Upsetting other track day users

[rex]

Quick story from trackday recently and although I did not do anything I would like your thoughts on the following. Took a friend on a trackday (his second outing) and he wisely decided to book instruction as soon as possible which happened to be in the early afternoon. When he came in from the insrtuction he had to drop the insrtuctor off and I jumped in the car. Along comes some lad and starts having a go at the driver regarding not letting other cars past (ie him) and spouting on about listening at the briefing and how dangerous his driving was. Once he was walking off his mate decides to put in his two penneth worth aswell.

This is the first time ever in 3 years of trackdays that I have ever come across this behaviour of someone having a go at the driver of a car. Usually the organiser intsructs participants to go directly to them to report such driving rather than have a go at the driver. They did say this in the briefing although the chap obviously did not listen to this bit.

As my friend had to leave early after his session I decided to let it lie and carry on the day enjoying myself. In hindsight should I have informed the organised of the behaviour as he needs to wind his neck in, and a quick word may prevent further distasteful posturing.

[TVRMARKUB]

rex said:

Quick story from trackday recently and although I did not do anything I would like your thoughts on the following. Took a friend on a trackday (his second outing) and he wisely decided to book instruction as soon as possible which happened to be in the early afternoon. When he came in from the insrtuction he had to drop the insrtuctor off and I jumped in the car. Along comes some lad and starts having a go at the driver regarding not letting other cars past (ie him) and spouting on about listening at the briefing and how dangerous his driving was. Once he was walking off his mate decides to put in his two penneth worth aswell.

if he was out with a instructor and a novice the instructor would be showing him the safest lines, your mate was probably doing nowt wrong especially if he had a instructor in with him, he has as much right to be on the right line as anybody else(as long as he backed off on the straights to let the more experienced drivers through).

It's probably just another case of a track numpty thinking he is Lewis Hamilton.

I wouldn't worry about it though and I would have reported it or had a quiet word with him somewhere out the way.

[philevo6]

All about his ego mate.....he is obviously the fastest guy ever round any track and your mate should have got out of his way!!

Edited by philevo6 on Saturday 17th July 10:30

[Mirrors please]

Well firstly can I saw how sorry I am that your friend was THAT upset by our 'outburst'. From memory it only lasted 20 seconds in total and consisted of advising your friend to use his mirrors. Far less time than we wasted on track behind him. Maybe the adrenaline made it more than it should have been and if he did feel intimidated then I am truly sorry.

I was the passenger and spoke to your friend first, then my brother (as driver) made his point at the end. Posturing is so far from the truth... Obviously you weren't there to witness his driving, but we were 'stuck' behind your friend for at least 6 laps, dealing with dodgy lines and what was obviously no use of the rear mirror. We did signal our existence by flashing the lights in exasperation a few times after the first few laps, but again it had no effect. Yes I'm sure someone will come along and say just back off and make space. Well my brother could only make the afternoon so was short on time, and with rain on the horizon and quite a few cars piling up in our rear view mirror, we decided not to come in the pits. Maybe we'll learn from that.

Later on in the afternoon you came up behind us and guess what happened even though we had no idea who was driving your car, yes we pulled over and let you past ASAP.

I've advised the TDO a few times over the years and only once has it had any effect on the driver's attitude. Maybe I've been unlucky? So the last couple of times I've spoken to people personally and it works out fine. I've always been driving, so maybe the sibling effect kicked in?

Oh and he's no Lewis Hamilton, far from it, he just wants to have fun. He's the first person to get out of someone else's way even if there isn't much difference in speed.

It has been a while, so I'll go back to getting the TDO to do the job they're paid to do, as you rightly say. Anyway pass on my apologies to your friend and PLEASE ask him to use his mirrors; everyone will have more fun. I'm disappointed that he had an instructor with him and he didn't do anything about it

Anyway you've got a very nice car, obviously very fast in the right hands

[Mirrors please]

philevo6 said:

All about his ego mate.....he is obviously the fastest guy ever round any track and your mate should have got out of his way!!

Edited by philevo6 on Saturday 17th July 10:30

No we really aren't The car has much more potential than we do and we know it

[Rags]

So you signed up to Pistonheads JUST to respond to this thread!

[Mirrors please]

I chose to reply to this thread... There are always two sides to every story as PH posters are always quick to point out.

[JQ]

Rags said:

So you signed up to Pistonheads JUST to respond to this thread!

I'm guessing he's a PH regular who does not wish to be identified and so has set up a second account.

[HereBeMonsters]

Weird. On every trackday I've been on, people seem only too keen to move out of the way. In fact on my 2nd ever day, a chap who had been following me in a Civic Type-R came over, and I thought was going to have a go at me for not moving soon enough. He actually berated me for moving over, and said he was having fun trying to keep up!

