Passing and racecraft.

Passing at a track day (HPDE)

High Performance Driver Education is not racing. NASA's HPDE, as described in NASA Speed News (Ian Ruff, 2025), runs four groups. Group 1 requires instruction and limits passing to designated zones; Group 3 opens more passing zones; Group 4 generally allows passing anywhere. NASA says Groups 1 and 2 are for learning the line and car control, not passing, and that passing skills start in Group 3 and are developed in Group 4.

NASA's guidance for HPDE 1 and 2

NASA's article on passing in the lower groups (Dev Clough, 2019) sets out these principles:

• Passing happens only on designated straights. It should start after the car ahead has clearly exited the previous corner and be finished before the next braking zone.
• A point-by is strongly encouraged: the driver being passed points to the side the faster car should use. That driver should stay predictable, should not brake to help, and should not use full throttle if the car has equal or more power.
• Responsibility for a safe pass sits with the overtaking driver, who should move into the other driver's mirror, look for a point-by or eye contact, and check behind before pulling out. NASA's rule of thumb is "If in doubt, back out!"
• A driver who keeps getting caught by faster cars should let them by rather than try to pull away, or use pit road to find a gap.
• Instructions given at the drivers meeting override the general guidance.

NASA also describes the passing flag, blue with a yellow diagonal stripe, as telling a slower car to let a faster one by in the next passing zone. Flags in general are covered on flags.

SCCA Time Trials

SCCA Time Trials defines a point-by as the lead car's signal that a following car may pass, normally an arm out of the window pointing to the passing side. In-car point-bys or turn signals are allowed in specific cases, if they are announced and marked. Its passing page says:

• Beginner, novice and intermediate drivers must always use a point-by. Advanced drivers need one only for passes in corners.
• Novices are advised to pass only on the longest straights.
• After giving a point-by, the lead driver should make sure the passer has enough room and enough speed difference, for example by easing off.

Driver61 recommends using the straights to check the mirrors and let faster cars through, and Ross Bentley suggests letting a faster driver by on a straight rather than mid-corner, with one or two quick hand signals. Your club's rules and the drivers meeting take priority over anything here.

Wheel-to-wheel racing: rules vary by body

Each sanctioning body writes its own racing rules. Our research did not include the full NASA or SCCA rulebooks, so the points below come from dated secondary summaries. Check the current rulebook for any event you enter.

• NASA, as reported by Winding Road (Tom Martin, 2020). A pass starts when the trailing car's front bumper overlaps the lead car's rear bumper and ends when the passer's rear bumper is ahead of the lead car's front bumper. Any overlap in a no-passing area is illegal. Martin's guide also summarizes racing room and blocking rules, but we could not confirm those details against the rulebooks, so they are not repeated here.
• SCCA, as reported by Martin. Responsibility for a safe pass is on the overtaking driver; the driver being passed must be aware, use the mirrors and not block.
• SCCA in 2000. A Grassroots Motorsports column by Tim Sharp from that year quotes the same principle and adds that a driver who appears to block may be black-flagged or penalized. It contrasts FIA-based sports-car rules of the time, which made both drivers responsible, and notes vintage racing's strict no-contact rule.
• VSCDA (vintage), 2024 guidelines. The overtaking car earns the corner only by being door to door and under control before the lead car turns in. A car still behind the lead car's A-pillar is in its blind spot and should not try to pass unless given room. One safe move on a straight to pick a side is allowed, weaving to break the draft is not, and cars side by side should leave a car width plus about six inches.

The FIA's Formula 1 guidelines

The FIA Formula 1 Driving Standards Guidelines (version 4.1, dated 20 February 2025) state that they are guidelines, not regulations, and that the stewards judge each incident as a whole. Formula1.com reports they were introduced in 2022 at the drivers' request. In summary:

• A car passing on the inside is entitled to room if its front axle is at least alongside the other car's mirror before and at the apex, and it is under control rather than diving in.
• A car passing on the outside needs its front axle ahead of the other car's front axle at the apex and must be able to make the corner within track limits. The guidelines call outside passes harder.
• A defender may not change direction more than once, may not change direction after braking has begun except to follow the racing line, and may not deliberately crowd a car off the track. A defender returning to the line must leave at least a car width.

Coaching on racecraft

Ross Bentley (Winding Road, 2018) treats speed and racecraft as separate skills and says to learn outright speed first, because drivers who spend too long racing others may never build pace. He names three places to pass: under braking, on a straight, or in a corner, with corner passes the hardest. He advises "presenting" yourself beside the other car where its driver can see you rather than over-committing, and says hanging back slightly before a corner can set up a run on the next straight. His rule of thumb is one defensive move; repeated weaving is blocking, which he opposes. He calls the halfway point for claiming a corner a gray area, and says that with few hard rules, respect and predictability keep drivers safer.

In "Ten Steps to a Successful Pass" (2020), Colin Braun tells Bentley the easiest pass usually comes from a better exit and is planned, with the corner picked laps ahead by studying the other driver's weak spots. He gives up some entry speed to rotate earlier and reach full throttle first, then uses the draft before pulling out. In downforce cars, he says, sitting slightly to the inside of the car ahead in corners helps recover grip lost in its wake.

Driver61 lists overtaking methods including outbraking on the inside, the late dive (which it calls high risk), the outside line, the switchback (go around the outside, then cut back underneath on exit) and steady pressure that provokes a mistake. It notes that a defender covering the inside gives up corner speed, which can open the door to a switchback. KartClass describes similar moves in karting, calling the divebomb a last resort with a high risk of contact. Exit speed, which Braun relies on, starts with the racing line.