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How to get into motorsports?
Look, I love putting on drifting, moto, and especially rally races in the background, just for the ASMR of it all, beautiful noise while I work especially. But, I have never been able to get into the competitive side, basically actively watching or thinking about it. Is there any hope? I want to enjoy actively taking part in this, but haven't found an “in” into this, to really get it, and I've tried for years.
Edit: should be noted that I am not exactly competitive, I enjoy watching and listening to golf, and that's about it for me on sports in general.
I like to keep a pool for things. I got into F1 during Covid after a controversial win (2021.) I started making picks on my own and tracking where I was right. By mid-season I was running a little pool for a dozen or so of us in the chat. I'm not competitive, but I found its a good way to tuck into the sport a little more than just watching.
I think MotoGP/2/3 has the best overall weekend with the MotoGP Sprint, Moto3, Moto2, then MotoGP races. I really like to follow up most sports with a good podcast. For Moto, Oxley Bom is probably the best -- its a journalist and a former crew chief who is active in a lot of areas within the sport.
Ultimately, finding a decent community to chit-chat about it helps a lot. Not like you have to spend a lot of time chit chatting, but its nicer to watch races with others.
For discord:
If you sub to F1TV and use Multiviewer, you can go deep on the livetiming. A lot of people say that that is where the real race is seen, but I'm not quite at that level. Its handy to have.
To get into car racing, I know the recipe from multiple Need for Speed games: first you buy a cheap old car which you street race for cash. You then use the cash to upgrade it wits turbo charger and NOS, etc. Then, some higher end racer person will notice and have you join more exclusive races, win more money, and afford a faster car, which then you also have to upgrade (again). And that's basically it until you win the big prize or go to jail.
Good plan. I might follow the more realistic Tokyo XTreme Racer and just find a beater, drive around on the highway, flash my brights to find a willing
victimopponent, and increase my style points to convert to cash and upgrade my vehicle until I win the big prize or go to jail (or worse).Another solid strategy, but it only works in Tokyo!
I'm not super competitive either but I usually keep a rotating pool of series that I watch. Formula 1, WEC, IMSA and Indycar are my current crop. I think one of the big things needed when trying to get into any sport is having a group of people to discuss with, as @tomf mentioned. For F1, I have my close friends who got into it around the same time as me. For WEC, IMSA and Indycar, I have a Discord group with a couple of people I met in university that I watch and discuss it with.
Have you ever tried participating in any motorsports? Karting, moto track, even just a ride along?
I find my interest in anything is increased if I have an understanding of what it actually takes to compete at the level you watch on TV.
Reminds me of the quip saying that every Olympic event should have one average person competing as an indicator. Example, "Eric the Eel"
IMO one of the most effective ways, for me at least, to get into any sport is to watch post-race/post-match highlights. You can usually find these on official league YouTube channels (the official F1 channel posts race highlights, for instance). This has a couple of benefits:
You can see if you actually enjoy the sport without committing yourself to watching hours-long games or races, since it’s by definition just the most exciting moments. Keeping up with one 15 minute video once a week or so is much more manageable. If you find you don’t really enjoy watching, then there’s nothing wrong with that! I also like to check the standings after I watch highlights, so I can get a sense of the grander scheme of things
You begin to encourage your YouTube algorithm to start showing you more Motorsport content. This lets you discover which aspect of competitive Motorsport you enjoy most, since there’s channels for everything. Maybe you enjoy the strategy and tactics, or are fascinated by the engineering. Maybe you will become interested in the history of the sport or the drama between drivers
The only Motorsport I really follow is F1, so I can’t speak to how useful this strategy is for other kinds of racing, but I’ve used this approach to really get into f1, the nba, and the nfl. I would later get more interested in watching full matches or races after getting more knowledgeable about the history and strategies of each sport, since spectacle alone doesn’t move me as much
What about rally? Not exactly the question, I know, but I also don't care about motorsports and I find rally to be quite exciting because of how much more extreme it feels. Flying through a pine forest on a narrow road at 150 km/h is crazy to watch.
It seems that many motorsport-minded people have some track car - ie. Mazda MX-5 or BMW 3 (you probably want rearwheel drive or 4x4). They go on track days with this car, basically being with such minded people for the day and going for fast time on the said track. They don't compete head-to-head, they just race along freely on their own tempo - think qualifying laps, where anyone can join the track anytime they want and they can leave the track as they please.
I think this might be a good start to get into motorsport actively. You buy some old used car, maybe you throw some money at it (like good brakes and tires and maybe suspension for starters) and you go and find new friends on some racetrack around you.
And from there who knows where you gonna end up. Maybe you will go on track days for the rest of your life, maybe you will find about some small league for amateur racers, maybe you will become real good and some team will take you as their driver.
If you meant getting into competitive side as a spectator - like knowing all the teams, and drivers and cars and nuances, I can't help there. You just probably have to like the specific thing, I suppose.