I like that camara angle. You can see the braking much better from this side and justblisten to the engine for thtottle.
Part of the issue for many is aggression and what that means. Stoner admits here how he struggled with guilt and that kind of thing in overtaking scenarios - "It helped me grow" MotoGP Champion Casey Stoner opens up on PAST RIVALRY with Valentino Rossi - YouTube
Itās one thing to try and be more aggressive, itās another thing to be more aggressive. There are consequences. If youāre aggressive to the wrong person, thereās a chance of physical retribution. Or maybe you get guilt for running someone wide and that kind of thing.
So it isnāt easy to be āmore aggressiveā because that comes with a lot of baggage. The best starters Iāve ever known (and I must express there may be some bias here) tend to be more on the low-empathy end of the spectrum. They rarely, if ever, expressed sympathy for their competitors. It doesnāt automatically make them great or good racers long term, and this is purely anecdotal, but the general consensus does seem to lean towards more aggression being the best start strategy.
So itās worth noting that an aggressive strategy does come with additional things to consider.
Watched a moto gp documentary and I got the impression that there was a very high level of ārivalryā. Seemed a bit personal and strong compared to most motorsports. May just be the bias of the show.
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from my experience if your the most or one of the most aggressive people you will get respect because no one wants to wreck with the same person every weekend
But is that respect? 
more of them being scared of you but it works and unless your intentinaly taking people out they will still ārespectā you
Sounds lonely to me. But then again Iām a 52 year old club racer looking to make pals, generally. My motivations are perhaps different. I have no competitive future, really, so can have that attitude I suppose.
I was having a thought last night, āwhy do you race?ā. What motivates you. What do you hope to accomplish?
Iāll start a thread soon.
@tjkoyen from your days coming up, I am curious to hear your perspective having been in trenches coming up through club and racing for years at the very top.
I worry that Oliverās perspective might give him the kind of issues that Norberg had earlier in his career. Was it not the case that he was not loved early on for his aggression? I suppose not being liked is sorta irrelevant to the end goal, but you gotta race the same 30 guys/gals a lot. There is likely some sort of compromise the pros learn to live with.
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Some drivers are able to leave whatever happens on track there. Also, youāre not racing the same 30 or so drivers. Youāre racing the same 3 or 4 (the rest are all but irrelevant for the top drivers). You might find that those ātopā drivers kind have their own sub-community within the grid, so they get on together and that kind of thing. Personality is a big thing about how relationships form or degrade.
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karting people are strange beacus we will wreck eachother and then laugh about it in scales
So long as allās well that ends well! Enjoy it all.
well in karting especially in jn clases you have about 10-15 drivers who can win every weekend and maybe more if you go to someoneās home track and they all have underlying respect for eachother even if they come together every few weekends.
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I think thereās a fine line between being regarded as āaggressiveā vs. being notorious for being out of control and crashing people. I find that generally the top drivers do not fall into the latter category, meaning there HAS to be some degree of calculation coupled with any aggression on track.
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and your right you cant just not hit the brakes to take poeple out thats how you get people to hate you, you just have to find the fine line.
As Alan and Evan have mentioned, there has to be some level of control to go along with the aggression, or youāll be labeled as a weapon on-track. Generally drivers who are developing will master one of those two first; so either they are controlled and smart but passive, or they are aggressive and decisive but inconsistent and reckless. Great drivers master both aspects and earn respect by doing so.
I donāt know as though Ryan was every thought of as a reckless driver. I raced against him as he joined the senior ranks. I think all juniors and young drivers go through a phase where they are regarded as more ādangerousā on-track because they rely so much on emotion and not enough on intellect. They havenāt matured yet mentally. But once they do they tend to come into their own.
And youāre right Dom, your mentality as a 52 year old guy coming out to make friends and have fun is going to be much different than a younger driver who is only there to win races.
I think disagreements come between racers when there is a difference in mentality. A group of stubborn 16 year olds racing against each other at the top level probably all have a similar āwin or dieā mentality, so when the racing is done, they are able to shake hands and understand they were all just trying to do the same thing, win at all costs.
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Iām with you Dom. I am also 52 and this is a fun activity but yes I want to win. Olivier, I think you have respect confused with self-preservation. If I know a guy will race dirty to get by me generally I would roll over and give him the spot. I donāt need a broken kart and an even worse finishing result.
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And, at our level, that guy will crash himself eventually anywaysā¦
surprisingly in jn karting (might be diffrent in sn) people will intently punt or move you if your not aggressive enuth. and they will also put you if your to aggressive its all about finding the fine line.
My $0.02 on this is that I think of āaggressionā, and the evolution of a drivers aggression profile - if you will, as being rooted in one (or probably realistically a blend of) these three things:
Desperation (send it)
These drivers are not living up to their expectations (either macro -whole season for example- or micro - didnāt get as many places as they wanted at the start) so they are desperate to change their āresultsā. Another example might be a ālevel-headedā driver who is being held up as the lead group escapes. When you are desperate, you are willing take extra chancesā¦ eye on the prize and deal with the consequences later.
Anger/Frustration (why I oughta)
Mad at the world, or mad because their kart isnāt working properly, mad because they screwed up qualifying and have to start with the drones, orā¦ Anyway, F them all, Iām coming through.
Confidence (Iām going to surgically remove that position from you)
Comfortable with who they are as a driver, the results they produce, and their ability to make precise, decisive and fair passes. They plan well ahead and see opportunities develop (or they manipulate circumstances to create āfutureā opportunities), but they also react instantly to opportunities that present themselves. They will be patient when necessary, but will push the issue (withing the bounds of what they feel is fair play) when necessary. However, if you mess with them beyond a certain threshold, you will likely find yourself racing in the shrubbery.
If those are kind of the ābinsā of aggression, then I think the amount of aggression being displayed is regulated by personality traits such as:
- The imperative to live up to oneās Self Image
- Perception of āNormal Behaviorā in the situation
- Sense of Right & Wrong
- Ninja-like ability to justify actions and/or selectively edit memory.
- Introversion/Extroversion (aka guilt vs GTF out of my way mentality)
- Etc.
But ultimately, and in the long run, I think a driverās aggression profile is shaped by results. If you keep getting what you want, you keep doing what youāre doing. If you are not (or if what you want changes), then you adjust. If desperation and/or anger keep putting you out of races (or the reputation youāre building makes other drivers more inclined to ruin your races), then maybe you back off, reevaluate and build your confidence so you can be a more surgical driverā¦ or not.
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Excellent elaboration.
Iām with Bob and Dom on this, so much so that we are starting Grand Masters +55 TaG 100cc. It will be separately gridded but running in the same session as Masters (+30). I donāt know who causes the problems on the start but there is usually one big one every race. The theory is that Masters are probably more aggressive than the AARP crowd. My hope this class will encourage more of the older guys to come out have fun but karting is pretty tough sport, so Iām not convinced it will be successful. Also there is a concern that it might lead to dilution. For me, I can rationalize my goal in either class, first in Grand or 5th or 6th in Masters.
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