Extreme Driving

Passing is not allowed in most club racing of the hot lapping or time trailing varieties.  Autocrossing doesn’t involve passing at all.  However, there are some things to know in a racing that involves passing, or in a situation where passing in a corner is unavoidable or inevitable.

Passing can be achieved successfully under three situations:

• You use your car’s greater horsepower or momentum when exiting a corner to pass on a straight.
• You  pass under braking by controlling the preferred driving line while entering a corner.
• You take advantage of your opponent’s mistakes.

Likewise, there are some rules for safe passing.

1. The responsibility lies on the shoulders of the driver initiating the pass to ensure that it is done safely. The opponent should be aware of  the manner ‘Where you pass’ and ‘How you pass’
2. It is illegal to block. Veering, whether it is 10 inches or may be 10 feet, to keep another car from getting beside yours is blocking. In most races, the organizations allow you a single move to protect your position, but repeated left right movement is considered as blocking.
3. If a driver illicitly manage to take his car beside your car, give room for the other car to carry a line thru the corner. It is not necessary to give him the optimum line, but cutting the car off that results in forcing and of course it is considered as poor racing. And if the officials notice it as deliberate, you might be fined or subjected to penalty. Racing is not a roller derby. Elimination of your competition is never and objective.

It needs a lot of planning while passing under braking or on a straight close to a corner, than a simple pass on in the middle of a long straight.  The objective of passing in the braking zone is to control the inside line to the upcoming corner. To keep your driving line through the corner when placing you car between the other car and the corner apex, the other car must yield to give you room. The preferred line into the corner can be essentially “controlled” in this manner. The potential drawback of this method is that your car will not be keeping the car in the optimum line thru the turn.  Even if you control the corner entry, but if you have to slow down too much in between, or make an apex too early, the car which you have just passed may speed up or get a better exit line, and pass your car right when exiting out of the corner.

Practice sessions might be forcing you not only to practice the optimum racing line for fast laps when the track is clear of traffic, but you also will want to practice some passing lines. Move to the inside from the edge of the track normally you would be driving, brake a little farther and then turn in a little later. Practice taking a line that will put your car in the middle of the track while coming out of the corner, or a least far enough over from the edge so as not to leave enough room to be passed for other cars on the exit. (Hogging the road so that there is not enough room to pass, but still avoiding veering/swerving, is not considered as blocking).  To reduce the chance of causing an accident when attempting a pass during the race, you should practice the passing lines and be familiar with the passing lines.