Fair warning ahead of time, I am using my blunt honesty voice here, but it is in no way meant to sound attacking or belittling to my racing friend. Just being totally honest about what I think.
Anyway...After our most recent club race at China, one of my best racing friends and I had a difference of opinion about the employment of defending. I'm not even going to escalate the issue by calling it a disagreement, because no one was mad, there was no arguing, and the legality of my defending maneuvers was not in question.
To sum it up, my friend feels that defending is something that is saved for the closing stages of a race to protect a "earned" position. He feels that it is cowardly to employ defending tactics against a clearly faster driver that you happen to get the upper hand on in the first say two thirds of a race. He thinks the strategic roll over is what a driver should do. He went on to tell me that even in real life defending, especially in the early stages of a race, is not respected and considered spiteful. I am amazed as I have never heard this before in my life. There was also mention about not making moves offline because of things that might happen with lag and what could happen when you unlag.
My honest opinion is that I have every right to employ legal defending tactics in any and all stages of the race. If I'm only making the one move that the rules stipulate, and I'm not shoving you off the track, there is no problem. If you want to get around me, you're going to have to race me. That is racing. I am NOT going to roll over just because the attacking driver is "faster" and it's the first two-thirds of a race. I'm going to fight you tooth and nail, ESPECIALLY if I'm in a podium position, as I was against this friend I'm having the difference of opinion with. And I'm not sorry about it. Aggressive? Maybe. Legal? Definitely. And I say there is nothing unsporting about it so long as its WITHIN THE RULES. Period. If you really are faster you might get me eventually anyway, but I'm not going to hold the door open for you to waltz right through. As for the lag situation, I am not going to stick like glue to the racing line and not try to defend just because of what lag may or may not do to a pursuing driver behind me. It is far too unpredictable for me to try and control it, and once again, I'm not rolling over for you just because of lagging. More often than not I end up paying for the lag because the driver behind slams into me and plows me off track without ever knowing it, so I call that pretty much even in the end if not a massive disadvantage to me because I can't defend at all at any point in the race.
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