...or did I just draw the short straw? :-)
The Race Drivers Committee (RDC) of the Sports Car Club of British
Columbia (SCCBC) met last night for our end-of-season meeting to discuss issues impacting road racing with the SCCBC (and the other groups who
run races at our facility), and somehow, I was nominated and accepted to
be the RDC Chairman for 2023.
It's not that onerous a job (so I'm told), but for this coming season,
we decided as a group that we'd like to see some changes in the way we
hold drivers accountable for on-track incidents, and my very first duty
as chair is going to be writing a letter to one of the RDC to officially inform him that he has been suspended from the committee for the coming year, due to a number of on-track incidents that we feel don't meet the standard of driving that every race driver should meet.
There's an odd dichotomy about this "sport":
We all want to compete to one degree or another.
But we all should also acknowledge that there are lines of
aggressiveness that we shouldn't cross.
Even at the highest levels of motorsport, there should never be
incidents where one driver basically offers the options: "I win, or we
both crash".
And we saw a little too much of that mentality (probably to a lesser
degree, but still in the ballpark)—particularly at our last race of the year.
The actual incident that I think galvanized us to change our system (in
ways yet to be determined) was between two drivers who were both in the running to win their class championship, and running 1-2 in the race as
it came near its finish.
They came up on a car on the exit of turn 9 onto the front straight and
as both moved to lap it the driver behind feinted as if he would go to
the left of the car ahead and then moved over and drove to the right of
the lead car, and the lead car then tried too late to "block" the pass, ending up with both of them crashing out with the trailing car hitting
the concrete block wall so hard that one of the blocks broken in half.
The contact with the wall peeled of the sheet metal door panel from
right ride side and it went flying into the tech area (where cars are safety-checked and weighed) where three of the emeritus members of the
club were sitting as they always do.
It was only luck that there were no serious injuries, but the car that
hit the wall is almost certainly a complete write-off.
Need I say that the lead driver was found to be mostly at fault for an
(at best) ill-advised, too late attempt to prevent the car behind from passing when that car had in fact already got an overlap, and that that
lead driver was the RDC member whom I must inform of his suspension?
So I'm honoured...I guess.
Hilarious...
...or did I just draw the short straw? :-)
The Race Drivers Committee (RDC) of the Sports Car Club of British
Columbia (SCCBC) met last night for our end-of-season meeting to discuss issues impacting road racing with the SCCBC (and the other groups who
run races at our facility), and somehow, I was nominated and accepted to
be the RDC Chairman for 2023.
It's not that onerous a job (so I'm told), but for this coming season,
we decided as a group that we'd like to see some changes in the way we
hold drivers accountable for on-track incidents, and my very first duty
as chair is going to be writing a letter to one of the RDC to officially inform him that he has been suspended from the committee for the coming year, due to a number of on-track incidents that we feel don't meet the standard of driving that every race driver should meet.
There's an odd dichotomy about this "sport":
We all want to compete to one degree or another.
But we all should also acknowledge that there are lines of
aggressiveness that we shouldn't cross.
Even at the highest levels of motorsport, there should never be
incidents where one driver basically offers the options: "I win, or we
both crash".
And we saw a little too much of that mentality (probably to a lesser
degree, but still in the ballpark)—particularly at our last race of the year.
The actual incident that I think galvanized us to change our system (in
ways yet to be determined) was between two drivers who were both in the running to win their class championship, and running 1-2 in the race as
it came near its finish.
They came up on a car on the exit of turn 9 onto the front straight and
as both moved to lap it the driver behind feinted as if he would go to
the left of the car ahead and then moved over and drove to the right of
the lead car, and the lead car then tried too late to "block" the pass, ending up with both of them crashing out with the trailing car hitting
the concrete block wall so hard that one of the blocks broken in half.
The contact with the wall peeled of the sheet metal door panel from
right ride side and it went flying into the tech area (where cars are safety-checked and weighed) where three of the emeritus members of the
club were sitting as they always do.
It was only luck that there were no serious injuries, but the car that
hit the wall is almost certainly a complete write-off.
Need I say that the lead driver was found to be mostly at fault for an
(at best) ill-advised, too late attempt to prevent the car behind from passing when that car had in fact already got an overlap, and that that
lead driver was the RDC member whom I must inform of his suspension?
So I'm honoured...I guess.
...or did I just draw the short straw? :-)
So I'm honoured...I guess.
lead driver was the RDC member whom I must inform of his suspension?
