A question for all racers.

[Legacy555]

It's simple - treat others as you would expect to be treated.

When I started racing as a kid (20+ years ago), you feared the race director's wrath! If you were unsportsman-like, you were dealt with swiftly. Very often kids with a good sporting manner were more respected over the kids that t-boned any car in sight - and this lead to you getting more help from the top racers. If you accidentally took someone out, you always waited in an attempt to defuse the race directors temper.... the racing was so close, you couldn't afford to get the penalty. Back then, kids took their penalties on the chin, sometimes even with a tear or two - but you respected the Race Director's decision and understood that we all need to behave fairly for the system to work.

Now that alot of the racers are adults, the unsportsman-like behaviour seems to creep out more often as drivers push the limit of what they can get away with, and some race directors seem to have lost their balls too or are just absent when needed which doesn't help. And of course, now being adults, Race Directors are getting lip and bad manners back from drivers when they try to execute their judgements.

My opinion is that if somebody accuses you of being unfair, you probably have been - so play fair, and enjoy your toy car racing.

[U1timate PigDog]

I race touring cars and as a few have already said most people tend to stop and wait if they've tagged someone from behind.

I sort of have a couple of rules with this, if I am qualifying and lapping the person then I generally expect that they should move over (as I do if I'm being lapped) this takes both parties no time at all and we can all get on with setting our fasting time.

In the finals its pretty much the same, if I was lapping someone and they didnt move over and I accidently tagged them I wouldnt stop (but would appologise) but if I was racing against them head to tail so to speak and I tagged them from behind (no matter what the impact) I would stop and wait, if side by side going into the corner then this is 50/50 and wouldnt wait.

[Robby]

Originally Posted by Legacy555

...... some race directors seem to have lost their balls too or are just absent when needed which doesn't help.........

.... and others simply ignore, or are ignorant of (and to), the rules - just bumps on a log, running the computer and calling out heats ...

[jsw123]

Originally Posted by Robby

.... and others simply ignore, or are ignorant of (and to), the rules - just bumps on a log, running the computer and calling out heats ...

Certainly not how it's run at my local club! The race director will absolutely lambaste anyone driving stupidly, which happened yesterday. He will also let you know when the leader is approaching, which is really helpful especially for a newcomer.

Now I've taken park in my second race meeting I can understand racing etiquette a lot more. I did, by mistake, take someone out yesterday. I landed a jump and was way off line so I tried to correct myself and in doing so took out a much faster driver. He didn't say a word, neither did I, I just let him go past as soon as he got back on the track. As a newcomer I'm usually at the back and because of numbers ended up in a 12 car B final. It was pretty hectic but the better drivers, all of whom must have lapped me at least twice had no problem at all getting past. As long as I held a line, any line really, they just breezed past no bother. It's drivers that are perhaps not quite as gifted that get their knickers in a twist!

[SlowOne]

Originally Posted by jsw123

It's drivers that are perhaps not quite as gifted that get their knickers in a twist!

That is so true! Just watch any A or B Final in any class to know exactly how it should be done. Watch the other finals for twisted knickers by the score!

[Groomi]

Originally Posted by jsw123

It's drivers that are perhaps not quite as gifted that get their knickers in a twist!

That was me yesterday, not having a go at others as I knew it was my own lack of ability, but I was getting incredibly frustrated in those 12 car finals where I could get a moments clear track to recompose myself. One small mistake (whether my own or someone elses) meant getting in a tangle but instead of then being left behind in an empty space, you simply ended up in the middle of another scrap!

As you say, the better drivers seem to find their way through OK, so we all know what we have to do...

[qatmix]

Yep, you should really wait. Again i see this all the time in TC racing but I don't really see it happen very often in offroad. Although when I started out in offroad it was really common, although I still stop.