How the Honda Racing School develops race drivers is just one of the insights you’ll gain in this week’s edition of the Driver Development Roundup. I also have details on the selection process for Porsche Motorsport Asia Pacific’s Talent Pool, how Caleb McDuff is leading the way for deaf drivers and much more!
Becoming a Professional Race Driver
Honda Racing School – Nurturing Future Motorsport Stars
The Honda Racing School Suzuka is an important first step for young prospects eyeing Formula 1, but their education doesn’t end there. To reach the pinnacle, drivers must ideally possess in-depth mechanical and technical knowledge, be physically fit, and able communicators willing to engage with sponsor engagements. Molding such a multi-faceted athlete is not the work of a moment, but advisor to Honda Racing Corporation and principal of the Honda Racing School Suzuka (HRS) Takuma Sato embraces the challenge involved with nurturing promising talents. To date all have been Japanese, although international drivers are welcome at HRS too.
“We’re not just looking into just one solution, but into globally how we can support them [over] multiple years, if allowed to do so. We’re looking for the humanity as well; not just a fast driver, but really [someone] to become an ambassador for Honda, an ambassador for their own country, an ambassador for motor racing and making a great relationship. That’s ultimately what we want to do and one day for the drivers who graduate this program to become a winner in F1, IndyCar or many series worldwide.”
Read more about the Honda Racing School here.
The Evolution of F1 Academy
F1 Academy managing director Susie Wolff has revealed how society has changed since she was racing as the all-female racing series heads into its fourth season. “Society has changed,” Wolff told F1 Academy. “When my son races against a girl, it’s not unusual. It’s not a statement, she’s simply another competitor. That mindset shift matters.”
While F1 Academy is breaking barriers on track, it is also doing the same off track, welcoming new sponsors to the sport like cosmetics brand Sephora who want to be part of their mission in elevating female talent. “The partnership reflects the “shared ambition of both organizations to elevate and support female talent on the world stage and encourage young women to pursue their ambitions and express their individuality with confidence”, said Sephora in a statement.”
The BBC profiles to drivers racing this year, Rachel Robertson and Esmee Kosterman while Mlle Racing profiles all the race drivers that hit the track starting last weekend in China.
How Skip Barber Built The Ultimate Racing School
If you’ve watched any elite American motorsport, chances are a good chunk of the grid came from the Skip Barber Racing School.
Speaking of the Skip Barber Racing school, as I mention below, my guest this week on the Motorsport Prospects Podcast is Dan Demonte of the Skip Barber Racing School. See below for all the details!
Some Great Advice from Pure Performance Group
If you are not following the Pure Performance Group on Instagram, you really should be as their posts contain some great, actionable advice. Here are just three of their latest posts:
The Changing Nature of Porsche Carrera Cup Asia’s Talent Pool
Sportscar365’s Asian editor Jamie Klein goes behind the scenes and explores the selection process for Porsche Motorsport Asia Pacific’s Talent Pool. “The process took place across three days, starting with a day of off-track activities that saw the drivers travel to Porsche’s corporate offices in downtown Kuala Lumpur. There, they took part in workshops and interviews designed to assess the way they presented themselves, as well as their technical knowledge and, as importantly, their motivation for being present.”
Read the full feature here.
2026 Motorsport UK Coaching Cohorts Are Now Live
Ready to take your coaching to the next level? Want to achieve an official certificate in Coaching Motorsport? The Motorsport UK Coaching Course provides you with coaching knowledge and techniques derived from other sports, delivered by their Academy coach developers. Get more details here.
Welsh Teen Caleb McDuff Breaks Barriers in Motorsport While Inspiring Deaf Drivers
At just 16, Welsh racing driver Caleb McDuff has already achieved what most young drivers only dream of: competing in high-performance GT cars while being completely deaf, developing groundbreaking technology with his father, and inspiring the next generation of deaf racers in the UK and abroad.
