Car Testing versus Driver Coaching.

[The SpeCTator]

Recently I dropped in to Brands on a Friday afternoon for general testing in advance of a 2 day race meeting commencing the following day.

A couple of drivers were active in all their class sessions and pounded round and round looking for that last tenth of a second prior to racing on the Saturday and Sunday.

Both had a pit crew of 4 persons plus, one had a camper van of modest proportions, the other a small hotel on wheels.

Well come the weekend, both drivers encountered the safety car during their race and it was obvious from the very first lap behind the safety car that they had little intent of closing the gap to the car in front.

After 3 laps for one driver and four for the other, the race recommenced.

Driver one had left a gap of at least 30 cars in front and driver two a gap of approx 15 - 20 cars.

Their races were screwed as the safety car lights went out, as were all the unfortunate drivers behind them.

I should point out that neither driver was a novice and one driver had a number of seasons racing behind him!

Perhaps they should have saved the £170 test fee and invested it in driver coaching?

[Lancsbreaker]

Or merely read the regs and finals, and listened at the driver briefing? I know when racing with CSCC it was always covered in the paperwork and in the briefing.......tho admittedly it wasn't unusual to find someone who found the concept of "close up to the car in front" a difficult one to grasp.....

[Al Weyman]

I have had this in rolling starts as well.

[R59]

What Lancsbreaker said - the CSCC did a blinder with us in the Special Saloons at Cadwell - straight out of the assy area onto the rolling lap!!! No gridding up, just out, sort yourself out on the track, lights out, get on with it!! Awesome!! And if you're trailing behind - hard luck!!

[Peat]

^ The karting way. Minimal fuss, get's races turned around quicker. Only problem is you have to rely upon the competitors to know which side and which row (and who they should be behind/next to) to be in. Some people seem to find this 'challenging'.

[Al Weyman]

Ok.so what happens if the car in front is is not keeping up and you are not alloed to overtake as happened at speedfest the leaders were down paddock hill before I could get going, I almost got lapped before my race had begun!

[R59]

Nudge up behind them Al!! I agree - it relies on people being switched on and awake - really the CofC should have called off the start at your Speedfest race if it was as bad as that.
Though sometimes you get people who just don't "go" when the lights go out on a rolling start - I'm going out on a limb here - I may have this the wrong way around - as I understand it : on a "Start", when the lights go out YOU ARE RACING, and you can overtake, just as you can on a standing start, let's face it, you don't wait until you've gone past the starter's gantry before you make that lightning off the grid move do you? It's only on a "Re-Start" where you have to wait until you've gone past the starter's gantry because that's where the first GREEN flag is - before that you're still under YELLOW conditions. So in your case Al - you could have overtaken as the race had started.

[midgetman]

Take them out and "explain the error of their ways". The Blue Book is a handy tool. Besides its comprehensive coverage of the rules and regulations it's a sizeable tome.

I've never heard of the "straight out of the paddock and get on with it" used in car racing, that's brilliant. Far too much faffing about in motor sport, for drivers and spectators alike!

[Tim Falce]

Originally Posted by R59

Though sometimes you get people who just don't "go" when the lights go out on a rolling start - I'm going out on a limb here - I may have this the wrong way around - as I understand it : on a "Start", when the lights go out YOU ARE RACING, and you can overtake, just as you can on a standing start, let's face it, you don't wait until you've gone past the starter's gantry before you make that lightning off the grid move do you? It's only on a "Re-Start" where you have to wait until you've gone past the starter's gantry because that's where the first GREEN flag is - before that you're still under YELLOW conditions. So in your case Al - you could have overtaken as the race had started.

It depends where you're racing and who makes the rules up on the day. Claire Smith and the 360 for one and also at Spa wont let you overtake until you pass the lights for some bizarre reason, I'm with you that you should be able to overtake once the lights go out as with a standing start.

[midgetman]

The Blue Book is delightfully vague on this, it doesn't mention where overtaking can start at all. In contrast it's precise regarding rolling starts for karting:

"It is an offence to break formation before crossing the start line itself"

Many kart tracks paint a yellow line down the road, some of them with a hatched area to keep the two lines apart.

(Sorry, I know it's sad to have a BB on the shelf here at work!)

Tim makes a valid point. The whole point of the MSA is to have nationally-accepted and clearly written down rules on how everything works at a race meeting. Then drivers travelling the country with different clubs can expect the same procedure wherever they go. Imagine if one club decided to use flo' pink flags instead of yellows for cautions "because we believe it is safer". Total chaos!

Yes, yes, I know "drivers should read the SRs" but the start of a race is pretty damned stressful, and one starts working on instinct not re-reading the instructions in one's mind as the throttle goes down.

[Al Weyman]

Actually a correction, we were allowed to race as soon as the race started but by this time I was only just coming out of Clearways so slow were the cars infront and couldnt even see if the race was underway! I did actually ask the clerk at the drivers meeting the start procedure and she confirmed once lights off we are racing but it still relys on people closing up. I think we should be allowed to overtake if someone is holding back like that even before the start and if they dont like it and close back up well let them back into position. I remember at Clair's race being held back by a complete and very nervous novice as I broke down in qually and that was really bad but I was told afterwards if I had taken the inititive and overtaken the young lady I wouldnt have been penalised, all a bit confusing. This video shows it all but at what point should I have taken the decision to have overtaken and risked points on licence? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaRLnRUgbVM

[midgetman]

You did the right thing Al, much better a compromised start than a reputation as a wild man. There's no justification in an official saying *afterwards* that it was OK. What would have happened if she'd suddenly decided to speed up as you tried to overtake? You're right, there would have been hell to pay for overtaking on the rolling start and rightly IMO.