The Mustang Challenge Le Mans Invitational is now accepting entries and in this week’s Racecraft & Race Cars Roundup I have all the details on how to take part. I also have more racecraft tips, 2025 series calendars and more.
Racecraft Tips & Techniques
On-Track
In the video above, Enzo Mucci shares his top tip that will help you perform more consistently in qualifying as well as remain more in control mentally.
Driver feedback might seem like “admin” but it is a great skill to develop. The performance potential of your car is completely linked to how confident you feel behind the wheel. Good driver feedback is you recording what you feel your car is doing on track. The better you can record your feelings, the simpler it will be to make your track car faster. Plus, simply the act of you doing driver feedback, will help you improve as a driver.
Your Data Driven gives you an easy process to follow – including suggested questions to ask yourself and real examples notes to reference – in order to help you begin to do driver feedback. You can read their article here.
Ross Bentley of Speed Secrets has added to the four stages of competence with a fifth, unconscious competence with conscious awareness. “What I do remember is having a big Aha! moment, for these four stages made so much sense to me as someone fascinated by the process of learning almost as much as I was by how I could use this to improve my driving and coaching.”
You can read all the details here.
Bonnet Magazine talks to Dan Wells and Oscar Lee from Drivers Lab on shaping the future of racing. “Coaching, whether a driver or any other individual, is always about firstly understanding where they are at – what do they understand, how do they understand it. Then, being able to assess in which way they learn best. I make sure that all the drivers I work with develop a thick skin – which is very much needed in motorsport just as it is in life!”
Read the full article here.
Road racing is challenging even on the best of days, but toss rain into the equation and the stress is exponential. What should you adjust on your car to keep it settled in slippery conditions, how do you choose the right tire, and what line should you take while on track? SCCA GT-2 racer Jonathan Start has been there, and he’s got a few tips in the SCCA video above that’ll help you make the right decisions the next time you see raindrops on your windshield.
Off-Track
The first tenant at the new MotorSport Vision Innovation Park in Snetterton, Norfolk, will be Ansible Motion with its simulation center.
This additional footprint will help Ansible Motion expand its global operations. MotorSport Vision, which owns Snetterton, is Europe’s largest motor racing circuit operator. It has plans for 30,000m2 of commercial offices, industrial units and motorsport workshop space at the park. The 13-hectare site will also feature a hotel with a cafe and EV charging facilities.
You can get more details here.
Race Car & Series Developments
Applications are now open for entry into next year’s Mustang Challenge Le Mans Invitational, which will see a full grid of Ford Mustang Dark Horse R race cars compete at the legendary Circuit de la Sarthe in support of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Ford Performance partner Multimatic Motorsports has established a dedicated website for competitors to submit expressions of interest for the June 11-14 event, with drivers asked to submit their CV and level of racing experience.
Sportscar365 has more details.
Since 1983, the Bridgestone Winter Driving School has been the longest continually running winter driver education program anywhere in the world. For 2025, the school’s performance education classes are being recast with an exclusive fleet of Toyota Gazoo Racing (TGR) vehicles – the turbocharged GR Supra, the boxer engine GR86, and the 3-cylinder, turbocharged all-wheel drive GR Corolla.
Presented in one- or two-day driving experiences – drivers will have expertly guided use of the full-range of Bridgestone Blizzak shod GR sports cars on the school’s snow- and ice-covered tracks in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.
For more information on the Bridgestone Winter Driving School and to register for any of the school’s broad array of safety and performance classes, visit winterdrive.com
For more information on Toyota’s GR range of performance vehicles, visit toyota.com/grgarage.
IMSA explains on their website the many reasons why they feel their series are popular with drivers. “Just look around the open grid here at Indy,” Paul Miller Racing’s Bryan Sellers said during the TireTrack.com Battle on The Bricks grid walk at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. “Pit lane is so packed you can’t move. Drivers are no different from anyone else: You want to feel that what you’re doing has an impact and that you’re doing it for a reason. This has been a huge driving point to the increase in IMSA’s popularity.”
Read the full article here.
LMP3 is the third tier in the Le Mans sportscar racing hierarchy, sitting below LMH / LMDh and LMP2. Since its debut in 2015, the category has been a cost-effective way to run a prototype and a stepping stone towards the bigger leagues including the 24 Hours of Le Mans. And now it is saying to the V8s powering the cars and moving towards a new turbocharged era.
