More Racecraft Advice as You Prepare for 2024

This week I have more racecraft advice from prominent driver coaches to help you prepare for 2024. I also have information on two upcoming racecraft seminars you might want to attend, two driver fitness exercises you can conduct at home if you have limited time and a track walk of the The Bend Motorsport Park.

All this and more in this week’s edition of the Racecraft & Race Cars Roundup on Motorsport Prospects.


Racecraft Tips & Techniques

On-Track

More Racecraft Advice as You Prepare for 2024

The video above from Safe is Fast covers the art of defensive driving. “When only a few laps remain and you’re being pressured from behind for the win, you need to know The Art of Defensive Driving. It’s not as simple as covering the inside or parking it on the apex, there’s a fine line between defending well and doing something that could land you in trouble with the stewards. Featuring professional drivers Jack Aitken, Connor De Phillippi, Katherine Legge, Ben Barnicoat and Matt Bell.”


Dion von Moltke of Blayze explains how to know if a corner is an entry speed or exit speed corner.

The differences between these types of corners are nuanced. Generally, in an exit speed corner, my initial throttle application point comes just before the apex (half car length or so) and the full throttle application point comes before arriving at the exit curb. While in an entry speed corner, my initial throttle will come after the apex (about 1 car length) and the full throttle application spot will come maybe 1 – 2 car lengths after a good exit speed corner full throttle application spot.”


More Racecraft Advice as You Prepare for 2024

Ross Bentley has launched a new podcast called It’s Not The Car and you can watch Episode 1 above!


More Racecraft Advice as You Prepare for 2024

In the video above, Samir Abid of Your Data Driven covers mastering braking and corner entry in motorsports.

The braking and corner entry phase is probably the hardest track driving skill to master. Unfortunately, it is also taught to many novices in a way that is, let’s say, sub-optimal for fast lap times. Your tyres are more than capable of generating cornering and braking forces at the same time. You just can’t have maximum cornering and maximum braking at the same time. The key to improving your corner entry, therefore, lies in understanding the balance between braking force and cornering grip.”


Adaptive Technology Hand Control System
This is the hand control system that Robert Wickens uses to compete in a Hyundai Elantra N TCR (Mike Levitt/IMSA)

Technological innovation to adapt racecars has helped drivers with life-changing injuries to return to the wheel and, in some cases, get back to winning races and championships. Drivers such as Alex Zanardi, Michael Johnson, Nathalie McGloin and Robert Wickens have proven that these adaptive systems work and Racecar Engineering takes a look at the technology. Read the article here: Wickens: Adaptive Racing is a Market with ‘Untapped’ Potential.


More Racecraft Advice as You Prepare for 2024

Grassroots Motorsports reviews the VBox HD Lite which they describe as having big data power in a tiny, efficient package. “The HD Lite is a nearly one-box solution for data and video. The system is composed of the head unit–about the size and shape of a nice healthy lemon–plus a remote GPS antenna and a 12-volt lighter adapter power supply.”


Don’t forget that the annual 2024 SCCA National Convention takes place online from January 18-26, 2024. Here are 5 reasons why you should attend.


Finally, this week the Driver’s Eye is on Daan Arrow as he races a Mercedes AMG GT3 at Portimao in the rain.


Upcoming Racecraft Seminars

Ross Bentley will be presenting a 2-part MasterClass for drivers called Self-Coaching for Drivers on Tuesday, February 20 and Wednesday, February 21 8:30pm EST/5:30pm PST.

The best athletes in the world have coaches; so do the best race drivers. Do you? Okay, you say you can’t afford one… but you can! You can coach yourself!

I’ve spent nearly four decades coaching drivers of all levels, in practically every type of motorsport. I’ve learned a few things about coaching. And I want to share with you what I’ve learned. You might be wondering why I’d do this, since I could be putting myself out of a job! Well, I know there will never be a shortage of drivers who want me to coach them personally. And I want to help drivers who don’t have access to a coach, and even those who do, but want another perspective.

We all know that a coach can help us improve our performance more quickly than we can on our own, as well as helping us perform more consistently.

  • What’s the most important part of your driving to work on next?
  • What are your strengths and weaknesses?
  • How do you turn weaknesses into strengths?
  • How do you identify what you should focus on to improve?
  • What should you practice next, and how?
  • How do you bring out your best performance, consistently?

