srf506

Wow, that looked like Spec Racer Ford racing!

analogmike

Wish I could read his car # to know who to avoid out there... 169 perhaps?

Jarez Mifkin

I think you are correct mike, I looked on Mylaps and the 99 and 169 both were not scored past lap three. The 99 was only scored on lap three because he crossed the loop in pit lane I assume.

Mifkin

renvagn

What a Jackass. The bump was enough, the punt was the green light to punch there lights out.

mark kibort

that was tight! you even gave the passed car some outside room if he needed it and then, blam, you get a bump! very avoidable. i can understand the rub going into the turn down the straigth, but after it was clear you were committed, he could have gone door to door on the exit as i saw your intent to take it narrow on the exit to be polite. that was a 1313 if i ever saw one.

mk

JimB

Hmmm, we have youtube blocked at work. I can't wait to get home to see if I'm the jackass!

ausgeflippt951

Hey I was gonna say that! "Built like a tank, driven like a shopping cart!" No offense -- makes for some really close-quarters racing!


This incident was definitely avoidable. For some odd reason going into T5 at RA seems to have a lot of people unnecessarily confused...I've found a lot of people think the racing line is on the left...


If any of y'all were at the Kohler Int'l Challenge in July, there was a similar deal between our driver (Brian French in his Benetton) and some asshat in an old Indy Car (#20 if you were there). He was a complete fool and should have been banned from the track. Ended up crashing out eventually.

Circuit Motorsports

T-5 is tough because the straightest line into the corner is similar to a defensive line. That whole straight (which isn't really straight) from 3-5 has about 3 billion different lines through it and I've seen a number of times people have issues just because it seems like someone is wandering all over the place. To be honest when racing with a much faster group it's a tough situation for those in slower cars to decide what side of the track to be on as the 'line' meanders from teh left to the right back to teh left"ish" and eventually to the right. Couple that with the downhill braking zone into the slowest corner adn you get lots of brain fade.

As for Brian, he doesn't give an inch in his open wheel cars. I've got some video somewhere of him getting mighty close to others. He races clean but hard.

Sorry, back on topic: The guy who did the bumping needs to get bigger mirrors and realize that others may not have deep pockets to fix bump damage like that.

Premier Motorsp

Deliberately pushing someone off the track on the way down to turn 5 is pretty close to attempted murder in my opinion. The tap from behind in 5 is not so bad, but the contact previous to that is inexcusable.

ausgeflippt951

Agreed on all accounts. The primary issue I was referring to w/ the #20 car was his inability to drive the car past 90 mph. Brian's coming into T5, T1, and T12 at ~195, and this schmuck is pussyfooting in the passing line at 90. Max.

Fortunately for us, James is a much less aggressive driver. Brian comes from racing bikes. James (fortunately) has recognized it's better to bring the car back in one piece. That said, he's got a lot to learn -- he can drive the ever-living **** out of a car, but he's not yet a racer. Every time he takes a car out, he takes a number of laps to reacclimate himself to it, and in the context of a race, that usually leaves him playing catchup.

Fortunately, he's ultimately fast enough to get back into the fray. Brian, on the other hand, drives the car hard from the start and hardly ever has a problem. Even when we say, "Hey Brian, why don't you take the Ralt easy for the first couple laps -- it's got a new ring and pinion...." Yeah. Right.



Sorry for the threadjack!

JimB

I was actually two cars behind the incident but my video wasn't working. I did watch the in-car a bunch of times and I don't think 169 was as out of control as many of you are insinuating. Everyone knows there are two ways to approach T5. You can follow the outside of the road and reduce the angle you approach the corner or you can take the shortest distance to the turn-in route by cutting across the track. Clearly that's the path 169 was on when he bumped 99 the first time. A mistake for sure but it's not like he did it on purpose.

At that point the cars at traveling downhill at 160 mph with an 55-60 mph corner about a second or two ahead of them. That's 4 down shifts and some serious braking. I don't know what that's like in the 99 (RSR?) but I know it's a pretty wild ride in the non-abs 997. I suspect they were both standing on the binders and 169 wasn't able slow enough to miss the 99 at the apex.

I don't know either driver personally but that's what it looks like to me.

Austin

The first contact on the side of the car during the straightline passing would have been enough to get me steamed enough to drop back behind jackass (Tafel looking car that got passed) and punt him into tomorrow.

Veloce Raptor

I'm sorry, but stupid macho attitudes like this are why we have so much contact in AMATEUR racing.

Austin

wasn't to be taken literally. There are some of us know each other and agree to play contact, and enjoy bumping.

Veloce Raptor

You have to remember the audience here. Words create impressions, and yours (and the behavior we increasingly see in racing that mirrors them) don't leave a very good one.