Motorsport Prospects Weekly Debrief for December 6, 2021 – Lemons of Love Giveaway, Self-Coaching and More

Race driver development is what Motorsport Prospects is all about and the Weekly Debrief is the perfect symbol of that. Every week I comb the internet and curate the best resources, tips and tools that will help make you a better race driver both on and off the track. The goal is truly to be news that racers can use. Whether it is related to improving your racecraft, acquiring sponsors or building up your physical and mental stamina, Motorsport Prospects has you covered. This week is no different with tips on self-coaching from Ross Bentley, sponsorship acquisition with Enzo Mucci and Brian Simms and an update on Shift Up Now’s first year of operations. Welcome to another week of news racers can use.

Driver Development News, Tips & Techniques

• Here is a great video from Ross Bentley discussing how to maximize your on-track performance through self-coaching.

• In my interview with Tami Powers of PowerDrive Motorsport Futures, she indicated how important the Shift Up Now organization is for the development of young female drivers. Pippa Mann looks at what the organization has so far accomplished since it was formed one year ago.

• Balance of Performance (BoP) is a fact of life in modern sports car racing. But Daily Sportscar argues for Motorsport & Respect For The Rulemakers: Let’s Be More ‘Rugby’ & Less ‘Football’.

• Hintsa has a great article about resilience that you should check out called Building Resilience Is a Skill and a Team Sport – Lessons Learnt from F1.

• If you are looking to buy an MX-5 Cup car and want to contribute to a great cause, Lemons of Love kicks off their Mazda MX-5 Cup car giveaway for 2022.

• In October, Mazda Motorsports invited NASA to Sebring International Raceway for the Mazda MX-5 Cup shootout where 12 racers competed for three scholarships worth a combined $260,000 to go toward competing in the 2022 Idemitsu Mazda MX-5 Cup Presented by BFGoodrich Tires. Of the 12 drivers, four NASA Teen Mazda Challenge Drivers were nominated, and NASA was on hand to capture some of the action, and to show what it is like to participate in the Teen Mazda Challenge program.

The Business of Being a Race Driver

• With the PRI trade show coming up at the end of this week, Megan Lingner argues Why You Shouldn’t Bring Your Sponsorship Deck to the PRI Show.

• Enzo Mucci has a chat with sponsorship consultant Brian Sims about how to go about getting motorsport sponsorship. See the video below.

Drive & Testing Opportunities

• The P1 Groupe has some excellent driving opportunities for fast and funded drivers for the 2022 racing season including the Creventic 24 hours of Dubai and the 12-hours of Abu Dhabi in January 2022. They also have options available in GT3, GT3 Cup (992 or 991) and GT4. Contact the P1 Groupe for more details.

• Global Racing Team is signing for the 2022 season with the intent to participate in Formula Race Promotions, SCCA Majors, and the SCCA Runoffs. Interested drivers should contact the team here.

Series News

• Praga is steadily building an admirable racing car and one-make series so Autosport Plus takes you behind the scenes in Inside the lightweight Czech sportscar taking the UK by storm.

• Speaking of Praga, ‘Frank’ has been revealed as the top prize for winning R1 in the 2022 Praga Cup.

• I have mentioned the changes that are coming to British F4 in 2022 but if you are wondering about the “why”, Formula Scout has a great article on the thinking behind the plan to revitalise British Formula 4

• A new junior development formula aimed at karters and young drivers under 25 is set to debut in Spain and Portugal in 2022. Called Future Formula and organized by Motor Sponsor, it will use Formula Renault 2.0 single-seaters and will have full season “arrive and drive” packages available. You can get more information from the organizers here.

• Nissan and NISMO have unveiled their Nissan Z GT500 race car for the Super GT series in Japan. See the unveiling below.

• The Ligier European Series have unveiled their 24 Hours of Le Mans support race format. The “Le Mans Heat” meeting will start with a forty-five-minute free practice session, which will then be repeated a second time to allow the drivers and teams to familiarize themselves with the Le Mans 24 Hours circuit. Two twenty-minute qualifying sessions will be held with a fifteen-minute break between the two sessions. For the two-driver teams, each driver will do a qualifying session and start in the corresponding race. The first fifty-minute race will start on Friday morning. The weekend will end for the Ligier European Series drivers on Saturday morning with the second fifty-minute race before the beginning of the 90th edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

• Radical Sportscars have revealed the upgrades coming in 2022 for their SR3 XX and SR10 race cars. The upgrades will feature an optional halo safety device alongside other standard and cost-option safety and driver-focused development upgrades.

• Finally, Ferrari has announced a partnership with ORECA for the French company to build and provide after-sales service on the Italian manufacturer’s next GT3 race car.

Esports & Sim Racing

• Honda and Hyundai have become the latest manufactures to partner with iRacing and bring their cars to the virtual world of sim racing. A pair of TCRs, the Honda Civic Type R and the Hyundai Elantra CN7, will join the platform early next week.

• I mentioned this in last week’s Weekly Debrief in the Driver Development News, Tips & Techniques section but this affects sim racers in particular. Two sim racers will be awarded fully-funded drives in British Formula 4 for 2023 in a programme involving the championship’s new title sponsor and FIA Single-Seater Commission chief Bob Fernley.

• Lamborghini Esports has announced the winners of their sim racing competition The Real Race 2021. This follows a final which took place on the legendary track of Misano Adriatico. The Real Race series began in June and reached its conclusion in November, pitting 3,150 sim drivers from around the world against each other on the Assetto Corsa Competizione platform. The three champions will take part in a shootout at the Lamborghini headquarters in Sant’Agata Bolognese, including an R&D sim session and a test at the wheel of a real Lamborghini racecar on an Italian circuit. The stand-out driver will then be selected as Lamborghini’s official sim driver for the 2022 season.

Business of Motorsport

• With the FIA elections coming on December 17th, Jalopnik has published two informative profiles of the candidates for president. The first is on Graham Stoker (The Lawyer Who Could Be FIA President) and the second is on Mohammed Ben Sulayem (The Rally Champion Who Could Be FIA President). The latter is the candidate that Motorsport UK has formally and publicly endorsed.

• The recent sponsorship deal that Mercedes has signed with Kingspan has come under increased scrutiny due to its connections with the Grenfell tragedy in the UK. The pressure may result in the logo disappearing from the cars.

• The new PRI Buyers Guide is out.

• Motorsport, like society as a whole is slowly (some may say too slowly) changing when it comes to diversity and LGBTQ+ rights. But it is changing as ESPN points out in Racing proud: How motorsport is slowly changing for LGBTQ+ staff.

• Matt Kaulig is getting ready to take his NASCAR team to the big show in 2022 and he discusses with Forbes his journey from entrepreneur to team owner.

• In a changing of the guard, GMS Racing has acquired a majority interest and the charters from Richard Petty Motorsports.

• There was a lot of chatter about whether Liberty Media would be successful when they acquired the commercial rights to Formula 1. It appears their Formula 1 plan is working.

From the Motorsport Prospects Archives

Do you have questions about motorsport insurance? Here are 8 Things about Motorsport Insurance That You Should Know.

The Last Lap

Here are some great in-car videos that you will enjoy. The first is a hot lap at Sebring in an Formula 1000 car. The second is a ride aboard an ODYSSEY 21 from Extreme E. The third is aboard an S5000 at the mighty Mount Panorama!

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