Bad driving tip #4: drive (too) nice

The road to Hell is paved with good intentions. The road to repair bills also. Your #1 job as a racecar driver is driving. While it’s a nice courtesy to signal other drivers that there is a danger ahead, such behavior requires you to remove one hand from the steering wheel and divert your attention from driving to signaling. In that moment your concentration shifts, bad stuff could happen.

In this first video, the driver sees the yellow flag and attempts to control the situation by alerting the drivers behind him. A fine gesture, and to be applauded. Unfortunately, he mishandles the steering wheel, which causes the car to drift to the left. The Volvo on his right gets spooked by other traffic (I think) and turns into him and what little space there was is now used up. This results in a multi-car crash. Alerting other drivers to the yellow flag ahead was a great idea, especially as the upcoming corner is blind and the flag station is hard to see. But keeping control of your own vehicle is job #1.

In this second video, the driver once again attempts to alert the cars around him of the upcoming yellow flag. But he’s so focused on waving that he runs into a stack of cars.

In this third video, the HPDE driver in the blue Z takes a very wide line while pointing-by 2 cars to the inside. Unfortunately, the driver is so focused on others that he doesn’t keep his car on track. The panic that ensues collects an innocent bystander.

In all 3 videos, the drivers are exhibiting a rare and treasured personality trait: kindness. But driving racecars on track is stupidly dangerous and requires a lot of attention. If you’re an expert, you can probably spare to split your attention between driving and other tasks. But if you’re not, focus on the driving as the #1 priority.