Team Juicy Racing's Racing School and Race Series Forums
Go Back   Team Juicy Racing's Racing School and Race Series Forums > Racing Schools & Race Series Forums > Racing, Driving, New Driver & High-Performance Driving Schools
Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old 07-27-2011
F1Racer's Avatar
F1Racer F1Racer is offline
Maximizing Exit Speed / Advanced Member (10+ Posts)
 
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Bayside, NY
Posts: 11
Formula 1 Question

Ok, this might be a dumb question or not.
But was wondering. What does it take to become a F1 racer? What steps or what do have to do to get there, who do you have to impress?
Im fairly new to all this racing, and I really want to take the Formula Car Racing School Course to get my racing license. But where do go from there, perhaps the Advanced course?
I really appreciate and thank anyone in advance for taking the time to answer this.
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 07-27-2011
Andor's Avatar
Andor Andor is offline
Winning Races / Advanced Member (250+ Posts)
 
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Boca Raton, Florida
Age: 33
Posts: 255
Re: Formula 1 Question

Quote:
Originally Posted by F1Racer View Post
Ok, this might be a dumb question or not.
But was wondering. What does it take to become a F1 racer? What steps or what do have to do to get there, who do you have to impress?
Im fairly new to all this racing, and I really want to take the Formula Car Racing School Course to get my racing license. But where do go from there, perhaps the Advanced course?
I really appreciate and thank anyone in advance for taking the time to answer this.
You are asking 2 kinda of questions here.. kind of. To be in Formula1, its not mostly about skills as we saw very skillful driver's (Nico Hulk.) get their seat taken by other driver's that have more "Sponsorship" money. To become a Formula 1 driver, u would need to win multiple championships around the world, race Formula Renault or win DTM championship, or the route many formula 1 driver's take is that race in the gp2 championship which is the class under F1. The winner or runner up will basically most of the time have a seat next year in Formula 1.

I was asking these same questions around 2-3 years ago so there not dumb questions! lol 1st thing is first, the most important thing there is in racing is "SEAT TIME". The more seat time u have, the better you will get and the faster and steeper ur learning curve will be! Take the 3 day racing course on the open wheel formula class that skip barber offers. Amazing course that basically will get u hooked into racing! The next step is to take the 2 day advanced racing school which will basically qualify you to race in skip barber's regional racing series which i highly recommend. From here, you will be racing with many skillful driver's and than you need to do well in races and work your way up the racing ladder which is, Regionals than Nationals than USF2000 than Star-mazda than indy lights or you will need to more to Europe from here to join more advanced racing league's. This is just 1 of many way's to become a race car driver.

This forum is very use full for many questions you will have in the future, i am SURE! Do some research and you will find some good books to read (which i highly recommend!) and some stories etc. This was my $.02.. i'm sure many other members have better and more helpful input on this question.

cheers
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 07-28-2011
dalyduo's Avatar
dalyduo dalyduo is offline
Grand Master
Carbon Fiber Keyboard (3,000+ Posts)
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: location, location
Posts: 5,399

Gallery Images: 112
Re: Formula 1 Question

You need a lot of money, talent and connections. If you are very talented as a race driver it costs a great deal of money to develop that talent through the progressive levels of race series that lead to formula one. You need to be in the very top percentile of your group at every level, meet and impress the right people to sponsor you while you progress to the top or have access to enormous wealth to support your learning curve while impressing and meeting the right people. It's difficult if you're born into it and even more difficult if your not. Skip Barber is the first rung on the ladder of open wheel cars in the US. There are several more powerful open wheel series here that would lead to series in Europe where the competition is even more populated and intense. Ultimately you have to beat the Europeans at their own game on their own turf as there are no American F1 teams at the moment. Many start with F1 as their goal and then veer off to other series or types of racing. There are fewer F1 seats than top gun pilots... And being a top gun pilot is a pretty high achievement.

It's good to have high aspirations and important to pursue them.

Juan Pablo Montoya started with Skip Barber, Jeff Gordon, Marco Andretti, Connor Daly, Joseph Newgarden, John Edwards and many many others started in a Skip Barber open wheel car.

So the answer is yes... The 2 day advanced course is the next required step to race in the race series.

Good luck!
__________________
You draw 'em a picture and they eat the crayons... (Duck Waddle commenting on the creative ways some people interpret driving instruction.)
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 07-28-2011
Rosso's Avatar
Rosso Rosso is offline
Testing Mid-Corner Speed / Advanced Member (500+ Posts)
 
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Louisville, KY
Age: 70
Posts: 829

Gallery Images: 8
Re: Formula 1 Question

If you had to choose between unlimited discretionary economic capacity and the possession of the greatest driving talent in the known universe, you should take the money. You will need sufficient funds to pay for seat time to expose your talent to the right crowd. Easier for a Saudi prince to get a leg up in F1 than a talented peon. For talent alone, any more I think you have to start and impress in karts as a six year old. Wasn't one of the current F1 guys (Hamilton?) put under contract while he was still in karts? There are no doubt folks in and around SBR who might have developed the skills and talent for that level but were never able to put together the formidable financial backing.
__________________
Laissez les bons temps rouler!
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old 07-28-2011
F1Racer's Avatar
F1Racer F1Racer is offline
Maximizing Exit Speed / Advanced Member (10+ Posts)
 
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Bayside, NY
Posts: 11
Re: Formula 1 Question

Ouch...guess its out of the question. Lol i definatly dont have the funds for all that SEAT time i need to catch the right attention. But i will definatly try my best. If not maybe some other series of racing. You never know what our future can bring us. Just have to keep myself going and not give up. Lol. And also need a thick wallet.

