Why sponsorship activation is key to a successful business relationship is just part of what is covered in this week’s Business of Being a Race Driver. You will also learn about the importance of communication and PR, the cost of GT racing and more!
The Business of Racing
The Off-Track Skill That Could Make or Break Your Racing Career — Featuring Alexandra Schieren
Winning races is no longer enough. In today’s ultra-competitive motorsport landscape, every driver on the grid is fast — so what sets you apart?
In this week’s episode of the Motorsport Prospects Podcast, Alexandra Schieren joins me to make the case for something too many young drivers overlook: communication and PR. From attracting and retaining sponsors to building a reputation that opens doors, Alexandra explains why your ability to tell your own story is just as important as your lap times.
We cover why communication skills should be developed from day one of your career, the dangers of assuming you’re already good at it, and how showing up as the complete package — physically, mentally, and professionally — is what turns a promising driver into a marketable one.
If you want to stand out, it starts with learning how to speak up.
Additional Resources Mentioned:
Ready to take your off-track game to the next level? Listen to the full episode now at and connect with Alexandra and the team at ASMC to find out how they can help you build the communication skills that sponsors, teams, and media are looking for.
Dan Wells from Drivers Lab explains why most motorsport sponsorship deals fail not at the signing, but at the activation. “Activation is the work that turns a sponsorship from a logo into a return. It is the post-event content.”
Read Dan’s full post on LinkedIn here.
Turning a Driver Into a Marketable Asset
Drive Line explains how they turn a driver into a marketable asset. “This is what we do. Brand identity in weeks one and two. Commercial assets — deck, website, content frameworks — in weeks two through four. Sponsor outreach activated by week five. Activation calendar running ongoing.”
Read their full post at Instagram here.
The Sponsorship Model Is Quietly Breaking Motorsports (And Almost No One Is Talking About What Comes Next)
Most race car drivers aren’t struggling because they lack talent. They’re struggling because they’ve been forced into a system that only pays them one way: Sponsorship. In this LinkedIn post, Will Marotti explains what is wrong with the current system.
Look for Will to be on an upcoming episode of the Motorsport Prospects Podcast.
General Motorsport Marketing Advice & Resources
The Expanding Universe of Motorsport Sponsorship. New Deals, New Categories, New Logic
In light of the impact that Max Verstappen’s presence of the Nürburgring 24H, Riccardo Tafà of RTR Sports Marketing looks at the expanding universe of motorsport sponsorship. New deals, new categories, new logic.
“None of these fit the profile of the motorsport sponsor as it existed even ten years ago. And that gap — between what sponsorship used to look like and what it looks like now — is where I want to spend a few minutes.”
Read his full article here.
It’s a question that sits at the heart of every sponsorship strategy, yet one that remains surprisingly difficult to answer with certainty. Ask a group of marketing leaders privately and the responses tend to converge on the same theme: they have a sense of impact, but proving it in hard financial terms is another matter entirely.
Read how to convince the board that your sponsorship is working in this article at The Sponsor.
The Costs of Racing
How Much Does GT Racing Cost?
People don’t understand fully the cause breakdown of what it takes to get into motorsports. In this video, Nick DeLucia gives the comprehensive breakdown moneywise of a GT endurance trace that I was in at Eagle Canyon raceway in a BMW M2 CSR.
“Overall, it was a great car, but I love putting these videos out to people can get a real education on some of the true cost. It takes to get into motorsports and this is even at the lower level of endurance racing. When you get up there in Formula One with the big names like Max Verstappen in Red Bull it cost thousands and thousands dollars per minute! How much do you think one Formula One race cost?”