On the starting grid of a GT race, every driver relies on split-second communication from their engineer. But for Caleb McDuff, that critical tool didn’t exist — because he is profoundly deaf.
From Pontypool, Caleb began racing karts at the age of four. For more than a decade, he competed relying solely on his instincts, visual awareness, and an extraordinary ability to sense the subtle movement of cars around him.
When he stepped into car racing at 16, the challenges intensified. Modern GT racing relies heavily on two-way radio communication for safety, strategy, and performance feedback. Without it, competing in professional cars would have been nearly impossible.
Rather than accept the barrier, Caleb and his father Ian built a bespoke communication system that connects race radios directly to Caleb’s cochlear implants. The system allows him to receive instructions and respond in real time — a breakthrough that has never been implemented in motorsport before.
The project has attracted recognition from the wider motorsport community. As Stephen Lickorish wrote in Autosport, such initiatives are helping “break down barriers to make motorsport more accessible.”
With this system in place, Caleb has progressed quickly through the ranks, already racing GT machinery including a McLaren GT4 and now aiming for the Porsche Carrera Cup Great Britain. His long-term ambition is to compete in the British Touring Car Championship.
Beyond the track, Caleb is also making an impact in education. He travels to schools across the UK to share his story with deaf students, demonstrating the communication system he developed and showing that motorsport and engineering are within reach.
Later this year, Caleb will travel to the United States to compete in the Veterans Race of Remembrance, racing alongside injured US military veterans with Resilience Racing. While there, he will also visit schools for deaf children to inspire and teach.
Caleb’s story combines human resilience, innovation, and sporting ambition in a way that resonates with motorsport fans of all kinds. Editors can access ready-to-use images, in-car footage, and interviews for coverage, making it a simple and compelling feature for their audience.
You can read more about Caleb here.
Ahura Racing Training Program Formula 4
Indian race team Ahura Racing are hosting their training program for Formula 4 that takes place at Kari Motor Speedway, Coimbatore. You can find details of the program here.
Connor Zilisch Faces Rookie Reality In NASCAR’s Toughest Classroom
Connor Zilisch is on a bit of a learning curve when it comes to the NASCAR Cup Series. Zilisch, who will turn 20 in a few months, is now racing full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series and discovering that the next level of stock car racing isn’t high school anymore. It’s more like graduate school—and the professors have a habit of biting.
“I never expected to come here and be as successful as I have everywhere else,” Zilisch said. “I didn’t walk into the gym being the most confident guy. I knew that I was the rookie. I knew I was going to have a learning curve. Has it caught me off guard? No, not really. I feel like I expected it to be tough and I knew it was not going to be as easy as everything else I’ve done.”
Kevin Harvick Details Decision to Link Son Keelan with Toyota
Keelan Harvick’s development path in stock car racing took another leap forward, as the young driver is now aligned with the Toyota Racing Development program as he continues a trajectory clearly pointed towards the national touring level.
For Kevin Harvick, the decision had been months in the making before what he described as an ‘pretty simple’ decision to align his son with TRD.
“Well, I think the choice was pretty simple,” Harvick told Short Track Scene. “It’s been a conversation that we’ve been having for the last eight months about what the direction was going to be and what was best for him.”
Read more about their decision here.
Driver Development Program News & Resources
Finalists Named for 2027-28 IMSA 3D Scholarship
The field has been narrowed to 15 finalists for the 2027-28 IMSA Diverse Driver Development (3D) Scholarship. The recipient, to be named in the fall, will receive benefits worth up to $300,000 to compete in one of four IMSA-sanctioned championships in 2027.
The IMSA 3D Scholarship promotes and empowers drivers from a variety of backgrounds and experiences to participate in select IMSA-sanctioned series. The finalists chosen possess a desire to compete in IMSA, have strong previous race results and/or proven on-track potential in junior racing categories, plus the ability to create a compelling strategy to compete in a full season in one of four IMSA-sanctioned series: the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge, IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge or Mustang Challenge.
