Top Racing

The Start: Ten Seconds That Can Make… Or Break Your Race

The Start: Ten Seconds That Can Make… Or Break Your Race

The old saying goes, “No race has ever been won in the first corner, but many have been lost there." Well if that’s true, then why do so many drivers go for it at the start?

By Winding Road Staff | August 29, 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 Winding Road Staff | August 08, 2022
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 Winding Road Staff | February 08, 2022

Racing

Features , Racing
The Five Low-Cost Ways To Go Road Racing

Because Winding Road Racing offers organized arrive & drive racing in Spec MX-5 Challenge, MX-5 Cup and Pirelli World Challenge (as well as SCCA, NASA and PCA) we frequently get questions from road racing novices.

By Winding Road Staff | November 03, 2020
Features , Racing
ChampCar As Racing School?

We want to mention one less well-known element of Chump that we think makes it a great series for more experienced drivers.

By Tom Martin | November 03, 2020
Features , Racing
No, Punting Is Not An Acceptable Practice

In my experience, people — fans and racers alike — are somewhat confused about contact in motorsports. There seems to be an impression that contact is okay, just like there may be an impression among casual fans that fighting in the pits between drivers is okay in NASCAR.

By Tom Martin | November 03, 2020
Features , Racing
Avoiding Common Mistakes At Your First Track Day

It’s your first track day, and you’re excited to finally be there. You may have the guts, but are you prepared to handle a road course? Many first-timers make mistakes. Here are some common ones that you can address before you get out there on the track or attend your first autocross event:

By Guest Contributor | November 03, 2020
Features , Racing
The Guide to Road Racing – Table of Contents

The Guide to Road Racing: Winding Road Magazine’s ultimate guide to getting your start in racing.

By Winding Road Staff | November 03, 2020
Features , Racing
Speed Secrets: Brakes – A Recipe For Disaster!

As they learn performance driving techniques, most drivers demonstrate the same pattern when it comes to using the brakes; beginners either have no idea how effective their brakes are at shedding speed or they immediately abuse them. Then, the timid ones flop to the other side by extreme braking by the end of their first day. All beginners, at some point, typically overuse this pedal.

By Ross Bentley | November 03, 2020
Features , Racing
The Guide to Road Racing, Part 1: Getting Started – SCCA vs NASA

So you want to get started in competitive road racing, but you don’t know where to begin? Fret not, as this is the first chapter in our ongoing series chronicling my journey toward the goal of becoming a bonafide race car driver from a background devoid of previous motorsport experience. Accordingly, I’ll be starting this process with nothing more than the desire to challenge my fellow man in the arena of amateur motorsport and a vehicle to do it with. So, where to begin? Well, above all else, I knew there was one simple question I needed to answer: What do I need to do in order to get involved?

By Bradley Iger | October 27, 2020
Features , Racing
Speed Secrets: Pick Your Battles

When was the last time you were stuck behind cars on the track that you knew you were faster than? You had to fight tooth and nail to get ahead, but it wasn’t enough. Stuck in mid-pack with a voice on the radio telling you to work harder and move up in the pack but, ugh! It was just arduous….

By Ross Bentley | October 27, 2020
Features , Racing
2020 SCCA Runoffs Coverage Posted!

The 2020 SCCA Runoffs at Road America ended two weekends ago, and we’re still reading stories of both glory and despair within the car counts of its 26 classes that graced the Fall-foliage-covered track.

By Winding Road Staff | October 20, 2020
Features , Racing
The More Stepping Stones, the Better: HPD Partners With Skip Barber

TC America action is where it's at. Photo: HPDHonda Performance Development (HPD) and Skip Barber Racing School (SBRC) have partnered to include the HPD Civic…

By Winding Road Staff | October 20, 2020
Features , Racing
The Guide to Road Racing, Part 12: Time Trials

In our previous segment of the guide we introduced you to Track Night in America, a new SCCA program designed to serve as a low-cost entry point into driving on road courses with street cars. Within the SCCA ecosystem, it’s fair to consider Time Trials as the natural next step up the ladder from Track Nights in terms of driver experience and progression, and along with autocross events, for many it serves as the first exposure to a competitive driving environment. That newfound element here serves to ratchet up both the intensity and driver’s responsibility to be keenly aware of his or hers situation on-course substantially.

