Hypothetical question for multi class racers

[COLIN STUBBS]

What would you do..... OK your in a race with classes based on engine capacity,and running just out of the top 10,leading your class easily but your big car handles really badly and your very slow in the corners.Two small class cars come up on you,battling for their class lead and you know you are holding them up.Do you let em through or carry on "racing" with them,knowing that they are racing for points in their class,not yours??

[Jonerz]

I've had much experience with this. Not last weekend was I racing with my F1-K class along side Rotax's. The only proper thing to do is get the heck out of the way of the boys racing for position. However, I did get a small kick in the butt for it, the driver immediately pursuing me for position latched on to the back of the Rotax's and got by. By the time I realised it he was a long distance ahead - I managed to real him in but it was too late, I caught up to within a few kart lengths of him coming under the checkered flag.

Chris

[Al Weyman]

How was he meant to know that you were battling for position Colin? I can not see brilliant out of my mirrors at the best of times and to do an appraisal on two cars behind me would be too much for my little brain. Maybe its something the marshals should have picked up on and shown the guy the blue. Personally IF you came barrelling up behind me then there would be something wrong with my car (as there was) and I would have got out of your way pronto but I still would have had no idea what was going in your class battle.

BTW thanks for you and your mates help with the wheel changing at the weekend, I never made the Sunday race as I finished our race with no less than three broken rocker studs and down to 5 cylinders its amazing it actually finished the race (and I was closing on you!). A testomy to the strength of the mighty small block chevy.

[Austinspace75]

I think this one is entirely your call. Technically you have no obligation to move aside at all. Regardless of classes, you're all in the same race... Put it like this: If you were leading the race overall and they were 2nd/3rd, would you move aside then?..... Didn't think so!

But, considering that this is club racing and you obviously want to behave nicely (which is the right way to race in my view) then its understandable and in some ways admirable if you feel like stepping aside. Personally, I'd only consider it if it was the last race of the season and I knew for sure that the guys behind me were battling for a class/championship win. Nobody really wants to be the guy that got in the way of good contest.

But, in general, you've paid your money just like everyone else and you're entitled to enjoy yourself by defending your overall race position fairly...

If you're one of the guys battling, then 'tough' I'm afraid.... Ultimately you ARE in one race, not four separate ones running together.

[graeme]

I race in a multclass series, and the only cars I generally see around me are in different classes - so we race each other (I'm the one in the little, great handling car with no power - they are the ones in V8 saloons). So "no" I wouldn't move over and I don't expect them to move over for me.

[hometune]

For me this is the attraction of multiclass and if I was in the second two I would not expect any help from the car in front. This happens all the time in DMN and leads to great dices between varying cars. It's what the spectators seem to want judging by the reaction to the races offered at BH yesterday.

[COLIN STUBBS]

Exactly.Thanks for the comments.Feel a whole lot better now,and didnt see any blues so im happy it was my fault,glad I appologised and the other guy accepted.Just became a bit confused at comments from some of the onlookers.

[hometune]

Originally Posted by COLIN STUBBS

comments from some of the onlookers.

Another topic ? Personally, I try to ignore most of those as they usually come from "experts" who think they would have had the benefit of hindsight whilst any situation was occurring. And most of them have never been in a competitive race.

[KayBee]

Originally Posted by COLIN STUBBS

Exactly.Thanks for the comments.Feel a whole lot better now,and didnt see any blues so im happy it was my fault,glad I appologised and the other guy accepted.Just became a bit confused at comments from some of the onlookers.

Were you on the same lap as the other two cars or were they lapping you? Because you should only see blue flags when you're racing if you're being lapped.

[COLIN STUBBS]

Good point. yes we were on the same lap and in our starting positions.Fair comment.My fault entirely.

[Al Weyman]

Come on Colin come clean tell then what car you was driving in this 'Hyperthetical' situation.

[COLIN STUBBS]

The guilty one....

[Austinspace75]

Originally Posted by COLIN STUBBS

Good point. yes we were on the same lap and in our starting positions.Fair comment.My fault entirely.

Sorry, I don't see what you've done wrong?.... I take it that you didn't let them through?... if so, fine, you were under no obligation to do so. If you did let them through then again, fine.

[Austinspace75]

Originally Posted by COLIN STUBBS

The guilty one....

ooooooohhhhhhhhh..... I get it now!

Time to rename the thread.... the hypothesis is over!

[Al Weyman]

Ha ha Ha thats brilliant Colin bang to rights, the camera never lies and everyone knows that Orange car of yours!

[Adam43]

Is that Matt Neal there?

