Veloce Raptor

Great question:

"How easy he survives the corner depends on his consideration of the passing car...Have you raced?"

Gary R.

Backmarker or not, if two same-class cars are dicing it up then that's a whole other issue as far as i'm concerned. If you stop racing your competitor at 100% you open the door and there will most likely be more than one car buzzing by (at LRP anyway). In a perfect world the guy in your class that's been filling your mirrors will let him by and when you do the same you can resume the battle but my guess is most will hop on his azz and follow him by you while you make WTF hand gestures on the outside of West Bend...

Sean F

That looked like it was happening quite a bit in the essess.

Gary R.

My 1st race, I was being "polite".. glad that's out of the way.... did I mention the I cars?

Veloce Raptor

Geez, guys.... "Have you raced"?

}{arlequin

+1

that's a diff scenario and faster car should recognize it... similarly if it's me, faster car, and another from my class behind 'faster car', i will definitely try to have some say when and how i decide to let faster car go by precisely for the reason stated above...

i have a feeling 'have you raced?' will become the 'can i drove your car?' of the racing board

Veloce Raptor

Yup.

And those who ask it when their egos are challenged should be similarly derided.

TD in DC

I had a hard time figuring out how to get around faster cars in higher classes. Watching Dennis Dolan and Dennis Wasser drive, I learned that I just need to suck it up and pass someone through one of the fast corners where the slower driver in faster car is throwing out the anchor because he will back off even more (e.g., T10 at Summit). It is scary for a newbie to do that because, at least in a momentum car, you have to have the timing right so that the guy doesn't come down on you at the apex or so that you do not have to pinch the car to keep from going into the "passee" at track out since the passee has so much HP that they can gun it at will and leave you behind.

I also learned that the easiest way to get around a car like that is to tag onto someone who is faster when they pass the "slower" car. Sometimes I could make it stick, sometimes they would take it back from me on the straight, and then throw the anchors out again at the next corner.

With repect to multi-class racing, I see no problem with racing someone who is not in your class provided that you are not lapping them or they are not lapping you. I had lots of fun with H, I and Gt-5 (isn't that what Jase Scott runs his 356 in?) class cars (and, frankly, a few G class cars). I had to race them because there was nobody else in SP2. So, I assume that racing someone in another class that is driving at roughly your same speed is fine, no?

Have you raced?

fstockcarrera

Never challenged. Just inquiring about you experience.

Where does MR Bling race?

M758

Many times I have been in hard fight in my slow class fighting for a top 3 spot. Along comes a faster class car all alone. If I am the 2nd car in slower 2 cars racing for postion I figure "f-em". I am not opening the door nice and easy only to let them screw my race. If the faster car is really alot faster they can pass on straight and blow by both of us with no issue then they should wait and do so. I am not going to let them get in between in a set of corners and lose 3-4 car lengths. Most of the time these guys see the battle and wait until that straight and power by both of us.

The biggest problem comes from the only slightly faster car or one that is fast in straight line and slow in the corners. These guys I don't give an inch to when I am racing in my class as I know it may mean the end of my race. They need to fight for a pass and if they make a racing pass they can have it, but I am not going to let them get between us and screw up my race.

Clearly this only applies when I am in hard fight. If I have gap (front or back) to my competition then I will let these guys through since I have no reason hold them up. When both groups of cars are in fight... well things get interesting and often times every one will be screwed at least a little bit. Who comes out the best in the end takes planning, skill and some luck.

The MOST irritated I have ever been was at the start of a race where I was "racing" with a Viper. The viper driver was just not very good and could easly pull me on straights only to hold me up in the corners. I was able to wring out a pass, but then he would pass back on next straight way only to hold me up bad 50 ft later when the high speed corner came. I got pissed off since all I could do was watch my competition gain 1+ seconds each lap I was "racing" with this yahoo. I think I passed him 2-3 times and only on the last pass and after make rude gesture did he seem to get the hint and held back just long enough for me to take the fast corner flat out and start to pull away. By them my race was "over" as my competition was 6 seconds infront of me well beyond reach unless something happened. Really it was too bad that this guy though it would be smart to race a 134 whp 944 with his 450 hp viper. I can understand the desire of the only guy in G-stock 911 to want to race me (I have had that happen too and watch my competition drive away, I consider this to be bad form, but not really boneheaded), but heck he had 300 more hp and I would expect him to figure that maybe I don't want run close to a 450 hp car running similar lap times. A 1;14 lap in 450 hp viper is much different from a 1:14 in 134 whp 944.

Thankfully for me that guy either quit racing with us or learned how to drive the car a bit and is no longer running similar lap times.

Veloce Raptor

Bob, tell ya what: Despite the fact that it is none of your business, you explain the meaning of the following, and I will answer you.

"How easy he survives the corner depends on his consideration of the passing car"

Gary R.

Twice..

I agree with you Todd, and (I hope) my initial frustrations will more than be alleviated with experience. On a short track like LRP following a lower class car (the I class winner in this case) round and round and in more than one instance backing off because he was waaaaay out there on the edge at a pace roughly 2 seconds off what I should have been doing was just part of my initiation into this IMO. IF I put the video in my camera I most likely may see openings he gave me but I just didn't take due to my being over-careful. I bet he would have had more fun if the 944 that was a ways back was behind him.. Thing was I had the same thing happen the day before with a different I car during the enduro. Once I went by within 3-4 laps he wasn't there anymore.

TD in DC

I share the same initial frustrations, but I am trying to fight them with a change in the way I view this. At the beginning of my "struggles" with trying to figure out how to get around faster car with slower driver, I was incredibly frustrated. I wanted them to get the $#%^& out of my way and quit chopping me. The more I thought about it, though, I realized that I was frustrated only because I was bringing a DE attitude to the "game" of racing. So, I started trying to view the "problem" of being behind a faster car with a slower driver as a "challenge" that I needed to figure out how to solve by using strategy. Then it started to be more fun, and I kept my hands on the wheel more and didn't make myself as hoarse yelling "sweet words of encouragement" to my competitor.

I do think that racing is "probably" easier if you have a competitive car in the fastest class of your racing/run group. When you are on the bottom of the heap, you really have to fight for everything you get. When you are on the top, HP can solve a lot of "challenges" for you.

So, I am hoping that my decision to start racing at the bottom of the heap will help me learn how to be the type of driver who will be fast when he gets a faster car . . .

Gary R.

My thoughts exactly, and all I thought of at the track/have been thinking about is what I can do to improve my experience/performance because all the crying in the world won't change what the other guys does.. and as neither of my buddies had "X" on their car I doubt they will.

1gplus

Colin, thanks for the compliment.

But I think you all are missing Bob's true meaning of this thread. He posted it as a joke and none of you got the sarcasms. Given Bob's vastly superior race skills, he doesn’t need other cars to lift or brake early or yield-the-line, particularly a lapped car. He can pass them at will, wherever and whenever he chooses. When the GTC1 freight train approached, I didn’t need to lift to let Bob get by. I did need to lift to let all the other hacks chasing him (you know, the mere mortals) to get by quickly and continue their futile pursuit of Bob.

I mean just look at the start of the sprint race. Not only did Bob pass the pole sitter way before the turn 1 apex on the first lap. But thru precision car placement not seen since Senna, he induced the red car into a “slide-for-life” spin that sent his nearest competitor (and I use that term loosely since Bob has no real competitors) to the back of the field. Brilliant!!! <=Note: Very Big Grins - All said in jest... Really...

Cheers,
The Rookie
“New member of Team BS!”