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ross bentley speed secrets
Speed Secrets: Setting HPDE Expectations

Speed Secrets: Setting HPDE Expectations

The story of two bad wrecks and how experience teaches that managing expectations is key for track days (and even more important for wheel-to-wheel racing).

By Ross Bentley | February 08, 2022
sponsorship
By a Racer, For Racers: Finding Target Brands for Sponsorship
By a Racer, For Racers: Finding Target Brands for Sponsorship

For young racers looking to make the step into racing professionally, a singular topic is always at the forefront: sponsorship.  Current Idemitsu Mazda MX-5 Cup challenger Aidan Fassnacht dives deep into the prospect of finding funding to secure a racing seat; the first of a four part series - By a Racer, For Racers.

By Ross Bentley | September 27, 2022
Formula 1
Why We Love Willy T. Ribbs
Why We Love Willy T. Ribbs

Just one week into F1's summer break, we've found ourselves rewatching some of the 2022 season's highlights.  One of the most memorable moments so far has to be Willy T's podium interviews after the Miami GP.

By Ross Bentley | August 08, 2022

Racing

Features , Racing
Speed Secrets: Gearhead in Winter

The last track event of the season is over. The race car is packed away for the winter. The next time you get to bust her out of the garage is months away. The helmet has been Febrezed (an APB to all you track rats out there: is there anything that truly gets the stink out?). The ice chest has been wiped clean. MotorsportReg sits idle on your desktop. The cold, slow, dreary months of winter are all you have to look forward to.

By Ross Bentley | December 04, 2013
Features , Racing
Speed Secrets: Data For Everyone!

I’ve not met a club racer or gentleman driver who isn’t motivated by the sheer thrill and excitement that racing brings. Similarly, I haven’t met one who isn’t also driven by the fact that racing has tangible gauges of success. Racing is measurable. Races have results. Racers have performance indicators and input. Whether it’s time, effort and/or money, results are more often than not measurable against these indicators. Said another way, the more you put into racing, the more you get out of it. Hire a coach: find a second. Learn about setup: develop a better handling car. Purchase a data acquisition system: see your areas of development. Right?

By Ross Bentley | November 26, 2013
Features , Racing
Blog: What Makes Vettel So Fast?

If Sebastian Vettel cares whether he’s considered one of the all-time greats of Formula One, he needs to drive, and win, for another team. One of the things that established Michael Schumacher as a great, and perhaps the greatest, is that he won for two different teams. Even more importantly, Schumacher made these teams winners. Before he joined Benetton and then Ferrari, neither team was World Championship-winning caliber.

By Ross Bentley | November 12, 2013
Features , Racing
Speed Secrets: The Eyes Have It

No matter your experience level, you’ve likely heard—and heard again—one major theme in all types of driving: “Look up!” Every instructor and coach has those words etched in their memory just as much as their students and clients have.

By Guest Contributor | October 29, 2013
Features , Racing
Speed Secrets: MI + A = G

If you have a very clear and strong Mental Image (MI) of what you want to do, and an Awareness (A) of how close you are to doing that, your brain will make you achieve that Goal (G).

By Ross Bentley | October 23, 2013
Features , Racing
Speed Secrets: The Big 2 Questions

In my opinion, the race engineer’s primary job is to get the car to do exactly what the driver wants it to do. Some good engineers disagree with me; they only focus on the simulations and what the fastest set up is from a theory standpoint, then expect the driver to get the most from it. I figure if the car is to the driver’s liking, he can show me what he has… he has no excuses.

By Guest Contributor | October 08, 2013
Features , Racing
Speed Secrets: Four Wheels With & Without A Motor—An Interview With Bucky Lasek

Bucky has adapted to rallycross much faster than most people will ever know. When you consider that he typically gets fewer than a dozen laps of practice before his couple of qualifying laps—and then it’s right into the races—it’s amazing that he’s battling with guys like Ken Block, Tanner Foust and Travis Pastrana (all of whom seem to live in a car!). From my perspective, it’s what he brings from skateboarding that allows him to just jump in, mix it up, and adapt so quickly.

By Ross Bentley | October 01, 2013
Features , Racing
Speed Secrets: A Starter’s Perspective

Dennis Paul has been the official Starter for the American Le Mans Series for the past 15 years (the only Starter the series has ever had). When I raced in the IMSA/ALMS series I always felt I had an advantage over my competitors at the start because I could “read” Dennis. He’d been the Starter at my local road racing circuit, Westwood Motorsport Park, early in my career (the early ’80s). In some ways, we both moved up the ranks of pro racing together, and more than one driver I know has said he’s the best Starter, period.

By Ross Bentley | September 17, 2013
Features , Racing
Speed Secrets: Data Acquisition Basics

I’m sure everyone reading this knows about data systems. We’ve all seen it in other people’s cars, maybe we have one, and have watched the cool traces on TV in all the racing series showing a driver’s throttle or brake application and speed. If you are a fan of F1, ALMS, Grand Am, or one of the other big race series, you’ve seen the pit boxes full of computers, monitors, and a myriad of race engineers.

By Guest Contributor | September 04, 2013
Features , Racing
Speed Secrets: Sponsorship For Amateur Racers

It’s ironic that there are so many amateur racers who are bringing in a larger percentage of their annual racing budget from sponsorship than many “pros” are.

By Ross Bentley | August 20, 2013
Features , Racing
Speed Secrets: Driving The Setup

Passing through 4th gear, the shift lights are indicating I’d better shift to 5th gear quickly. With 5th gear engaged I tell my right foot to stay on the floor through the left hand kink that is looming ahead. As I turn-in the rear gets light which is quickly followed by counter-steering and telling myself, “We need to make that better.”

By Guest Contributor | August 13, 2013
Features , Racing
Why All That Weaving Around On The Way To The Grid?

At the start of a race or track session we see drivers weaving back and forth across the track. Ask a driver why all the swerving and you’ll hear, “I’m getting the tires up to temperature.” Well, I don’t think that’s what’s happening. Most of the tread surface is cooling, not heating. And, since rubber is a poor conductor of heat, very little of the frictional heating on the tread surface gets into the bulk of the tire.

By Guest Contributor | July 11, 2013
Features , Racing
Circuit Of The Americas Walkthrough From Chris Taylor Racing Services

Everybody that hasn’t been on track at Circuit Of The Americas yet is foaming at the mouth, and everybody that has is in a daze from how amazing, fast, and technical this brand new, $400 million dollar facility is. I’ve been around it a couple of times over the last few months, and though I’ve probably got 20 laps on it I still don’t have a firm grasp on things…but I do think I know a good start to running a quick lap, and here it is.

By Winding Road Staff | March 26, 2013

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