My experience tells me that the one thing most drivers struggle with regularly is knowing what to work on, and how best to do that. That’s a big part of what I do when I coach drivers (everyone from novice track day drivers to elite-level pro racers), so let me share this – my coaching secrets – with you. Let me tell you how you can coach yourself, so you drive better than ever before (and have more fun!).

With the right approach, you can take your driving to the next level, but you need to know how to do that. I’ll show you how in the 2-Part Self-Coaching for Drivers Masterclass webinar on February 20 & 21, 2024.

All the details can be found here.


Armadillo Racing is hosting their annual all-day 29th Annual High Performance Racing Seminar on Saturday, February 10, 2024, at the Quality Inn and Suites, 8810 South Hosmer St., Tacoma, WA 98444.

This year we are currently assembling another colossal group of racing professionals who will not only share their insider secrets, they will share current thoughts and innovations all with the goal of helping you improve your racing skills, your car set-up and thus your performance. Of course, improvement in these areas enhances your enjoyment of racing. Few things are more frustrating than going to the races, being slow and having no idea why. This seminar will fix that, I guarantee it.”

Seminar Presenters

Dr. Jacques Dallaire

Dr. Dallaire is an internationally recognized performance specialist whose presentation will involve the active participation of attendees. Topics discussed will include:

  • The “Seven Key Rules of the Mental Road”,
  • Factors that Affect Concentration…Understanding the Skill of Concentration and how to control it,
  • The use of Imagery and how it Affects Performance,
  • The Effect of Anxiety on Performance,
  • And much more.

Ross Bentley

Ross Bentley is certainly one of the top driving coaches in the world, not to mention one of the most expensive (a day with Ross is about 10 times the cost of this seminar). He is a racing champion and driven just about every kind of sports car from Formula Fords, IMSA GT, and IndyCars. You may also know of his series of Speed Secrets books and maybe you’ve listened to his podcast, No Dumb Questions.

Ross says: We all know that driving fast comes from how we handle the corners, from the moment we begin braking to the point we’re back on the next straightaway. In his presentation, Ross will perform surgery on a corner, digging into the anatomy of corners and take you deeper inside braking, corner entry, minimum speed, and squirting out at full throttle… and give you new ways to drive even faster.

Dennis Overholser

Dennis Overholser is the founder of Painless Wiring a company dedicated to providing wiring harnesses for street and race cars. He has been designing and producing automotive electrical products commercially for over 35 and has written 3 books on Automotive Electrical systems.

Dennis is an outstanding presenter and will walk you through everything you need to know to properly wire your race car. We’ve never had a wiring guru and Dennis is the right guy. Ross Bentley has this to say about Dennis, “If you want my advice regarding wiring… anything that has a wire attached to it will cause a problem! You can quote me on that. Maybe Dennis can help me get over my fear of anything electrical.”
When you hear these 3 speakers you’ll have your brain full and ready to get your car and yourself ready for the 2024 season.

Sam Smith

Sam Smith is a writer, a once-professional mechanic, an amateur racing driver, and a former executive editor at Road & Track. An automotive journalist for 20 years, he has written for outlets as diverse as The New York Times, Esquire, Wired, Cycle World, and Popular Mechanics. As a TV and video presenter, he has co-hosted original motorsport programming for NBC Sports and starred in successful YouTube series for clients like Car and Driver. An anthology of his writing is set to be published as a print and ebook in 2024.

Sam’s career has seen him road-trip, test, and race hundreds of exotic machines around the world—he’s qualified on the front row as a Jaguar factory driver at England’s prestigious Goodwood Revival, but he’s also driven to the Arctic Ocean in a Jeep with no doors and track-tested Fernando Alonso’s Monaco-winning 2007 McLaren Formula 1 car.

As our lunchtime speaker, Sam will share stories and photographs from his time testing big-league race cars. Highlights will include going deaf in a triple-rotor Mazda 787 at Laguna Seca, measuring body roll by the yard in a Le Mans-winning Porsche 934, what it’s like to rent the Indianapolis Motor Speedway all for yourself, and the time that he got so unbelievably lucky with an F1 car’s anti-stall system that one of Lewis Hamilton’s former mechanics muttered something unprintable into his tea.

The cost of the seminar is only $395 and you can find more details here.


