User 52121

Agreed a much much better ruling.

Cheyenne

Are you on BARF? You should check that forum out...

sbelles

+1 and people say that there is no value in analyzing these incidents here.

Doug007

"Leave room. Close racing is fun and makes the beer taste sweeter after the race. Fixing bodywork is not fun and decreases proportionally one's intake and quality of the cold golden (amber) beverage."

I'll drink to that!

J richard

More the common sense expectations I have for NASA...

Mike Simard

NASA has always seemed more guided by common sense than legalese. This episode didn't fit what I've seen over the years and changing the ruling is no surprise.
They really are a great organization.
Racing depends on racers policing themselves and being prepared to admit mistakes freely and tolerating other's mistakes. That does happen normally.

analogmike

Yes, much more logical penalties.

"The over taking driver had position yet had not completed the pass. He had the right to the line. The overtaken driver also had the right to the line and was responsible to provide "racing room" generally accepted as 3/4 of a car width."

But I don't think there is a "line" on a straight. This almost seems like a case of blocking by the red car, which I did not see thrown out there. That would be his fault if it were considered a case of blocking.

Sorry to keep stirring this up but I had a similar experience in one of my first club races at Lime Rock in the middle of no-name straight. There is no NEED to apex the kink, but the car I was passing did it anyway and ran me off the road. But I didn't roll

Sterling Doc

And peace was restored to the RL P&C forum.

Nice to see this come to its resolution! Well thought out ruling.

bauerjab

As it turns out, we did share this video (and another one) with our racing community in order to keep racing fun and safe. Thanks so much for sharing!

hf1

I enjoyed reading the thread from the beginning and was happy to agree with the overwhelming consensus. Also was glad to see the more fair final resolution. However I don't agree with the bolded part above and I think that the white (trailing) car had no responsibility even according to the confusing and conflicting NASA rules that were quoted, much less according to basic common sense & logic.

Finally, I am baffled by the "leave 3/4 car width space" rule. You either leave racing room (co-exist) with the other cars beside you or you don't. Car's don't magically shrink to 3/4 of their widths and tracks often don't allow for safe dropping of 1/4 width of the car outside of the paved surface. Can someone explain the benefits of this 3/4 car width rule vs. the "car width + 1 inch" rule?

Eifeler

Nice recovery NASA. Prost!

One more vote here that the red car should have left racing room and is AT LEAST equally responsible for the incident (as was reflected in the revised penalty but not in the rules...yet).

Sterling Doc

From the NASA rules:

The main purpose of the “¾ car width” rule is not to allow one driver to “squeeze” the other driver. The main purpose and
intent is to alert the mind of the driver that is contemplating a pass that he/she may be “forced” to go two (2) wheels off-course to avoid a collision. Basically, this means that the overtaking driver must be certain that he/she can attempt the pass with room to spare, and must be prepared to take evasive action if necessary.

If racers start using this as a weapon, race directors take note, and penalties can follow, based on the intent of the rule as stated above.
...........................

In most cases, ¾ of one car width would be considered barely adequate racing room. However, in this
case there is “K-wall’ to the inside of the corner. Common sense would tell the driver of Car A that there
definitely be a collision if less than one full car width were left for Car B.

------
To HF1 - What sort of "common sense" says you ignore a collision forming up in your windshield because you are "in the right". You don't have to like it (and a talk with the racer, or race director afterwards may be in order), but you back out, or go two off to avoid the collision.

mark kibort

Yes, nice job NASA in correcting the ruling!

mark kibort

Its a grey area for sure, but its not blocking, you can move a approaching car over as long as you dont drive him off track, and if you can move over to stop his advancing before he gets up on you, you cant make the second move to your original line, as that would be classified as a blocking move.

Im sure the red car will have second thoughts on anymore door slamming in the future, and thats a good thing. race hard, but race clean! our cars are no fun to fix when this kind of stuff happens!

dbryant61

Yea NASA, yea Mid-Atlantic, yea Chris Cobetto, yea JJ, and yea to all you guys chomping on this for the past few days. Tough situation, healthy debate with just enough sparks, justice served with two cold-beer references just for good measure. Bravo!!!