the staff of Motorsport Marketing
the staff of Motorsport Marketing Writer
12/15/16 2:09 p.m.

Story by Tim Sharp, photos by Gordon Jolley

A great race driver adjusts to the unique variations in each race. He is both an offensive and defensive player simultaneously. He is both hunter and prey. He must know when to follow and when to attack. He must assess the strengths and weaknesses of each competitor. He must be an expert …

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chaparral
chaparral Dork
12/15/16 2:54 p.m.

If your class has brake lights, you need two pushbutton switches - one that turns the brake lights on without pushing the pedal, one that causes the lights not to come on when you do brake.

It should go without saying that you need to do an OEM-quality wiring job on those switches so they don't malfunction and cause an accident. They should also be different shapes/locations so they can't be confused.

Duke
Duke MegaDork
12/15/16 3:07 p.m.

Speaking as someone who informally struggles to keep my OCD in check, can you pretty please change the author of this thread to "The staff of Motorsport Marketing"?

That has quietly bugged me for a long time.

Ed Higginbotham
Ed Higginbotham Associate Editor
12/15/16 3:17 p.m.

Changed it to read more like a name. Sorry for any mental turmoil we may have caused.

captdownshift
captdownshift GRM+ Memberand PowerDork
12/15/16 3:29 p.m.

I try to do so quietly and covertly and will blame it on the dog if need be

GTXVette
GTXVette Reader
12/15/16 7:28 p.m.

I usually try to keep passing in a time frame; how many laps have I been Following them and how many laps are Left. If I am in 2nd I can Wait some If not It's time to go.

Trackmouse
Trackmouse Dork
12/15/16 7:44 p.m.

Being in a low powered vehicle my whole life I've found it useful to keep a good amount of distance between me and the target car, then, before the solid yellow line goes away, I floor it! Usually build up enough speed to pass that old geezer in the Buick. But it takes anticipation kids! .....hey.... wait a minute! You guys were talking about racing!

GTXVette
GTXVette Reader
12/15/16 7:57 p.m.

In reply to Trackmouse: I drive a BUICK,and may resemble that remark.!

Itzamaija002
Itzamaija002
1/16/17 9:49 a.m.

The car in the picture on the left has to be Randy Pobst.

David S. Wallens
David S. Wallens Editorial Director
1/31/17 1:41 p.m.
Itzamaija002 wrote: The car in the picture on the left has to be Randy Pobst.

The yellow VW? That's actually Chris Albin. He's still racing with the SCCA, while his daughter, Andie, works for the club.

wspohn
wspohn HalfDork
2/1/17 11:12 a.m.

I used to pass a lot of faster cars under braking as my 4 wheel discs never faded, but there are other ways.

Back when we still did standing starts, the flag would drop and everyone would dutifully line up for the first corner on the driver school taught and approved line. I seemed to be the only one that realized that because you were entering the corner 20 mph slower than you would be on the next lap, you could take a totally different line and drive right by the dutiful horse. Used to regularly pass 2 or 3 cars every start.

The other one that sometimes raised the ire of my fellow competitors was done on an old WW2 air base track. You could tell where the track path went by the area where the weeds had been worn off, but otherwise there were no boundary lines. Everyone took a wide arcing path so as to enter the sweeping turns at the right angle....except me, who often too a much tighter, straighter path that covered less distance. Result? When the guys that took the 'correct' line arrived at the apex, I was there first, albeit going more slowly, and they had to slow down as they couldn't pass me. A couple had a talk with the organizers who had a chat with me, but I just said that until they demarcated a boundary line, they couldn't possibly write a rule banning any particular path. They didn't like it, but finally agreed.

Itzamaija002
Itzamaija002 New Reader
2/2/17 9:34 a.m.

In reply to David S. Wallens I use to autocross with Randy way back when. He had a girlfriend who had a rabbit that he would drive and he was always on two wheels :

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