Quote:
Originally Posted by mkoesel
You guys are making a good point with this, definitely.
That caught my eye when I read the writeup too. But, I was thinking about it, and I would say that you will probably get a good idea when you meet the contenders in person whether they are reasonable, honorable people.
Personally I would loan my car for such an event (well, if I had a trackable car, heh) as long as I trusted whatever driver was in my car, and trusted his discretion about not putting himself in a bad situation. That is, not going against another driver he thought was incompetetent, lacked integrity, was over-egoed, or was just a wackjob. I realize that's all pretty subjective and plus nothing can prevent mistakes 100% no matter who is driving (even pros crash). But I'll bet the organizers have thought about all of this and will take precautions to make sure risk is minimized. In fact, maybe someone should bring this up with the organizers and see how they respond. Get more details about the race situation and how things will work.
Finally, don't amateurs go wheel-to-wheel and the advanced M-School at VIR? Sure, that's using the school's cars, but at the same time, how often does an incident really occur?
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I haven't been to an M school, but I doubt that they let them go all out against each other. There is a reason passing in corners is not allowed in some clubs--even in the advanced groups. Other clubs allow it, but not for the sake of promoting wheel to wheel racing--more to give the faster car more options to go on its way as opposed to waiting for a point by or a straight, etc. Driving schools are not about racing to begin with, and what happens on the track is not pushed to the extreme to the extent it constitutes racing. You can attend the "competition school" of a club or go to a professional racing school such as Skip Barber, and obtain a racing license depending on how you do, and get into some real racing action then as a rookie.
IMO, as niterider said, for this type of event, the risk of an amateur driver getting really worked up about his car or reputation and developing red mist are high--I guess everyone has a different definition of what high is. Even seasoned pros lose it sometimes. Just check out the last lap of the ALMS race at Laguna Seca. Combine potential mental run-off with lack of skills (unless you put a proven driver in each car) and it could be problematic. Again, my 2 cents...