Jim Russell USA: About

About

The Jim Russell History

In 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 hundreds of career-minded racers in addition to 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 passed through our hallways before making passes on the track on their way to successful careers.

Our goal, just as our founder, is to never rest on our laurels, but to look constantly to the future. From evolving the way we teach the techniques of racing to the techniques themselves to finding the next gifted driver, we are resolute in our commitment to progress.

THE JIM RUSSELL PHILOSOPHY

Jim Russell knew that there was a better way. After being asked countless times, “how does one become a race car driver?” he soon realized that creating a formalized system was the better way to bring the sport to larger masses of people. In launching the school he not only found a better way to initiate novices to the sport, he found a systematic way to make better race car drivers.

Today, we continue the tradition of finding a better way. And, while some of the fundamental exercises that Jim Russell created are still in use in some form, the school carries on his tradition of finding a better way.

Core to our philosophy is that 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 a driver can get to speed, the more effective a driver will 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 progressive improvements with every lap. In a Formula 1 support race, there may be as little as 30 minutes of practice time before qualifying for just 10-15 laps depending on track length, number of yellows, etc. Drivers 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:

A proprietary curriculum that brings drivers to speed quickly, providing a method not only for the school environment, but for every lap of every session for the rest of a driver’s career. Using a higher instructor to student ratio and an adaptable curriculum gives every student a chance to excel, optimized to their learning rate and style.
Our program allows you comparatively massive amounts of track time in a thoroughly modern, state-of-the-art racing car that is relevant to both formula cars and top line sports cars. On average, seat time in a comparable car would cost between 8-10 times as much were a driver to do it on their own. This results in either: being able to log 10 times the seat time as the 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 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