Confrontation on the race tracks

[lovef1]

Hello peeps,

Yesterday I had my first confrontation on the race track. So the situation started of like this; I started heat 1 from the front,and the grid is based on the curent championship standings. It starts from bottom up, the guys at the bottom of the championship table will start from the front, and the guys at the top will be starting from the back. heat 2 will be based on heat 1's result, and the final heat wil be based on heat 2's result. So the problem occurred in heat 1. I was leading, building a gap and suddenly on a fast corner I had snap oversteer and had an excursion. This really bugged me, and I sort of drove with my emotions after that. After the spin my lap times were poor, as I was basically telling the kart to do things it didn't want to, and I had this guy pressuring me. I was determined not to let him pass, thinking back about it, maybe i was a bit too determined. The guy was all over me, so I had to play a bit "dirty', such as delaying on my exit, so I caught him out several times. I knew immediately that I was going to get into a bit of trouble, and I wasn't wrong, as soon as the guy got out, he started cursing and flipping me off. Knowing that i was the guilty one, I immediately apologized. i was wondering if you guys have endured such situations and how did you deal with it?

[ascarracinguk]

Originally Posted by lovef1

Hello peeps,

Yesterday I had my first confrontation on the race track. So the situation started of like this; I started heat 1 from the front,and the grid is based on the curent championship standings. It starts from bottom up, the guys at the bottom of the championship table will start from the front, and the guys at the top will be starting from the back. heat 2 will be based on heat 1's result, and the final heat wil be based on heat 2's result. So the problem occurred in heat 1. I was leading, building a gap and suddenly on a fast corner I had snap oversteer and had an excursion. This really bugged me, and I sort of drove with my emotions after that. After the spin my lap times were poor, as I was basically telling the kart to do things it didn't want to, and I had this guy pressuring me. I was determined not to let him pass, thinking back about it, maybe i was a bit too determined. The guy was all over me, so I had to play a bit "dirty', such as delaying on my exit, so I caught him out several times. I knew immediately that I was going to get into a bit of trouble, and I wasn't wrong, as soon as the guy got out, he started cursing and flipping me off. Knowing that i was the guilty one, I immediately apologized. i was wondering if you guys have endured such situations and how did you deal with it?

Yep been on both sides of it! Although I've never driven dirty

The best thing to do is if you make a mistake, get back on, take a deep breath, clear youre head and concentrate on catching the guy in front of you, always focus on that, not defending the guy behind you, if you do you will just loose more time. If he is quicker than you it's often better to just let him pass and then latch onto the back of him and get towed along with him away from the other karts behind you.

[terence]

Never ever drive dirty! A bad reputation will take you years to get rid of.

[GORDON STREETER]

Originally Posted by terence bower

Never ever drive dirty! A bad reputation will take you years to get rid of.

I always have a shower before I get in a car Terry !

[wnut]

I would try a quiet apology away from the circuit when the testosterone levels have abated a bit.
If you are prepared to apologize he should be gracious enough to accept.

Sounds like his behaviour is not something anyone would be proud of, so hopefully he is as keen to let it go as you are.

If he wants to hold a grudge, he probably isn't worth your time anyway.

[graham bahr]

i would say a lot depends on what you mean by dirty, defensive driving to keep someone behind you isnt dirty

[lovef1]

Graham bahr, i didn't push him off the track or anything,all i did was close the door on him,and tried to hold him up at the exit of the corners... Do u reckon that is "dirty"???

Wnut, he did accept my apology, but i am a bit embarassed, to an extent that i am considering to skip the next meeting, because the confontation hapenned out in the open and everyone saw. Do you think the situation is a bit overated?

[graham bahr]

Graham bahr, i didn't push him off the track or anything,all i did was close the door on him,and tried to hold him up at the exit of the corners... Do u reckon that is "dirty"???

absolutely not! weaving around the track and deliberately braking in the wrong places would be, all you did was become very wide!

you were driving defensively thats very different, if he the chap following you was that much faster he would of found a way round you.

doesn't sound like you have anything to apologise for to me.

