Lapping and beeing laped

Since endurance racing gets more and more popular this topic might become important in the same manner and I would like to bring this (back) to our minds with a few simple words.

I posted this first into one of the sign-up threads and Warren asked me to put this in here too. It's mainly something I have read and learned from other sources (and a little experience too), one of them beeing Jamie Willson, who wrote about this in his document among other aspects of racing (I dont have it at my finger tipps right now and I am to lazy to search as well :)).

I know we all are quite kind to each other and in case we are about to beeing lapped we will give room to the leading cars and let them pass. However there is always some risk of an accident due to misunderstanding. If both drivers know what to do and what to expect it's certainly a bit saver.

Basically there are 2 options to let someone pass.

  • If you are on a straight and a faster driver comes close, go off the racing line and lift the throttle (if necessary). Please do this early enough, so that the closing driver can see your intention. Do not just slow down on the racing line! The faster driver might smash into your rear, because he can not tell your move and when he sees it, it’s too late.
  • If there is no straight just drive your normal racing line and let the faster driver overtake you as he would overtake a direct opponent. But in contrast to a real fight you are very kind to him and assist him getting past you. You can break a little earlier and leave the door wide open so he can easily slip through at the inside.
Everything else is unpredictable and thus dangerous for both.

All tracks have parts that are not suitable for overtaking. You should go as normal and good as you can there, without caring about the car behind you and take the next good opportunity to let the faster car pass. It’s no problem for the good driver to adapt to a little less speed but there is a big risk of crashing if you do something the following driver can not predict. (This is usually true for fast corners that are taken at full speed or with just a little lifting where everyone is at the edge of the car.)

Further comments are very welcome.
Nico
 
I like your idea's for touring cars and single class racing, a good little write up on lapping in a single class field, sure it's going to help allot.

However I would like to give thoughts from other mixed class endurance racing leagues (like SSCA) 2 sent on lapping cars in a mixed class field as we have good experience with the best way lapping can be dealt with in mixed class racing, (I.E LMP / GT's) This is also how they do it in real LMP / GT endurance racing and is the best and safer way to do lapping in a mixed class field in a long endurance event.

Lapped Traffic:


  • Drivers about to go a lap down, or are already one or more laps down should not block or race the cars attempting to lap them. It is up to the passing car to make a clean safe pass. If a lapped car does block a lead lap car, then the lapped car may be penalized. WHILE THE RESPONSIBILITY FOR A SAFE PASS RESTS WITH THE OVERTAKING CAR, let people lapping you pass by holding your line and speed. If the passing car is inside you, slowly lift off the gas and allow them to complete the pass. Do not contest the pass going into the corner. Or you can move to the low side after exiting a corner. However, do make sure that you do this smoothly. DO NOT SLOW DRASTICALLY! DO NOT CHANGE LINES ABRUPTLY. Some of the tracks are very difficult to pass on unless there is cooperation between the drivers.
 
Coming thu :)

My 2 cents worth, mainly based on experience taken from endurance races in the mini:

  • Keep an eye on your mirror(s) and be aware of who is around you / who you are actually racing against / who is leading the race ... if a car that you don't recognise suddenly fills your rear view mirror, odds are that you are being lapped. Try toggling the name display function on [TAB key] and check if you are not sure ... looking behind you shows the following cars' names.
  • Once the race leader comes through, expect more cars to follow soon!
  • In conjunction with the mirrors I use the on screen "hud", which tells you how close the car in front and behind you is. Again, if there is a car filling your mirror, but the hud tells you the "car behind" is 10 secs away, then you are being lapped.
  • Endurance races are especially tricky with different fuel loads and tyre wear at different times during a race. Be mindful of cars wanting to lap you who may not be massively quicker or have more badly worn tyres than you. If you use your extra grip levels to drive in a stop & start manner; blocking their faster lines through a corner, then accelerating away quickly out of the "blue flag warning zone" ... then you may think you are going a lot quicker and keeping out of their way, but in actual fact you are just blowing their race by ruining their lap times and tyres, whilst running a high risk of finishing it in the gravel for both of you. Just move over and let them get on with their race ...
  • It seems that the blue flag warnings don't always work at some of the addon tracks either, be more alert to being lapped on such tracks.
  • I also think that you shouldn't rely 100% on the blue flag warnings to tell you to get out of someone's way ... track awareness and common decency should tell you to do that :wink:
  • Finally ... when being lapped do not panic! This will lead to a bad move and either put you or the lapping driver in the kitty litter. Calmly decide what your move is and make it very clear what your intentions are whilst executing it.
Generally though things here at RD are great ... which I for one seriously appreciate :thumb:
 
when i've come to a corner about to be lapped i've always gone in deep allowing the faster car the racingline. on straights if i get chance to move off line i will, if not the faster car is generally quick enough to move around me. i don't think you can be 100% prescriptive on how to allow cars to lap you, (would you act the same way coming out the last corner of valencia compared to mid of that start finish straight compared to approaching the final corner?) the only thing you do need is 100% attention from both parties, not too aggressive from the over taking car and not to wishy-washy from the lapped one.

i think you soon pick up an understanding where you are on the track and where the lead cars are.

also the more people race together the more people start to understand how the others drive.
 
I think there are many ways of letting cars lap you, and we can also be told all the different ways of how to let cars lap you, but at the end of the day it all comes down to that moment. I believe that if the drivers are aware of what is going on around them on the track there shouldn't be to much of a problem. Sometimes you do have problems when lapping cars but then 1 or both of the drivers were not aware of what was happening around them. Maybe 1 had gone fishing and the other was racing.. :)
Anyway i think we all just need to be aware at all time while racing. :)
 

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