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What does it take to become a racing driver?

Raven18940

Raven18940

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 16, 2005
Messages
633
Location
PA, USA
Besides the obvious talent, how does one become a racing driver?
 
Ok, I mean doing at as a profession, actually making a living.
 
this is going nowhere fast =[
 
fbc said:
Skill, money, and perserverence
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Don't forget luck and money.

Oh, and knowing the right people and being able to get some generous sponsors.

Oh, and money, too.

Oh, and Sato's best quality, attracting big-money local sponsors.
 
bihus said:
Oh, and Sato's best quality, attracting big-money local sponsors.
Click to expand...

:lol: I thought his best quality was attracting other cars towards his...
 
fbc said:
bihus said:
Oh, and Sato's best quality, attracting big-money local sponsors.
Click to expand...

:lol: I thought his best quality was attracting other cars towards his...
Click to expand...

:lmao:

That too. And when doesn't happen, he goes looking for some new friends.
 
I think the best way is to start early and work your way up. The best situation is to get into racing at an early age, but not everybody has the privledge.
 
^ What he said! If you are 20+ I wouldn't recommend you entering racing, as ending up nowhere is a possibility as well. When you start young you learn faster etc, + it will soon turn out if you are made for racing or not. If you are, you'll make a career out of it. If you aren't, you can go to university or do whatever else interest you.
 
jayjaya29 said:
I think the best way is to start early and work your way up. The best situation is to get into racing at an early age, but not everybody has the privledge.
Click to expand...

Exactly.

I'm still contemplating getting into it. It will take a lot of money to get into racing.
 
So I need skill, money, connections, and/or good looks. Hmmmmmmmm, well I've 2 of the 4.
 
See I have 1 of 4...:lol: and that one is a maybe too...:lmao:
 
Most succesful racing drivers have started racing in karts ever since they started walking. People like the schumacher brothers, current F1 champ alonso, and the upcoming scott speed are these people (plus a lot more). Then there who those who start a bit late, like jacques villenreve, who attended garmmar school and then i think high school before starting in karts. This is very very race case, and even though he did make it mostly on his own hard work, having a legend as a father did help him a lot. Then theres the near impossible case of Sato, who started racing at the age of 19! What helped him jump into the sport was of course his connections and his ability to get good sponsorship, and plus Honda. What also helped him was that he was in good shape, he raced bikes (not motorbikes..regular bikes) in his teen years so that probaoly kept him in good shape.

So basicaly to sum it up:
Younger = Better. Best if u start around 7 or 10.
Money = Must. They once said, in order to make a small fortune in racing, you need to start with a big fortune when you start racing.
Perseverance = Must. Most racing drivers were damn broke when they started off. One of the richest and most successful Nascar drivers, Jeff Gordon, moved from california to indy when he was a child with his father so he could get strait into the racing world. In those few years he had to sleep with his dad in their pick-up truck since they coulnt afford to rent a place to stay since everything was spent on preparing the karts and buying racing stuff.
Talent = DUH! Comon, goes without saying. This is also why people start so early, so they can know everything about racing.
Sponsorship In the begining, it will be impossible to get a sponsor. In karting? Forget about it. Only possible sponsorships back there is the stuff like Red Bull Driver's search. Then when u work up to lower class open wheel series, you still would find it hard to get a sponsor. No big companys are going to sponsor you since they could just sponsor a F1 team if they wanted. You then need to find a smaller company with intrest in motorsports but cant afford a F1 team for sponsorships.
The better the shape your in = the faster you are on track When was the last time you saw a fat guy win races or become succesful? You need to be in execlelent shape to make it in the racing world. Its not surprising that succesful IRL driver Tony Kannan rides bikes in endurance like tour de france in his off season.

Conections and stuff like that definately help a lot, but it is not always necessary, a lot of the upcoming and current drivers dont have that many connections, but yet they still made it.

Also, if you are entering racing to want to become rich, give up right now because you are just going to just waste your time going nowhere.

Finally, here is the usual path of a F1 driver:
Karting -> Shifter Karting -> Formula BMW, Formula Renault, Formula Nippon -> Formula Renault World Series, GP2 series (this is where the competiton gets professional and even more difficult, it is also where you start to see if you can really make it to the top and where teams start to notice you if your good.) -> F1 (hopefully)
In the beginng karting and formula classes, it will be near impossible to get sponsorship. So you will end up haing to pay for most of those rides (i doubt any team hires a driver...its the other way around untill the big time.)

To become a lemans driver, it would take less prepartion. A year ot two in the first bunch of formula series then a year in the 2nd buch would be good enough. You just always need to be knocking on everyones doors.
 
Awesome. Nice knowing I can't even get into racing. Now I really don't know what to do anymore. :?
 
[yoda voice]I am too old, yes, too old begin the training[/yoda voice] Oh well, guess I could still be a motoring journalist. :lol:
 
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