3 cheap and easy ways for motorsports fans to try their hands — and feet — at racing and satisfy a need for speed

• With the rising popularity of Formula One and NASCAR, participation in motorsports is expected to grow.
• Fans needing a speed fix could try local autocross or road rally races, or get driving lessons on karts.

With the popularity (and television ratings) of Formula One on the rise in the United States, participation in motorsports nationwide is expected to grow.

Watching Red Bull's Max Verstappen hug the tight corners of a windy F1 track at harrowing speeds, one might wonder what it would be like to jump behind the wheel and take a spin around a circuit. But unfortunately, unlike stick-and-ball sports, motorsports require a bit more than a trip to the local park to get started.

So how can the average fan get a dose of the sport without breaking the bank?

For the many people who look at some current and former F1 drivers, like Lance Stroll (son of Canadian billionaire) and Nikita Mazepin (son of Russian oligarch), it's easy to assume car racing is for the rich, but there are more accessible options for everyday people.

Try your hand at autocross or a road rally race

For one of the most budget-friendly forms of motorsports, your race car is actually sitting in your driveway. The Sports Car Club of America (or SCCA) is a nationwide nonprofit organization that organizes and sanctions motorsports events. The SCCA is divided into six conferences nationwide which organize local events to make them accessible to competitors across the country. Two types of SCCA events are most common and the easiest for new competitors to join: autocross and road rallies.

In autocross, drivers navigate a course of traffic cones and race against a clock. Autocross doesn't require any specialized type of vehicle — all the driver needs is an approved helmet and a willingness to stick around to help run the event.

According to the SCCA website, cars are categorized by type. There are 10 classes, ranging from daily driver road cars (say, your 2018 Hyundai Veloster,) all the way to purpose-built track day cars.

In SCCA Road Rallies, competitors drive their road cars to predetermined checkpoints and are scored based on how closely they arrive to their assigned target arrival time. Each vehicle has a team of two: a driver and a navigator, who helps with directions and keeps track of progress. Road rallies are a competition of precision, rather than speed, and the SCCA says it's a great way for gearheads to compete without doing any driving outside of their comfort zone.

Karting is a great place for kids to start

If autocross or road rallying events aren't doing it for you – karting might be your ticket to speed. When most people hear karting, they think of the small engine go karts scooting around their local mini golf course.

In motorsports, though, karting involves purpose built, high-octane engine racing karts that can go upwards of 50 mph. It is also often the gateway to elite open-wheel racing for most professional drivers, who spend their childhoods driving high-powered karts on competitive racing circuits. The cost of entry for karting as a sport is still pretty steep – a competitive karting setup can run more than $10,000 just to get started. However, many karting tracks have rental karts, karting schools and rental leagues.

More and more, cities are introducing indoor electric karting facilities that offer extremely competitive karting leagues year-round. K1 Speed, a chain of indoor karting facilities with 60 locations in the US and Canada, even offers 1-on-1 racing lessons with a driving coach.

Get the experience from the comfort of home

But by far the easiest way to participate in motorsports won't even require you to leave your house — or even get off your couch. Another great option for a motorsports enthusiast looking to get involved is sim racing. One of the most budget-friendly options, sim racing only requires an internet connection, a computer and a sim racing wheel. This is a particularly good option for people who might not have a car or live in an urban area with no nearby motorsports.

iRacing, a major sim racing platform, runs on a subscription model wherein users can race other live users or race AI-powered vehicles. You might even run into a professional racer online in one of the lobbies. As Insider reported at the height of the pandemic, iRacing hosted online races for many of the then-paused racing series, and many drivers have even used it to train and learn new circuits.