<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">You may not like this answer, so here's your opportunity to delete before reading.<div><br></div><div><br></div><div>I, and I'll bet many other people in the FOT, have been in the "douchebag's position before, when some guy traveling at a speed that did NOT NEED to be at the line, pointed me by while I was traveling at full chat--and pointed me into a place I did not want to go. So my question is, if you were traveling that slowly, why were you "pretty close to the line"? The line is where you need to be when you need to be there, in other words, when you are at speed and it's the only safe way through a corner. If you are <span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-decoration: underline;">driving</span> to the line, you don't need to be there. If the line is the only place that the laws of physics permit your car to be, then you do. </div><div><br></div><div>There's a reason why they say in any good driver's meeting "if you are not at racing speed, get off the line". Several years ago this guy who drove a car at what I considered 3/10s asked me why I always passed him so closely. I, and the entire race group, generally lapped him at least twice, sometimes three times. He was driving the line, precisely. Just where his driving instructor told him to drive. And he never deviated from the line. I considered him the most dangerous thing I would encounter in any day on the the track. I was thrilled when he quit "racing". In contrast, when you come up on a gaggle of FV's battling it out, they might be 20 MPH slower than you, but they need to be where they are. Nothing but respect for that, lift and wait. </div><div><br></div><div>If you aren't at the limit, then you are blocking the only safe path through the course at speed. the guys who are coming up behind you can't tuck in behind and wait for you to finish a corner--they'd have to stand on their brakes to do that, and that's dangerous in any racing condition. As Burt Levy might say, the other driver was to blame, but you are responsible. </div><div><br></div><div>We really DO call this racing. Vintage events are car shows with picnics. Vintage races are races. If you are not at racing speed you don't belong anywhere near the racing line. </div><div><br></div><div><br><div><div>On Sep 25, 2008, at 6:04 PM, Jim wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><div>Steven,<br><br>Unfortunately they use the "r" word when describing vintage events... so<br>some of the "kids" who loved Pole Position or the different PC games feel<br>they need to drive like a jerk to be a "racer". Or maybe they saw "Days of<br>Thunder" once too often ;)<br><br>Aside from keeping an eye on the mirrors, it's probably not a bad idea to<br>install an in car camera. Next time.. grab an official and show them the<br>video. It's kind of hard to argue against a video.<br><br><br>Cheers,<br><br>Jim<br>Dallas<br><br><br>-----Original Message-----<br>From: fot-bounces@autox.team.net [<a href="mailto:fot-bounces@autox.team.net">mailto:fot-bounces@autox.team.net</a>] On<br>Behalf Of Steven Belfer<br>Sent: Thursday, September 25, 2008 6:24 PM<br>To: FOT<br>Subject: [Fot] Bedding Brakes, dangerous driving<br><br>Speaking of dangerous driving situations, two weekends ago I raced at<br>Buttonwillow in my TR3. I had new brakes that needed bedding. This meant I<br>needed to heat up my brakes in the first practice session, let them cool so<br>I could have good braking power for the rest of the weekend. I was in the<br>first group so at 8:30am, I told the proper official-type guys what I needed<br>to do and started in the back. I'm also running a fresh engine and feeling<br>that out as well. Anyway, after about 3 or 4 laps I'm just about done<br>bedding the brakes and I'm about to get lapped. This is the first "Warm-up"<br>session of the weekend. A red 2002 is approaching me and I waved him to the<br>left and moved to the right a little bit, while staying pretty close to the<br>line. Next thing I know the guy is passing me on the right ON THE DIRT at<br>full speed. He re-entered the track, got a little squirrelly, threw some<br>rocks onto my car and kept going. This guy was racing hard with a yellow<br>P1800 and not letting up one bit. He didn't want to sacrifice his lap time<br>when overtaking me. The level of aggression took me by surprise and made me<br>angry. It was, after all the morning warm-up and I truly did my best to get<br>my job done safely and get off <br>the race track. I tell my friends and family, when they ask if it's <br>dangerous, "You see, it's a gentlemen's sport and there's no prize money."<br>I would say that most of the drivers are safe and respectful of their<br>machines and their abilities but all it takes is one douchebag move and<br>you're in big trouble.<br><br>~SB<br><br><br>_______________________________________________<br>Support Team.Net <a href="http://www.team.net/donate.html">http://www.team.net/donate.html</a><br><br><a href="http://www.fot-racing.com">http://www.fot-racing.com</a><br><br>Fot mailing list<br>Fot@autox.team.net<br>http://autox.team.net/mailman/listinfo/fot<br><br><br>____________________________________________________________<br>Click here to find answers for Love, Problems, and what your Future holds.<br>http://thirdpartyoffers.netzero.net/TGL2241/fc/Ioyw6i4sufAJOayzbWQtj71HjwvM2L2ShWzEzSvnDvza8yJPMIlDpj/<br>_______________________________________________<br>Support Team.Net http://www.team.net/donate.html<br><br>http://www.fot-racing.com<br><br>Fot mailing list<br>Fot@autox.team.net<br>http://autox.team.net/mailman/listinfo/fot<br><br></div></blockquote></div><br><div apple-content-edited="true"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(118, 15, 79); font-size: 16px; ">Bill Babcock</span></div><div><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div>Babcock & Jenkins</div><div><a href="mailto:Billb@bnj.com">Billb@bnj.com</a></div><div>503.936.7660</div><div><a href="http://www.bnj.com">www.bnj.com</a></div><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#010000">Editor</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#010000">Ke Nalu e-Magazine</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#010000"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; "><i>Paddlesurfing's Web Journal</i></span></font></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#010000" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; "><i><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></i></span></font></div><div><a href="mailto:Bill@kenalu.com">Bill@kenalu.com</a></div><div><a href="http://www.kenalu.com">www.kenalu.com</a></div><div>blog: <a href="http://www.ponohouse.com/ponoblog">www.ponohouse.com/ponoblog</a></div></div></div></div></div></div></span></div></span></div></span> </div><br></div></body></html>