Photography Credit: Jon Krolewicz/SCCA Staff
Wheel-to-wheel racing has a lot of barriers to entry, be it proper safety equipment, the right race car or securing the correct competition license.
As a way to lower those barriers to road racing, the SCCA has introduced the SCCA Race Experience, a new program “focused on providing enthusiasts an opportunity to engage in SCCA wheel-to-wheel road racing at lower peak levels of performance and pressure than SCCA Road Racing events, all the while focusing on education and the best overall experience.”
To do that, the SCCA Race Experience is comprised of two types of racing programs: Club Race Experience, which focuses on sprint racing, and Endurance Race Experience, which focuses on–you guessed it–endurance racing.
The Race Experience program will involve the Club Race Experience (CRE), a competition type that places a single driver in their race car for a sprint racing format, and the Endurance Race Experience (ERE), which allows multiple drivers to share a race car for longer stints on the racetrack. In both cases, the race car will need to adhere to SCCA’s safety regulations, but neither the CRE or ERE will require the car be in a particular class, and there will be no need for an SCCA Competition License, a Novice Permit, or a medical form.
Classing works a little differently in Race Experience, as the main focus is making sure each car and driver adheres to a “class-agnostic set of basic safety items.”
For less-experienced competitors, events will also include educational components as well as access to driving coaches (one per driver).
Drivers at least 18 years of age will only need to hold a current SCCA membership and a valid government-issued driver’s license to compete, though they “must not have any known medical conditions or be under the influence of medication that would cause them or others undue risk” and “must also state that they are able to handle the physical and mental demands of competition.”
Drivers as young as 14 are also welcome to compete but will have additional requirements that need to be met. These requirements aren’t yet stated.
Those looking to learn more about the SCCA Race Experience can learn more here, or ask questions during the SCCA Road Racing Department “office hours” session at the 2024 SCCA National Convention, January 18-26.
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