SNAIL Rules and Race Craft Q&A

[JLBowler]

Welcome to the SNAIL Rules and Race Craft Q&A
​

• This thread will serve as a place where questions about SNAIL rules and general race craft can be posed and answered.​
• This will be done in a way that allows the individual submitting the question to remain anonymous and have their question answered publicly.​
• The goal is to be able to provide information or clarification about the rules of SNAIL and race craft in general without the possibility of calling anyone in particular out for their actions or subjecting the person asking the question to any unnecessary comments or criticism.​

How it will work

Any member of SNAIL racing in any SNAIL sanctioned series is allowed to pose a question.

Questions will be submitted via private conversation with @JLBowler.

Questions should be kept to general in nature and apply to either the rules of SNAIL or race craft in general.

Questions will be discussed with the stewards and / or BoD when necessary but the identity of the person submitting the question will not be passed along beyond the confines of the original private conversation.

Questions will be answered in this thread and photos may be included as examples to give a visual representation to assist with the understanding of the answer provided. The original question will be copied into the post where the answer is provided but the name of the person that submitted the question will not be shared.

This thread will be locked to further replies so the only posts that will show up here will be questions that have been copied from the private conversations along with their answers.

Due to the nature of putting together photos and possibly video clips to illustrate the responses, the time frame for receiving an answer to a submitted question will not be immediate. You should expect time for JLBowler to read the question, a time for discussion among the stewards or BoD, and time to produce the answer.

 

[JLBowler]

What is the difference between valid corner entry rights and a dive bomb?

Corner rights are discussed in section 6 of the SNAIL OLR. To summarize this section here, sufficient overlap must be established by the behind car. before the turn in point. This means that the behind driver must get the front of his car even with the drivers position before the lead driver reaches their turn in point.

This leads us to define the lead driver's turn in point. This is defined in section 6 paragraph C of the SNAIL OLR. To paraphrase again, the turn in point is the point at which the lead car commits to their chosen line through the corner. It is not necessarily the first move toward the apex.

• Example: A gradual move toward the apex followed by a sharper turn would mean that the sharper turn would be the turn in point.
• Example: Multiple turning movements approaching the turn would mean that the final turning movement would be the turn in point.

Once the behind driver has met these requirements, they are entitled to side room throughout the corner and neither driver should force or squeeze the other toward either side of the corner during apex or exit.

A dive bomb is a common term that is sometimes over used. A "dive bomb" is really nothing more than a pass attempt without sufficient overlap. Any time the behind driver does not have sufficient overlap and attempts to initiate a pass, they are not entitled to side room from the lead car and any contact at in that situation would be the fault of the driver attempting the pass without sufficient overlap.

Thanks to @TomMang_68 and @vsfit for contributing on this question.