I had two, one definitely deserved, one probably not.
In the first, I had been trying to get around a car for several laps. Finally, going into the chicane at Stafford, he braked early, I took a look to the outside and realized that there is no way he would see me and give me room at the track-out/apex of the second part of the chicane. I tucked back in behind him and followed him in. Alas, in that brief instant that I took a look, another car tucked in next to me, and I chopped him with my rear (not sure, maybe bumper, maybe quarter panel).
The irony is that in that very turn, the car I was chasing spun, and had I not gottend tagged and gone off track, I might have T-boned him. If I had just been a bit more patient, I would have pressured him into his own error. (Face palm)
So, my take-away is don't change your mind (and obviously use mirrors better). In just a second or two, a car can fill the gap where you used to be. I apologize to the red RX-7 -- it was my error (or at least mostly my error -- dunno, maybe all my error). He admitted some fault, but he might just have been being polite. I was also tracking another car on the outside, to complicate the situation. Hey, Ryan -- the next beer's on me!
The second penalty was silly. I went a little hot into the chicane and got some oversteer. I stayed totally on track, and hit nothing -- no cone, no dirt, no cars. It wasn't even particularly wild oversteer, but, yes, the rear end came loose. We were running mismatched tire diameters at this point, due to a cut-down tire, so the car was a bit of a handful. Anyhow, the corner worker thought that I must have been tagged, so both I and the car behind me got a penalty. They didn't believe that we didn't touch, so we bribed our way out of it.
Maybe I deserved a penalty for poor car control (although I don't think so, given that some cars were loose there every lap). But the poor guy behind me was completely innocent. He was just near me -- wrong place/time. In retrospect, my first words to the judge should have been, "I got loose; there was no contact; penalize me if you must, but the guy behind me is innocent." I think this might have convinced them. Instead we were both saying that there was no contact, which they probably hear all day long.
While I was upset at myself for both penalties, and felt that I let down the team, I was determined to accept the penalties with good cheer, and I think I did that.
Near-Orbital Space Monkeys
#528 BMW 528e 121hp Black "Saturn 5" Rocket car with orange foam flames. Sold.
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