This week in the Racecraft & Race Cars Roundup you will learn how one race driver raced Spec Miata on an extremely low budget, a pre-race routine you can use to ensure optimal performance and what’s coming to LMP2. All this and more in the Racecraft & Race Cars Roundup on Motorsport Prospects.
Racecraft Tips & Techniques
On-Track
Trying to figure out why your lap times are so slow? Grassroots Motorsports can help with some easy tips to analyze your on-track data to find where you are losing time with Circuit Tools from VBOX Motorsport. Watch the video above for the details.
Off-Track
In the video above, Enzo Mucci explains his race driver pre-performance routine. “The engine of the car needs warming up to ensure optimal performance, this too applies to the mind of the driver. Come up with a 5 minute pre performance routne that get’s you into the right place mentally and physically.”
PRI looks at the latest selection of driver suits. “What is more realistic is that drivers’ suits of tomorrow will become increasingly user-friendly to their wearers. Product manufacturers are continually engaged in testing and research to find new materials that will allow the suits to breathe better, enhance the wicking of driver perspiration to minimize the threat of steam burns in a fire, and improve their suits with panels that are both fire-resistant and flexible enough to afford racers more freedom of physical movement, especially when they’re trying to escape from a flaming race car.”
Race Car & Series Developments
Racing Prodigy, a sports, entertainment, and media property making motorsports more accessible, has announced that Formula 1 team Williams Racing has become the first official team in the Prodigy Racing League (PRL). The first real-world series is planned to launch in the fall of 2024 in the United States.
“As well as competing in the league, Williams – in collaboration with PitFit Training – will provide an intensive remote coaching program to all PRL drivers competing in the series. The program features a comprehensive driver evaluation test with feedback from a driver coach, chief engineer, and human performance coach. Preceding each race, drivers will engage in a tailored training regimen covering crucial aspects such as race car physics, set-up development, condition and performance mapping, strategy testing, and adaptive driving styles. Furthermore, PRL participants gain access to PitFit’s Human Performance program, responsible for preparing hundreds of drivers and teams in motorsports, ensuring that physiological and cognitive stressors never become a limitation of maximizing performance. PitFit’s program for PRL drivers is complemented by Williams’ coaching expertise in fitness, strength & conditioning, nutrition, and sports psychology, as well as its rich heritage of engineering and driver development.”
The ACO’s decision to abandon its original plans for the next-generation LMP2 regs to be based on the LMDh spine has been met with approval from constructors, including Multimatic according to Sportscar365. “Holt said he approved of the choice to move away from LMDh spines as he feels that the tubs, including the one Multimatic produced for the Porsche 963, were not particularly well-suited to low-cost, privateer-based racing.”
GB4 will no longer be a series for Formula 4 cars in 2025 as it will switch to a modified version of the chassis currently used by sister series GB3. The F4-T014 was only ever expected to have a three-year shelf life in GB4 before it needed to be replaced, and for next season the series will switch to a modified version of the MSV-022 which will be renamed as a MSV GB4-025 to reflect changes in specification that include a lower downforce single-plane front and rear wing setup, a shortened diffuser and a new engine cover incorporating a centrally-placed airbox rather than a side-mounted air intake.
“The move towards a naturally aspirated engine will ensure even greater parity from a well trusted power unit. With a proven, reliable and extremely popular technical package, combined with a class-leading prize pot in excess of £120,000, the new-look GB4 championship will become an even stronger first step on the ladder towards for the most talented young drivers emerging from karting, Ginetta Junior and other junior categories, before moving on to F4 or GB3 and hopefully all the way up to F1.”
Nitrocross is launching a new scheme aimed at making its top development class more accessible. From the coming season, which begins in Richmond, VA in September, the NEXT class will be known as NEXT evo following the introduction of the new FC2 single-make platform, developed by First Corner – a branch of Sweden’s ultrasuccessful Olsbergs MSE rallycross outfit.
“Contained at a base cost of $40,000 per weekend – each of which will be a doubleheader comprising two full championship rounds – the plan includes access to a fully-prepared car, a new set of Yokohama racing tires, a drum of P1 Bio 100 fuel – the category’s control fuel which is 100 percent fossil-free – and two team members to run the car. Driver registration and entry fees are also included as are the racing car’s logistics to and from events.”
No Money Motorsports explains how they were able to do a season of Spec Miata for under $7000. “I’ve been called a “budget extremist”…. Something I’ll wear with pride. Most of the people running regionally are spending a fraction of the budget that serious operations do, but my budget is a smaller fraction still. I have no gripes or ill-will to people spending large sums of money on their race operations, we all play our parts in this series and the diversity is one of the things that makes Spec Miata great. My big request to all of you is that we collectively stop perpetuating the rumor that the top 5% of spenders in Spec Miata are the norm for the entire class nationally.”
In the June issue of Motorsport UK’s Revolution magazine they explain the benefits of hiring a race team to enhance your club or national on-track experiences. “The experience teams can offer across the board is one of the main benefits and Rob Boston of Rob Boston explains: “It is the things you cannot put a monetary quantification on that end up being the most beneficial. There’s the professional preparation and running, but also there is the wealth of experience gleaned from a team that makes the difference.”
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.
