Thread: Passing
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Old 12-22-2016, 06:53 AM   #2
Racer Boy
Racer Boy
 
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Join Date: Sep 2015
Location: Seattle, WA
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If it were me, I'd let car 11 run off the track, as he was the one that tried initiating the pass while on the grass. The 11 put himself in the position of probable failure. But I don't know what the situation was; is there a history with those two drivers? Is the 11 car the camera car driver's brother in law? Did the 11 car hit the camera car during the last race? Maybe there was a car pushing the camera car from behind and he couldn't really back out of it.

That is the problem with watching these videos, you only get a small slice of what was going on. There is a lot of give-and-take during a race, especially if it is against guys you race with all the time. Being aggressive is okay, but you don't want to take out someone else. It is amateur racing, after all - you have to keep in mind that it is just a sport that is supposed to be fun, there aren't world championships or millions of dollars at stake.

As far as the green car being pushy, he was just being aggressive at the start, which is normal. It was hard to see exactly what happened when he crashed into the other car, but it didn't look like a "dive bomb" pass to me. A dive bomb is when you come from way back in a desperate move that forces the other driver to either give room or get smashed. It's not something that you want to try often, refer to my comments above.

Regarding the crash, it looks like the green car set up to the inside to make the pass, then ended up getting on the grass on the inside of the corner, which led to not enough traction to make the turn, which then led to hitting the car he was trying to pass. It could have been that the green car just made a dumb mistake, or the car on the outside left the green car zero room, and the green car was committed to the pass and you can see the results in the video.

Again, please refer to my comments above about give-and-take. No one wants to get passed, but if the other driver has committed to the pass and can't avoid you if you block him, then you have to give the passing car some room, especially at the beginning of the race. If it is the last lap, then that is different.

Situational awareness is a very valuable talent to develop for racing.

Last edited by Racer Boy; 12-22-2016 at 06:59 AM.
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