Dumbest rules in motorsports.

[Har1MAS1415]

Track Limits is a fascinating rule in where the line is drawn.

There was a video posted on Scott Mclaughlins pole lap at Laguna Seca in Indycar and it was pointed how much Indycar doesn't care about Track Limits as he was throwing his car around off the track was as much speed out of the corners as he can.

At WEC, Track Limits rules seem to be fine as long as you don't gain a noticeable advantage from it (main things being sector times and overtakes). At 6 Hours of Spa, there was a lot of minor disregard for Eau Rouge in terms of track limits.

Then of course, others are flat out against it or on a track by track basis.

It's a headache of rules and lines drawn because how much we depend on run offs for driver safety when before you ate grass or gravel which for most of the run off applications we have now is too dangerous for our up to date safety standards and it's hard to think of a solution for what is acceptable when going off track. If it even needs it at all if its better to be like Indycar and consider all the run offs as part of the track.

Makes sense

 

[Har1MAS1415]

Track Limits is a fascinating rule in where the line is drawn.

There was a video posted on Scott Mclaughlins pole lap at Laguna Seca in Indycar and it was pointed how much Indycar doesn't care about Track Limits as he was throwing his car around off the track was as much speed out of the corners as he can.

At WEC, Track Limits rules seem to be fine as long as you don't gain a noticeable advantage from it (main things being sector times and overtakes). At 6 Hours of Spa, there was a lot of minor disregard for Eau Rouge in terms of track limits.

Then of course, others are flat out against it or on a track by track basis.

It's a headache of rules and lines drawn because how much we depend on run offs for driver safety when before you ate grass or gravel which for most of the run off applications we have now is too dangerous for our up to date safety standards and it's hard to think of a solution for what is acceptable when going off track. If it even needs it at all if its better to be like Indycar and consider all the run offs as part of the track.

As far as the BTCC is concerned, the track limits rule needs a serious rethink for 2027.

The penalties being handed out at Croft last weekend were just getting ridiculous by the closing stages of the reverse-grid race.

 

[Jimlaad43]

As far as the BTCC is concerned, the track limits rule needs a serious rethink for 2027.

The penalties being handed out at Croft last weekend were just getting ridiculous by the closing stages of the reverse-grid race.

Absolutely not. White Lines exist to demarcate a "playing area" in sports and Motorsport is no different. Croft was applying the rules at multiple corners where running wide or cutting was both an unfair advantage over those keeping within the well defined MSUK track limit rules, and which were causing major detriments in terms of dragging gravel and mud onto the circuit. What's the point of having a chicane (T4/5) if there is nothing to stop cars just ignoring it? Every physical solution that is tried (tyre bundles, big kerbs etc) has their own problems of causing enormous unnecessary crashes, so enforcing a rule becomes the only solution. There is scope for a better way of applying the penalty (I love the long lap penalty MotoGP uses for example), but going full NASCAR and allowing all tarmac to be used defeats the point.

Club Racing in the UK suffered all through the 2010s with the double standards applied to all racing series compared to Touring Cars on track limits. Everyone was getting penalised for small run wides while they would then turn the TV on and watch the premier racing series ignore every white line.

Just watch back some early 2010's races at Silverstone to see the two different lines drivers took around Copse to see how silly and ultimately unfair it is to let drivers just go where they want. Lap 15 in this race for an example.


A penalty is not a penalty if people penalised don't dislike it. A penalty is supposed to dissuade future offenses and a harsh crackdown of enforcement is how you get the message across. Track Limits is a shorthand term for "leaving the track and gaining an unfair advantage", why allow some drivers to use an unfair advantage?

 

[Fezzik]

I think the issue was more that the organisers changed the enforcement rules of the morning of the races, to give fewer warnings before penalties than had been the case all the previous rounds. The teams and drivers didn't adjust.

 

[Har1MAS1415]

I think the issue was more that the organisers changed the enforcement rules of the morning of the races, to give fewer warnings before penalties than had been the case all the previous rounds. The teams and drivers didn't adjust.

Plus it had been raining to boot.

My stance remains the same.

 

[Jimlaad43]

I think the issue was more that the organisers changed the enforcement rules of the morning of the races, to give fewer warnings before penalties than had been the case all the previous rounds. The teams and drivers didn't adjust.

The two things that changed were: enforcement of track limits on the apex of T1 after a red flag in practice there due to so much mud being brought onto the track. And then the reduction of warning before 5s by 1. All of which was communicated well within time to the drivers, and all warnings were flagged on the timings screens for the teams to relay to the drivers over just the normal black and white flags shown at the start line. Of all the issues in Touring Cars at the moment, this is not the one to lose sleep over.

 

[Har1MAS1415]

Sometimes it's not about gaining an unfair advantage and trying to prevent that.

An unfair advantage doesn't always come into it.

 

[Liquid]

Track Limits is a fascinating rule in where the line is drawn.

Call me old-fashioned but it ends here for me.

 

[Har1MAS1415]

Well, the rule change is certainly not very popular at the moment, whether it makes sense or not.