Auto Racing: How often do professional racecar drivers practice?

I'm most familiar with Formula 1 so I will speak for their drivers. During each race weekend, they get three free practice sessions: the first two are 1hr30min in length (generally on Friday) and the final session (FP3) is 1hr (generally on Saturday a few hours before qualifying). Outside of the season, there are only a few days of testing allowed by the FIA (the governing body of F1) to keep costs in check. Most motorsport series follow a similar schedule: testing on Friday/Saturday, qualifying on Saturday and race on Sunday. So drivers will get about 3-4 hours of actual seat time before qualifying and the race. They will also do many more hours in a simulator at their team's headquarters before even arriving at the circuit - as alluded to by the other respondents. Many people mistakenly think that motor racing doesn't require much physical fitness, this is far from true. Professional racing drivers are some of the most well-conditioned athletes on the planet. At the professional level they all do intense cardiovascular exercise, specialized weight training regimens and certainly eat a well-balanced diet to allow them to perform optimally in the race car. Here is a link to an article I wrote previously on the physical fitness demands and training methods used by F1 drivers: @http://carcrazydan.com/formula-1-driver-physical-fitness-demands-training-and-workouts/ And another on how difficult it is to get practice time as an aspiring racing driver: @http://carcrazydan.com/how-to-be-a-race-car-driver-f1-indycar-indy-lights-nascar/

Josh is right, racing simulation is rapidly becoming essential to racing teams and racing coaches worldwide. The acquisition and operation costs of an authentic racing simulator has dropped significantly and the racing software available now is extremely accurate. It can be used to memorize a new track, determine turning points, gear selection and speeds and even workout passing and fueling strategy in advance of track day. See more about professional simulation training at http://www.virtual-gt.com.

It would depend on the racing series. For instance F1 requires a lot more travel around the world. While NASCAR or Indy Cars are more US based. In the F1 example there is little (if any) in-season testing. So practice takes the form of seat time in simulators to analyze braking point, gear ratios, usage, passing areas etc. Drivers have to keep their fitness levels very high to perform under such high G loads and the hot stressul environment of a race car. Mark Webber (Red Bull F1 Team) puts on his own adventure race (http://markwebbertasmaniachallenge.com) while Jenson Button is know to dabble in the world of triathlons (http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/f1mole/2009/08/button-tackles-triathlon.html). A good diet is part of a training regiment that teams pay personal trainers and nutritionists to provide. A driver is a big investment of work performed by hundreds if not thousands of people from the factory to the team. Much of a drivers time is also taken up working with the team to help improve the car to fit the drivers style of piloting the car. Being that no matter the series the cars are basically all built from the ground up. So much can be adjusted from camber to how progressive the suspension rebounds. There is a lot of engineering and tweaking based on the feedback from the driver. Then there are the media commitments made to sponsors and other media outlets. Along with advertising and marketing they must take part in. One of many video examples that can be found: http://www.metacafe.com/watch/3639104/a_day_in_the_life_of_an_f1_driver/

If you're talking about practice specifically for the up and coming race that weekend, then many have already answered that question.   If you're asking about overall seat time, meaning the time that a racing driver spends on a track in a racing car, the answer can be more varied. Many racing drivers have other duites aside from driving the racing car.  There is testing, guest drives, promotional activities, ride alongs, commercials, TV and movies -- all things many drivers do (even at the top levels of motorsport) when they aren't in the racing car.  A good way to think about it is many racing drivers at the professional level (meaning they are paid living wages to drive) drive something at least daily as a vocation.

Though F1 drivers dont get as much practice in the real car as they would want due to the ban on testing, they usually clock in about 2 hours a day(average) on the simulators . This is why so much money and effort is invested in these simulators to make them as realistic as possible.