Standing Starts

[Brands]

Standing starts for F1000? Is there any reason why standing starts are not more common in SCCA racing? They're great fun. Are there any procedures in place so this could happen at a few races (assuming it's a popular idea of course). Just a holiday thought.

[carnut169]

Not the greatest idea, imho. Very hard on your driveline- would definately increase costs. Great for spectators....

[glenn cooper]

we race in a group consisting of up to 6 or 7 other classes.
I'd love it, but it's just not do-able w/ our format of combined race groupings...
Brands, as in Hatch?
Cheerzzzzz, GC

[Brands]

That's a shame! Brands (Hatch) is my Home track (actually it's Road Atlanta these days). Guess I'll have to get used to the rolling starts then!

[Stan Clayton]

Up until 1997 SCCA sanctioned the Kool-Toyota Atlantic Championship, which used standing starts, so the rule about how to conduct them must still be around. If one could convince the Regional leadership to permit one race group to do a standing start (using the "limited competition" clause in the GCR with appropriate Sups), actually setting it up is trivial.

Stan

[pilotodefc]

Standing starts in F1000 would surely be like icing on the cake. I have a RF98 and am planing on converting to MC power

[S Lathrop]

The last SCCA standing start I did was 1969 at IRP and I think that was the only one I remember that year in Central Div.

The Canadian Tire FF2000 series used standing starts in the late 1980's.

I remember doing split standing starts at Lime Rock. A lot of the starters would stand at the edge of the track. I think the officials who hang around the start finish lines wanted to move the mass crashes away from them and to the first turn.

When we did standing starts in SCCA we did not do exploritory laps as they did in FA. The first time around the track was a green race lap.

Seriously, I think that it took significantly more time to do standing starts. That is why they, SCCA, quit doing standing starts.

Safety was not really an issue because the starting line crashes were at very slow speeds and you generally arrived at the first turn quite a bit slower than with rolling starts.

Those starts were fun though.

[thunderracing91]

I always loved standing starts in my 125 and 80 shifter karts. They were a blast and I was somewhat decent doing them. Now with the FF..................ever since I put that new tilton clutch in, that thing is either "on" or "off". It can be tricky. I think it would be pretty cool for F1000 to have the standing starts........

Andrew

[ianashdown]

I think standing starts would be a great spectacle for all the spectators. Oh, wait a minute...there aren't any!

Seriously, when I was working in CART and the Atlantics still had Standing Starts, all the crews would stop what they were doing and go watch the start. If you can get that jaded bunch to watch then you must be doing something right. The Atlantic cars didn't sound half as good as these cars will!

I believe them to be safer, for reason mentioned above, but also much more fair to the guys at the back of the grid. If they are on their game they might make up a spot or two. With Rolling Starts, they're three turns behind the leaders when the flag drops! No chance to make up for what might have been an unlucky qualifying.

Why not see what the consensus is amongst the likely competitors, if it looks like a good number put it forward to the Board. It's not that difficult, it takes a little practice, but if Champ Cars can do it.....

What about a Poll?

Ian

[Dick R.]

Based on my experience doing Pro Solo and normal autocross standing starts in a FF1600, first gear needs to be one with about 45 mph top speed to avoid engine bog or serious clutch slip assuming warm tires and a clean track surface. This requires anywhere from 3K to 5K rpm at "clutch drop" depending on traction and tire heat. For FF1600 with only 4 gears allowed this would make gearing for the rest of a road race a real challenge if a good start and/or a healthy clutch was important. I don't know how this translates to F1000 m/c engines and transmissions.

FYI standing starts with the right gearing are great fun . . . especially in a Pro Solo Challenge (think bracket racing) where most of the cars a FF runs against are much slower. This means a FF starts 3 to 5 seconds AFTER the car in the other lane and has 20 to 25 seconds to beat the other car to the finish. Been there done that :-)

Dick

[M.L.Sauce]

I did standing starts in Canada in the ESSO Protech FF series and in the Toyota atlantic Series.It is the most fun there is in road racing.I had so much fun.The gearing in FF is no big deal.I did not see any extraordinary wear in the gearbox either.The clutch life in the FF was decreased somewhat but the carbon clutch in the Atlantic ran the whole season.

[Bill Bonow]

I was lucky enough to do some standing starts in New Zealand. Mike Sauce is dead-on accurite, it adds a whole new level of fun to road racing. The folks I raced with gave me a 5 minute "standing start school" before the races and I had a blast. I've been curious why it couldn't happen here. It was so simple. Take off from the false grid on one very quick recon lap, pull into you box and wait, red light goes on (rev up engine to specific RPM), at green light, dump clutch and go.

[RussMcB]

I agree it would add excitement and would be fun, but I'm glad I don't have to spend the extra time, effort and money to beef up my drive line components to withstand the extra punishment.

[Stan Clayton]

Guys, there is nothing preventing a Region holding a standing start for any particular race group. It needs to be planned in advance, though, since the Divisional Executive Steward needs to sign off on the procedures for the 'alternate start', and the procedures need to appear in the Supplemental Regs for the event. Take a look at 6.2.2 on page 50 of the 2007 GCR.

Have fun!

Stan

[glenn cooper]

My comment above about combined groupings could have been more in-depth:
F1000 can take a standing start just fine, but when combined w/ other classes that have more grip than tire and resultant slippage (FM, esp. w/ street based clutch), or perhaps not much bottom end (F500, FF) it would be havoc.
The only times I've seen it is w/ equal cars, aka spec classs.
GC