The question is an interesting one. I feel you can battle with them, even if in another class. After all if you you are high enough overall you might get into Autosport or Motoring News (sic) - that'll give you a reason to buy those rags. As mentioned above, that is not to say you don't let them past if it suits another cause...

[graeme]

Originally Posted by KayBee

Were you on the same lap as the other two cars or were they lapping you? Because you should only see blue flags when you're racing if you're being lapped.

Nope, a blue flag just tells you that a car behind is closing/trying to overtake - it could be shown if you're on the same lap. It's just in F1 that it means lappery - but more people watch F1 than read the Blue Book.

[Al Weyman]

Thats what I thought and have been shown it in the past and indeed it was used to cars i was approaching at the weekend i am sure and we were all on the same lap after I had spun off.

[GORDON STREETER]

Having done hundreds of classed races over the years I am normally aware of whats going on around me . However its very rare that if I am about to overtake a car in one of the the classes above me that they are given the blue flag. Most cars that I race against don't corner any faster than me so I give them space on the straits.

[Stacy]

Originally Posted by graeme

Nope, a blue flag just tells you that a car behind is closing/trying to overtake - it could be shown if you're on the same lap. It's just in F1 that it means lappery - but more people watch F1 than read the Blue Book.

If taken to the letter of the law though, in a large grid you'd therefore expect them to be out permanently.. In reality of course the definition of a "slower car" is one about to be lapped, or just running with a significant speed differential for some other reason not one being actively raced.

Seems to work by and large, and I'm with Gordon as I've never seen a blue flag assisting me overtaking a larger capacity class car.

For what it's worth Colin, while I like to think I've got an idea of the class situation when I'm out there, for me a place is a place is a place and I tend to apply classes after the race is over. If someone wants to get by in the meantime, they can earn it mate - whatever class they're in! I do think you were up against it at Snett though, as it's very hard indeed to get past a much more powerful car there. For example, if Brian Stevens had beaten me to the Esses for the first time on Sunday, as he did on Saturday, I seriously doubt I'd have the pot with me today..

Stacy
p.s You naughty boy you!

[AU N EGL]

Originally Posted by COLIN STUBBS

The guilty one....

Dont think Bump drafting works when the White car has its brakes on.

[Micky.H]

All that tarmac and so little space

[BertMk2]

You race against whatever is out there - as others have said quite often you'll end up having scraps with cars from different classes - so what? It's racing - if they're good enough to get past you then they will. Also having cars from another class behind you scrapping away with each other gives you a handy buffer from cars in your class - if they want to get to you they've got to come through the scrapping pair from the other class first.

As has been mentioned already the DMN championship is a great example of this - the best scraps are normally in the middle of the pack with cars from pretty much all the classes involved, at Brands earlier in the year you had a DTM merc, a clio cup car, 2 Minis, a pair of Imprezas, a cosworth or two and a Lancia all fighting for position. There were battles within classes in that pack but each car was fighting for overall position (not just within their class) and that made it some of the best racing I've seen all year as the various cars played to their strengths at different points on the circuit. More overtaking in one race than in a whole season of F1

[dtype38]

I've had similar situations, but in my case we are struggling for a decent size grid so we are often amalgamated with another race. That sometimes leads to me having a race with other cars that aren't even in my championship, never mind my class. Last week I was racing having a great race at Oulton Pk with a Sierra Cosworth. I was actually leading my bit of the race and he was somewhere like 6th or so in his. I guess if he'd known he might have backed off and let me go so as not to slow me down, but then I'd have had a really boring race so I was pleased he didn't. Mind you, if I'd needed the points for my championship and was worried about being caught I might have had a different view. Such is life.

Incidentally we both got blue flagged for a car in his part of the race, which was on the same lap as we were. The car in question was a Radical that had started last becasue of some issue in practice. He was making his way through the pack and was some 20 seconds a lap quicker than the Cossy and me. I think its safe to say that qualifies as "faster car approaching from behind" and deserved the blue flag. We were quite happy to move over but, interestingly, one of the other drivers in my bit of the race got very upset at being shown the blue flag for this car. He was thinking that it was for position and wanted to battle for it (even though he was in a much slower car) but was worried that if he passed three blue flags he'd be disqualified. Power of watching F1 eh?

[COLIN STUBBS]

Allways a difficult one I suppose.I was just trying to give myself an excuse for a bit of pretty poor driving,but it was very frustrating racing for a position that could have given me a chance to win the championship class,and thinking I was being baulked badly.But in hindsight the white car was able to leave me for dead on the straights,although I was having to slow to a crawl on the corners.I think if the pic actually showed where we touched though,it would have been more obvious what happened as in my little car Im on the power there!!