Improving Your Overtaking
Their are 6 fundamentals to a successful overtaking move:
1) Strategize
2) Plan
3) Setup
4) Surprise
5) Position
6) Execute
Remember know matter what we do on the race track we always need a plan!
What Does Having A Plan Look Like?
When it comes to racecraft our plan has to take into account our strengths and weaknesses on the race track as well as our opponent. We need to measure them up and find out where we are faster, where are good places I can use my stregnths to make a pass, and if I try a pass there what will they do to try and defend their position.
The next part of our plan is working towards overtaking in a way that makes us lose the least amount of time as possible. This is especially important where we are not in the lead so we can make an efficient pass and keep close to the next car for position to setup our next pass.
There are almost always multiple options on where we can attempt an overtake. When you are building your plan to make the move then make sure you are also considering what move will cost you the least amount of race time - or even help you gain time!
Get Alongside By The Turn In Point
Car position matters for an overtake. One of the absolutely golden rules for overtaking (especially on the inside) is that we need to get alongside and at least up to the driver door of the car we are overtaking before the turn in point.
If you are further back than that then the overtake usually is not on and we need to try again. As with any rule there are always exceptions but this is a pretty safe rule of thumb to follow.
Being safe during an overtake can often be counterintuitive. We want to be as close to the car we are passing as possible (after we pop and are alongside them). Many drivers try and be safe when overtaking and dive all the way to the inside but this actually is more dangerous because you end up in that drivers blind spot and the likelihood of them not seeing you is much higher.
Not only is it more dangerous you also lose their draft and end up in the dirty side of the race track which causes you to lose serious amounts of grip.
