This week in the Racecraft & Race Cars Roundup you will find out how you too can race the infamous Nürburgring, also known as the “Green Hell.”
In Racecraft Tips & Techniques you will find advice on five ways to overtake, how to work on your mental performance, how to be consistently fast and more. Off-track there are details on properly using mental imagery, identifying burnout, and getting into motorsport shape.
I also have news on the new Ligier JS F422 F4 race car, a review of the Ginetta G56 GTA 2023 and more Race Car and Series Developments.
All this and much more in this week’s Racecraft & Race Cars Roundup on Motorsport Prospects. As always, its news racers can use.
Racecraft Tips & Techniques
On-Track
In the video above, GT and sim racer Daniel Morad explains 5 ways to overtake.
Winding Road Magazine have released a comprehensive guide to road racing. “Here it is, the ultimate guide to getting started your start in road racing. We have over 70 articles below on how to become a race car driver. The full table of contents can be found here.
Ben Cooper is a kart racer, driver coach and mental performance coach with over 15 years of coaching experience and 10 years’ experience of running his own race team. In his guest post on Motorsport Prospects, Why Mental Performance is a Crucial Aspect of Motorsport Success, he discusses why mental performance is a crucial aspect of motorsport success along with some tips on how to improve your mental conditioning.
Enrollment is now open for the Master Your Tyres program by Your Data Driven. “The comprehensive tyre course that frees you to concentrate on honing your driving skills and enhancing your setup with greater confidence. Visit tyrecourse.com for all the information, samples and pricing you need.”
About the course:
- 40+ self-paced lessons across three structured modules
- “Smart Run Sheet” for automagically analyzing tyre data
- Track tyre tuning guide and practice exercises
- Students typically complete the course in 8 to 12 hours
In his weekly Ask Ross column, Ross Bentley of Speed Secrets answers the question, What’s the difference between oversteer and rotating the car?
In the video above, Enzo Mucci explains how to drive more consistently, like an F2 driver. “You need to be fast, but are you consistently fast? This is one of the top, results based, capabilities you need if you want to become and remain a professional racing driver.”
You have heard the saying “you’re only as old as you feel” and that is exactly the attitude that 40 year old race driver Mark Wilkins embraces. “I’m more disciplined,” Wilkins said. “I know with experience and racing for so long, I just know what needs to happen.”
Off-Track
In Ross Bentley’s new Speed Secrets newsletter on Substack (highly recommended that you subscribe!), he discusses the topic of what he describes as mental weightlifting and how mental imagery should be part of your driving preparation toolbox.
“Most advice for using mental imagery, typically referred to as visualization, are basically just this. The goal seems to be to imagine driving the entire lap, all at one time. Hey, even I sometimes challenge drivers to mentally drive a lap, time it, and compare it to an actual lap time. I have learned in my coaching career to break things down into the smallest pieces, then practice those things in isolation, over and over again, with the number of repetitions being most important.”
The Maserati MSG Racing website has an important article on identifying burnout with Craft 1861’s Eric Lujan. “Burnout is the body’s way of telling you that you’ve been running on empty for too long. When exhaustion becomes a way of life, it’s time to take a step back and re-evaluate your priorities.”
The Inside Hook looks at How to Whip Yourself Into “Motorsport Shape,” According to Those Who Race for a Living.
“Every driver knows what it feels like when your neck gives up. There’s nothing worse than that point of fatigue, because once your neck’s gone, there’s no coming back. Every time you corner from that point onward it’s a fight to keep your head up instead of resting it against the headrest… [And] it’s not always your neck that gives up, quite often it can be your lower back, or lumbar, or core, or glutes. If there’s a weakness, the car will find it. If and when it does, concentration becomes twice as difficult, because now instead of thinking about the lap, traffic, or balance of the car, you’re thinking about the pain in your glutes that has been cramping up for the past 10 minutes. And you still have an hour left in the car.”
Race Car & Series Developments
At round two of the 2023 Formula 4 United States Championship (F4 U.S.), Ligier Automotive North America and championship organizer Parella Motorsports Holdings introduced teams and drivers to their future car, the Ligier JS F422. The new generation F4 will make its debut in the championship in 2024.
“I am extremely proud of introducing this Ligier F422 to the F4 U.S. Championship teams and drivers,” said Max Crawford of Ligier Automotive North America. “It embodies the best of design, technology and safety, together with this amazing, innovative engine package. I want to express my admiration and appreciation to our Ligier Automotive group and our partners for their passion and their ingenuity, which has culminated in the launch of the incredible car in the F4 U.S. Championship.”
For more information on the Ligier JS F422, click here to download the brochure.
For more information on the F4 U.S. Championship, click here.
Feeder Series recently talked to the organizers of the new Eurocup-3 series which kicked off its maiden season with the opening round held at Spa-Francorchamps. The organizers explained to the site their goals for the series.
“Let’s think from another perspective. We created the championship with the competition from FRECA, EFO, et cetera, but FRECA still has over thirty cars. It is a very similar grid compared to what they had last year. EFO has ten cars, which is more than on some of last year’s rounds, and GB3 is still having a strong grid. We just covered a space of the market. We are not competitors. We are completing each other because each championship has its positive points and its not-so-positive points.”
The Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport has been made eligible for participation in the Cayman class of both the Porsche Sprint Challenge North America by Yokohama and the Porsche Sprint Challenge USA West by Yokohama beginning in 2024. Interested customers should contact Porsche Motorsport North America at info@porschemotorsport.com by June 10, 2023, to be considered for 2024 allocation.
SVRA has announced the Prototype Sprint Series Association (PSSA) series providing additional racing opportunities for race drivers.
“The newest motorsports series to join SpeedTour events, PSSA is designed to host prototype race cars in a sprint race format at some of the most iconic road courses in America. Featuring three 30-minute on-track sessions split between practice and qualifying, each PSSA weekend will culminate with two 30-minute feature races. Sanctioned by Parella Motorsports Holdings, entrants in Category I will need a current SVRA super license or equivalent to participate, while those competing in Category II and Category III will require an SVRA Competition License or equivalent. At the conclusion of the eight-race season, the national champion will win a $10,000 prize, in addition to several product awards. PSSA will host a variety of Radical, Ligier, Revolution and Wolf prototypes, and will mandate the use of Hankook racing tires.”
Evo reviews the Ginetta G56 GTA 2023 as they go racing in the GT Academy.
“It’s brutish, and beautiful (brutiful?): a low, wide, front-engined GT car with muscular proportions and fibreglass bodywork. Beneath that, there’s a very stiff, strong, tubular steel chassis with a 3.7-litre Ford V6 engine at the front. The naturally aspirated engine was originally designed for pickup trucks in the US market but when it’s unboxed at Ginetta HQ in Garforth it’s swiftly transformed into a dry-sump race engine and teamed with a six-speed Quaife paddleshift racing gearbox and differential.”
If you have always wanted to race the Nürburgring Nordschleife, Dickie Meaden discusses his experience in the highs and lows of racing at the Nürburgring.
“I always believed that to be invited to race there as an amateur was an enormous privilege, and definitely not something to be taken lightly. For me this meant committing to the notion I was competing at a circuit with inherent dangers, and in a type of multi-class endurance racing where the only factor more dicey than the colossal speed differential between the fastest and slowest cars was the gulf in talent between the best and worst drivers. I always retained a healthy respect for the place.”
If Dickie Meaden’s article or last weekend’s coverage of the 24 Hours of Nürburgring has planted the seed in you to race the Green Hell, Grassroots Motorsports reveals what it takes to secure a Nürburgring racing license.
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.