It was a thing in 2048. You just had to hit them hard and fast for them to go down.
Outside of Time Trial/Speed Lap, you can be eliminated. The very first race in the 2048 campaign was a no weapons race with every FEISAR model filling the grid. Initially, you can only choose the FEISAR Speed here since it was your first craft available. Barrel rolling still takes up shield energy and you can eliminate yourself if you were terrible at flying. However, you can come back and beat the race again with any craft you unlock from that point forward. The Qirex Prototype could sort of override this because if it's special ability, self-regenerating ammo for its mini-guns. This meant that in the VITA version of 2048, you can eliminate every single craft on the grid and you'll be rewarded with "The Unlucky 7" trophy. In Omega Collection, you can easily get the Double Kill trophy this way. And no I am not kidding you, give it a try.