Jack W Drews wrote:
<snip>
> 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.
<snip>
I think this rule of thumb works ok if the overtaken car is configured
like a Lotus 7 where the driver sits far back in the car. However, in
a vehicle where the driver is more in the middle of the car, this rule
of thumb operates on the margins of peripheral vision, which not only
varies among people, but even the best peripheral vision is limited by
the eye port in many helmets.
In non-vintage forms of racing, responsibility for safe passing is
solely on the driver making the pass. When properly executed, the
overtaken driver has no choice but to permit it. As it was put in an
article in Sportscar several years ago, "If you ever find yourself
saying, 'I hope he sees me,' you've made a mistake." Any pass which
requires the cooperation of the overtaken car (beyond being consistent
and driving the line) is inherently unsafe.
I know of one vintage organization which, in its efforts to cut down on
incidents, has begun to stress the responsibility of the overtaken
driver to not shut the door on cars attempting to pass, which means in
essence, the overtaken driver is expected to off line in order to
accommodate a car which has yet to overlap before the turn in point. I
see nothing but mischief coming from this rule, and it appears to me
that the effects in some of the production classes are the opposite of
what was intended. I don't see how one can realistically expect shared
responsibility for who gives up the favored line to be safe when
uncommunicated separate decisions are made in a split second at speed.
It's my understanding that the friendly desire of a driver to give
Ayrton Senna the fast line was what got him killed.
Some people appear to think that they have the fastest car and therefore
everyone else should just move aside. To others the craft of racing
involves figuring out where and how to pass, and regard slower cars a
moving chicanes. Several years ago I did a four-hour enduro with the
SCCA at Sears Point. There were three classes of cars, ranging from
sports racers to Datsun sedans 30 second per lap slower than the fastest
cars. I recall that at the drivers meeting one of the fast drivers of
one of the really fast cars underscored the steward's instructions that
the slower cars should not go off line to facilitate passing. He
pointed out, "We are much faster than you. One corner or two isn't
going to make much difference, and if you try to help, you may make
things worse. We know where we're going to go and you don't"
--
Tom M.
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