If I was any one of those tkm novices at shenington today, I'd have been terrified into not coming again. However if the clubman class was used as it was meant to be (i.e. seperately) it would provide a safer introduction to the class/ sport.
You really do have to wonder whether it is advisable to put drivers (who, if they have passed their arks test yet, the instructor should be shot at dawn) in the path of some of the quickest guys in the country.
It would be quite wrong to blame the novices in this case. They are paying their money like everyone else. It's not that long since I had black plates on myself so I can still remember the steep learning curve.
It's also wrong (although I'm sure graham s will disagree having just read that flimsy excuse for a letter) to blame the lapping drivers for not being patient enough in what is a practise day for a race weekend. Anyone with any driving experience knows that once the closing speeds are high enough, the approaching driver has to be very careful about how he gives a novice room. If you are on the front of a train of 8 or so karts the last thing you can do is have a massive lift or worse jump on the anchors. In this case karts are being lapped 3 times in an 8 lap session. On a 44s lap it's easy enough maths to imagine the closing speeds in this case. It only takes 1 or 2 karts doing this to cause a problem even if the rest of clubman is ticking along nicely and in some cases as quick as extreme)
It's to the credit of the skill of about 10 drivers that there wasn't a massive pileup in bruno today. It's a miracle no one was hurt. Perhaps it will take an injury for something to get done. I hope it is not me and pity anyone who is.
No, the CLUB should take a good hard look at themselves and listen to when drivers have legitimate safety concerns.
And even if the club doesn't accept what has been written above, it can perhaps listen to this:
No driver wants to come to a practise day where their time is completely wasted.
No driver wants to get taken out of the lead of the race they had in their pocket by a backmarker (as happened last meeting).
Finally NO driver HAS to race at shenington.
You've got this season to fix it or people will simply walk with their feet. And then let's see if you even get super 1 there any more.
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