TXE36

Proof that I did hand out passing signals:


-Mike

TXE36

Here is iPhone video from the T3 bridge on Saturday:


The following lap a yellow 911 lost it under the bridge going backwards into the Airfence at the left.

And from the cold pits later that day:


I'm surprised we don't have many videos and pics given the volume of activity in the other COTA threads.

-Mike

ervtx

That driver exhibited two other black-flag-worthy behaviors during that same session, one of which would have resulted in contact had I not been ready for it.

TXE36

I had one of those too (third video in the OP @2:56). I swear that place screwed with people's judgment.

I know the driver of the S2000 and he does not have a reputation for holding people up as evidenced by his point by for you after T19. It was poor judgment for the orange P-car to go around him.

-Mike

himself

Was T15 not a passing zone?

[edit] or was it a point with no pass. I couldn't see the lead car in that part of the video, so his arm may have been out (or maybe not).

-td

TXE36

Passing zones were:
T20-T1, T10-T11, T11-T12, T12-T13, T19-T20

Looking at the vid, and the track map, T15-T16 could have worked as a passing zone. The guy who nearly clipped me passed in a passing zone without a point (T12-T13).

IMO, T18-T19 could have also worked, however passes T18-T19 and T15-T16 require altering lines to high speed corners, not something I'd want to do with a group that was having difficulty using the passing zones they had.

With good drivers, T1-T3 could have been used, but T3-T4 was just eating cars that weekend in the race groups.

-Mike

ervtx

It was not an approved passing zone. It's obvious from the video that the RS driver never hestitated, and meanwhile, and I'll bet that the S2000 driver never intended for anyone to go past him at that point.

RS driver did the same thing on the very next lap...



But the worst was when he decided to block my momentum down the straight, race me to T1, and then cut me off once I decided to back off and let him have the the lead back...



If I had been in his right hand seat instructing, I would have had the car black flagged. He was in the wrong run group; he should have pulled out his carpets and gone racing to work out his aggressions elsewhere.

e9stibi

I am used to PCA not tolerating behavior like this in DEs. I saw a lot of late passing, passing outside passing zones and passing without point by. Maybe some bigger ego out there but I agree that they should go racing.

333pg333

Yes basically correct. It sort of reminds me of when you'd see a guy skateboarding in an empty pool and he'd speed up the wall and right up and out of the pool, onto the deck and stop there. Spin around and float back downhill while gathering speed again. There seems to be a start-stop-start appearance. I reckon it could have flowed a little better. The whole track looks very interesting overall though.

btw...what's a good time around there for a Cup Car? I see the Aussie V8's are doing from 1:32-1:35 in practice.

Doug007

You can't compare Aussie v8s to anything else. They are the first to drive the short track with the cutoff at turn 6.

Track record is held by Vettel at 1:39.347. This is the full 3.4 miles.

IIRC, cups were in the 2:10-2:20 range at the PCA event. Maybe low 2s from guys like Long and Lally.

Veloce Raptor

I believe the fastest Cup laps in the Rolex race were in the 2:10.x range, full course.

Regarding some of the stupid **** in the videos above, I hope those affected by it notified one of the organizers, complete with car numbers of the offenders, right after it happened.

ProCoach

V8's and WC are on the short course, not what we did last week.

himself

When we ran there, the passing zones for the DE were T20-T1, T1-T2, T10-11, T11-12, T12-13, T15-16, T18-19, T19-20. I don't believe we allowed 2-3 or 9-10. We had a lot less traffic issues than the videos from the PCA event with these passing zones. We also had a less cars on track, which I'm sure helped the traffic issue.

[On a sidenote, I think 6-7 would have worked. I got a pass there [in the instructor group] and there was plenty of room. I also think pass anywhere with a point in the instructor/advanced group would be fine on a track that's so wide everywhere.]

Looks like everyone came out of the woodwork for COTA. Including folks that could have used a little reigning in.

Vonschmidt

Great video, and glad to see the positive comments. I will get ours uploaded this week. Out at TWS right now living the life.

333pg333

Riiight...forgot they're on the short course. Wonder why they opted to do that? Maybe as they're actually doing what, 4 short races over the weekend perhaps?