There are several different types of racing schools.  Some teach you formula 1 racing skills, other teach you how to get the most out of a regular street vehicle.  Most racing schools fit into almost anyone’s schedule.  For instance, a racing course is usually between 1 to 3 days and some can last about a week.  However, if you have a weekend, you have enough time to go to racing school.

Besides being convenient, many schools offer great cars to learn the tricks of the trade.  Depending on what kind of racing skills you would like to learn, you can be taught in an open wheel 2 liter vehicle, a sporty passenger vehicle, a corvette or even a foreign exotic.

There are plenty of racing schools that operate around the country and they are usually offered starting in the spring to the fall time at many well known race tracks.  For instance, the Skip Barber Racing School operates at around 20 tracks all over America during the year.

Racing school is also pretty affordable usually costing from only a couple of hundred dollars.  And for those that have friends or family members that love car tuning or racing, racing school makes a great gift.

Foldable Mirrors
One of the complaints that many car tuning enthusiasts mention is that they would like to protect their side view mirrors when they park in tight parking spots.  One of the best ways to do so is with a foldable mirror.  Foldable mirrors can either electronically or manually fold inwards towards the door so that other cars won’t hit or scratch them.  They are generally easy to install and depending on the vehicle and type you choose relatively affordable.

Mirrors with LED Lights
Another great mirror accessory is to have LED light signals on your side view mirror.  Not only will your car look great, but this added functionality can also alert drivers to your intentions and make you easier to spot.  LED light side view mirrors can now be purchased as an after market accessory making it much cheaper than buying it direct from the manufacturer.

Other Mirrors
While not necessarily performance accessories, there are other mirror accessories that definitely add functionality.  For instance, if you have kids, you can easily purchase a second smaller rear view mirror that stays focused on the back seat.  Another mirror accessory is a small ball for extra large or wide vehicles that make it easier to view side traffic.  And finally, if you already have an LCD screen in your vehicle, you can purchase a digital camera that fits on the rear of your vehicle and now be able to view traffic and objects from the rear without even a mirror necessary.

Tires Matter
One of the most important components of a track ready vehicle is its tires.  If you got stock tires on your vehicle, this is the first thing that needs to go.  While most stock tires are decent and perfect for normal, passenger cruising, on the track it’s a whole different story.  While every vehicle is different, you should look into wider profile tires that offer better traction and the ability to grip the track tightly at high speeds.

Performance Brakes
Besides tires, another component related to your wheels that should be upgraded is your brakes.  While braking from 40 mph to 0 is no big deal, try braking from 120 to 0.  High performance brakes utilize advanced compounds for brake pads and the rotors are also bigger.  Since friction is what stops your vehicle, the ability to dissipate heat (friction) quickly is important.  This is why performance braking systems offer lots of venting and advanced ceramics and metallic materials for brake pads and other braking components.

Muffler and Exhaust
If your vehicle will only be used on the track, you have a lot of leeway with the type of exhaust you have on your vehicle.  In fact, in many situations you can open up the exhaust- which wouldn’t be legal on the street to not only boost horsepower, but add more performance to your vehicle.  While not necessarily environmentally green, this strategy is helpful for performance.  Other strategies include opting for a dual exhaust, larger tail pipe, muffler, etc.

First off, find a track near your neighborhood.  Most towns have tracks in their vicinity and if not, a track is usually only an hour or two away.  Secondly, before you show up at the track visit their website or contact them directly to know when open track hours are and what are the conditions of driving your vehicle on their track.  Many tracks are very strict to make sure that your vehicle is safe for the environment and that you will be safe driving on their track.

Your vehicle might require a whole bunch of special gear to make it track worthy, including 5 point seat belts, decent tires emission controls, etc.  In addition for the driver, you should also be aware that there are plenty of things that must be in order before a track allows a driver to operate a vehicle on their track.  For instance, you may need a license that is in good standing, a helmet, etc.

Besides everything being in order you should also note that most tracks charge a fee for using their track and even for purchasing insurance while on the their track.  These fees can be a few bucks to a few hundred bucks in certain situations.  However, when you have the gas pedal pegged and your car is performing like a champ, it is all worth the experience of driving on a track.

Unless you have been living under a rock, Danica Patrick is quickly becoming one of the most recognizable faces on the planet. Yes, she is beautiful, yes, she is athletic and yes, she is a winner. If you are into Indy Car or just a car buff, you will instantly recognize this brunette bombshell.

Here is a short biography about this fresh face that completely blew away Indy Car fans.

Some Basic Facts about Danica

Danica Patrick comes from a race loving family. In fact, her mom Bev and father T.J. met on a blind date at a snowmobiling race in 1970. All things considered, Danica was born in the small town of Beloit Wisconsin on March 25, 1982, she is currently just 26 years old and during this time she has accomplished more than most adults and many racers have in their entire lives.