Thank you so much for all your advice
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old 07-28-2011
Fred K's Avatar
Fred K Fred K is offline
Testing Entry Speed / Advanced Member (25+ Posts)
 
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Roxburz CT
Posts: 34
Re: Formula 1 Question

And don't forget the coaching staff, Data Acq and IT departments, caterers, masseuse, security, videographers and your own umbrella girls.

And have you WATCHED a GP2 race? You can't drive there without being extremely talented, but to make a podium, to say nothing of a series c'ship, you need colossal luck.

Then you get a seat in F1 in a backmarking team that is down on technology and organization, misses practice sessions and threatens not to make the Q cutoff.

Remember when auto racing was supposed to develop automotive design, and successful drivers were those best at development? Is there a Mark Donohue or a Jim Clark with a driving job now?

There's always iRacing...

--
Fred Klingener
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old 07-29-2011
cdh's Avatar
cdh cdh is offline
administrationistperson
Carbon Fiber Keyboard (3,000+ Posts)

TJR Forums Contributor / Supporter
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Stamford, CT
Posts: 5,546

Gallery Images: 795
Re: Formula 1 Question

I was gonna say build a time machine to start racing karts at 4 years old. The $$ McLaren spent on hospitality scones last year would nicely cover a full season of Skippy racing It is a different world.
__________________
.
"Think very carefully, because if you ever start, you will never be able to leave it alone" Sir Donald Campbell, CBE
Reply With Quote
  #8  
Old 08-30-2011
angusdad angusdad is offline
Testing Entry Speed / Advanced Member (25+ Posts)
 
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: ga
Age: 56
Posts: 34
Re: Formula 1 Question

hey F1Racer, skip barber has a GREAT program called the Karting Shootout to help young drivers financially in their quest. if you are not karting, you might want to look into karting. it's a really, really good way to learn and will help your learning curve in the SB cars (and you must be a karter to be eligible for the shootout).
my son is one of those who started super young. he's 12 now and driving the SB cars and loving them. The reality is, though, that the road course route is very hard we're learning. we're trying to keep every door open because my son just wants to race ANYTHING. formula cars is by far his #1 goal, but he's also keeping oval racing in his sights because there are many more opportunities in that kind of racing here in the USA. personally, i don't have the money to take him to europe racing.
we do not like watching oval racing, and can not figure out why it's so much more popular spectator-wise. but racing ovals is much more fun than watching oval racing. my son says not as fun as road course, of course, but still alot of fun. for about the last 4 years, we've been members of INEX and 600 Racing for ovals.

on a side note, took Angus out to Leguna Seca last month and he loved it! awesome track with awesome instructors! Mikel Miller was the lead instructor and he and the whole crew taught Angus so much.
__________________
Richie Hunt, Angus' dad
www.angushunt.com
thanks to Ocala Gran Prix!
Reply With Quote
  #9  
Old 08-30-2011
oldredracer's Avatar
oldredracer oldredracer is offline
Mid-Corner Speed Master / Advanced Member (1,000+ Posts)
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Chatham, NY
Posts: 1,268
Re: Formula 1 Question

Quote:
Originally Posted by F1Racer View Post
Ok, this might be a dumb question or not.
But was wondering. What does it take to become a F1 racer? What steps or what do have to do to get there, who do you have to impress?
Im fairly new to all this racing, and I really want to take the Formula Car Racing School Course to get my racing license. But where do go from there, perhaps the Advanced course?
I really appreciate and thank anyone in advance for taking the time to answer this.
Just a suggestion from an old fart but make step one deciding what you want to accomplish. No matter how lofty that goal, start somewhere. If you have the itch as badly as most of us did/do, be it the three day or some karting, try to get some coaching enroute so you don't waste any time learning what doesn't work. The Skippy three-day has a steep learning curve and can save you a lot of time. If you like that, take whatever next step you can afford. Nobody, maybe even you at this point, know how God wired you as far as skills and talent go. But even if your school only gets you 70% of the way there's a whole lot of people to race at that level, so the enjoyment can be there no matter what.
I don't know how far you'll get either. Enjoy the ride.
__________________
QUALIFICATIONS 1987: Davidson: "Sammy Swindell's car runs a normally aspirated stock-block engine with Pontiac heads. It was developed by John Buttera." Palmer: "Wow, yeah, he used to play the sax with Louis Prima." Davidson: "That was Sam Butera." Palmer: "Oh, yeah."
Reply With Quote
Reply

Bookmark This Thread

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Formula car question Lverstreken New Member Introductions 5 04-14-2011 10:17 AM
Gearbox question - new SB Formula cars StuartG Racing, Driving, New Driver & High-Performance Driving Schools 5 11-26-2010 03:06 PM
Star Mazda Today at Houston cdh F1, IndyCar, Grand-Am, Karting etc Discussions 22 05-17-2006 05:31 AM
BMW steps in ---- hot off the press birkmama F1, IndyCar, Grand-Am, Karting etc Discussions 2 06-22-2005 08:59 PM
FIA/AMD FORMULA ONE SURVEY 2005 cisilp F1, IndyCar, Grand-Am, Karting etc Discussions 1 05-23-2005 01:32 PM


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 05:02 AM.


TeamJuicyRacing.com's fast new hosting service has been generously provided by ZeroLag Communications :: 1-877-ZERO-LAG

Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004 - 2017 - Team Juicy Racing / Team Juicy, LLC