now all this sliding around the track is alright ..i mean its entertaining ..thrilling etc..but then..it all has to be under some rules. remember this is a championship.
this is how it all goes.
the competition begins 2 cars at a time and in 2 runs per set of cars.
the cars line up at the the starting line and then,when flagged off, quickly settle into their formation. it is pre-determined as to who leads and who follows.
the lead car then has to break into a drift at the breakoff point. at this point, the points of judging are-
1. lead car: has to drift with max angle and speed and get close to the checkpoints (also marked on pic). the closer he gets to the checkpoints, the better points he gets.
2. follow car: has to get as close to the lead car with a bumper to bumper, door to door precision. and also mimic the moves of the lead car. additional responsibility is when the lead car transitions, the follow car has to switch rapidly and also not crash into lead car. pretty tricky.
i saw lotsa bumpers flying during practise.
this part is where max angle of drift is achieved. this is called the horseshoe. here, for points, the lead car has to get as close to the inside of the curve as possible. obviously it does not happen due to the velocity carried into the turn. so, they are allowed to hit the outer edge and even one wheel out is acceptable but not more than that. dropping 2+ wheels outside will lead to negative points.
moving on, cars reach the checkpoint 3. here again, the cars have to get as close as possible to the point.
with this momentum, now is the longest drift zone. from 3rd check point till the transition at 1st checkpoint that huge long stretch is up and available for maximising points and then its the transition at 1st checkpoint to finally end at the breakpoint.
now the lead and follow cars switch and the same race continues.
they get averaged out with this.
some are good lead cars but bad follow cars and vice versa.
phew. by far my best explanation of a race. I guess.
I hope this post makes it easier to understand the video of the race that'll come up soon.