Life was pretty normal for Danica and since her parents loved racing, Danica got into go kart racing at the early age of 10. While her parents offered plenty of great support, good management and past on some good genes, Danica added the rest of the ingredients that would make her one day a true auto racing star. She worked tremendously hard at learning go kart racing, she had a tremendous amount of desire to win and had a true love for the sport of auto racing. With these great attributes, Danica Patrick went on to win a host of many World Karting Association Championships.

In fact, as she continued to win, Danica and her parents began to think big and it all started out at the age of 14 when Danica had the dream and made the commitment to win the Indy 500. With a dream, some talent and the support of her parents at the age of 16 years old, the Patrick’s decided that Danica needed a true learning experience, as well as take advantage of new racing opportunities. With the help of several sponsors, she moved to England for an invaluable education. As a racer in England, Danica made the break with her counterparts at home and learned many much needed skills from top racers she viewed in Europe. As she aged, she took advantage of racing in Formula Vauxhall Junior races, as well as Formula Ford events. Her first year in England (1998) she placed ninth in the Formula Vauxhall Championship, however in 2000, she raced in the British Zetek Formula Ford series and as an American racer, she performed incredibly well even matching Danny Sullivan’s 1972 runner up place at the finish line.

Being in England kept her far away from her family and while Danica acknowledges it was tough for her, it was well worth the experience, helping her to toughen up and focus on the nuts and bolts of racing.

Danica incredibly is 5’1 and while she is attractive, don’t think she is a cream puff. In fact, her body style is similar to a solid gymnast who can be quite flexible, but offers incredible bouts of strength and endurance. This body type is definitely a plus in racing as the physical endurance of a racer is constantly tested at the extremes of what a man or in this case a women can experience.

After her experience in England, she returned home to the states and immediately won the Gorsline Scholarship Award, which is quite an achievement; it is the award given to the top up and coming young racer for the year. Danica attributes this win to her experiences in England and being at the top of her game after working extremely hard for the last decade.

After winning the scholarship, she started to impress quite a few professional racers and team owners and in 2002 at the age of 20, she signed a multi year contract with the racing team Rahal Letterman (Letterman from the David Letterman talk show fame).

As part of the Rahal Letterman, she raced in the Toyota Atlantic Series and placed comfortably in third. While not first, she did break the barrier of being the first women on the winner’s podium. And while she continued to race in the Toyota Atlantic Series, she did phenomenal placing in the top five in 10 races out of 12 and came in third again for the 2004 event.

IRL 2005

With Danica’s raw talent and skills, she felt she was ready to make the biggest decision in her life- to participate in the IRL (Indy Racing League) and of course fulfill her dream of racing in the infamous Indy 500.

While at first, many had their doubts and several male drivers objected to her racing at all due to her 100 pound frame, others welcomed the third women to race in the IRL and her team threw in their full support knowing her skill level and determination to succeed.

Racing in IRL, would not start out on the best foot forward, in fact, her first race she crashed and her second and third races she placed miserably 15th and 12th. However, starting on her fourth race, which she finished fourth, her luck changed and she never looked back and even amazed many in the racing scene.

While she was well known within in racing circles for her bright future and immeasurable talent, it was in 2005 that she quickly went on the media’s radar with her posing (in a sexy outfit) in the men’s magazine FHM that brought her a wealth of new fans and increasing media attention.

As a racer within the IRL, the biggest and most popularized IRL meeting is the Indy 500 held over Memorial Day Weekend since 1911. While Danica was not the first women to ever race in the Indy 500, in 2005, she held the lead for over19 laps and finished an astonishing 4th place in her first Indy 500 showing. After coming so close to winning Indy 500, her popularity skyrocketed and she was on the radar of practically every racer, as well as media publication around.

IRL 2006

During the 2006 season with IRL, tragedy struck as teammate Paul Dana was killed in a practice run. Both Patrick and Budd Rice bowed out of the first race in the Toyota Indy 300. While she did well during the season, she was able to once again qualify for the Indy 500, starting 10th and ended the race respectably in 8th place. All in all for the season, Danica Patrick ended 12th in the series.

IRL 2007

In 2007, she decided to race with Andretti Green Racing team and took over the #7 car replacing Bryan Herta. While this season was filled with ups and downs, she did well in the Indy 500 placing 8th once again. However, she did have some bad luck and a few crashes that took her out of contention- she scored her personal high in championship points to finish with 424 points and overall the 7th place spot.

IRL 2008

2008 would be a banner year for Danica as she would be the first women ever to win an IRL race. While it wasn’t the Indy 500, she did come in first place at the Indy Japan 300. Overall for the year, she cam in 6th place and besides being the first women to ever win an Indy event, she was tops among all the American drivers for the season.

