Guys... he was approaching the other car at probably 100mph+. You can't exactly whip the wheel to the side at those speeds.

 

True, but he knew who was ahead, and he knew how off-pace he was driving........I believe he shared the track with this individual for many races.

 

Just my .02 after racing with Chris (the overtaking vette for a few seasons now) Although he is in T1 and my Evo is in T2 our classes normally share the run group. I was in that race a few second back.

The overtaking car was off line because that is where you are supposed to be when passing, especially when passing a much slower car. As several on here have stated, the car being over-taken is supposed to stay on the racing line, nice and predictable-simple as that. Which at VIR when setting up for turn 10 is far right, then a little squeeze on the brake, then back on the gas prior to the apex. The front car was way off line (Im sure to let Chris pass) then realized he could not make the corner at that speed from the poor line he was on and then over braked.

It is true that you are assessing the different characteristics of the cars you are racing, the track conditions, race position as well as the different drivers, but its not always easy to realize which car you are approaching, also keep in mind there are slower run groups out there as well. Chris had a great driver on his 6 (Johnny Miller of SWC fame who broke the track record that day) and basically had a short time to decide what to do, he went left ONLY because that was off line and he expected Hall to stay right. For those that know VIR, he is coming over a rise prior to 10 so the car is very light which is not a great place to try to slow the car, actually its pretty crazy to try to slow the car there actually and Chris is lucky he didnt loop the car. Had Chris tried to turn to avoid the slower vette I'd bet money he would have looped it.

I came around that corner a few seconds later and had to make a few quick moves to avoid the carnage-lights and a lot of plastic (that's what you get when to Vettes collided)

Also, this is NOT where you start racing, this is SCCA Nationals, the top amateur racing in the country where a good percentage of the drivers either race pro now, or have in the past. Hall really has no business being out there but there are others like him that that applies to as well. In my T2 car i was nearly 10 seconds faster per lap than Hall in his T1 car,

As far as those that say Chris could have simply taken a different line. When you are driving at 10/10ths the line you commit to is...well the line you commit to. If you can change to a different line (especially a tighter one) then you obviously were not at 10/10ths to begin with.

When I am overtaking a car, it is always a timing thing, I may slow on the straight 2-3 turns prior to catching him just so I can time a pass better and not meet him on a corner, that said, when you have a very good driver 10 feet off your bumper that is easier said than done. One wrong move and you are in second place.

As far as fault, If Chris was able to time it a bit better and not been so trusting maybe he could have avoided it, but once again, with a talented driver right on your tail that is easier said than done. Hall really needs to go race Regionals until he gets up to speed, I really think he is not that new to racing, just that slow.

Marty

 

But you cant actually expect racers to anticipate drivers who will at any given moment go offline and slam on their brakes, especially in a high speed section. Everyone knows that youre supposed to maintain your line so that the overtaking car is the one who passes offline. There are situations where if its predictable/consistent, you can go offline to allow faster cars to pass, but that varies. Anytime you go against the natural flow, especially in an unpredictable/inconsistent way, youre a catastrophe waiting to happen.

 

Even if the slower car had stayed to the right, wouldn't the overtaking car have needed to hit the brakes pretty hard himself before South Bend given how far to the left he was when entering the turn and how fast he was going? I think they would have been side by side through South Bend even if the pass had been clean, which would have required the slower car to make room (keep to the right side of the track and not cut to the apex), which sounds like a dicey proposition with this particular driver.

 

I can kinda see why you would say that from watching the video, but I have made several passes in that same place and had Hall stayed right, Chris would have had enough time to clear him and get back at least partially to the right to set up for the left and he would be in the braking zone where he could slow appropriately for the corner. The question would have been how much speed would the car behind Chris have scrubbed and would he have the momentum to take Chris down the hill exiting 10. It doesnt do the speed justice looking at the video, but even my fairly stock evo hits over 120 down that hill.

 

I'm surprised, but then again not so surprised, that SCCA doesn't step up more and prevent drivers such as Hall from running in a tight, competitive field when he is clearly a rolling chicane. That is exactly what the regional series is setup to offer (if he is even at that pace). There was a driver at the Sprints in a Radical who was clearly off the pace, by 15+ seconds. He was also chopping down on passing drivers, clearly too focused on what was ahead. I had just blown an engine and was watching from Canada corner when I saw him nearly clip 3 passing drivers. I made a special point to mention it to the corner workers who called it in. The guy still ran the race and apparently didn't collect anybody, but that type of **** is scary. A driver died that weekend (possibly from natural causes), but several others had major shunts, one of which I came upon. Apparently an FC driver was caught off guard by a slow moving chicane through the kink. He must have lifted and collected the wall. I believe he was helicoptered out.

_____
Jason

 

Yea, that slower guy should not have even been allowed to run in that class.

Why would you let someone who runs 10+ seconds slower compete on a national level.. Even if they have the money and time to do it??

 

Having just recently started back up with track days, I'm no expert chiming in.
The car up front made a sudden maneuver that Chris wasn't expecting. I also think Chris didn't expect his closing rate to be so high, if he knew he was closing that fast, I think he would have changed his line a bit. Chris also seems to know the driver he hit fairly well and knows how slow and unpredictable he is.....I think he could have backed off a bit to ensure he knew where car 1 was going and made a clean pass. But then again, overtaking someone who has no idea what they're doing and trying to predict what they're going to do next is very difficult ontop of worrying about the guy behind you trying to overtake you.
With the groups I run with, if you aren't running a minimum time for your class, they pull you off for safety reasons. If Marty in his T2 Evo is running 10sec a lap faster than a T1 Vette, something tells me that car shouldnt' be on track because he is that much slower than everyone else

 

some people just simply doesn't qualify as a racer. There should be a line where is actually the qualification is higher then just having enough money to get into it....