The scholarship includes financial assistance from IMSA and is supported by a growing number of corporate partners: Michelin, VP Racing Fuels, OMP, Bell, RAFA Racing Club and Lumen Digital Agency.
Finalists will now work on IMSA-developed modules. Previous topics included marketing, business development, personal branding, media training, nutrition, peak race day performance, and how to approach teams and represent an automotive manufacturer. The final step for finalists is the submission by August 14 of a business plan and securing a full-season ride with a team in one of the four participating IMSA-sanctioned series for the following season, which can be contingent on winning the Scholarship.
The 15 finalists for the 2027-28 IMSA 3D Scholarship were selected from a pool of candidates who submitted their applications starting in January. The list of finalists consists of eight men and seven women, four of whom were finalists in past years. You can read about this year’s finalists here.
Arden Motorsport Announces the Arden Academy
Arden Motorsport has announced its rebrand of the Young Racing Driver Academy into the Arden Academy. The Arden Academy is a driver development programme focused on identifying and developing young racing talent through Arden Motorsport, from karting all the way to the upper echelons of single seater racing.
Initially introduced in 2013 as the Young Racing Driver Academy, our programme has facilitated the early careers of many talented drivers to the pinnacle of the motorsport ladder, such as Formula One driver Oscar Piastri.
The academy has an exclusive selection process in which drivers are invited based on the basis of their ability and temperament following a simulator assessment by the Arden team. The young driver’s long-term goal will be to compete at the pinnacle of international motorsport and must have consistently achieved outstanding results in their motorsport and/or esports career to date.
You can get more information on the Arden Academy here.
Jenny Brown’s 2026 Just Got Even Busier Thanks to the Wendi Allen Scholarship
In February, the Sports Car Club of America announced that Atlanta Region member Jennifer Brown was one of this year’s three Wendi Allen Scholarship recipients. As a scholarship recipient that is funded by Mazda Motorsports (the other two scholarships are backed by SCCA Foundation), Brown will receive assistance, both financial and other, that will enable her to compete in National-level SCCA® autocross this year, with her season culminating at the 2026 Tire Rack SCCA Solo® National Championships in Lincoln, NE.
That’s the 10,000-foot view of her story – and it reveals very little about Brown herself.
Being that this is Women’s History Month, this is the perfect time to dive deeper into who Brown is, and what led her to apply for the Wendi Allen Scholarship through SCCA Women on Track. Read all about her at the SCCA website here.
Lewis Hamilton: Mastery Before Expression
Lewis Hamilton is the poster child for overcoming adversity, proving excellence, and how to architect influence. The Paddock Journal explains how he got to where he is today.
Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team Reaffirms Commitment to British F4 with Prize Simulator Experience
The Wera Tools F4 British Championship certified by FIA will continue its growing relationship with the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team this season by providing a prize simulator experience for the series’ 2026 champion.
Following the conclusion of the 2026 campaign, British F4’s overall title winner will spend a half-day at the home of the eight-time Formula 1 World Constructors’ Champions at their state-of-the-art campus in Brackley.
There, the winner will undertake a full session in the Mercedes-AMG F1 simulator, where they will follow a similar program to that of the team’s drivers, George Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli.
Working closely with the team’s engineers, the winner will methodically work through a bespoke simulator program as well as coaching and feedback throughout the session. They will then complete the day with post-session debrief.
On the Podcast
How Great Students Win in Motorsport – with Skip Barber Racing School
On this week’s edition of the Motorsport Prospects Podcast I speak to Dan Demonte of the Skip Barber Racing School who explains the importance of being a good student if you want to flourish in motorsport.
The episode drops Wednesday, March 18th at 10:00 AM ET on all your favourite podcast platforms. Full details on how to listen and subscribe can be found here: https://motorsport-prospects-podcast-1.castos.com/.