...or did I just draw the short straw? :-)
The Race Drivers Committee (RDC) of the Sports Car Club of British
Columbia (SCCBC) met last night for our end-of-season meeting to discuss issues impacting road racing with the SCCBC (and the other groups who
run races at our facility), and somehow, I was nominated and accepted to
be the RDC Chairman for 2023.
It's not that onerous a job (so I'm told), but for this coming season,
we decided as a group that we'd like to see some changes in the way we
hold drivers accountable for on-track incidents, and my very first duty
as chair is going to be writing a letter to one of the RDC to officially inform him that he has been suspended from the committee for the coming year, due to a number of on-track incidents that we feel don't meet the standard of driving that every race driver should meet.
There's an odd dichotomy about this "sport":
We all want to compete to one degree or another.
But we all should also acknowledge that there are lines of
aggressiveness that we shouldn't cross.
Even at the highest levels of motorsport, there should never be
incidents where one driver basically offers the options: "I win, or we
both crash".
And we saw a little too much of that mentality (probably to a lesser
degree, but still in the ballpark)—particularly at our last race of the year.
The actual incident that I think galvanized us to change our system (in
ways yet to be determined) was between two drivers who were both in the running to win their class championship, and running 1-2 in the race as
it came near its finish.
They came up on a car on the exit of turn 9 onto the front straight and
as both moved to lap it the driver behind feinted as if he would go to
the left of the car ahead and then moved over and drove to the right of
the lead car, and the lead car then tried too late to "block" the pass, ending up with both of them crashing out with the trailing car hitting
the concrete block wall so hard that one of the blocks broken in half.
The contact with the wall peeled of the sheet metal door panel from
right ride side and it went flying into the tech area (where cars are safety-checked and weighed) where three of the emeritus members of the
club were sitting as they always do.
It was only luck that there were no serious injuries, but the car that
hit the wall is almost certainly a complete write-off.
Need I say that the lead driver was found to be mostly at fault for an
(at best) ill-advised, too late attempt to prevent the car behind from passing when that car had in fact already got an overlap, and that that
lead driver was the RDC member whom I must inform of his suspension?
So I'm honoured...I guess.
and somehow, I was nominated
...or did I just draw the short straw? :-)
The Race Drivers Committee (RDC) of the Sports Car Club of British
Columbia (SCCBC) met last night for our end-of-season meeting to discuss issues impacting road racing with the SCCBC (and the other groups who
run races at our facility), and somehow, I was nominated and accepted to
be the RDC Chairman for 2023.
It's not that onerous a job (so I'm told), but for this coming season,
we decided as a group that we'd like to see some changes in the way we
hold drivers accountable for on-track incidents, and my very first duty
as chair is going to be writing a letter to one of the RDC to officially inform him that he has been suspended from the committee for the coming year, due to a number of on-track incidents that we feel don't meet the standard of driving that every race driver should meet.
There's an odd dichotomy about this "sport":
We all want to compete to one degree or another.
But we all should also acknowledge that there are lines of
aggressiveness that we shouldn't cross.
Even at the highest levels of motorsport, there should never be
incidents where one driver basically offers the options: "I win, or we
both crash".
And we saw a little too much of that mentality (probably to a lesser
degree, but still in the ballpark)—particularly at our last race of the year.
The actual incident that I think galvanized us to change our system (in
ways yet to be determined) was between two drivers who were both in the running to win their class championship, and running 1-2 in the race as
it came near its finish.
They came up on a car on the exit of turn 9 onto the front straight and
as both moved to lap it the driver behind feinted as if he would go to
the left of the car ahead and then moved over and drove to the right of
the lead car, and the lead car then tried too late to "block" the pass, ending up with both of them crashing out with the trailing car hitting
the concrete block wall so hard that one of the blocks broken in half.
The contact with the wall peeled of the sheet metal door panel from
right ride side and it went flying into the tech area (where cars are safety-checked and weighed) where three of the emeritus members of the
club were sitting as they always do.
It was only luck that there were no serious injuries, but the car that
hit the wall is almost certainly a complete write-off.
Need I say that the lead driver was found to be mostly at fault for an
(at best) ill-advised, too late attempt to prevent the car behind from passing when that car had in fact already got an overlap, and that that
lead driver was the RDC member whom I must inform of his suspension?
So I'm honoured...I guess.
There's an odd dichotomy about this "sport":
We all want to compete to one degree or another.
But we all should also acknowledge that there are lines of
aggressiveness that we shouldn't cross.
we
We
we
we
...or did I just draw the short straw? :-)
(RDC)
(SCCBC)
SCCBC
RDC
RDC
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