Track Tac

Brake Check on Race Start

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fperry6

New member
I searched the site but could not find any relevant discussions, so I figured I would ask the question.

I would like everyone’s opinion on an issue we have at a local track.

We 1 driver that likes to brake check coming to the green when he is on the Pole. This causes 2 obvious issues for everyone else 1) it bottles up everyone in the leaders lane so that the leader can pull away on the Green and 2) it can cause the outside pole sitter to be in front of the leader on green, which is a penalty.

Some people think it should illegal and some people think is just dirty racing.

How is this handled at other track?
 
We have a "Kick" line in the middle of 3 / 4 if leader kicks brake checks or anything that gives him a jump on our single file starts 1st offense is warned they go around again for another try, if he does it again he goes to the rear. That usually gets the attention of the rest and they wait till the leader hits the line then they kick.

Rooster
James Stevens Motorsports
Winston Salem, NC
 
Have to laugh to keep from crying. Don't know. The track is in charge. A kart on top of his head may eventually give an attitude ajustment. Pole position sets the pace. Lol. This guy has spent to much time in bumper to bumper traffic and learned to much about cause and effect. Saw a guy with a open flathead bring the field to the green at near idle. He had a disc clutch that was unbelievable and a stall to match. I think his front wheels came off the ground as he left the field. What you gonna do. But yeah. Brake check and traffic yo-yo effect shouldn't be done on purpose.
 
My fiancee is a big fan of crawling starts and beating people off the line with sheer clutch performance, I personally don't fire until I get hit to propel me forward while the guy behind me lags.... If I'm second I'll lay on his bumper so we take off the same speed. Pole sitter starts the race, tracks decision where brake checking is okay of not.
 
Why is there a gap between your nose and his bumper to start? ;) LOL, j/k....
Usually people who resort to such tactics do so because they "need" them -- ie. they aren't quick enough to take off on their own and stay in the lead. So, when you eventually run them down, it's possible, though I can't condone it, that some late braking using their bumper on turn entry will fix the issue. Again, I can't condone it, but what goes around usually comes around.

Safer, and my preferred method, if I'm 3rd, is to leave a larger gap and time it so that the leader closes the gap and we start accellerating at the same time, negating his maneuver. The poor sap in 2nd, outside, has to wait...
 
Brake checkers should get pushed. If he can't hold it, oh well...
It's too hard of a judgement call for the flagman to call it in most cases. It's kinda unrealistic to expect a black flag for the leader.
 
If you can determine, with no chance of a error, that he's doing this, I think your justified in taking care of it yourself. I've done it a few times. I can remember every one of them. It's so easy to put someone out if you know what, and how to do it. If it's done right, they won't even know you did it. I put a guy off the side of the track and he later came back and apologized for hitting me. He was banging me in every corner, so I think he was trying to do the same thing to me.

To make things fair, I would go to the person and, in a very very controlled manner, explain to him/her what I think was happening. Don't get mad, don't argue, don't raise your voice, just explain. Don't say anything else. Don't threaten. If it doesn't stop, and the track officials make no effort to control it, take care of it yourself, out on the track. If you're skillful enough, nobody will ever know what happened.

I would never do this without cause, and your desire to win a race is not cause.
 
I kinda have to agree with Ted,... Why is there a gap between your nose and his bumper to start? for me, if the group your racing with can drive, then it's ok to be bumper to bumper... keep the pressure on for the start and for restarts.. big gaps give you more time to move to the side, but also cause bigger bumping if the guy checks up... not condoning it but if you know he's going to break check you let him have it.. then consult an official after the night is over..
 
Some of my local tracks start single file, partly because of brake checking. They also allow following karts to pass on the outside, so if I notice he's brake checking then I jump around him on the outside. Now that some guys have gotten beat that way, they have been going to the outside themselves while still trying to slow the start. Because the rules don't allow karts to pass on the inside (until they pass a certain place on the track) all you can do is get up beside him and stay there until you pass that point. But it can give you the inside advantage going into turn one.

If the race lineup was determined in any way other than qualifying speed, some flagmen will allow people to pass the pole man. They assume he wasn't fast enough to be there, especially if he's a regular who doesn't usually run up front.

Another tactic is to go ahead and start pushing him before you get to the takeoff zone. If you rap him just as he enters the takeoff zone you might throw him off his plan.
 
We have a "Kick" line in the middle of 3 / 4 if leader kicks brake checks or anything that gives him a jump on our single file starts 1st offense is warned they go around again for another try, if he does it again he goes to the rear. That usually gets the attention of the rest and they wait till the leader hits the line then they kick.
Click to expand...
wth? must be a local term? new term? texting term? LOL
whatever it means, sounds like the track has it under control.....
 
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