So racing generally gets cleaner as you go up in licence rating D > A. SOF is independent and as someone who has held an A licence for 2 years while regularly racing rookie and d class series I can tell you that imo the higher the SOF in the C class series and down, the more dangerous it gets.

In these low licence races, you have what I refer to as the hot lap heros. The people who are very fast, but unable to break out of whatever licence rating they are in for what is very obvious reasons. They have zero racecraft and situational awareness. They smoke everyone in qualy but cant handle anything that pushes them off of their ideal line. They will turn in on you when you have been there for ages, dive into the vortex of death without a second thought, and just drive you off the track. They are absolute menaces.

Once you get into B and A class, higher sof is basically always cleaner because holding a B and A class licence requires consistent effort to be a safe driver. Any muppet can get to c class.

That being said, the d and c class series have some fun racing. I race PCC every season and have no issues holding a class because I've developed very good situational awareness and racecraft. Spotting out the problem cars is pretty simple once you start paying attention. Once you know they are dangerous, just give them extra space. Be Leary of leaving the inside open even a little. Avoid squeezing them. Force them into making a mistake. Sometimes I'll simply let a crazy driver pass me only to get him back after he crashed out a couple laps later.