Discussion
friend sent me this
www.RacingScholarship.com
anyone done a scholorship, imagine its tough competion to get through, are there many out there?
www.RacingScholarship.com
anyone done a scholorship, imagine its tough competion to get through, are there many out there?
I have done five scholarships and would never do another.
I made the semi finals and free rounds of all the scholarships I entered.
Don't expect the winner to be picked on merit.
I put in fastest laps during the course of my assesments never had a spin and drove great in the wet.
Instructors universally praised me and recommended me for the top ten finals but I was never selected.
My age undoubtedely counted against me at 40+ however it still sticks in the craw to see younger drivers get picked and do crap.
Scholarships are to raise money for race teams not to launch careers.
So why does age matter.
Enter a scholarship purely on the basis that you will hopefully learn something and as an outside remote chance get somewhere.
View it as a track day with a competative edge and you will still get something out of your day.
Racing drivers aren't neccessarily great instructors though. If you are allready pretty competent like me then they don't really have much to say to you to improve yourself.
They don't neccessarily give lots of proactive encouragement either.
I did have four instructors out of the possibly twelve who sat in with me who I thought were great communicators and really seemed to encourage you to get the best whereas others just sat there hardly speaking.
You get very little feedback in scholarships so if you want to know how you are getting on in the timed rounds you will have to bring a friend to time yourself and your rivals. . not that it matters because even if you are quick it doesn't mean you will be picked.
I used some software I wrote to time the other cars on the track along with me when I wasn't driving that gave me the times of all the other competitors as my laptop could time the six cars that were out at the time.
my laptimes which I read from my instructors sheet would have put me 2nd third and fourth fastest of the 30 laptimes I recorded.
I still didn't make the next round.
As an alternative to a scholarship where your chance of winning is nil you would probably be better to have driver training instead with your money.
I did a day with Eugene O brien at Donnington , my first visit to the track and he coached me until I was lapping within a second of the target time he set. The time would have put me second on the grid for the scholarship series I had entered. Eugene said I would have made a frontrunner of the series.
So to recap...
don't expect to win
tuition can be varied
feedback will be non existant
treat it as a fun day out...which they are...you wil meet lots of other friendly drivers and competitors.
Rarely does a scholarship winner make a career.
Those that did , Jason Plato, Rob Huff, and a couple of others still needed that ultimate racing driver tool , money or sponsorships to progress.
I made the semi finals and free rounds of all the scholarships I entered.
Don't expect the winner to be picked on merit.
I put in fastest laps during the course of my assesments never had a spin and drove great in the wet.
Instructors universally praised me and recommended me for the top ten finals but I was never selected.
My age undoubtedely counted against me at 40+ however it still sticks in the craw to see younger drivers get picked and do crap.
Scholarships are to raise money for race teams not to launch careers.
So why does age matter.
Enter a scholarship purely on the basis that you will hopefully learn something and as an outside remote chance get somewhere.
View it as a track day with a competative edge and you will still get something out of your day.
Racing drivers aren't neccessarily great instructors though. If you are allready pretty competent like me then they don't really have much to say to you to improve yourself.
They don't neccessarily give lots of proactive encouragement either.
I did have four instructors out of the possibly twelve who sat in with me who I thought were great communicators and really seemed to encourage you to get the best whereas others just sat there hardly speaking.
You get very little feedback in scholarships so if you want to know how you are getting on in the timed rounds you will have to bring a friend to time yourself and your rivals. . not that it matters because even if you are quick it doesn't mean you will be picked.
I used some software I wrote to time the other cars on the track along with me when I wasn't driving that gave me the times of all the other competitors as my laptop could time the six cars that were out at the time.
my laptimes which I read from my instructors sheet would have put me 2nd third and fourth fastest of the 30 laptimes I recorded.
I still didn't make the next round.
As an alternative to a scholarship where your chance of winning is nil you would probably be better to have driver training instead with your money.
I did a day with Eugene O brien at Donnington , my first visit to the track and he coached me until I was lapping within a second of the target time he set. The time would have put me second on the grid for the scholarship series I had entered. Eugene said I would have made a frontrunner of the series.
So to recap...
don't expect to win
tuition can be varied
feedback will be non existant
treat it as a fun day out...which they are...you wil meet lots of other friendly drivers and competitors.
Rarely does a scholarship winner make a career.
Those that did , Jason Plato, Rob Huff, and a couple of others still needed that ultimate racing driver tool , money or sponsorships to progress.
Edited by mark69sheer on Saturday 19th January 11:13
intrepid44 said:
Hi, Mark.
So would I have any chance at getting through to the invitation rounds being younger?... or is it not worth bothering with?
P.S. Are you racing on the 3rd?
I would love to be racing on the third but unfortunately my friends invited me on a ski holiday so I will be flying out to Geneva on the Sunday.So would I have any chance at getting through to the invitation rounds being younger?... or is it not worth bothering with?
P.S. Are you racing on the 3rd?
I will definately be back for the March round though.
Do the scholarship , you should do very well. I have many years of road driving experience which probably helps me with the road based cars used in scholarships so I may have an edge on the younger guys because of that.
However I know you are a good driver so it should follow that you will make it at least to the unpaid semi final stages like I allways did.
Will you actually win , difficult to say . I heard not very nice rumours about what associations winning scholarship entrants allready had with the scholarship teams in more than one I entered. no names no pack drill but I'm sure you get my drift.
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