Damani Marcano

Last year was my first season of car racing. The season only lasts about six months and there was a lot to learn. I didn’t have the budget to do practice/testing in between each weekend so I had to learn pretty much everything within the race weekends themselves. I did get one session on a simulator before each weekend with Pro-Sim which was a huge help!

On the track, I had to learn how to drive a car, use a manual gearbox and clutch control, learn front-wheel drive, learn the aspects of the tracks that didn’t come across on the simulator and somehow be competitive among adults who had driven cars and raced for years. Some drivers had been racing in one way or another for 16 years! As many years as I had been alive!

Second only to winning, there’s nothing more enjoyable than overtaking. In my first season, it was all about learning so nobody expected any race wins from me (although getting fastest-lap in the VAG Trophy showed that I was close at the end of the season). Apart from that race where I got fastest lap, my best moments were overtaking. Here are some of the highlights…

Overtakes

At Oulton Park, in my first race weekend I really didn’t have any expectations. I felt like I was still learning to drive a car! Still, in this first weekend I got my first overtakes. It was a huge buzz! Here is my first of them all…

Looking back over 2015… My first car-racing overtake and my first ever car race! #YoungestDriver #SchoolboyRacer pic.twitter.com/p7VgsKliTu

— Damani Marcano (@DKMRacing) December 29, 2015

Some overtakes were harder than others. This next one at Snetterton was quite tricky. I had to get a good exit to get the most from the slip-stream then squeeze him to the side of the track to force him to brake a lot earlier.

A tricky overtake. I got a good exit for the tow then held the outside of the left to own the line into the right. pic.twitter.com/V5Qa5PS2kA

— Damani Marcano (@DKMRacing) January 7, 2016

As I’m going into the left-hander, the driver is to my left, just out of shot. I had to carry the speed, hold the line through the left to own the line into the right, slowing the car down just enough so I didn’t overshoot the right hander.

This next one at Donington was quite tricky too. I had to almost throw the car into the gap to get the other driver to back-off. I dropped a wheel onto the grass as we avoided each other. It was really close!

Another overtake from last year in the @VWRacingCup with @TeamHardRacing. More videos here: https://t.co/DeenDwXIMP pic.twitter.com/ANIg4SCC9S

— Damani Marcano (@DKMRacing) January 4, 2016

In this next one, the driver went defensive. This was going to compromise his exit on the corner so I took a wider line to turn in later and get the switchback.

Here is another overtake. In this one the driver went defensive so I swept back to wider line to get the switchback. pic.twitter.com/4rY8KfnDqT

— Damani Marcano (@DKMRacing) January 9, 2016

One of my favourite overtakes was this next one. It was at Spa Francorchamps in Belgium. This was all about being brave on the brakes!

One of my favourite @VWRacingCup #overtakes. Can't wait to return to @SpaFrancorchamp with @TeamHardRacing in #2k16! pic.twitter.com/PmVIDAa7A8

— Damani Marcano (@DKMRacing) December 30, 2015

— Damani Marcano (@DKMRacing) December 30, 2015

This was all just feel. There is less grip off the racing line so you normally have to brake sooner if you are on the inside of the overtake. Because I had never overtaken anyone on that exact corner, I just had to ‘feel’ where the best place was to brake.

Updated 28-01-2016
BONUS OVERTAKES
I found these next two recently so thought I would add them to the list. This close racing is what I love. I had to really work for this one!

Ha ha @IanJamesPoulter @FullSwingGolf – Now all I can think about is my @TeamHardRacing #VW Golf in Full Swing! pic.twitter.com/ukVT1rhIWn

— Damani Marcano (@DKMRacing) January 26, 2016

In this next one at Spa, I got a 2-for-1 deal. I couldn’t get close enough on the first one to make the move just with braking so I positioned the car to claim the inside. The second car I got (almost) for free:

Bonus overtake #2for1deal. For the first pass I used positioning to claim the inside. The second pass was #free pic.twitter.com/x7xp6tt1Wv

— Damani Marcano (@DKMRacing) January 12, 2016

That’s all for now. Watch this space For more overtakes from last season. You can find these clips and more on Twitter. For more driving and other video highlights, check out my YouTube channel here: youtube.com/DKMRacingTV

2015, GoPro, On-board Camera, Overtakes, Race Craft, Team-HARD, VW Racing Cup, Winter 2015-2016

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