My thinking on passing is that I don't agree with the idea that you can put
a rule, or even a hard guideline, in place to control passing in any form
of racing. My only two rules about passing are don't hit the other car and
don't get hit by the other car - in no particular order! The relative
position of one car with respect to the other has no bearing on it. People
hear rules like "the responsibility for a safe pass lies with the passing
car", and leap to the conclusion that the passee has no responsibility for
participating in a safe pass. They hear rules like " if your front fender
is even with or past the passee's door handle, you have the right to the
corner". All that rules like this do is set up expectations that cannot be
met on the track, where real life intrudes on theoretical perfection.
I've often seen, and performed (rarely!) passes that were very safe where
I was a full car length behind the passee when we entered the corner (you
can do this at many corners at Mosport). I've seen and participated in
great passes (both as passee and passer) that took two or three corners to
complete, and included a whole bunch of side by side racing. So a rule
that says examine your peripheral vision (which varies widely between
people with otherwise excellent vision) does, IMHO, little more than give
people some grounds to bitch when something goes wrong.
All successful passes have one thing in common - the drivers cooperated to
the extent that they left the other driver enough room to avoid a
wreck. So if you think about it, both the passer and the passee are
responsible to ensure a safe pass. The greater weight of
responsibility is on the passer, of course, because he's the one putting
both cars in harms way, but the guy being passed (read gender neutral
references of your choice here, please) often has the option to allow a
safe pass, or not.
This presumes, and in fact requires, that the passer have a brain in his
head and attempts passes that have a hope of happening. So the real "rule"
is a pretty simple one, should be easy to follow - "don't be stupid!" Use
"common sense". Be "responsible". And when you're being passed - give the
other guy a break, and don't force a wreck, and then blame the other guy
for your inability to play fair.
Brian - Rules - I don't need no stinkin' rules! - Evans
\Jack eloquently inscribed...
>However, the whole thing brings to mind a subject near and dear to my
>heart -- namely, the proper code of ethics for passing:
>
>1. Punting another car out of the way is forbidden and should be
>punished.
>2. Blocking a clearly faster overtaking car is not done (I'm talking
>here about a car that is lapping you, or a clearly faster car that for
>whatever reason is behind you -- like a Corvette behind a Sprite or a n
>XKE behind my TR4.
>3. Blocking another car of the same speed is bad manners and bad
>sportsmanship -- unless it is on the last lap and is for finishing
>position.
>4. For cars of nearly equal speed, fighting for position, whose corner
>is it? It's really simple -- if the overtaking car CAN BE SEEN WITH
>PERIPHERAL VISION by the overtaken driver, the corner belongs to the
>overtaking car. This means that the overtaking car must have its front
>fender at least halfway alongside the overtaken car.
>5. If the overtaking car is 'kinda' alongside, say its front fender is
>abreast of the overtaken car's rear fender, the corner belongs to the
>car in front -- the driver can't necessarily see the passing car, and
>the passing car has no right to the leading car's line.
>
>These are the practices followed by respected drivers in every auto
>racing venue.
>
>Okay, go ahead.
>
>--
>uncle jack
>TR4 - 10 mpg
>TR6 - 30 mpg
>(plus a few other differences)
Brian Evans
Director, Global Sales
UUNET, An MCI WorldCom Company
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