The Guide to Road Racing, Part 16: Don’t Be That Guy – The Divebomber

C'mon man! While you're working on your racecraft, one of the big things is working on the ability to out-brake other cars so you can pass them on the inside. But to do this, you have to be able to judge how much distance you can make up by late braking and still get the car slowed down (more than normal, typically, because you're on the inside).

That "still get the car slowed down" part implies "and not hit anybody or force them way off line to avoid your spinning or incoming car". In this in-car video from Team Winding Road driver Tyler Brown, we see an optimistic pass attempted into T8 at Road America. The driver of the blue car keeps it under control and avoids a divebomb. Well done. Perhaps encouraged by almost making the pass, we then see the same car attempt an overly optimistic dive bomb which nearly takes Tyler out of the race. Seriously, that was never going to work and should never have been attempted. Our objection here isn't to attempted passes; those are fine and necessary. Our objection is to divebombs, here indicated by the fact that the overtaking car is going backwards after a full lockup and spin by the time it reaches the car it is trying to overtake.

For more on passing read our Guide to Passing Etiquette.

Check out the Winding Road Racing YouTube channel!