n 1957, British racing champion Jim Russell founded the racing school industry and realized his dream of teaching people from all walks of life the fine art of motor racing. His school was the world’s first training facility for racing drivers. The School, now called the Jim Russell Racing Schools, graduates thousands of motoring enthusiasts each year, taking with them the experience of a lifetime.

Our alumni include racing champions in almost every form of auto racing. World-class drivers such as, Jacques Villeneuve, Danny Sullivan, Emerson Fittipaldi, Tony Stewart, Kasey Kahne and Scott Speed plus many more have passed through our hallways—and passed on our speedways—on their way to successful careers in the sport.


Philosophy

Seat time is critical to any driver’s career, but it is not seat time alone. A driver must leverage every moment behind the wheel to ensure that he or she is getting the most out of every meter of track surface.

Sitting behind the wheel of a racecar is expensive, so the faster that you can get to speed, the more effective a driver you are going to be.

This is just as true in professional racing as it is in the school environment. Drivers have very limited time on-track and must make certain every lap is utilized to make progressive improvements. If you are fortunate enough to find yourself in a Formula 1 support race, you may have as little as 30 minutes of practice time before qualifying. That may translate into only 10-15 laps depending on track length, number of yellows, etc.; and you need to make the most of each lap. There are no throwaway laps in professional racing.

Jim Russell Racing Drivers School recognizes this in two distinct ways:

  1. A proprietary curriculum that brings drivers to speed much more quickly. This curriculum provides a method not only for the school environment, but for every lap of every session for the rest of your career to maximize your performance. The goal is for each driver to be able to progress as rapidly as is individually possible. Using a higher instructor to student ratio and an adaptable curriculum give every student a chance to excel, optimized to their learning rate and style.
  2. Economical track time. Our program allows you comparatively massive amounts of track time in a thoroughly modern, state-of-the-art racing car that is completely relevant to both formula cars and top line sports cars. On average, seat time in a comparable car would cost you between 8-10 times as much were you to do it on your own. This results in either: your being able to log 10 times the seat time as your competitors, or highly talented drivers without unlimited funding being able to get the seat time that they deserve. Each moment the driver spends on the track is productive. This is due to the initial emphasis on fundamentals, when the drivers take to the track they are comfortable and confident (they have, in simple terms, bonded with the car). This means they are able to immediately focus on the task at hand (optimizing the car in every phase of every corner). Track time as precious as it is, should always be driven at the limit.

 

Every lap that you complete at JRRDS will be under the control of our world-class group of driver coaches. All talented enough to perfectly demonstrate every skill needed and versatile enough to find the most productive teaching stye for any student. We strongly believe that coaches are critical to a driver’s rapid progression and we have assembled a team of coaches that have been behind the formation of numerous professional racing careers including several past and current Formula 1 drivers.