[rex]

No one was upset by it but he did ask of it was normal for it to happen like that. I have not come across it previously so thought I would open it up to the forum with no names or pack drill.

We all want to have a good time on the track and all have a common interest therefore with so many novices on the track on the day a little leeway is required.

Anyway I hope you had as good a day as I had and I should have some footage of you if you would like it.There is not very much because as you said you saw me in your mirrors and kindly pulled over

[rex]

No one was upset by it but he did ask of it was normal for it to happen like that. I have not come across it previously so thought I would open it up to the forum with no names or pack drill.

We all want to have a good time on the track and all have a common interest therefore with so many novices on the track on the day a little leeway is required.

Anyway I hope you had as good a day as I had and I should have some footage of you if you would like it.There is not very much because as you said you saw me in your mirrors and kindly pulled over

[tameboy]

In three years of track days I have never come across anything like that. I think that is very unusual. The guy and his mate are clearly idiots and not representative of most people at track days.

I have once reported another driver for persistent failure to let me overtake, but I would not have dreamed of saying anything to them directly.

Trust you both had a great day otherwise - were you at Silverstone?

Edited by tameboy on Saturday 17th July 11:39

[Mirrors please]

rex said:

No one was upset by it but he did ask of it was normal for it to happen like that. I have not come across it previously so thought I would open it up to the forum with no names or pack drill.

We all want to have a good time on the track and all have a common interest therefore with so many novices on the track on the day a little leeway is required.

Anyway I hope you had as good a day as I had and I should have some footage of you if you would like it.There is not very much because as you said you saw me in your mirrors and kindly pulled over

Thanks. Like I say I've done it before and found it works well for me. No resentment usually (and usually a friendly chat later) but as I said above, maybe it was a little stronger than it should have been. I like directness but obviously other people don't as much as I though, so I'll leave it to the TDO in the future.

I'm very understanding of novices too, it's just your friends driving didn't appear to be that of a novice, just someone pushing hard poorly. Maybe that's where the frustration came from. You clearly showed the car is very quick later

I did have a good day thanks, the driving standards were very high. The track was a bit crowded for my liking though. Don't worry about the footage, I only like it if it shows how we could improve rather than just being plain slower through driver ability or car speed Thanks for the offer though. I won't post up your friend either as from the thoughts and observations from this thread, it would probably be embarrasing for both parties

[Mirrors please]

tameboy said:

In three years of track days I have never come across anything like that. I think that is very unusual. The guy and his mate are clearly idiots and not representative of most people at track days.

Edited by tameboy on Saturday 17th July 11:39

You don't want me on a trackday. Never been black-flagged, always pull over for faster cars, will chat to anyone and more importantly never caused a red flag or taken an excursion off the tarmac (more through caution than ability ).

[supertouring]

Mirrors please said:

We did signal our existence by flashing the lights in exasperation a few times after the first few lap

Just shows what idiots you were on the day. I would have reported you.

[Mirrors please]

rex said:

Anyway I hope you had as good a day as I had and I should have some footage of you if you would like it.There is not very much because as you said you saw me in your mirrors and kindly pulled over

If your friend wants the close quarters footage of him lapping I could make it available to him to help work on lines etc

[Mirrors please]

supertouring said:

Mirrors please said:

We did signal our existence by flashing the lights in exasperation a few times after the first few lap

Just shows what idiots you were on the day. I would have reported you.

Thanks. I've always believed it to be poor form, but I was advised by a TDO at a recent day to do this if mirrors aren't being checked. Maybe that's something else I'll have to go back on More importantly the instructor didn't report us

Edited by Mirrors please on Saturday 17th July 12:39

[GreigM]

I'm gonna defend Mirrors please here a bit - in my experience some instructors are excellent, and others are completely ignorant of track day etiquette (or simply don't give a toss) - if what he is saying is correct that he tailed for 6 laps without being allowed past then a share of the blame for the incident lies with the instructor as well as the driver under instruction. I can understand their frustration, and regardless what the TDO claims, I've never experienced a TDO actually speaking to anyone about letting others past throughout the day - blue flags would be good, but would increase marshalling and thus overall cost.

[21TonyK]

Personally I'd say the instructor and marshalls were the ones to be berated. A novice under instruction would be focussed on the instructor and what's in front of them, not what's behind. The instructor should have been watching for traffic and if they didn't pick up on a car behind being held up the marshalls should have.

Sounds more like a poor TDO and instructor to me than anything.

[iguana]

I've often had a word with someone on a track day, doesnt have to be the pull over & let me by or I'll baseball bat you type words.

Edited by iguana on Saturday 17th July 13:18