There’s something in our soul that craves speed and competition. The Romans were racing chariots around the Colosseum in the first century BC. In 1875, horses began thundering down the track at Churchill Downs. NASCAR’s roots were planted in the 1940s among thrill seekers and moonshiners. Add in countless other examples, and it’s clear that we just can’t get enough. Racing is in our blood.
One form of motorsport that usually flies under the radar is the one-make racing series. It’s what racing was always meant to be. There’s no Balance of Performance drama, no mystery engineering, just a grid of identical cars and the lingering question of who’s the better driver today. There’s something uniquely addictive about it. When you strip away the big sponsorships and multi-million dollar corporate teams, you’re left with raw competition, merit over money, and commitment over clout.
However, not all one-make series are created equal. Some come wrapped in carbon fiber and pushing major power. Others smell like duct tape and hot coolant and sound like your home garage on a Saturday morning. To help you out, I’ve broken some of the best series down into two categories: Factory Flare, which are high-budget, performance-centered, exotic car series, and Grassroots Grit, which are relatable, attainable, skill-heavy spec series built from oily garage floors and real-life passion.
Factory Flare
These are the racing series of cars that belong on bedroom posters. Don’t let the shimmer fool you, though. Beneath all the gloss is some of the most competitive, cutthroat racing in the industry. After all, you don’t invest in something like this to play around.
Porsche Carrera Cup North America
If it’s a true driver’s championship that you’re after, look no further. The Carrera Cup utilizes the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (992). It’s naturally aspirated, rear-engine, and has no traction control or ABS. In this series, the car supplies the power, but the driver handles everything else without assistance. It’s all about car control and staying on top of your mental game at 170 mph.
The rules are beautifully simple. Everyone drives the same platform, and the engines and gearboxes must be sealed units, meaning they have not been opened to be modified. As of 2024, every car in the series is required to use Yokohama Advan A005 or A006 tires, depending on weather conditions. Classes are divided based on driver experience: Pro, Pro-Am, and Amateur.
The result is bumper-to-bumper racing with lap times separated by mere hundredths of a second. The Pro class is for rising stars in racing, but the Amateur class is just as packed with talent. Regardless of class, they all drive like their lives depend on it. You can catch it on IMSA weekends or stream it live.
Ferrari Challenge North America
When you hear “Ferrari Challenge,” you typically think of wealthy old men doing parade laps, but this is hardcore racing. In 2024, the new Ferrari 296 Challenge replaced the 488 Challenge EVO for this series, introducing a V6 engine to the series for the first time. Don’t worry, there’s no lapse in performance. The twin-turbo V6 powerhouse is capable of 700 hp and produces just shy of 550 lb-ft of torque, more than enough to carve its way through the Miami Autodrome.
The rules are pretty straightforward. Every car on the track must be an identically race-prepped Ferrari 296 Challenge, depending on the class. Ferrari provides each driver with a predetermined number of Pirelli tires. Typically, this is four front tires and four rear tires to last the race, but provisions are made occasionally for rain tires if the Race Director determines they are necessary. Drainers are given specific parameters about everything from alignment to driver weight to AC refrigerant because it wouldn’t be a Ferrari race with no AC. If anything is found to be outside the given parameters, the car and driver are no longer permitted to race.
The drivers are divided into four classes, with two sub-classes. Trofeo Pirelli is for experienced drivers with major accomplishments. Trofeo Pirelli-Am is for those who are veteran drivers but may be new to the series. Coppa Shell is for novice drivers who may have racing experience, but haven’t met the criteria to move into a more advanced class. Coppa Shell-Am is typically for drivers who are new to racing or deemed amateur by The Committee. The sub-classes are the Ladies’ Cup, an opportunity presented to women racers, and the Gentleman’s Cup for men over 65.
These races are typically short and aggressive with a lot of close-quarters action. Ferrari usually makes streaming available via its official YouTube channel, or you can catch the races on motorsport.tv. When you have 30 Ferraris screaming around Watkins Glen, the visuals alone are well worth tracking down.
Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America
If you’re looking for something a little louder and angrier, look no further than the Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo EVO2. The car itself looks like something out of a Mad Max movie and sounds like it’s hunting some type of prey.
