When it all began

In 1988 World Racing School owner Martin Smit started a racing team. His team, called Smit Racing Team, competed in de Dutch Citroën AX cup; a touring car series on national level which was a great opportunity for drivers to start racing in those years. Several drivers started racing with Smit Racing Team. In 1991, a young ambitious driver made his racing debut for the team. His name was Tom Coronel. Together with Smit Racing Team, Tom won de Dutch championship in 1992. His twin brother Tim also raced for Martin Smit. Tim and Tom both became very successful racing drivers and are well known for racing in the FIA WTCC, Le Mans 24h, Dakar and several national series.

Starting in formula racing

Smit Racing Team (SRT) got a phone call of a certain Michel Florie who wanted to compete in a racing series. With Florie, Smit Racing Team moved into the Dutch and Benelux Formula Ford series. Right in their first year in the category they won de Dutch Championship. After this ultimately successful year, the team stayed in the series and grew into a full formula racing squad. Two brand new Formula Fords were bought a year later. Again two twin brothers raced with Smit, but they couldn't defend the title. Robert and Arjan van der Zwaan finished 2nd and 4th in the series, still is a very strong performance as well. Robert and Arjan raced in the FIA GT and the Dutch Supercar Challenge.

The story continues

In the years after, Smit Racing Team stayed in the Formula Ford series and gave several young, or a little older, the possibility to start racing. In 1999 Michel Florie made his comeback to the squad. With a new Formula Ford, Florie and the team dominated testing times and qualifying, but bad luck restrained the team from winning. However, Florie sat the lap record which became unbeatable for 4 years! In 2001 the squad competed for the last time as racing team in the series, being a victory contender with… good old Michel Florie again. Oh, and to be clear, alongside Florie a lot of other Dutch and International drivers competed successfully with the squad in Formula Ford.

A great idea

Smit Racing Team driver and sponsor Ed de Groot organised an international Formula Ford Race at the Sentul International Raceway in Indonesia. Several international racing teams went in February 2000 to Asia for a race, which became a huge event with big crowds and a big TV coverage. Sitting in the Asian sun and enjoying the event and atmosphere, Martin Smit got the idea to race more often in Asia. This first thought was a kind of the beginning of World Racing School. The philosophy: Race in great weather, have a good vacation and keep the costs of a real training affordable. So after the 2001 racing season, Smit Racing Team turned into World Racing School and Formula Arcobaleno's replaced Formula Fords.

The first intention was to go back to Indonesia to the Sentul Raceway and both the circuit and local authorities were willing to help the school, but due to different reasons the first racing course took place in Thailand September 2002 at the track of Bira. But to be a good school, you've got to have an experienced and well known instructor. At this point Martin Smit succeeded, too! Belgium racing driver Val Hillebrand became the main instructor. As ex-formula 3 racer and Le Mans 24hour contender he was exactly the experienced driver Smit was looking for. Alongside former Formula 1 and highly rated driver Jan Lammers he won the 2002 FIA Sportscar World Championship.

World Racing School continues

World Racing School has arranged training courses in several locations the last years. The Netherlands, Thailand, France and Belgium have been visited. Each year more people find their way to World Racing School. It's likely that in the near future the activities will expand to Malaysia. Next to that we have contacts with the DNRT which organises several racing series. Among these series there is the Formula Gloria series which is a very attractive open wheel single seater series. Together with the DNRT, Racing Concepts and the Gloria factory, the World Racing School can help you take your first steps in racing or get you in touch with a great racing series.

For more information about your possibility to start racing, take a peek a peek at our site.