Took me a while to understand this, but at the age of 45 and 2 years into karting, here's where I'm up to on getting side-swiped.
The kart with its wheels in front has the line, and right of way. If the kart beside you has his wheels in front of yours, and decides he wants your side of the track, he is entitled to take it. If you don't get out of the way, you have hit him, not the other way around. He's only allowed to make one move, you can try to get him on the other side if you want.
With starts it gets interesting. One side is better than the other on any track. Pole is generally on the "good" side, so second place man will tend to try to tuck in immediately behind pole once the line is crossed. Unless you are actually touching the bumper of pole man when in third place, expect second place man to tuck in as hard and fast as he can, so that he's not stuck on the outside of you into the first corner. If you're ready for it, you can keep position without getting hit.
Now the people making the rapid move across risk going off by doing so, but are within their rights. By asserting their rights they are less likely to have someone try the same thing twice. I'm seldom brave enough to turn in on someone that hasn't got their wheels ahead of mine, but I know a man who is. A lot of people will tell you that he sometimes knocks people off the track, but in reality he's just holding a line that he has a right to. He hasn't hit them, they have hit him.
Don't know if that makes proper sense - and I do whatever I can to avoid collision - but its worth listening very carefully to the CoC instructions in the driver briefings. Might not even be what's happening at 3 Sisters!
Liam
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