Learning Race Driving

[Dyno247365]

How do I learn how to race? Should I buy a faster car and prime myself? Should I learn from a special school? What are the steps to becoming a better race driver?

[VR43000GT]

I would reccomend an internet search for local tracks in your area. I know around here you can take amateur lessons with guides helping you around the track. So find a place in your area and then contact them for more info. Good luck.

[RX-7 Steve]

Driving/Racing school.

[drdisque]

also, autocross is an extremely cheap way to do some performance driving and determine if you even want to do this before spending hundreds/thousands on fancy safety equipment and track time.

http://www.nyr-scca.com/ <- Your SCCA Region

[P10DET]

If you want to learn to race, buy a kart and go racing. You'll learn more in a year in karts than 5 years racing cars.

I've done (in order):

Autocross
Kart racing
Commercial racing school
SCCA regional licensing school
SCCA regional club racing

By far I learned more in karting than all the others combined.

[LVApex]

Karting is a great inexpensive way to learn to drive properly...

otherwise, having a "fast" car initally isnt going to help you much (High powered cars can actually slow down your learning curve). and nither will "mods" as most of the time people tune the car to mask their bad driving. (R compounds will make up for alot of bad driving...)

My advice, Head to an autocross and attend a few events. and Dont modify any thing on the car before getting seat time (unless its a safety issue)


The fastest way to learn is to get as much seat time as possible. Be it Karting, Autocross or open track (as long as its timed!!!) Seat time is the key.

[NSX-R-SSJ20K]

1st rule of Motor Racing : Motor Racing isn't cheap.
2nd rule of Motor Racing : Use someone else's money =p

Join a Go Karting Club they do track days and sell your car and buy a Twin Engined Kart.

Also do you mean corners or straight line as the skill for straight line racing is obscenely different. =p

[LVApex]

^^ Club racing can be quite cheep. I've seen IT Cars + trailers and spares for under $5,000. all you need is your club race licence and a tow vehicle. Club racing day runs a few hundred + lodging for a weekend (some times you can camp at the track) and figure a few sets of tires a year, two maybe three. Plus what ever repairs/mantinace the car may need. and on an IT that aint much.

Now if you wanted to run a Formula or Sports Racer... then you can start looking at big $$$ just to get started.

[Dyno247365]

Ah money, the one thing I might eventually have compared to everyone that says they want to do things the cheap way. Right now I'm in college, so..maybe in the summer, who knows what I could do then.

Okay different question but related, this may not be as easy as it sounds, how will I know If I want to be in track racing or NASCAR? I really like the V8s, and ricoheting out of the corners and next to the wall looks really adrenaline pumping. Then again, I think I'm better with constantly having to use the brakes, open wheel is very exciting, and I watched an IROC race, where a sports car champion who had never been on an oval before drove like he had!! NASCAR, I may have a very good shot getting into, F1...it just sucks to know I'll never do it.

Btw, before I sell my 240sx (which I really am doing) I was going to get into autocross, i asked them for information and didn't hear diddly squat from them, what gives? It's been like *checks* dude, 3 months.

[LVApex]

What exactly are your asprations? Pro race car driver? Club racing? Goofing off on track?

[Dyno247365]

Pro Racecar Driver, so eventually I will put a lot of money into this. I'm going to race a kart this summer and was told I could only choose one genre, circuit or oval, and that If I wanted to do both I'd need 2 karts and to be in two clubs, which I think is ridiculous.

[LVApex]

Originally Posted by Dyno247365

Pro Racecar Driver, so eventually I will put a lot of money into this. I'm going to race a kart this summer and was told I could only choose one genre, circuit or oval, and that If I wanted to do both I'd need 2 karts and to be in two clubs, which I think is ridiculous.

Well, as the saying goes, If you dont have a pro ride By the time your 18, your probably not going to get one. (This is for F1, NASCAR would probably be easier to get in to eventually).

But any way, THe standard progression for Circuit racing goes, Karts, Do well there and you move on to Formula cars, such as Formula Ford, Formula Mazda and the like. Do well there and you move on to the semi-pro classes Like the Star Mazda or Formula Atlantic. Do well there and you may be picked up by a Pro team.. or you move to Europe and run the various classes out there, hopeing to impress a pro team. (there are other vairiations to this if you dont plan on running F1, like if you want to run Le Mans, or one of the many Pro GT classes.)


For Oval tracks... it kinda goes more like... Karts, To something like Midgets or the modifides and slowly up the ladder to Nascar...


Good luck, maybe we'll see your name next to the likes of Schumaker.

[Dyno247365]

Schumacher probably not but maybe Schumaker...who's he?

lol, well I'm not old, but I'm not rich either. I've got a fighting chance, but first I want to see what i'm really made of and then I'll decide on a goal. We've all got to start somewhere, but it depends how fast I progress.

[vectorspecialist]

schumacer is a famous, probably the most well known race driver in the world, he recently retired. he raced formula for ferrari. thats all i know, other than the obvious(hes rich)
money is the big thing in racing, well the whole world relies on money
u could try maybe if u have the want and determination, working for a car company that is into motor racing, such as panoz, if u speak only english, try to stay in america, cause terms in england are confussing.
i actually plan on moving to atlanta, and working for ups, and saving some money to take the Panoz racing skool that they offer. i've always wanted to race, and other than strret racing have never really done. mainly cause i dnt come from a family that backs me on the idea, i'm kinda stuck out in left field with it.
the racing skool is ranked like 3rd in the nation(usa). if u want email me at ciaburrid@yahoo.com, i know a lot about wat needs to b done to get to different areas of racing.
but as its said above, start as young as possible, the more experience u have the better off u are

[Dyno247365]

While I'm waiting to get into karting, I've picked up GTR2 and it's the best game I have ever played but the important thing is that I'm learning about things I never knew. After half a month, I'm obsessed with GT2 Ferraris and was hoping there was a racing school that had Ferraris here (in the states). So far, you told me about Panoz's school, and I know Skip Barber has porsches and bmws to drive.

Second question, what's the difference between driving school and racing school?