Track Night takes off
Tuesday, 20 February 2018
MazdaMotorsports.com
SCCA's Track Night in America sees growth and changes for 2018 to make it more accessible; participants in Mazdas are eligible for Mazda Motorsports support programs
SCCA's Track Night in America has seen more than 17,000 participations in its three-year history of hosting weekday evening on-track events. That encompasses more than 300 events at 30 tracks. For 2018, SCCA expects its regions to put on 135-plus events at 32 tracks with between 8,000 and 9,000 on-track participations. That speaks to the success of a program intended to introduce people to track driving in a fun, safe and non-intimidating way.
"The team put in a tremendous effort in 2014 into developing a concept that was an intersection of the principles of summer camp and the environment of motorsports," explains Heyward Wagner, SCCA's Marketing and Experiential Programs Director. "We wanted it to be experience-driven, it needed to be fun, it needed to be something where the participants had the ability to set their own course and have a safe, fun experience, but also one where there was no expectation of what their outcome would be."
That means coaching rather than instruction. It means no pressure to hit an apex, do a perfect lap or move up into a different group. "Initially there were a lot of reservations about how we were instructing people and the perceived lack of instruction. What we're most proud of is how we've been able to use that model of coaching instead of instructing, of teaching etiquette and culture instead of driving and speed techniques and use that to create a safe, fun environment where enthusiasts can have an opportunity to become participants," Wagner adds.