The importance of driver confidence is just part of what is covered in this week’s Racecraft & Race Cars Roundup.
You will also find details on the latest Honda TCR and Ginetta race cars, the return of the Clio Cup to the UK and tips on choosing a track car.
All this and much more in this week’s edition of the Racecraft & Race Cars Roundup on Motorsport Prospects.
Racecraft Tips & Techniques
On-Track
The video above is from Safe is Fast. “Have you watched onboard laps where the driver seems more interested in their steering wheel than where they’re going? Our professional drivers – including Ricky Taylor, Renger van der Zande, Colin Braun, Tom Blomqvist and Filipe Albuquerque – explain how they use in-car tools to extract maximum performance and win races.”
Grassroots Motorsports explains how to quickly and easily find speed from those data traces. “All the squiggly lines in the world mean nothing if you’re not taking the time to decipher them and turn that info into a plan. Who has time to analyze all that data? Not many of us, that’s who.”
In Ross Bentley from Speed Secrets latest newsletter, Ross describes his big aha moment when it came to get to a late apex in a corner, you had to turn in late. He has revised his thinking on the matter and his newsletter article explains why.
In his Ask Ross column, he also answers the question, Any tips on managing your breathing during a race? Breathe through the nose or mouth?
Here is a sample lesson from The Motorsports Playbook on the importance of driver confidence.
This week the Driver’s Eye goes racing in the rain via wet Spec Miata racing at Watkins Glen with NASA NorthEast and No Money Motorsports.
Off-Track
McLaren F1 prospect Bianca Bustamante shares how she gets in shape for her races. “Working out is half the battle on track and off track. You prepare yourself to win and the minute that you get lazy, that’s when you start losing. I think most of all it’s a mental sport.”
On the PRI website, industry experts offer some best practices that will keep racers’ safety gear up to snuff. “One of the biggest issues we run into—particularly when it comes to Nomex-related safety gear—is damage created by improper care,” said Ben O’Connor of Impact Racing, Indianapolis, Indiana. “You have to be really careful with that type of equipment for a number of different reasons, but at the end of the day, it’s about ensuring that it will still do its job if it is needed.”
Race Car & Series Developments
The latest Honda Civic Type R TCR, based on the FL5 model, is the third car built to TCR regulations by JAS Motorsport since Marcello Lotti’s brainchild emerged in 2015 and succeeds the FK7 that was introduced for 2018. Autosport goes inside Honda’s latest TCR title-winning weapon.
British sportscar manufacturer Ginetta has revealed to Daily Sportscar that its new G56 GT4 EVO will make its global debut in customer hands next year. You can get a sneak peek in the video above or go to Daily Sportscar for more details.
With the LMP2 and LMP2 Pro/Am classes set to expand in the ELMS next season from 18 cars to 22, Daily Sportscar understands that the other classes in the series (LMP3 and LMGT3, which will replace LMGTE) will need to shrink from 12 to 10 cars apiece to ensure the full-season entry doesn’t exceed the maximum number of 42 cars.
“10 cars sounds like a less-than-ideal outcome for the teams hoping to compete next season, and in many ways it is, but the fact that the class will serve cars into the double figures is actually good news.”
IMSA will mandate four and three-driver lineups for all WeatherTech SportsCar Championship classes in the Rolex 24 at Daytona and six-hour races, respectively, beginning in 2025, it has been revealed. Additionally, three-driver lineups will now become mandatory across the field for the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring and Motul Petit Le Mans from next year. More details at Sportscar365.
MotorSport Vision Trackdays (MSVT) will run an all-new Clio Cup Great Britain Championship in 2024. This new addition to the MSVT racing portfolio ensures that an official one-make series for Renault Clio hatchbacks will return to British circuits for the first time in five years, reviving a concept which has previously been an enormously successful part of the national motorsport scene.
Masters Historic Racing have released their calendar for the 2024 UK & European Tour, mixing classic events with “electrifying venues making a long-awaited return.” Full details can be found here.
Any driver that takes their ARDS Test with The Motorsports School in the CityCar Cup car and then decides to join the championship, will be eligible for free CityCar Cup Championship registration courtesy of Nankang Tyre UK.
“CityCar Cup delivers a brilliant platform for new drivers to learn their racing and to develop their skills without spending fortunes. To allow new drivers to get first-hand experience of the CityCar Cup cars and what they are like to drive, the BRSCC in partnership with Nankang Tyres is delighted to announce that the Club has donated a fully race ready example to The Motorsports School which will be used by them to carry out ARDS training and driver evaluations. Anyone signing up to take an ARDS test with The Motorsports School in future will be given the opportunity to do so in this fully fledged little CityCar Cup race car.”
Track Days
The Yacademy Winter Series has released an updated schedule. Full details can be found at https://www.yacademydrive.com/.
Grassroots Motorsports asks the experts on what makes the best track car. “The ideal track car could be a turnkey offering, a homebuilt special or just an unassuming sedan. It could be box-stock or incredibly complicated.”
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.