The week on the Motorsport Prospects Weekly Debrief I have news from Canada with the Team Canada Scholarship program, from Australia with a new driver development program, the UK with developments in British F4, a new Porsche GT4 race car, being a racing entrepreneur and more. So let’s dig in!
Driver Development News, Tips & Techniques
- After Covid-related delays caused the Team Canada Scholarship program to miss their annual trip to Brands Hatch for the Formula Ford Festival, have no fear because they will be back in 2022 bigger and stronger than ever! Expect an announcement at next month’s Performance Racing Industry trade show in Indianapolis with a formal press conference detailing their plans for 2022 featuring none other than Mr James Hinchcliffe. In the interests of transparency, I am honored to be a part of the Executive Committee helping Brian Graham and his team build on the foundations he has set up to make this program even better. Until the new website is ready you can get updates by following the Team Canada Scholarship Facebook page.
- The Motorsport UK Academy has announced that they will be supporting British F4 driver development from 2022 in the new look British FIA Formula 4 Championship. Drivers will be invited to a pre-season camp alongside family members and team personnel, with a structured, two-day programme focusing on key elements such as nutrition, fitness, communications, and performance to enable them to hit the ground running ahead of the 2022 season. This will be further supplemented with expanded attendance from the Academy’s coaches at each of the ten British Touring Car Championship events, including a wider range of driver briefing resources, opportunities for 1:1 performance coaching and the delivery of an improved, FIA-mandated data coaching programme.
- Australian racing team Gilmour Racing has launched a Driver Development Program with WLM Motorsport and KCK Racing Australia and they will be giving away test drives. Stay tuned to the KCK Lubricants YouTube channel for more information.
- The Hyundai N Performance Academy has teamed up with Bryan Herta Autosport on December 18-19, 2021 for a performance driving academy featuring driver coaches from BHA. More details can be found here.
- Finally, Samir Abid from Your Data Driven has launched Analysis Coach Motorsports Driver Coaching. “With expert driver coaching you will learn precisely how to drive faster… plus get all the support you need to become an even more confident driver.”
The Business of Being a Race Driver
- Enzo Mucci has an excellent video called The Key To Really Getting Motorsport Sponsorship – Be The Entrepreneur. You can watch it below and take notes!
Series News
- Porsche has introduced a new Porsche Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport race car aimed initially at the Michelin Pilot Challenge and other SRO GT4 series. The Drive and Daily SportsCar have more photos and details.
- Speaking of Porsche, Manthey Racing have announced a new Porsche one-make series called the Porsche Endurance Trophy Nürburgring. The championship will be held as part of the Nürburgring Endurance Series (NES) and is divided into two classes: the Porsche Endurance Trophy Nürburgring Cup 3 and the Porsche Endurance Trophy Nürburgring Cup 2. With this new one-make series, Manthey aims to follow on from the success of the Cayman GT4 Trophy by Manthey-Racing.
- The ACO have tweaked Asian Le Mans Series auto invites. The GT class of the Asian Le Mans Series will no longer be awarded multiple invites to the 24 Hours of Le Mans, following a tweaking of the system by the ACO.
- Nissan and Nismo announced changes to its 2022 GT500 class vehicles for the Super GT Series. The R35 Nissan GT-R based GT500 racer will end its Super GT participation after the final round of the Super GT 2021 season to be held at Fuji Speedway on November 28. The 2022 vehicle will be announced at a later time.
- The BRDC has extended GB3 support to include the new GB4 series for 2022.
- Lamborghini has received “massive interest” for the new Huracan Super Trofeo Evo2 ahead of the 2022 season, according to the manufacturer’s American senior motorsport manager Chris Ward.
- Following on from the Corvette GT3 announcement I mentioned in last week’s Weekly Debrief, Chevy is to limit Corvette Z06 GT3.R initial customer sales. They will be limited to an initial batch of ten Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs for each of the first two years of production as it ramps up its global support network for the manufacturer’s first “turn key” customer GT3 program.
Esports & Sim Racing
- Cnet has a great article on choosing the best racing wheel and pedals for iRacing and your budget.
Business of Motorsport
- Indycar is booming, so much so that they have created a jobs portal to feed the growing demand from teams.
- With the increasing list of Middle Eastern Grands Prix, there is growing unrest with some about the human rights situation in the region. According to F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali: ‘Middle East GPs will improve human rights.’
- With news that a new Saudi Motorsport Company has been created to manage the state’s commercial motorsport activity, James Allen at Motorsport.Com explains why Saudi Arabia is investing so heavily in motorsport.
- Will these concerns be a thing of the past for current Formula 1 rights holder Liberty Media? Could they be preparing to spin off F1?
- I have mentioned many times the economic impact that motorsport has on a national and global level and in Australia, a new study has revealed motorsport’s significant contribution to the Australian economy, with a total gross annual output of $8.6 billion.
From the Motorsport Prospects Archives
If you are a young driver, or even an older one, get your nose out of your iPhone and start introducing yourself to people at the track as you never know what opportunities this can open for you down the road. This is the importance of networking!
The Last Lap
- As the Macau Grand Prix took place just last weekend, here is a great on board guide to the track by racer and driver coach Dan Wells.
That is it for me this week. Stay safe and I will see you at the track!
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.