Yes, Wrecking is also another technique used to win races. But usually people don't get away with it. Thats why no one besides a few special little kids in demo use it, and they never seem to get away with it. I just don't see why people are affraid of taking a chance that can only benefit them if the process is done right. I mean you enter a race to get a chance at winning the race. The whole race is a chance, everytime you brake, it's a chance, everytime you take a corner, it's a chance, everytime you bump draft, guess what, it's a chance. And that's just another chance that's already on my "WILLING TO TAKE A CHANCE ON" list.
I don't find bumpdrafting bad in itself. As long as it's ok with the one being
bumped (it's essential imo), i see it as just another trick to win.
I find it can be a good trick for team races. Having groups of cars
bumpdrafting to catch up to a leader or to help out a teamate. I don't
think it should be used on your competitors though, unless you know
each other well and everyone is ok with it.
The problem is when people 'take liberties' with your car, as someone
wrote so well. Don't come behind me and start bumping me if i don't
wanna. Rest assured you'll see red soon enough ! I'm pretty good at
maintaining control after a rear hit.
Most motorsports I watch never use bumpdrafting, I'd never heard of it until today, and it seems its only used in a tiny number or Motorsports. I mean, F1 is my favourite sport and could you imaging it being used in that? The danger would be immense! same goes for Champcar or the IRL.
I would like to say that I think its a stupid idea and the people who like using it have to ask themselves, have the other users I'm doing this to even heard of it and would they appreciate it. Its ok saying, bd is fine, whats the problem!? Well I wouldn't appreciate it, especially if I've never even heard of it before. I'd just assume its some n00b who hasn't realised that if he can't get past that he may have to back off before he hits me.
I can do nothing but kindly inform you that there are, in fact, several championships that do not involve cars with no roof, huge inverted wings front and back, and wheels that stick out like antennae. There indeed is a reason you don't see it in those classes, although I did watch a BMW World Series race this week (replay) where there actually were 2 drivers who DID bumpdraft... Even I thought they were mental.
Bump more, because as long as you stay in someone's draft the aero damage doesn't affect you
(not the answer you were looking for, was it? )
I agree with you except with the last part if you meant you'd hit the brakes... As has been said a couple times (read at least page 2, m8) there's no reason to take out a bumpdrafter... You could just tell him to stop. Oh, and in case you didn't catch that part... I'm talking about the people that nudge you gently, not the people that run into you with a 20mph difference in speeds, because I think that's insane as much as you do.
Like TagForce said, there’s a ton of other motorsports where it is used. And using the 3 most popular ones where it isn't used, doesn't really prove anything besides the fact that bump drafting can't be used in anything open wheel, with weak/no bumpers, for the obvious reason. And if this is mostly what you watch/race, then surely you're going to think it’s stupid.
Got it in one. The BMW cars are built to last and the drivers are young and don't care. I have never seen it used in any other single seater series as its dangerous. I don't believe that its as common as you seem to be making out either, even the BTCC don't use it and thats becoming a bumper car series.
Name some series then apart from NASCAR. I used the three "biggest ones" as you say as a good example of where it isn't used, nothing more. As I said above I watch other series too and its not used there.
I can't be bothered to finish reading this thread, but some things to point out:
1. Bumpdrafting is only ever done on ovals, few R/C racers even know what it is.
2. Bumpdrafting is never done in single seaters, dirty air would stop cars coming close, and if they do the damage to the wings would create a very dangerous situation.
3. Touring car drivers do not bumpdraft, they simply hit each other because they are dum idiots.
4. The vast majority of people will be pretty pissed off if you ram them at anywhere other than the oval.
Bumping on the straights or bumping in turns?
There's plenty of times when 2 or more drivers in BTCC line up behind eachother and push eachother forwards... Especially on the few tracks which have straights... Whether you think so or not, that's bumpdrafting...
1. Wrong... Don't know where you got that idea, but it's wrong... Watch the video posted in this thread of the Dijon race... That's not an oval, and it is bumpdrafting.
2. Agree, although I did see a couple do it for a couple of laps, and it pretty much worked. Some open wheel cars produce no dirty air, just a big hole in the air, which is exactly what they wanna do in F1. It's still too dangerous to do irl in open wheelers.
