll learn:
- What is Mental Health
- How does mental health affect performance
- Services available to deal with mental health
You can listen to the podcast here.
Hintsa‘s Performance Director Pete McKnight visited the Rewire Fitness podcast to share his insights from the world of Formula 1 performance coaching.
“”With over two decades of experience in the field, Pete has coached and managed the performance of some of the world’s top F1 drivers. Tune in and learn more about a typical day in the life working with F1 teams, the unique challenges and opportunities involved in coaching F1 drivers, the recruitment process for F1 coaches, and much more.””With over two decades of experience in the field, Pete has coached and managed the performance of some of the world’s top F1 drivers. Tune in and learn more about a typical day in the life working with F1 teams, the unique challenges and opportunities involved in coaching F1 drivers, the recruitment process for F1 coaches, and much more.
You can listen in here.
Paul Gerrard, author of The Optimum Drive (who I interviewed here), explains the importance of Feedback Loops.
“The feedback loops all take information from our senses (how we connect with the world), this information is continuously updating so this program is adaptive and self-updating (as of course then is the system) so don’t think of it as a fixed program. We walk for most of our lives and as we age it changes and right along with us (because it is us), our program called “walking” is continuously adapting. As mentioned in the opening paragraph this can be also be done intentionally.”
This is from the latest edition of the Your Data Driven newsletter (highly recommended that you subscribe) where Samir referenced a guide to deliberate practice. “How can you become the best at anything? Deliberate practice. Here’s the ultimate guide on how to do it.”
Series News
One aspiring driver in Toyota Gazoo Racing’s 86 championship will be handed the trip of a lifetime at the grand finale in a fortnight and will be handed the keys to a Triple Eight Race Engineering Gen3 Chevrolet Camaro.
The trustees of the Tony Quinn Foundation will choose a winner at the final round at Hampton Downs on May 7 who will head to Brisbane in August to test with the Red Bull Ampol Racing team at Queensland Raceway.
Aside from the test drive, the Supercars Tony Quinn Foundation Trustees Choice winner will also spend time with the team to learn about the behind-the-scenes racing environment, spend one-one-one time with their V8 Supercars champion Shane van Gisbergen and enjoy social time with Tony Quinn.
Author: Mark Boudreau
Mark is the publisher of Motorsport Prospects. As a former lawyer, he applies his legal background and research skills to assist race drivers by showcasing the resources they need to make their motorsport careers happen.