Just one example of how difficult it is to separate clean and unclean driving. I had a conversation with a driver yesterday after a race. He started from P1, I from P4, drivers P3 and P2 knocked each other out in turn 5, so I "only" had to close the big gap (much too big gaps at the rolling start in Seaside) to him (P1). I got closer and closer lap by lap as I was able to catch up with him by at least 1 second each time. On lap 4 I was able to overtake him in the last corner, he regained this position on lap 5 in turn 5 by overtaking me on the inside with quite strong but still tolerable contact.
He drove the whole race very differently from me.. his preference was always to brake as late as possible and then hard.. that's fast in theory, but in practice the slightest mistake pays off very quickly. In the race, I always use earlier and softer braking points to get around the corner at the highest possible speed and have my focus on the exit of the corner.
Now, when I'm behind the P1 driver, the two of us never get in each other's way.. but when he's behind me.. well, then unfortunately there is contact very quickly in the braking zone.
Many riders, especially B riders or below, don't deal well with the dirty air and/or reduced downforce when riding directly behind a car... this often leads to more unintentional rear-end collisions.
Try to be as relaxed as possible with such drivers... my feeling is that 9 out of 10 "dirty drivers" are not that good and therefore sooner or later make bigger mistakes, which means you can overtake them cleanly and gain distance from them. ... Unfortunately, the short races of only 4-5 laps don't help much.
