[ Closed ] Banned for life? (Page 3 of 7)

I had words with them Saturday night.

The driver,  very cordial and pleasant to me in normal conversation at any given race, when I approached and asked he did say he was the driver who was in the car the end of the day on Saturday when I was in the Toronado.

I suggested that he needed to thank me for moving out of his way while jeopardizing the safety of the cars to my right just so he wouldn't eat wall coming into the front straight. He was completely behind me as the wall curves inward and he tried to begin his pass. He suggested that I moved over on him and I retorted that the wall moved in when I and everyone else was driving the line. 

I drive my mirrors. A lot. And saw it happening and moved over a bit abruptly and unfortunately pushed everyone else right and managed to only get clipped at the front fender a bit as he got past.

I reminded him it is the passing cars responsibility to make a clean pass, not the passee's responsibility to make room for him when he is about to get stuck doing something stupid.

I then (somewhat out of my character) told him that if he tries to squeeze between my 4400lb car and a concrete wall again, I will NOT move for him. And he will eat wall. And I will laugh.

I can out accelerate most cars. I have little confidence in my brakes or suspension. I have a lot of respect for teams such as spank and fabtoys and k-car and checkers and starlets and mg's and all the other butt terrible lemony cars  so as I arrive near them I wait until a wide corner or a straight space. I get to continue. They get to continue. What a concept. The only contact our car had all weekend was the donut asshat into turn 11 as he dove in and tried to out brake 10 other cars already in the corner. Brilliant.

Fully agree.  Just to be clear, I was not questioning Jay or his ruling on this in any manner.  Nor was I saying that they weren't driving like dickwads.  I'm just saying I didn't see any of that first hand from this car on this weekend, and that I thought the donuts were kind of funny.

But as you say, I agree that Jay certainly would have good reason, and I'm not questioning that.

bs

I think the butthurt is justified. There were 3 E36 M3s at this race and as far as I know none of them received penalty laps(one had modifications that doubled what the whole car is SUPPOSED to cost) and the #13 had no theme at all.

Jeezo. Kinda glad I didn't make it out there for the race. Been driving the Marlin for 4 years with zero contact. But if some BMW wants to start some crap I'd be glad to oblige them...  Most drivers seem to steer well clear of that bomb...AS THEY SHOULD!

No, not really.

Hay everyone, longtime lurker, first tiem poster.  Love the show.  Anyway...

TL;DR: Hi, I'm Festus, and (apparently) I drive like an asshole.  I'm really sorry.  Seriously.

I had a fantastic time at Sears this weekend. It was my best finish by far (9th) since my first race (ever) at Sears earlier this year, I set multiple personal best laps, and had an absolute blast driving my old street car around one of the best tracks in the country for hours on end.  Frankly, I was a bit crushed and mortified to find this thread full of people who I might have pissed off this weekend.

Note: I am not the donut guy; that's another member of my team.  If he wants to pipe up, that's up to him.  My only stints this weekend were in the yellow M3 (#13) from 12:30-2:30 on Saturday, and 12:30-3 on Sunday.  If you were on-track during those times and felt like I drove like a dick, I sincerely, truly apologize.

First, answers to a few questions I've seen posed above:

An E36 M3 for $500?  Blow me, dude.
Yes, it's an M3.  Yes, it was purchased for $500.  Trust me, I sold it.

I bought the car in sorry mechanical shape in 2007 with ~200K miles; it'd had a rough life at the hands of a previous owner.  I put in a new diff (you should see the shredded bolts that came rattling out of the old one), clutch, suspension & brakes at all four corners, motor mounts, fluids, belts & hoses, etc.  But, while I owned it, it lived on the street in SF, then spent some time in a covered (but leaky, outdoor) garage - the body was rough.  After failing smog three times in two years, CA blessed it with gross polluter status, and I'd need new cats before it could be registered.  The E36 M3 has two cats that run $1800 (each) from BMW, and need to be welded in.  Tack $4-5K onto the on-the-road price of a 20-year old BMW with 220K+ miles in rough cosmetic shape, and you get a pretty valueless car.  After putting so much love into her, it broke my heart to see the car just sitting in my garage, useless.  When a friend offered $500 to turn it into a race car that I could drive, I jumped at the chance.  This was my first weekend racing my old car.  Tell me you wouldn't.

Why didn't an M3/those dicks get any penalties?
The car was assessed penalty laps during BS.  It's an M3, are you kidding?  I wasn't there when it went through, but it got more than a handful.  As far as other penalties go, I was flagged once during my time in the car (Sunday early afternoon), but was released by A-judge-who-I-shall-not-slander since it "was our first of the day, and we'd had a clean race so far."  Other than the original subject of this thread, I believe one other team member was BF'ed, but I was with two teams this weekend, and wasn't always in the Rubber Chicken pits.  As far as cheatiness goes, the only non-OEM parts I put on the car when I owned it were Konis, since they were way cheaper - and better - than replacement Beemer parts.  I know the new owner put some coin into the seat, cage, wheels/tires/brakes, but there's no blower V12 under the hood or anything.  We had a theme, but some of the drivers felt it was too much (yes, even for Lemons), so we abandoned it - come find me in the pits sometime.

So, my driving.

