The heyday of liquid-fueled race cars is largely behind us. Electric powered competition vehicles is the future if there is one.
It's getting to the point a vehicle can be characterized on a memory stick, then two or more data sets can be compared on a characterized "race course" complete with environmental details to determine a "winner". Just plug-in the sticks and computer spits out a result.
Virtual Reality makes it possible to display a "race" between the data sets so there is a spectator component to be exploited. Real-time online for larger audience. Sponsor advertising reaches larger audience. 4K/8K video makes it as real as you want.
Actual cars can be characterized with actual vehicle weight, dyno data, tire data etc.
Yes I know there are lots of racing video games out there but I'm talking about building real cars. Show up for "tech" with your real car.
Drag racing is the easiest to adapt to this method. Somebody's gonna make $$. Millennials will love it. FIA will too, cheap profits for Jean Todt.
For an example, look at Jim Hall's vision of next-generation Chaparral 2X
For old guys who can't keep up with technology:
Remember -
It's not the speed of technological change that gets you, it's the acceleration of change.