Obviously being young, beautiful, exceptionally talented and a winner has thrusted Danica Patrick into the limelight. She has been featured in numerous magazines, commercials and TV shows. In fact, you might have seen her on Spike TV, the Late Show with David Letterman, FHM and even in Playboy- however, before you start looking for her centerfold, she did not pose nude, she just participated in the 20 questions segment (July 2007). And yes she was in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue (a nice 4 page spread). As far as ranking is concerned outside of IRL she was voted Victoria’s Secret Sexiest Athlete and FHM’s 100 sexiest women in the world ranking #42 in 2006 and #85 in 2007.

Personal Tidbits

Some other tidbits about Danica Patrick‘s personal life that should be noted is that she is happily married to Paul Edward Hospenthal, who was originally her physical therapist and for all you Talladega Nights film buffs has a dog named Ricky Bobby.

Race marshals can be seen at Formula One Races, each carrying 10 different colored flags with them. Originally, the purpose of these flags is to send messages to the drivers during the race. However, due to the high-speed driving displayed on the track, it would be difficult for the drivers to notice each flag and react accordingly.

Modern-day technology presented a solution for this and thus provided each racing cockpit their very own GPS marshalling system that displays the relevant flag color as the driver passes by a certain location. But this does not mean the race flags automatically lose their importance inside the racetrack. Nowadays, they are still used to send race information to cater to a different group of people–the Formula One Race audience.

As a Formula One Race fan, it would be important to know how each flag is used to keep track of what is literally on track. Each flag has its own specific meaning and collectively, these flags follow a pattern.

Among these flags, the most popular perhaps is the black and white checkered flag. It is used mainly to indicate the end of a race or session and it is waved at the first car to cross the finish line. But this is not the only use of the said flag. During qualifying and practice sessions, it is waved to indicate the elapse of the allotted time.

This is not the only flag used to indicate the end of a race. The waving of a red flag also indicates the same reason but under a different condition. A red flag indicates an abrupt end of a race due to poor racetrack conditions or any track accident or emergency.

Marshals can either wave two yellow flags or only one yellow flag. A yellow flag indicates a problem ahead and waving a single one warns the driver to slow down. On the other hand, two yellow flags indicate that an even greater danger can be expected ahead and the cars might then require stopping. In cases such as these, overtaking is not allowed.

When used in combination, a yellow and a red flag being waved at the same time may indicate adverse track conditions. It may indicate that oil has been spilled on the racetrack or certain dangerous debris may have been found on track.

Just as a race may be abruptly ended, it may still resume after the unavoidable incident has been cleared and the racetrack proven safe again. A green flag serves this purpose, indicating that the race may already resume.

The red, yellow, and green flags are used in Formula One racing almost in the same way it is used to direct road traffic.

Meanwhile, a white flag can also be seen being waved during a race. This indicates that a slow-moving vehicle has entered the track and therefore, drivers must reduce their speed to make way for the vehicle.

The blue flag is used to warn a driver that a faster car is approaching. In this case, the driver must let the faster car pass him by. If a driver fails to let a faster car pass by after being warned by a blue flag thrice, he then gets penalized.

Aside from these color-coded uses, the race flags are also used to inform the drivers of their current status on track. These race flags are also being used to keep the race spectators updated regarding the individual status of the personal cars or racers, which they may have been keeping an eye on.

If a driver’s behavior during a race becomes unacceptable, a half black and half white flag is raised together with the driver’s car number. If the driver’s behavior continues after these have been raised, it may lead to his disqualification.

If a driver becomes disqualified, a purely black flag is waived to inform him that he must return to his pit within the next lap.

Lastly, a black flag with an orange circle in the middle is waived to inform a driver that a vehicle mechanical problem has been detected and should then return his car to the pit.

Early European Grand Prix racing gave birth to Formula One racing. European Grand Prix racing has always been held on public streets but in its evolved form, Formula One racing is now being held on specifically designed circuits to meet the high-performance demand of the said race.

Traditional venue locations are always kept on schedule although the number of Grand Prix races held yearly varies. Moreover, new circuits were being built and added to these schedules to target the new international markets for Formula One racing.

In the beginning, Formula One racing were mostly held in Europe. As years passed, new circuits have been added from all over the world due to the increasing popularity of the said event. By 1953, the first South American Formula One Grand Prix was held. Soon enough, the African World Championship race was added in 1958. Thus, a series of worlwide race circuits came to be. This year, only 8 out of 17 races would be held in Europe and at present, Formula One Racing is being held in the following areas: Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, and South America.

When it comes to current Formula One racing circuits, Hermann Tilke is considered to be the pioneer of its newer designs. Although critics have argued that current race circuits have lost the challenging and demanding character, which have previously made them popular, the newer circuits now boasts of higher safety standards and additional means of accommodating a continuously increasing number of Grand Prix audiences.