Off-Track

Racecraft & Race Cars Roundup

Your Data Driven has a great article on driver fitness featuring a home workout when you have limited time. “You know that driver fitness is important. Not everyone wants to be an exercise addict though, even if you had the time. This article has 7 easy strength training exercises you can do in as little as 20 minutes, from the comfort of your own home.”


Race Car & Series Developments

Racecraft & Race Cars Roundup

The Corvette Z06 GT3.R has big shoes to fill as it follows up the successful C8.R model that dominated the final year of the World Endurance Championship’s GTE Am class. But the move away from GTE rules to GT3 has required a rethink that make the newcomer different in several key respects and Autosport takes a look the new race car.


The first-ever Formula Woman Nations Cup is set to make its debut in the UAE in 2024 with the mission to empower women motorsports right to the top of the podium.

The inaugural event will take place from December 13-15 and witness 50 drivers representing 26 different nations compete for international glory at the Dubai International Autodrome. Full details can be found here.


More Racecraft Advice as You Prepare for 2024

Lamborghini celebrates ten years of Lamborghini Squadra Corse. “Compared to many of its GT rivals today, Lamborghini’s motorsport story is still somewhat in its infancy. Historically, the Sant’Agata Bolognese firm focused more on its road car business than racing, but that approach changed in the late 2000s as the Raging Bull emerged as one of the big players.”


A recent decision in Germany has split the responsibility of staging races on the famed Nurburgring between the existing NLS and new Nürburgring Endurance Series (NES) who have received access to the German venue to host races sowing chaos within the NLS.

Introducing two governing NLS bodies, VLN VV and VLN Sport: The NLS has been organised jointly by NR Holding and VLN Sport via VLN VV. NR Holding held 60 percent of VLN VV, while VLN Sport owned the remaining 40 percent. VLN Sport meanwhile is made up of nine local clubs, six of which are local clubs within the ADAC and three within the DMV, a distinct motorsports association in Germany.”

Despite the victory for the NES in court, teams and the all important circuit marshals are siding with the current organizers. “We, a group of team bosses who have been particularly active and successful for many years, all love the competition on the unique Nordschleife and are happy to welcome new competitors, suppliers and organizers who challenge the market leaders to a fair competition with good personnel, clever strategies and the best equipment. However, this does not apply to new market players who try to outsmart others before the start, prevent them from starting, poach their staff and use semi-legal means to ruthlessly buy their success.”


Racecraft & Race Cars Roundup

UK-based sportscar manufacturer Ginetta is planning to ‘relaunch’ its LMP3 program for 2025, coinciding with the introduction of the new turbo-charged V6 Toyota ORECA engine to the formula.

Daily Sportscar believes the upgrade kit for teams will cost around 120,000 Euros. So with new LMP3 cars costing around 300,000 Euros before tax, the expectation is that most teams will opt to purchase brand new cars for 2025 instead of upgrading.”


Autosport asks can the GT World Challenge’s test ban serve as a possible model for DTM? “The DTM will be able to enforce and police a ban on in-season testing by following the model used by GT World Challenge Europe, according to ex-Rutronik team boss Fabian Plentz.”


DirtFish asks how likely is Rally2 to take over the WRC? “The working group, headed by David Richards and Robert Reid, met again and again and dug deeper into the potential for technical regulation change. That’s vital. We’re at a tipping point for the WRC right now. Every option must be examined. Exhaustively. DirtFish understands, the Rally2-for-2025 debate remains very much on the table.”


Speaking of Rally2, Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team (TGR-WRT) has announced that the GR Yaris Rally2 has received homologation from the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), effective January 1, 2024. The GR Yaris Rally2, designed for customer rallying, is now set for official competition, starting with the upcoming Rallye Monte-Carlo.


Track Days

More Racecraft Advice as You Prepare for 2024

Check out this video by Todd Hazelwood working with the team at OTR & The Bend Motorsport Park showcasing their amazing facilities and Supercars circuit. “In this video, I detail all aspects of this circuit walking from turns 1 to 18. Hope you enjoy!”


The Lime Rock Drivers Club site got a fresh new look for 2024. Now it’s even easier to find out how you can become a member, and if you’re still unsure, you can even test drive a membership this season. Check out all the details here.


Mark Boudreau
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.