The rules for this race are similar to the previous two series, but there are a couple of exceptions that make it interesting. The talent is still broken into classes: Pro, Pro-Am, Am, and LB Cup for real rookies. But there is an allowance for a two-driver format for longer events. The races can get a little messy, but that’s part of their charm. You can typically catch these by streaming on Lamborghini.com or YouTube.
Grassroots Grit
If Factory Flare is racing in a tuxedo, Grassroots Grit is racing in a secondhand firesuit that smells like race gas. These are the budget builds, the real-world cars that you and I have likely owned at some point. These are the series where everyday enthusiasts meet serious skill. It’s some of the most authentic racing that you’ll ever come across.
Mazda MX-5 Cup (ND2)
This series revolves around the ND2 (2019-2022) Mazda Miata. Flis Performance prepares all cars to be fast, durable, and identical, down to the air filter. The rules are simple. Engines, transmissions, and ECUs are all prohibited from any type of modification or manipulation. Mazda Motorsports and Flis Performance are the only ones permitted to tamper with or change anything, and even then, they’re very limited in what they can use. Tires are limited to the series tire partner, typically BF Goodrich, and can only be set to the pressures specified on the technical data sheet provided by the manufacturer. Each car must be outfitted with the same aero and suspension package. No movable or adjustable aero is permitted.
Racing cars with only 180 hp requires serious driving skill, and maybe a little scientific knowledge. Speed is certainly a factor, but you must use skills like momentum and drafting to get ahead. Finishing times are often separated by inches, and drivers rarely get away clean. It’s wheel-to-wheel from beginning to end.
MX-5 Cup races can be seen on Peacock during IMSA weekends, or you can stream straight from the IMSA website. Once you’ve seen the drive these guys have, you’ll understand why so many pros got their start in a Miata.
Spec Miata (NA/NB)
This is my personal favorite. Spec Miata is the backbone of grassroots motorsport in the U.S., and it delivers some of the coolest racing in the country, if you ask me. The makeup is similar to the others that we have seen. Every driver must drive an NA (1990-1997) or NB (1999-2005) Mazda Miata. Small differences between generations come out in the wash of the other regulations. The turbocharged Mazdaspeed iteration of the car is ineligible for the series.
Several small modifications can be made in certain scenarios. For example, cars with the 1.6L can use cone-type air filters to level them with the 1.8L. All cars can be fitted with tie rods from the “R” model, and the steering rack may be converted to a manual rack to save some horsepower. In Spec Miata, it’s safer to reference the rulebook for what you can do rather than what you can’t do. Due to the size of the NA and NB Miata, safety is taken very seriously. Roll cages, racing seats, and harnesses are all required and are inspected before each race.
What makes it so great is the field size. Some of these races see more than 50 cars. That many Miatas charging into turn one is enough to entertain anybody who enjoys a good race. Most of the time, they run the track three or four wide. The cars are on an incredibly level playing field, and they’re giving it everything they’ve got. One thing that really makes the difference in Spec Miata is guts. It’s where boys become men, and men become drivers. You can find full races on YouTube alongside every Miata how-to video ever published. If in-car footage is your thing, then you definitely need to check it out.
Honda Challenge/Civic Cup
This one is for the front-wheel drive faithful. It’s a little different because classes aren’t decided by driver experience, but by power-to-weight ratio. A couple of different entities run these events, and rules vary depending on where you are in the country. There is more variation in permitted models than in any other series we’ve covered. Drivers are allowed to drive Civics, CRXs, Integras, and RSXs. Engine swaps are allowed, but they must remain in the Honda family. As cool as they are, LS-swapped Civic hatchbacks are not permitted.
No Contest
What makes one-make racing series so addictive isn’t just the parity, but the purity. They eliminate the engineering gap and the big-name sponsors and shift the focus to the one thing that can’t be bought or tuned: the driver. One-make series are built on raw talent, unprecedented drive, and a ton of guts.
If you crave the high life of flashy presentation and those unmistakably exotic noises, then you may want to check out the Factory Flare races. Porsche, Ferrari, Lamborghini, and many more will do an awesome job of making a spectacle out of spec racing. But if your heart is a little more mechanical and you’ve got some PB Blaster somewhere in your veins, Grassroots Grit may be where you feel most at home. Both sides of this coin offer something remarkable. The best part is, you don’t have to choose. All you have to do is watch.