Out of all the Grand Prix circuits, the Monaco Grand Prix in Monte Carlo is considered to be the most popular. There have been very little changes in the Monte Carlo circuit ever since it has been home to the World Championship Formula One racing in 1955. The addition of a new pit complex in 2004 is the most major change encountered by the circuit by far and this was done to cater to the increasing number of its spectators.

Aside from that, the Monaco Grand Prix is also the most prestigious competition for racecar drivers. The difficulty and danger of its circuit poses a big challenge for each of its Grand Prix participants. Thus, winning the said event results to a racer being named as one of the best there ever was in the world of racecar driving.

Another well-known race circuit is The Brickyard. The name was coined for the Formula One racing being held at the Indianapolis International Speedway in the United States. The Indy 500 was considered as a World Championship round in Formula One racing from 1950 to 1960. Although the Indy 500 no longer became a part of the championship series after 1960, Formula One racers still continued to participate in the said event. However, it was only in the year 2000 that Indianapolis again became a circuit host for a Formula One World Championship after a new infield racing course have been built. The Indianapolis International Speedway greatly contributed to the growing market base of Formula One enthusiasts in the United States.

Over the years, Formula One racing has proven its success not only in expanding its circuits into higher and newer innovations but also in increasing its marketability across the different nations of different spectators.

The Benefits of a Car Spoiler
A spoiler is a flatish, slightly curved appendage on the rear of the vehicle.  Spoilers are found on racing cars and high performance sports cars.  They primarily reduce the amounts of lift and drag a vehicle experiences and at higher speed the force of the wind pushes down on the spoiler adding additional traction for the tires.  While most stock spoilers usually add no discernable performance, a racing spoiler which is usually larger in size and more aerodynamic can add performance- especially at higher speeds.

A Wide Variety of Car Spoilers Available
No matter what type of vehicle you own, you can easily find an after market car spoiler for your vehicle.  Car spoilers come in a variety of materials including fiberglass, carbon fiber and sturdy plastic.  They are usually very easy to install and take a few hours max.  While most high performance racing spoilers are built specifically for a vehicle, there are universal spoilers available which fit a wide variety of makes and models.  Some spoilers even include additional accessories such as brake light or reflector.

For best results, choose a racing spoiler that fits your specific vehicle.  If your vehicle has a stock paint job, you may even be able to get the spoiler to match your car’s color perfectly.  If not, most spoilers are easy to paint and install.  Spoilers range from a couple of hundred dollars to over a thousand dollars for exotic materials and spoilers for exotic sports vehicles.

Before You Go
Most localities have a track that is not that far away.  Even if it is a couple of hours distance, it may well be worth your time to take your vehicle to the track to enjoy the performance you worked hard modifying.  However, before you take your vehicle to the track, there are a few things you should know.  Every track’s requirements are different, so make sure you know exactly when there is open track time available and regulations they have in place.  It should also be noted that most tracks require the driver to have safety gear such as a helmet and working seatbelts.  Some may go further in safety gear; however a phone call will usually be able to gain valuable info on what you need.  In addition, check on fees, the cost of insurance (if it is available) and any other information that fits your type of vehicle.

Once at the Track
Once at the track, use your time wisely.  Make sure your vehicle is ready to go, don’t get to the track and start making modifications that should have been done in the garage.  Obviously, some tweaking will need to be done depending on the track conditions, but since you are paying for the time, be prepared.  Finally, make sure safety is a priority.  It is easy to think that a track environment is much safer than the street, however a lot can still go wrong, so make sure you are always on your game and pay attention to the rules of the track- they are there for everyone’s safety.

What to Look for in a Racing Seat
There are a wide variety of racing seats available on the market today, whether it is for a Nissan, Honda, Acura or American brand vehicle, you will find that most high performance racing seats come equipped with sliders that can bolt on to any stock seat bracket.  The most important tip one can give on choosing the right seat is comfort.  It doesn’t matter if the seat is $200 or $2,000, if you’re not comfortable in it, it can have an effect on your driving ability and ultimately your safety.

Many of today’s high performance racing seats are light weight, include some type of memory foam, lumbar support and a side support.  Since every driver’s body is different make sure the lumbar and other supports of the seat do not distract from driving the vehicle.  Many seats offer the ability to change the hardness of the lumbar, which can be perfect for those that use their vehicles not only for sport driving on the weekends, but also as their primary transportation

Materials Matter
Besides the feel of the seat, make sure that the exterior materials and the frame of the seat are high quality, there are a wide variety of materials used in seats today, however make sure that the exterior is not a sweat magnet and that the seat frame is sturdy, yet flexible enough for high performance needs.  One last item to consider is reclining action.  Choose a seat that can recline to meet your physical needs and practical needs (such as a flip forward design for rear seat passengers).