Discipline 03 · Wheel to wheel
Road Racing
A full circuit, a rolling start, and thirty other cars who all believe the corner is theirs. Road racing is the deep end of club motorsport: a license to earn, a car to build and log, a crew to organize and a whole weekend to spend at the track. It is also the thing everything else has been preparing you for.
- Home circuit
- Carolina MPCarolina Motorsports Park, Kershaw, South Carolina. CCR runs SARRC and Majors weekends there.
- You need
- A licenseAn SCCA Club Racing competition license, earned through a recognized drivers school.
- The car
- LogbookedCage, seat, belts, fire system, kill switch. Inspected and issued a logbook before it can race.
- 2026 season
- Two weekendsBoth at Carolina Motorsports Park, both now complete. 2027 dates to follow.
What it actually is
01 — The basicsCars are grouped into classes by performance and specification, qualify for grid position, and then race each other over a set number of laps or a set time. Passing is real, contact is not permitted, and the whole thing is governed by flags, stewards and a rulebook that is taken seriously.
CCR runs weekends in the SARRC regional series and hosts Majors events, which sit at a national level and carry championship implications well beyond the Carolinas. The same weekend often includes Time Trials, which is a timed, non-contact format and a common stepping stone.
How it differs from a track day
A track day is you and the circuit. Road racing is you, the circuit and everybody else, at the same time, for points. That difference is why the license exists, why the car needs a cage and a fire system, and why the first thing anyone teaches you is how to be predictable.
It is also why the racing itself is worth the effort. There is nothing in autocross or hillclimb that feels like coming out of a corner side by side with somebody who is as committed as you are.
Time Trials: the honest first step
If wheel-to-wheel feels like a long way off, Time Trials is the format to look at. You run on the same circuit on the same weekend, timed rather than racing, with a lower equipment and licensing bar. It is a genuine competition in its own right and it is the most common route people take from track days into racing.
Volunteering gets you in for free
Race weekends run on flaggers, grid workers, timing and scoring, tech inspectors and stewards. Every one of those roles is filled by a volunteer, most of them are trained on the day, and all of them get the best view in the place. If you want to understand racing before you spend money on it, sign up to work a weekend.
The license path
02 — Getting on the gridJoin the SCCA
A full national membership is the prerequisite for everything that follows. scca.com.
Get seat time and a medical
Track days, Time Trials and autocross all count for something, and all of them make you a better and safer racer. A current physical examination is part of the license application.
Do a drivers school
This is the formal step: classroom sessions, on-track instruction, and evaluation by licensed instructors across a weekend. Schools are run regionally through the year and fill early.
Sort the car and its logbook
The car must be built to its class specification and to the current safety requirements, then presented to tech for annual inspection. It is issued a logbook that travels with it and records every inspection and incident for the rest of its life.
Run your novice races
New racers run with a novice designation for their first races, which tells everyone around you that you are learning. Complete them cleanly and you hold a full competition license.
Check the current regulations
Licensing and safety requirements are set by SCCA National and they change. Treat this page as orientation, not as the rulebook, and confirm every requirement at scca.com or with our road race chair before you spend money.
2026 race weekends
03 — CalendarBoth 2026 weekends have run. SARRC and Majors events continue elsewhere in the Southeast through the year, and CCR drivers compete at them; the calendar below covers only the weekends CCR itself hosts. 2027 dates will be posted when the schedule is set.
Results & timing
04 — Road racingRoad racing keeps its own results, separate from autocross and hillclimb. Different license, different classes, different championship. Race weekends and Time Trials sessions are archived together by season.
Straight answers
05 — FAQI have done track days. How big a jump is this?
Bigger than most people expect, but it is a well-trodden path. The driving is the smallest part of it. The jump is in the car preparation, the equipment, the logistics of running a weekend, and learning to race in close company under flags. The school exists precisely to bridge that.
Can I convert my track car?
Sometimes, but the honest advice is to check before you start cutting. A car built for track days rarely meets Club Racing cage, seat, belt and fire-system requirements, and retrofitting is often more expensive than buying a car that is already logbooked in the class you want.
What is SARRC? What are Majors?
SARRC is the regional championship series run across the Southeast, and it is where most Carolinas racers spend their season. Majors events sit above that at a national level, drawing a wider and quicker field, and count toward national standings.
CCR runs both at Carolina Motorsports Park, frequently as a double race weekend paired with Time Trials.
Do I need a crew?
You need at least one other person. Somebody has to watch the car, watch the timing, hold the pit board and help you when something breaks on Saturday afternoon. Most club racers run with a friend or a partner rather than a professional crew, and the paddock is famously generous with tools and spares.
When are the 2026 CCR race weekends?
CCR hosted two in 2026, both at Carolina Motorsports Park and both now complete: Double SARRC and CRE on 21 to 22 March, and the Memorial Monster Majors and Double SARRC on 23 to 24 May. They are listed above.
SARRC and Majors racing carries on elsewhere in the Southeast for the rest of the season, and plenty of CCR drivers travel to it. Our results archive holds race weekends and time trial sessions back to 2014.
I just want to watch. Can I?
Yes, and you should. Club race weekends are open, informal and far more accessible than professional racing: you can walk the paddock, look at the cars and talk to the drivers between sessions. Bring ear protection and a chair.
Work a weekend first.
The cheapest, fastest way into road racing is to turn up and volunteer. You will learn the flags, meet the people who run the series, and see whether a full race weekend is a life you want, all without buying anything.