To me defensive driving, or shutting gates as we called it is an indication of inferior driving. If the driver indulging in it was good enough, he would simply drive away from the other driver, or at least be too quick to be passed, while driving normal lines. I had many dices with the likes of Max Stewart, Leo & KB, & not once did any of them ever shut a gate on me. On the contrary, they would tale their normal line into a corner, leaving enough room on the inside for you to drive a semi trailer through the gap, if you were good enough. It was as if they were asking the question, "are you good enough mate"? The answer was of course, very few were. When I have encountered gate closers I have made life rather difficult for them, when I passed them, by holding them way out into the marbles before turning in myself. Very few shut a gate on me a second time. This was done without any contact, ever, but with a little intimidation perhaps. We used to race pretty close back then too. I have come in after a race on quite a few occasions, with black tyre rubber marks on the front or side of the Brabhams nose cone, from just touching another cars wheel, but I never made enough contact to actually mark the gel coat on the fiberglass. As the photos shows, we used to race pretty close back then, without ant shunting.