Thunderbolt Race Weekend

[Darren]

Going for an overall win is an ego thing, it doesn't matter for points.  I think its fine to do that if you're not interfering with anyone else.  If you both don't have someone in your class to race with then fine race the out of class car, but when you're doing so you have to not interfere with races within class.

In this case the guy is just a bonehead.  Yonker has video of him driving like a jackass on Saturday and eventually spinning out right in front of him!

[Phokaioglaukos]

On a related topic, how many people talked to the 'vette driver about his driving? Any useful reaction? It's hard, but unless other drivers help this fellow he may not learn.

I'm somewhat spoiled because in SCCA and MX-5 Championship racing my race is all one class. In the 12 Hour I did in 2008 there were lots of cars from faster classes--except for the RX-7s they were almost all faster. No out-of-class cars for me to race there....

[Darren]

Phokaioglaukos wrote:

On a related topic, how many people talked to the 'vette driver about his driving? Any useful reaction? It's hard, but unless other drivers help this fellow he may not learn.

I did talk to him. I asked 1. did you see me? and 2. did you know we were racing in class? Yes he saw me, no he didn't realize he was interfering with our race (duh!)

I also told him I thought his driving was entirely too aggressive and that he needs to back it down a little and be in control. I was very non-emotional about it. Bad drivers in fast cars are a part of racing and you have to deal with that. Nothing can happen that you can't be good enough to prevent -- I should have been good enough not to let an idiot do that to me.

[Phokaioglaukos]

Kudos to you for talking with him! It might event help him. I hope everyone who saw him as an issue talked with him too, in a calm, measured way as Darren did.

[betegh9]

Great talking with you guys at the track and after the race. Bob an Darren, you guys did an excellent job. I had fun there since I also know quite a few guys from the north Jersey area............ I was actually rooting for ALL my friends. Spencer of LoBuck Racing did a phenomenal job staying ahead of the unlimited blue NASCAR look alike. The rain was a great equalizer, and he ended up winning his class.

[Darren]

We have to find a picture of Spencer from the Halloween party to show the RTR crowd   He's a character for sure.  First he's about 7' tall and races a Honda Civic.  His race seat is basically in the back seat!

[Dan Yonker]

Video of the "jack-ass" in the Vette.  In Sunday's race I passed him on the outside of the octopus, and the he became Darren's problem .

Party On....

Garth

http://vimeo.com/7367604[/b]

[bobt993]

Dan,

You could have got around him earlier in the octopus by staying inside really hard and blocking him coming back in during the transition into the carousel.  You would then stay a little wide of the tight line.  It would put him completely offline up the hill and give you a chance at some distance onto the straight where he had power.   When your stuck behind a higher HP car, you need to get around him in before your stronger corners.  Otherwise he will re-pass on the straight with ease.    I just about caught Joey G at the beginning, but he had too much grip with the flared fenders and wheeled the car nicely.

[Darren]

That's wild Dan -- he almost clobbers you in T2!

What was interesting to me when I started racing was that I was schooled in RTR DE and I never thought about racing until I had probably about 100 DE days under my belt.

It's possible to get an SCCA racing license by just doing a 3-day Skip Barber School -- no other experience required!  The SCCA racing license is recognized by most other sanctioning bodies, including NASA.

NASA Mid-Atlantic does a great job of policing this -- there are a few guys racing in NASA Northeast, however, that I think should be under serious review.

One guy, for example, a rookie with 5 races under his belt, wrecked a $225k brand new 2010 Corvette ZR1 racecar that was built by Phoenix Performance.  That was 3 weeks ago and the car was DEMOLISHED!  He had it rebuilt in 3 weeks for $75k to have it out for this event at NJMP.

For the most part racing we all mostly know each other.  Sometimes you get random people and you have to be really careful around them until you know if they have a clue.

[Darren]

bobt993 wrote:

Dan,

You could have got around him earlier in the octopus by staying inside really hard and blocking him coming back in during the transition into the carousel. You would then stay a little wide of the tight line.

Yeah, sorry, that's where he clobbered me, I did exactly that.