“The ACO’s reasons for introducing a twin-turbo engine, rather than go like-for-like with a new naturally aspirated one, were financial and technical. The financial aspect was to keep costs as low as possible by using a production-based unit. A next-gen LMP3 powertrain costs €89,200 within the €299,000 price for a complete car. The technical aspect was that the ACO wanted to align LMP3 with current road car and motorsport technologies, as well as increase fuel and sound efficiency. ORECA successfully pitched for the LMP3 engine supply contract with the Toyota V35A, a twin-turbo engine found in several of the company’s road cars including the Lexus LS 500.”
Read more at Racecar Engineering.
As part of ROKiT British F4’s 2024 end of season awards, there was the inaugural presentation of a new and very special award, the Jake Cook Memorial Award.
Jake was a familiar face in the British F4 paddock, having previously raced Ginetta Juniors, Formula Ford and Formula Renault. In 2010 Jake became the first driver to be awarded the MSA’s Young Driver of the Year Award, before generously sharing the skills he had accumulated, from a sport he had loved, as an Academy coach, supporting, amongst others, many drivers on the British F4 grid.
Sadly, Jake passed away in November 2023, having encountered mental health struggles, however his family, led by his wife and British F4 championship manager, Eve Lake-Grange, created this award in order that Jake’s memory lives on and keeps his name alive in motorsport.
The award is unique in British F4, as it is voted on by the Team Managers of the F4 paddock and awarded to a current season British F4 driver who has shown great improvement over the championship season; a driver with determination in adversity and who has demonstrated respect for their closest rivals both on and off track.
The inaugural Jake Cook Memorial Award was presented by Eve Lake-Grange to Martin Molnar, Virtuosi Racing.
The final step in the FIA’s Affordable Cross Car project has been completed for the Level 2 category, with design blueprints delivered to the global network of 147 National Sporting Authorities (ASNs).
The Cross Car category was launched by the FIA in 2018 as the base of the off-road pyramid. Already a key element for national competitions in many countries, the Affordable Cross Car project has been designed to further lower the barrier to entry by allowing ASNs to build cross cars using locally-sourced parts and materials, thereby reducing the reliance on international suppliers and avoiding the often significant costs associated with import duties and taxes.
Affordable Cross Car allows ASNs develop motor sport irrespective of their size, structure or geographical location, and can be easily integrated into other grassroots initiatives provided by the FIA such as Motorsport in a Box.
More details can be found here.
2025 Series Calendars & News
- ADAC unveils full 2025 DTM calendar (Autosport)
- Supercars reveals 2025 formats featuring 1200km more racing (SpeedCafe)
- 2025 ELMS Calendar Released, Silverstone Returns (Daily Sportscar)
- ROKiT British F4 Championship certified by the FIA unveils its 2025 calendar (FIA F4)
Track Days
PalmerSport has announced a number of track days for October and November at reduced rates. From there latest newsletter:
During that time, participants can benefit from a reduced rate of £875 plus VAT per person for small groups and individuals. And there is a further discount for larger parties, with spaces priced at just £825 plus VAT when reserving for 12 or more guests. This represents a reduction of almost 10% on our previous standard off-peak rates. Whilst the price of these events will be lower, the experience is the same all-year round, with eight sublime driving activities, scoring and prizes for the fastest drivers, and a full day of hospitality and first-class catering.
Example dates available at the Super Off-Peak rate include Tuesday 5 November, Saturday 9 November and Friday 22 November. For booking enquiries and full date availability for late October through to early December contact our team on 01403 733999 or email sales@palmersport.com.
Some prime October dates still available even though it is one of our busiest months at Bedford Autodrome, but we still have availability on the following shared event dates, where teams share a hospitality centre for breakfast, lunch, tea and prize giving:
- Saturday 5 October (Peak rate)
- Wednesday 9 October (Peak rate)
- Thursday 24 October (Off Peak rate)
- Friday 25 October (Off peak rate)
Eurasia Motorsport conducted a two day test at the Sepang International Circuit on October 2-3 with our Tatuus T421 GEN 2 with karter Ethan Ong. The young Filipino karter demonstrated tremendous potential in his first Formula car test greatly impressing the team. Watch this space for an exciting announcement due soon concerning F4 in Asia next year.
The test was held in hot, dry weather on day one and it saw Ethan Ong meet the lap time target set by the team within two sessions. Day two was held in changeable weather allowing Ong to experience wet, dry and everything in between track conditions. All good practice for a future F4 championship campaign.
Team Principal, Mark Goddard, reported “Ethan really impressed not only with his speed but the fact that he did not put a foot wrong despite the changeable conditions on the second day. He can be proud of his first Formula car experience and I am convinced he has a great motorsport future in front of him”
Drivers wishing to test at Sepang in F4 should contact the team at mark@eurasiamotorport.com
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.