I know this car extremely well, and am intimately aware of its capabilities and limits.  In my previous Lemons races (Sears, Butt-Turrible, & T-Hill), I wasn't able to drive anything nearly this fast, and I was reveling in my chance to truly enjoy the limits of a car I'd driven on the street for years.  Seriously, a full drift all the way through the Carousel, passing slower cars on the outside?  Dicing with an equally-matched competitor, lap after lap, trading spots as you chase each other around the track?  GO.

Since I know the car, the fact that I made significant contact twice this weekend is inexcuseable.  In the first, I was coming up the inside line into T1 when the black coupe to my right came in quickly onto the line quickly - that cost me a mirror - and one on the front straight when I got squeezed out between the drag strip wall and another car to my left.  I was not rear-ended in T11 (that might have been a teammate), and don't believe I made any other noticeable contact during my time in the car.  In both of the above instances, I thought I had a clear lane, and watched it disappear while I was in it.  My driving was too aggressive in general, and I probably shouldn't have taken the chance either time.  If you were in one of those cars, I owe you an apology now, and a six-pack at our next race.

This is my first year, so more than anything else, I'm concerned with making a good impression and doing well by the people that brought me into this series.  Most of them have years (or decades) of experience racing & winning in everything from Lemons to the IOM-TT and they're all outstanding people who I respect a tremendous amount.  My goals on their team(s) have been:
1. Don't get hurt - done
2. Don't destroy your car - done
3. Don't embarrass yourself or your team(s) - yeah, so.

The third point initially signified a desire to be fast enough to hang with my more experienced teammates, and I achieved that - I get around a track okay.  However, this weekend has shown me that's only half of it - I've clearly come up short in the "don't be a dick" area.  Though a halfway competent driver, I am still an inexperienced racer, and need to be a bit more polite if I want to remain welcome in this sandbox.

I don't know about the rest of you goons, but I'm here because I FUCKING LOVE THIS.  If it has a motor, I'm in.  I live and breathe motorcycles (MSF RiderCoach, USA Cycling Motoref, tour guide, photomotor), have drifted, jumped, or otherwise hooned every car I've ever owned (and many I haven't), and have been a car guy since my diaper-clad ass put grooves in my parents' floors drifting my plastic banana-car.  When I found out that I could honest-to-god race cars in my backyard for relatively short money, I never looked back.  Because racecar.

Though I'm irreverent as hell, I do take this seriously.  The woman who rode the del Sol into the T1 wall is a teammate, and my heart dropped when I heard she was in it (she's okay).  When my other team's car was involved in a pretty bad accident this weekend, the first thing I did after confirming our driver was okay was to go to the other team's pit and immediately apologize for ending their race (through their apparent skill and impressively crude efforts, we didn't).  Two bad accidents is too many.  I love driving hard, but I don't want to be responsible for hurting anyone, including myself.

So, if I ever piss you off out there, come find me and let me know.  I'm wearing a purple Crown Royal suit with flames on it; if you can't spot me in the pits, you probably shouldn't be in a race car.   I'm still going to do my damned best to pass your ass in whatever car I'm driving, but I'll do so cleanly and respectfully.

As someone said above:

Challenge accepted, slowpokes.  See you out there.

Well said.

Well, you just answered that question.  You cannot find a $500 M3.  The rules specifically cover this, the base price of the car is what you paid for it initially, not what you sold it to yourself for.

That said, thanks for the post.  It's rare that somebody from one of 'those cars' shows up here and contributes to the discussion.

I'd seriously recommend you and your team mates poke around on this forum and YouTube, and find some of the Cervesa videos.  Those guys really are artists in terms of moving through traffic cleanly while not disrupting it or otherwise pi$$ing anybody off.

Cheers,

bs

My first race, Sears Oct. 2011, I had a chance to talk with Jay a bit.  I just sort of chit chatted with him and at one point he told me that there are three rules to Lemons: 1. Don't be a dick  2. Don't be a dick  3. Don't be a dick.  He said everything else will work it self out.  When I and the Dually made contact in turn 7, I went over to them and gave their driver a bottle of scotch and apologized profusely.  We went back and forth blaming our selves, me for diving in and him for turning in.  Did I have the line?  Sure.  Should I have waited to pass, absolu-freakin-tely!!!  It is racing and stuff happens.  Just make sure that when you screw up, or even when you don't, you act like an adult and figure out what happened and make sure that it never happens again.  I do agree with everybody else that the 13 and rubber chicken guys were too aggressive and need to just chill out a bit.  When Cervesa was behind me in turn 8 and I pointed him by, he actually waived as he was making another move, pretty impressive.

Just to be very clear, I did not sell the car to myself - I sold it to someone else who turned it into a race car.  I tried to sell it for shit money locally w/ no luck, so $500 for a race car seemed within the spirit and letter of Lemons.

Trust me, I'm planning on it.  Like I said, I was brought into this by some truly world-class competitors, and it's clear I have more to learn from them than how to drive quickly.  I speak for nobody but myself, but will be a cleaner, more respectful passer from here on out.  Come find me in the pits if you feel like I haven't lived up to that claim.

FWIW, Mr. Donuts & Jay have discussed the on-track events and come to an amicable resolution/restitution.