>> The question I have for this particular race is: why? What's the point of
>> everyone running like that? I don't get it.
>>
>> As it is, this race reminds me of those absurd bicycle velodrome races where
>> they creep around the track at a near standstill and then burst into a
>> furious sprint right at the end...
>>>
>At least there is some rationale for the bicycle race evolving as it does since
>the effect of being out front as opposed to drafting is so much greater on the
>bike.
Actually, that strategy has begun dominating velodrome racing so much that
the races themselves have become ridiculous.
I remember watching some of the '84 Olympics "races".
The desire to NOT be in the lead (and keep in mind these are head-to-head
2-person-only races) is so strong that they train for months on how to ride
as slow as possible without the bike falling over (their feet are strapped
to the pedals) on the highly banked track, so as not to be forced into
the lead.
The ultimate winner more often than not in the one who can go SLOWEST without
crashing,- seemingly the opposite of what one would expect in a "race".
This is comparable to a World War II aerial dogfight, a tactic which
continued right up 'til Vietnam-
if the enemy got on your tail and you knew you could fly slower without stalling
than the enemy aircraft was capable of, you hit the airbrakes, let the enemy
slide by you, and then gun him down.
Modern day Sukhoi pilots have perfected a technique to raise the
aircraft nose at a very high angle- something they call a 'Cobra maneuver',
sort of 'planing along' for a short period on thrust-to-weight ratio alone in
a controlled stall, so that their relative forward speed is almost nil, knowing
that western aircraft couldn't do this in close air combat.. Very impressive
at airshows, but of course American and French pilots said they'd never get
that close with western over-the-horizon air-to-air missile technology.
For those interested, here's a compressed video:
http://www.angelfire.com/ia/livremanobrar/aeronaves/su27/cobra.zip
Anyway, it does seem kind of weird for a track distance race.
RT
