AN INTRODUCTION TO ROAD RACING
Road Racing is one of the most exciting forms of racing from a drivers perspective (bested only by rallying). It provides side-by-side racing (most of the time) in close quarters around twisting tracks that demand a variety of precision applied driving skills. It requires the same skills of traffic management that are found in NASCAR, with the additional requirements of needing to understand car balance and employing complex hand-eye coordination activities to gas, brake, shift and steer the car in the most optimal way around (sometimes) complex corners and elevation changes in the circuit. Although, as with most motorsports, engineering is important (having the best car with an ideal setup), it's not as much of a necessity to having fun as it is for NASCAR-style racing or drag racing (a true engineer's sport). All this makes road racing a financially reachable hobby providing a lot of excitement and accomplishment for thousands of men and women.
High Performance Driving
For those people who have not experienced road racing first hand, it's relatively easy to get a first taste at relatively low cost - just sign up for a high performance driving school. Such a school will not only get you out on a racetrack for a lot of fun, but it's quite likely that you'll learn something about driving that you can apply to your everyday driving on the street to heighten your safe driving ability. This latter bonus is sometimes recognized by insurance companies who will approve of your attendance at a high performance driving school (it's a good thing if they do, because no form of motorsport/high performance driving is safe).
The two disadvantages to High Performance driving schools are that close racing is not tolerated in any way, normally resulting in limited passing of other cars as well as a demand to keep-your-distance, and secondly you normally have to risk your own car on the track (leave the automatic at home!) While these schools typically have a very good safety record with few examples of damaged vehicles, and even fewer examples of actual injury, both possibilities need to be seriously considered when making the decision to venture out to the race track.
For further description of what to expect at a High Performance driving school, take a look at my "Street School" page.
To find the nearest school, go to www.roadracetracks.com, select your State and then select "Street School" from the drop-down list of "Racing Types". Expect to pay a minimum of $200 up to a maximum of $1000 for a full day at (not necessarily on) the track.
Racing School
Racing school is another way to experience road racing. More expensive that High Performance driving schools, it has the advantage of no risk to your own car since you'll (usually) drive the school's car (check how the school handles damage to their cars!!! - this can sometimes be quite onerous - it's not unheard of that you'd end up buying the racecar that you've just totaled!) Their car is more often than not a real racecar providing you with the additional experience of being strapped into a performance car similar to what you see on T.V. Of course with a more specialized vehicle that will likely outperform anything you're used to (either in power and/or cornering ability), the risk of injury or damage increases, which for some people adds to the excitement. Another advantage is that these types of schools often culminate in either a simulated race, or at least greater freedom to closely follow and pass other cars. As a result, racing school is about as close to racing as you can get without actually racing. With the more extensive (and expensive) schools, they are so close to the "real thing" that they'll give you a real racing license at the end of the school if you've passed all of their safety criteria.
The disadvantage to racing school, besides the high cost, is that the skills learnt on track do not translate to your everyday street driving as easily as with the skills learnt at a High Performance driving school, especially since you're not driving and thus learning about your own car.
To find the nearest school, go to www.roadracetracks.com, select your State and then select "Racing School" from the drop-down list of "Racing Types". Expect to pay from a minimum of $800 to $6500+ for multi-day courses.
Licensing School
Excluding the multi-day racing school courses which offer a racing license if you pass their safety criteria, licensing school is the closest thing to real racing without racing. Similar to the multi-day racing school courses, the licensing schools are specifically designed to expose you to all elements of road racing, with the specific goal of giving you a racing license at the end of the course. The difference with a licensing school, is that you're expected to provide your own racecar (street cars are no good here). People who participate in these schools usually fall into one of three categories: prior racers who have allowed their racing license to expire, and are just looking to get it back; people who have already made up their mind that they want to race and are taking the last required step; people who either haven't made up their minds whether they want to race or not, but want the license just in case, or simply like the idea of being licensed to race cars.
The cost of licensing schools is typically very low since the burden is on you to provide the race car. For those people who already have a race car, this makes licensing school very cheap. For those without a race car, renting one will cost at least $1000, and the skies the limit for the higher performing race cars (renting a World Challenge car for example, may cost in the $12K region). Then you have to buy or rent the race-suit, helmet, gloves, shoes and other safety attire (for example drivers of open cockpit cars need arm restraints, and a good neck-brace should be worn by everyone). Normally a medical is required as part of the application process (more cost). Then there's the cost of travel to the track, accommodation, etc. Depending on all these factors, license school can cost a little or a lot.
The best thing about licensing school is that they'll teach you all of the aspects of racing: rolling starts, managing traffic, proper cornering, passing, blocking, all the safety flags, etc., and the schools often finish with a simulated race.
At the end of the school, if you pass the safety criteria, you'll have your provisional racing license allowing you to participate in hundreds of races across the country. The "pass" standard is focused exclusively on safety - you don't need to be Mario Andretti or Michael Schumacher to get a license - you simply need to demonstrate that you won't be a hazard to other racers (but speed is important - a very slow racer is considered a hazard to their fellow competitors).
For more information on licensing schools link to the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA):
Sports Car Club of America (SCCA)
The SCCA is the premier Motorsport Organization in the U.S. for amateur and professional racing. For amateur races, the SCCA is divided into eight divisions, within which exist a number of regions. For example, the Northern Pacific Division spans the six regions of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Northern Nevada and Northern California. In addition to road racing (what this page was all about), they sanction Solo II events (often known as Autocross or Parking-Lot racing), and Rally Sprint events.
The final word (cost)
One last item on cost. If you think road racing is a hobby you'd like to pursue, after getting your license, and purchasing or building a race car, expect to pay about 10% of the cost of the car per event, excluding damage. For example, a Spec Racer Ford racecar will cost around $30K for a good second-hand car, and depending on how seriously you feel you should be competing for race wins, and thus the quality of parts you put into the car each event, expect to put aside $3000 per event to cover travel, accommodations, entry fees, the inevitable occasional minor damage and expendables such as gas, oil, tires, etc. This assumes you won't be hiring mechanics to work on your car, nor will you experience significant damage to the car. Unfortunately this latter consideration rears it's ugly head more often than not - so be prepared for it. Every year I've raced, someone I've known has totaled their racecar. For our example, if I got three years of racing out of a car without losing an engine or totaling the car in a crash, I'd figure that I'd got my money's worth. Anything beyond that would be a bonus. So in addition to the $3000 per event, put an additional $500 per event aside and hope that the car survives three years of racing 10 events per year, at which point you'll be ready to replace the car when it gets totaled. Better yet, use fully disposable income to build/buy the car in the first place.
Good luck if you start racing - and keep yourself and you competitors safe by remembering that no matter how tight your budget is, the car you're about to race past could well be on a tighter budget, so be considerate and leave the bump-passing to the pros.
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