[Stainless Steve]

Sounds like you're stressing out over nothing.
Just get back out there.

[lovef1]

thanx for all the advices guys, i really appreciate it...

[wnut]

Originally Posted by wnut

I would try a quiet apology away from the circuit when the testosterone levels have abated a bit.
If you are prepared to apologize he should be gracious enough to accept.

Sounds like his behaviour is not something anyone would be proud of, so hopefully he is as keen to let it go as you are.

If he wants to hold a grudge, he probably isn't worth your time anyway.

Hi lovef1,

I would go with Graham Bahr and Stainless Steve in this one.
There are a couple of other points here, the race was a reverse grid, so you were racing for position and it is his job to get around you.
Your defensive driving sounds like it was fair and you did nothing unfair.

This leads me to believe that he is trying to intimidate you, and you should not let him get away with it.
You have done nothing wrong as far as I can see, so you made him go slower than he would have liked to, tough!
I would hate to think you would even contemplate sitting out the next race,
or indeed letting him get past in future events; that is what he is trying to achieve; make him earn it!

Regards wnut

[lovef1]

again thanx for the advice guys... it's just that i'm the only rookie in that class, and for some reason I feel guilty. I assume the others are right seeing that they have more experience than me, but after the advice i've received from you guys, maybe, just maybe he's the guilty one. And wnut, I have to be honest, in my final heat, as soon as I saw him coming up, I let him pass. I'm not proud of that, but I swear that will never happen again.

[wnut]

Originally Posted by lovef1

again thanx for the advice guys... it's just that i'm the only rookie in that class, and for some reason I feel guilty. I assume the others are right seeing that they have more experience than me, but after the advice i've received from you guys, maybe, just maybe he's the guilty one. And wnut, I have to be honest, in my final heat, as soon as I saw him coming up, I let him pass. I'm not proud of that, but I swear that will never happen again.

Good, lovef1 so you've learnt a bunch of valuable lessons!
I like your attitude, keep going and learning, focus on your driving and development.

You'll make a lot of great friends, and meet a few complete idiots on the way. Ignore the bulldust!

Good luck and let us know how you're going from time to time.



P.S. Graham's post should have been at the top of my previous response, I have no idea what happened there.

[valet_dave]

I don't want to start an argument here, but after reading everyone's comments, I was a bit curious as to how everyone defines "defensive driving." While I get the principle that you can "make your car wide" when fighting for position... I've also heard drivers say that holding your line is the respectful thing to do, particularly when you're not racing for prize money.

I'm not really advocating either one, it depends on how erratic the driving is, but with open wheelers, things go pear shaped very quickly when someone unexpectedly moves off their chosen line and makes contact. So I can see why people could get upset when the "racing incident" happens. What do you think?

Dave

[wnut]

Originally Posted by valet_dave

I don't want to start an argument here, but after reading everyone's comments, I was a bit curious as to how everyone defines "defensive driving." While I get the principle that you can "make your car wide" when fighting for position... I've also heard drivers say that holding your line is the respectful thing to do, particularly when you're not racing for prize money.

I'm not really advocating either one, it depends on how erratic the driving is, but with open wheelers, things go pear shaped very quickly when someone unexpectedly moves off their chosen line and makes contact. So I can see why people could get upset when the "racing incident" happens. What do you think?

Dave

Couldn't agree more that you should not be driving erratically.
I think you should stick to your lines and the other car should be able to find a way around you - cleanly, no bumps and boring.
Driving defensively, maybe not using the full track width on the way out of the corner, so he has to pinch his line more than he'd like to, not going through the apex as fast as may be able to (parking on the apex to block off the corner), not taking a wide corner entry on the way in to a turn so he can't bomb under you, would all be fair tactics.

Erratic behaviour - never! Brake testing never, never, ever!

This also presupposes that the car's are actually racing for position, as was clearly the case above, if you are being lapped stick to your normal line and back off the throttle gently in the "right" places and just let the fast car through.

DO NOT suddenly decide to give the fast guys the racing line and suddenly pull off your normal racing line!