2011, one series or two?

[camaro_1le]

I was not at the race, as I am still trying to get the LT1 swap straightened out in my 3rd gen.

 

I have already told Kent my view, it was a boneheaded thing to do. I hope the general perception of the Mid-Atlantic region is that this stuff happens with all the drivers. It was a poor decision on the part of two drivers.

 

I would want to get around Harold's car at the start and put him in between me and the cars behind me. Why would you even consider bumping him up and keeping him between you and the lead pack?

[Sidney]

If I could add my 2 cents: This was not a Bump DRAFT. Bump drafting is two cars at top speed on a long straight-away with the following car drafting up behind and bumping/pushing the lead car using the draft to allow both cars to be faster.

 

This was not a Bump Draft. It was the faster car trying to PUSH the slower car. Unfortunately Mini-Morris was under the impression he could HIT Harold and speed him up. You're never going to miss a shift while Bump Drafting as you'll already be in your top gear at your max speed.

 

Lesson learned. You HIT a car and bad things can happen. No one in ANY region should ever try this. It's a fact and often happens that lower HP cars are actually faster around the track. If I happen to line up in front of an AIX/AI/CMC2 car that has more HP...I'm going to tell them "Don't Hit Me, I'll hold my line, you go around." If I'm truly a faster driver then I'm going to get around them a few laps later anyway.

 

If this had been called a "Missed Shift" then what would we have learned? Those happen all the time and crashes, especially during a start, can be expected. Kent came forward and explained the "Pre-agreed Bump" which everyone reading this knows was not a good idea. We qualify for a reason. If you're lined up behind someone then guess what...they're FASTER than you. Trying to artificially arrange the cars on the track is never going to work. Harold should have used all 227 hp to get moving. Mini-Morris should have gone around if he could. Harold was faster and would have likely passed him back anyway. That's racing!

 

Sidney Franklin

CMC #64

Midwest Region

[Al F.]

Kent, Glenn...stop turning everything into an us Vs them. Speak your mind if you must, but let the others represent themselves.

 

Dont agree with planned contact for any reason in CMC. Drivers make poor choices all the time, this is one example IMHO. It sounded like a neat idea, sounded fun. I can see that it might. That doesnt excuse it.

 

Thanks for sharing Kent.

[FBody383]

I don't mean this to be a "pile on" on Kent; just observations from one of the newer guys.

 

I would suggest to new drivers to build their cars to the absolute max that they can afford.

I understand you to say "build horsepower the maximum to the rules" so they can be competitive. I choose CMC over other classes to get away from this idea; i.e. there was added performance value in driver development. I ran last year at 212hp and tried to become a better driver. Ran first event this year at 225hp, was much more competitive and have gotten positive feedback from several in the group.

 

Eventually, EVERY driver MAY come to a point where their EXCUSE is limited TO their equipment, and they will start pushing the equipment AND THEMSELVES to 10/10ths EVERY CORNER to get the lap times.

My edits. On any given day, somebody, even with substantially fewer horsepower, might be quicker than you.

 

...at that point it's just a matter of time until they make a very small misjudgment and ball up the car.....and they will take someone with them....in a sense, it's no different than what we did this past weekend.

I struggle with that.

 

I'm not looking for risk free, just expectable. I have not seen folks driving over their heads long without getting feedback. If a "very small misjudgment" totals a car, is the colletive "we" doing enough in driver development? If our fellow racer doesn't demonstrate they understand when he/she is at the limit, should they be racing W2W? Do I want to race with people that drive like me?

 

Regardless, I do respect that you stepped up and discussed it.

[KiMifan]

Gee, I think he should have kept his mouth shut about the whole thing, rather than try to justify it. It's not like this was some freak accident that we can all learn from by discussion, unless the lesson is to not plan to do something that is just unbelieveably ill-advised. Like Sidney said, this was not bump drafting, nor was it a reasonable thing to try. It would be like saying, "Today I learned that robbing someone at gunpoint to support my crack habit is not a good idea." Yeah, no shit.

[liebbe1548534713]

Kent/All,

 

The intention of my post earlier in this thread was not to be holier than thou or pit one region against another, the intention was much simpler. I saw what was a potentially very dangerous or deadly situation that could have been prevented and should have never happened in the first place. The planned bump was being glossed over as a simple matter of minor incidental contact and I as a racer thought it needed further attention. I do understand that contact does indeed happen, but this was not accidental or incidental. This was not bump drafting. This was not a simple driving error. This was a completely irresponsible attempt at an unnecessarily risky maneuver. This seems to be the consensus based on other thread responses. Your original post about why this happened was that your car was slower and that you missed a shift. While these may be the technical reasons this went so wrong, the real reason is that you, your co-driver and another driver attempted to execute an incredibly risky maneuver. And while you may have stated it off-line somewhere I have not seen anything in any of your responses with any hint of taking responsibility or apology. All I have seen are justifications and redirections of the discussion. I hope that this event is reviewed, investigated and talked about throughout NASA management so that unnecessarily risky behavior is discouraged and properly disciplined. If I was your regional director, I would be inclined to pull all three drivers’ competition licenses for the rest of the year.

 

Rob Liebbe

[ls168camaro]

[quote="Sidney

You're never going to miss a shift while Bump Drafting as you'll already be in your top gear at your max speed.

 

!

 

Sidney Franklin

CMC #64

Midwest Region

 

Don't be so sure about that. The driver in front of you could certainly be going to 5th gear which is an easy gear to miss.

[Trevor571548534737]

Maybe some folks need to practice shifting more, if missing gears is such an issue.

[tacovini]

Mitch has a CTS-V.

[mitchntx1548534714]

Mitch has a CTS-V.

 

I also have a cat ... neither of which you will drive.