Karting
Jackson Wolny Wins FAT Racing’s Inaugural F4 Seat
FAT Karting League (FKL) and FAT Racing have announced that 16-year-old American driver Jackson Wolny has won the FAT Racing F4 Shootout and clinched a fully funded seat in the 2026 Wera Tools F4 British Championship certified by FIA.
Wolny, who secured the FKL USA Midwest Junior Championship and finished third in the FKL World Finals, earns the seat following a comprehensive selection process held from 6–11 February 2026.
The FAT Racing F4 Shootout brought together four FKL drivers — Jackson Wolny, California’s Shea Aldrich, Ellis McKenzie from Surrey, UK and South African Scotland-based driver Monde-Jnr Konini — for an intensive assessment programme covering all core competencies required of a modern racing driver. Over six days, candidates were evaluated across karting performance, simulator work, psychometric analysis, media and communications, physical fitness and Formula 4 car testing, with Wolny delivering a standout performance across each discipline.
TB Kart Raises the Bar in Arrive and Drive Karting
Vroom Kart explains how TB Kart raises the bar in Arrive and Drive karting. “TBKart’s R-EVO Championship is aimed at a decidedly wider audience and, in the spirit of all the initiatives that TBKart has promoted on track in recent years, in economically accessible terms for the majority.” Read more about the initiative here.
Last Week on The Business of Being a Race Driver
Selling An Idea
Selling an idea is just one of the topics covered in last week’s Business of Being a Race Driver. You also find advice on soliciting donations as a race driver, why you need to stop pitching to dead industries and more!
From the Sim Racing Roundup
What an F1 Sim Development Driver Does
What an F1 sim development driver does is just one of the things discussed in last week’s Sim Racing Roundup. I also have details on how Max Verstappen guides young sim drivers, Dale Earnhardt Jr’s opinion on iRacing and racecraft tips from Daniel Morad.
Driver Journeys
Isabella Robusto: Driven Different: Building A Brand In A Male-Dominated Sport
In this episode of the Women’s Motorsports Network Podcast, Melinda Russell sits down with 21-year-old ARCA driver Isabella Robusto to talk about her journey from go-karts at age four to racing full-time in the ARCA Menards Series.
Isabella shares how the NASCAR Drive for Diversity program launched her career, how Toyota’s Driver Development program shaped her path, and why the work off the track matters just as much as what happens on it.
From overcoming injury to building her personal brand “Driven Different,” Isabella opens up about racing, resilience, preparation, and her five-year goal to reach the NASCAR Cup Series.
This is a conversation about discipline, authenticity, and what it really takes to compete at the highest levels.
Listen to the podcast episode here.
Jim Baynam: The Driving Force Behind a 2025 Club Racing Success
The MG Owners’ Club Championship was one of last season’s best-supported categories, and Jim Baynam and his notable MGB have been near ever-present during the past 45 years.
“At that time, my road car was an MGB, and we were at Thruxton one day and there were a load of MGs racing,” Baynam recalls. “I had a look and noted some of them were production-based relatively standard cars.”
Read more about his journey here.
Gianna Pascoal Is Rewriting the Motorsport Playbook for Female Drivers in Africa
At just 15 years old, Gianna Pascoal is pushing boundaries and redefining the future of female representation in motorsport. In five short years, Pascoal has climbed her way to the top of Africa’s karting circuit while driving for Worr Motorsport. She is now represented by Forside Management internationally, and is preparing to enter the competitive Formula 4 circuit, training with the world’s leading single-seater experts.
“Gianna’s trajectory has been exceptional, but it’s not accidental,” says Orr. “Her work ethic, technical feedback, and race intelligence are at a level we typically see in far more experienced drivers. What stands out most is her capacity to absorb information and immediately translate it into lap time. She has all the ingredients needed to climb the single-seater ladder.”
Read about her journey here.