Classic Race Cars
On A Simulator In Tampa

What Makes An Old Racing Car Hard

A modern GT3 car is engineered to be driveable. Traction control manages wheelspin, anti-lock brakes stop you locking a wheel, and aerodynamic downforce increases with speed, loading the tires more in fast corners. Take all of that away and what is left asks considerably more of the driver.

Many earlier cars run narrower period-style tires whose construction and compounds generally give less grip than a modern racing tire. They also generate little aerodynamic downforce, and in the earliest eras effectively none, so aerodynamics adds little or nothing to the load on the tires. A fast corner therefore gives you none of the extra assistance a modern high-downforce car would provide.

There is also nothing between your inputs and the tires. Squeeze the throttle too hard on the way out of a corner and the rear steps out. Brake too hard and a wheel locks. The car does exactly what you tell it, including when what you told it was wrong.

The Gearbox Is Part Of The Job

Many modern racing cars use paddle-operated sequential gearboxes, which cut the workload of each shift down to almost nothing. Classic cars do not.

You choose the gears yourself on an H-pattern shifter, work a clutch, and match engine speed on the way down the box so the car stays settled rather than being unsettled by the driveline. Get a downshift wrong under braking and an abrupt braking torque goes through the driven wheels, which can unsettle the rear of the car or lock a wheel, exactly where you least want that.

Some older gearboxes are unsynchronised, which asks for more deliberate technique again. Which cars in our library work that way depends on the software and the specific car, so ask when you book if that is what you are after.

Four of our eight rigs have an H-pattern shifter and a clutch pedal fitted, including the Motion GT. Tell us when you book that you want to drive something with a manual gearbox and we will set you up on one of them.

Why People Choose It Anyway

1. It teaches you what the car is doing

   With no electronics smoothing your inputs, the feedback is direct. Drivers who spend time in older cars tend to come back to modern ones with better throttle and brake control, because they have had to develop it.

2. Slower is not easier, but it is more readable

   Lower speeds can give you more time to recognize and correct a slide as it develops, though how abruptly a car lets go varies a great deal between them.

3. The gearbox is satisfying

   If you drive a manual road car, this is the class that uses that skill. Paddle shift is faster and easier and slightly less interesting.

4. The cars have history

   Driving something you have only seen in old footage, at a circuit it actually raced on, is a different experience from setting a lap time. Plenty of people book this for that reason alone.

Where To Drive Them

Older cars suit older circuits, and a historic layout gives period machinery the context it actually raced in.

From our library, Sebring has a long association with endurance racing and a famously rough surface that suits period machinery. Several international circuits in the library also offer historic layouts alongside their modern ones, including Monza, Silverstone and Brands Hatch, so you can run a period car on something close to a period track.

Browse everything available on the cars and tracks page, and filter by Historic to see which circuits suit this class.