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I think a lot of this comes down to the intent. If you are slamming someone going into a braking zone to get by, it’s wrong. If you retaliating for a previous incident, the second one always gets seen. I agree with this being open wheel and can have quite serious consequences touching tires.
I do believe that close racing is going to bring contact that is unintentional. Look at the minimax racers. What a talented young group of drivers being able to run in a 5 car train like that for so many laps without a major incident and there was quite a bit of touching going on there. If some one checks and your in the middle you may well hit and be hit. They respected each other more than any other driver our there. If something would have happened racing for the last few laps we would have all expected it. Almost anything is better than a dnf and those young drivers know that.
If you are new, watch the flags, you affected some of the outcomes this weekend, I would much rather have seen Roman race Seesman for position than to have him taken out by a lapped driver. Even a clean driver will readjust a slower drivers line to get by if racing etiquette is not practiced.
In Tag Masters, there were too many differernt engine combinations and tire combinations to not see a lot of carnage. I see this as a much more serious invitation to problems than front brake and non front brake karts running together. What do you guys think? In Rotax Masters, 2 with FB 2 no FB in the top 4 positions.
There are drivers out there who respond different to pressure and if you race with them long enough you’ll know their traits as a driver. I see Ron Reed and Roman pointing each other by if they think the other is faster at that time, (each of them is good enough to hold the faster one off for a few laps I’m sure, but they don’t, they know they’ll lose touch with who there are chasing if they race too long) I also see slower karts attemting to hold onto something that is only going to cause them a worse finishing position ultimately. If there is a considerably faster kart in a certian portion of the track trying to overtake you, attempt to decide where he gets by you so you can be online to follow them through that section and learn why they are faster.
In Europe they black flag you when the leader passes as you are no longer a factor to finish in a scoring position. There are club drivers mixed with National level drivers, know where your at and respect the fact that you are getting value and can run till the end, just heed flags and respect the racers going for position. If one of the front runners has an issue and slows look what they do not to impede the race, where they pull off, the line they use to get to the pit, how soon they are out of the machine and it is moved to a safe place.
#1. Read the rules.
Ian asked how many people had the rule book and the response was not good. If he would have asked how many people actually read and understood them the response would have been worse.
There is no Intentional contact allowed.
I know and accept that there will be some contact. I got nerfed out of the Heat race and had to start at the back which is not fun. But, as much as I had position, that situation was more of two people racing and not backing off. Inadvertant contact and I lost. Not happy about having to start at the back for the Main but I accept that kind of contact as part of racing.
Unfortunately I also know that some really good dirvers didn’t get to finish the main due to either
A. Overly Aggressive driving, or
B. Bad driving (used the car in front like a bumper car)When that happens it is sad because you lose out on good racing. At the very least the “bumper” should finish behind the “bumpee”. But with no flags we are effectively encouraging bad driving. Not good for anyone.
If we never enforce the rules we could end up with bad race results and the best racers might not go to the Nationals because we didn’t run clean races. That doesn’t mean no one will get nerf’d out, but it shouldn’t be as bad as it was.
I can’t figure out why Doug can see 3 or 4 Black Flag situations but none got called. ???
Thanks for all the responses guys. I recognize that contact will happen and I expect some of it. I just wanted to make sure that my idea of reasonable contact is the same as others.
On that note this last weekend was my first race day in Rotax adn I had a blast. I tried to learn as much as I could on track while trrying to keep up with the faster guys. Everyone in the pits were great and I’m looking forward to the next race day.
i took a couple hard shots to the rear, yeah it rattled me for about 2 seconds, and then i moved on, this is racing and as such, contact is inevitable..i have video of a bump to my rear, hmm…if the guy behind me threw his weight into the front of his kart when he was a quarter inch off my bumper causing me to wildly drift the front sweeper, is that intentional? you be the judge, no harm no foul..but i did have a blast and was able to finish the race.
hope to see you all out there next time.
#00
Rear bumper bumps from catching a draft or coming up close isn’t an intentional bump. But can’t agree with no harm…
The rules are there to be followed.Anyway the issue is with blatant or flagrant bumps that send someone off into a bad wipe out. Sometimes they are intentional and sometimes the person just is driving out of control and uses the other kart as a bump brake. In those cases a black flag should be thrown.
The rules are also clear that unintentional bumping will occur and it is up to the judges and Race Director if those get penalized and to what degree.
I don’t think anyone is going to intentionally take anyone out. I smashed the back of some guy in an all white kart because of in turn one He went to the inside cutting the korner tight smashed on his brakes and started to fade out through the korner not holding his line and I had no where to go but into the back of him because of him smashing his brakes. If I would have been black flagged I would have been pissed On behalf of the corner workers they really have to watch and be sure to make a decision like a black flag…. After the race I approached the guy apoligized for the bump and explained why it happened and he said it was ok, it was his first race and he admitted he didn’t have a line…so I think a corner worker has to really make sure a black flag is the right call to make
First off I would like to say Ian does a great job of watching whats going on and at the tracks. But if you missed the race in Briggs Mod. class at Greely that was a Black/ Checker finish. I believe He didn`t like my call.How ever bumping is not allowed in my eyes and I love my black flag waving in the AIR ….
What is not allowable contact is how close that finger is to the belly button in the above picture! :woohoo
I just thought I would bring this back up after watching a video of a stars race from last year….. Bumping….. All I can do is laugph after watching the video they don’t bump in those races they inialate each other. I think that most feel lucky if they don’t come off the track without a side pod missing or something bent all out of wack.. Now that is what I call a hungry racer they were not intentianally taking each other out they just did what they had to do to win
Some times it just happens and other times people are just driving stupid.
Our rules are pretty clear (4.5.2 … The basic rule is “no contact”. ), and though I doubt most have actually read the rules, even accidental bumping can be cause for penalties including DQ. To quote 4.5.5 “Blatant rough driving (knocking a competitor from the line or the course, nerfing or other avoidable contact with another kart 4.5.2) is NOT subject to a warning rolled black but instead, a full waving black flag.
Those rules are clear and unambiguous.It is inane that people are focused on what kind of bumping they can get away with rather than learing how to just drive better and faster.
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