Standing Starts

[andrewwait]

Our UK and NZ friends coached us on the right procedure, so The Crossflow drivers tested standing starts... went well, lots of fun, well reviewed by the participants

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PY0NTV0nQ0s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2uumSSmqXM

[Ralph Z.]

I like it!

[problemchild]

The Pro F1600 and F2000 Series in Canada had standing starts at one time, as does the F4 series now. It is different for the first few times, but then just a non-factor. It does not make the racing better or worse. It may affect your clutch purchasing selection, and then your cost of clutch maintenance, so will increase costs slightly, but certainly hot worth the hype. IMO, rolling starts reward technique, balls, and racecraft more so than standing starts.

[holmberg]

It seems like standing starts would be more likely to get everyone through the first corner in one piece, since the speed is much lower at that point. Given the large number of accidents that happen in the first corner, this could be a significant reduction in total accidents.

But I'm just speculating. Perhaps someone with real experience could comment on the (improved?) safety of standing starts.

[TimH]

A certain (small) number of drivers will stall on the grid. That seems more likely to create chaos than the more frequent a**hole jumping the rolling start.

[Ralph Z.]

It seems like standing starts would be more likely to get everyone through the first corner in one piece, since the speed is much lower at that point. Given the large number of accidents that happen in the first corner, this could be a significant reduction in total accidents.

But I'm just speculating. Perhaps someone with real experience could comment on the (improved?) safety of standing starts.

Agree.

[problemchild]

With the single class groups that I have seen, the reduction in corner one drama (rolling start) is balanced out by the potential chaos of stalled and doddling cars (standing start.)
Some race groups with all similar cars will have more controlled starts with either format, but groups with a wide variety of car types (like modern club and vintage racing) may have some cars that are much better at standing starts than doing lap times, so the field may be totally (rearranged by corner 2) than the grid was, as set by lap time. Your opinion on whether that is good or bad, is probably dependent on whether your car has a big engine, low gears, RWD, and big tires ...... or little engine, tall gears, FWD, and little tires.

IMO, the safest and fairest starts are rolling starts, with a fast pace and an early green. That spreads the field out and rewards people for their qualifying performance. All but impossible to jump a fast start with an early green.

[Ralph Z.]

I was a little surprised to see how slow the standing start was on the video. Maybe this helps with stalled cars at the start. I would also stagger the rows to help with any stalled cars.

Just my two cents. But, Greg makes some good points on a fast rolling start.

[stonebridge20]

It seems like standing starts would be more likely to get everyone through the first corner in one piece, since the speed is much lower at that point. Given the large number of accidents that happen in the first corner, this could be a significant reduction in total accidents.

But I'm just speculating. Perhaps someone with real experience could comment on the (improved?) safety of standing starts.

Not necessarily.

Me. 1996 PTAC at Montreal GP. First lap

[S Lathrop]

I started racing in the New England division in the late 1960's. Back then standing starts were the standard start procedure.

My bet that the reason that SCCA went away from standing starts was to save time during a race weekend. It is a lot faster to start the cars from the false grid and then start the race first time by the start finish line. Other wise you stop the cars on the grid and wait for every one to line up properly before you flag them off.

Doing standing starts today might be more of an issue because most drivers have never done standing starts or they do them so infrequently that they are not very good at executing a standing start.

[Pi_guy]

They are a lot of fun and put on a show.
A lot of times you needed multiple restarts due to track being blocked, otherwise you tool behind the pace car until it is cleaned up.
You get somebody to boil over and the guys behind him are on a skating rink. Turn one could be a lot worse with hot rears and cold fronts. Sometimes your race is over and you never crossed start finish line. The Pro Atlantic starts were great in the 70's rev to 11 or 12 dump clutch what could break?

[Hawke]

I've been doing FF standing starts for the last 20 years. I can't recall anyone ever stalling.

[Raceworks]

I've done both types of starts in a variety of cars. I don't really have a strong preference either way. My favorite car for standing starts was the Honda Del Sol with the 1600cc DOHC motor. You held it at about 4,000 rpm and then just let the clutch out & floored it. It barely had any wheelspin and I'd usually pick up 3-4 spots over the bigger engined cars in the series because while they were spinning wheels I was accelerating.

In summary, with standing starts -

Pros:

• You're assured the field is in formation when the lights go out. No stragglers or people trying to hang back & get a run hoping the officials don't notice.
• The polesitter can't play stupid and dangerous games like stabbing the brakes and then taking off (thus causing chain reaction wrecks mid-pack).
• Lower speed going into turn 1 on cold tires.

Cons:

• Takes extra time to set the field up.
• Possible extra wear on the clutch & drivetrain, especially if you have high horsepower & big tires, ultra-lightweight components, or a driver who only knows how to do standing stats from playing Grand Tourismo.
• A stalled car can be a big hazard. (Honda Challenge employed extra flaggers down pit lane to wave yellows if somebody stalled).

[Zonker]

I started racing in the New England division in the late 1960's. Back then standing starts were the standard start procedure.

My bet that the reason that SCCA went away from standing starts was to save time during a race weekend. It is a lot faster to start the cars from the false grid and then start the race first time by the start finish line. Other wise you stop the cars on the grid and wait for every one to line up properly before you flag them off.

Doing standing starts today might be more of an issue because most drivers have never done standing starts or they do them so infrequently that they are not very good at executing a standing start.

Back in the day I was a starter doing standing starts. We could count on at least one stalled or very slow car (tried to start in 3rd instead of 1st) a weekend and someone starting in reverse now and then.

IMHO the problem is that we are now doing "flying" starts, nor "rolling" starts. Bottom of second gear would seem about right to me.