By Bradley Iger | October 20, 2020
Features , Racing
Speed Secrets: This Is Easy

Do you remember your first driving experience at a track event? For most people it was, “Wow, what an eye opener.” For me it was even more. It became an identity crisis.

By Ross Bentley | October 20, 2020
Features , Racing
Spec 986 And Spec Boxster

If you are thinking about what classes are a step up from Spec Miata, but still affordable, running a class based on Porsche Boxsters has some intuitive appeal. You get a sexier car, with a mid-engine layout and more power. You retain a spec class, with the advantages that has for car counts and close racing. Let’s take a closer look at the results.

By Tom Martin | October 13, 2020
Features , Racing
The Mysterious Origins Of The Checkered Flag

Time for a little history lesson, along with solving a mystery. This week, E. Paul Dickinson covers a topic that I hadn’t previously put much thought into, but then wondered about. I’ll leave it to him to explain this interesting mystery.

By Ross Bentley | October 13, 2020
Features , Racing
The Guide to Road Racing, Part 6: Getting Started – Race Weekend #2

After completing Driver School and a race the following day, we set our sights on the next local SCCA race: a two day divisional event at Willow Springs International Raceway. With class in the rear view and racing season in full swing, the training wheels were coming off and it was time to build upon what was learned thus far and expand from there.

By Bradley Iger | October 06, 2020
Features , Racing
Speed Secrets: How I Won The War Against The Foot That Lifted For The Fast Sweeper

As someone who has studied sports psychology, brain function, learning strategies, and more for many years, I have known the power and effectiveness of using visualization for a long time.

By Ross Bentley | October 06, 2020
Features , Racing
The Guide to Road Racing, Part 5: Getting Started – Race #1

One of the cool things about Cal Club Super School is that it takes place in the two days before the first race of the season. That means we walked into the first day of race school on a Friday with no track experience and by Sunday morning we somehow found ourselves prepping to take our qualifying laps for the race later that day. Our instructor kept reminding us to “think about it like it’s another practice”, but that’s certainly easier said than done. For us, the simplest way to stay relaxed and focused on the task at hand was to eliminate the logistical guesswork ahead of time so we had an idea of what to expect when the green flag dropped and things got real.

By Bradley Iger | September 29, 2020
Features , Racing
Speed Secrets: Learning From Experience

I have been very lucky in my career to not only have a chance to drive SO many different kinds of cars (Grand-Am DP, Grand-AM GT, ALMS GTLM, ALMS PC, ALMS LMP2, Porsche Cup cars, World Challenge, Continental GS, Continental ST, NASCAR Sprint Cup, NASCAR Nationwide, NASCAR Trucks, Late Models, Midgets, Formula Atlantic, Pro Mazda, IMSA Lites, Radicals, Formula Renault, karts, etc.), but I have also been very lucky to have been raised by a professional race engineer my entire life. I guess where I am going with all of this is that I may only be 25 years old, but I feel like I have seen quite a bit and experienced a lot in my racing career. I want to talk this week about a few things I think club racers can learn that are easy to execute and will deliver results right away. These are things I have seen and continue to see over my career. I do quite a bit of driver coaching alongside my pro racing, so I have worked with drivers of all different experience levels.

By Ross Bentley | September 29, 2020
Features , Racing
The Guide to Road Racing, Part 8: Passing Etiquette

Like many sports, racing has written and unwritten rules. And, just like other sports, it is the unwritten rules that can often get you in the most trouble or lead to the biggest misunderstandings.

By Tom Martin | September 22, 2020
Features , Racing
Speed Secrets: The Approach to Fast Turns

The big, fast, and hairy turns are often the ones that separate the winners from the also-rans, right? Most often, it’s the fast turns where you stand to gain the most in terms of lap time.

By Ross Bentley | September 22, 2020
Features , Racing
The Guide To Road Racing: What Is A Tech Inspection?

There is plenty of confusion about what an annual tech inspection of your race car actually covers. Here is a simple guide to help you understand.

By Winding Road Staff | September 12, 2020

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