3. Yeah, agreed... But the ones that are not dumb idiots bumpdraft and simply say they're dumb idiots... Who's to know?
4. Once again... BD != ramming. It's pushing a car, not ramming it through the soundbarrier. I think you would hardly notice a correct bumpdraft any other way than the revs of the car going up and it feeling a little light on the steering.
For starters at the BTCC speeds the draft isn't strong enough relative to the mass of the cars to make bump drafting worthwhile.
You're confusing bumping on the straights with bumpdrafting, two VERY different things. And I think it's make nearly all your posts in this thread wrong, as each time you have been talking about bumping.
Hopefully the non-programmers here will understand that "!=" means "NOT equal to..." hehe
Btw, i would brake if i get some guy on my tail that won't stop pushing. Why should i have to ruin my race to type something
like "stop bumping me!" ?! If it was more of a problem, i'd simply bind something to the f-keys, but so far, it rarely happens to me.
When it does, they usually don't even care what you think, so asking, telling, even yelling won't change their attitude much. I've even
had some ram me off the track because i wouldn't 'cooperate'. You know the type, the one that calls you an idiot after, lol, big man !
Just to make things even clearer, i'll brake once someone has started bumping me, i'll usually try to move off-line first, but if that
person changes his line again and insists on pushing me, i'll simply brake. Hey, i can be an idiot too.
Like I said earlier, it’s being used all the time in karting; I've seen it being used at the local track stock car track and the local road course with the BMW series. Just because it's not on TV, doesn't mean it's not being used. As for NASCAR, I wouldn’t even really call that bump drafting, it’s more of a “If I let off the throttle, It’ll take another lap for my car to regain its speed. So I’ll just bump the person in front of me instead.”
$rant_topic = "bump drafting";
echo "$rant";
Essentially what I'm trying to get at here is that bump drafting is very useful technique for cars that are very momentum driven, such as the XFG, as its underpowered engine can only pull the car along for so long. When you start racing the XFG, you are required to be on top of your game constantly, and being on top of that sometimes isn’t enough, as the driver in the lead is also on top of his. So when you’re racing against someone that’s close in skill level to yourself, you won’t be taking 1 second out of the 4 second lead that he has on you. You’ll be lucky if you get a quarter of that, and in sprint racing, there’s usually not enough laps to close that gap by just out driving someone. Drivers are forced to use another technique to close the gap between their car and the leaders. This technique is bump drafting. Although it can be risky if not done properly, bump drafting has a lot of benefits, but the main one is the extra boost in speed. This helps with closing the gap on the leader with out forcing the driver to be put under all the pressure of becoming the fastest car on the track. This also saves on tire wear and concentration, allowing the driver to maintain the amount of traction and focus he had before he started bump drafting, which will be crucial when it comes time to pass. I know all of this from experience. This is all stuff I had to over come as driver over the past 8 years of my career.
Hopefully that is understandable, my writing skills are not quite up to par due to my lack of sleep.
What if he started poll, and you started last? Doesn't mean hes faster than you, he just had a better position. And thats what happens most of the time in karting, as the starting position for the first heat is randomly selected.
Well, in most LFS leagues they are selected in a qualification and a sprint race. And on other online servers they are selected by either qualification or finishing order of the last race.
Yes I understand that, but it still doesn't keep a driver from bump drafting. There are just so many situations that bump drafting can benefit the drivers that are doing it, it’s not really worth getting into it. I just used that one as an example for my argument.
Should have added: If it was a head to head race, obviously the better driver would win. But as many of us know, the best driver doesn't always win the race. Sometimes it's the better team.
TagForce I really can't be bothered arguing the fact across it is not done in single seaters, it's not done in touring cars, karting, r/c racing.
I'm sure somewhere in the MSA rule book it says contact most be avoided if possible. I really don't think you watch things like BTCC properly and see that they are just running close to each other and not pusing each other along
You go find us some pictures of single seaters bumpdrafting.
Yea, that's really working for Kyle. In the last 749 races he entered, hes won 8.
Bump Drafting wouldn't be so bad in NASCAR if it wasn't for the aero package / restrictor plate combo. They just can't afford to let off the gas, which causes a lot of accidents. Who is to blame?
What are you going to do when it comes to aero damage in LFS 
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