Standing Starts?

#1

OK group, we’re up to 19 cars, and Blitz is now an all-German race group. They put the GTS1-5 cars and the 944s in with us, so we’re also, I think, the biggest race group. (According to my intel, SpecE30 is also the biggest single class, so way to go there too!)

David Walsh is gonna be one busy guy though. He’s driving two cars in the Blitz group (911 and his SpecE30) Should be fun to watch him pull that off!

Anyway, speak up if you have opinions on standing start vs rolling, as the NASA gang wants to sort this out in advance. Polls close tomorrow morning.

#2

As long as I don’t have to start behind Tom Hall, I’m cool with a standing start.

#3

In MA, I keep qualifying at the back and rolling starts from the rear suck. By the time the leaders get the green flag we’re all strung out and the stragglers at the back get left in the dust. If you can convey to people to not screw around on the rolling start and stay tight, I don’t care what we do. Otherwise, the standing start seems to be a great equalizer.

Sasha

#4

Standing start.

#5

One of each, triple split start.

#6

mskeen wrote:

We already assumed that B) and we assumed that the group out front will want a standing start :wink:

Do we have enough SpecE30 drivers who want to be the group out front? :woohoo:

FWIW: I am 75% sure the Panther will be ready.

#7

Rolling.

#8

JP is unable to access the interweb so I’m going to vote for him…

He votes for a standing start

#9

Funny Scott :wink:

Chuck, I assume from the question that we are trying to prevent the turn 1 fiasco at CMP from happening again. After examining the repair bill, I will agree that we should avoid that at all costs!

I’m going to throw something out there that may not be popular but I would like everyone to think about over night before responding. IMO it makes no difference if it is standing or rolling start. Everyone is vying for position in turn 1 and you can only put so many cars in turn one before contact is made. What about a green/yellow start with a yellow flag through turn one. This gives us time to get sorted out.

#10

Steve, Not a good idea. Just like the “money/insurance” pool for damage post that circulated about a year ago.Green and yellow start…maybe we could just let green and yellow cars advance. Childre would like that.

This gets back, once again, to seat-time, experience and knowing who you are racing with. But most of all, LUCK.

Roebling Road: Damion is an accomplished driver.
CMP: David is an accomplished driver.

I’ve driven over my head and spun in front of others. I would guess that we all have.

We all make mistakes, some have bad consequences.

There is no answer to the clean green flag into turn 1- or any other turn for that matter.

I’ve been behind racers that were totally out of control and I did NOT attempt to pass them for that very reason. So, I finished 4th instead of 3rd.

It is a dangerous sport.It is expensive.You’ll hold some racers in higher regard than others. Sounds kinda like the game of life.

Regards, Robert Patton

PS Chuck ,I changed my mind, let’s try standing on one of the two days.

#11

Thanks for thinking about it overnight Robert. :wink: As always, I appreciate your insight; and now it is time for me to back away from the keyboard and hope that Geiger and Davidson care to share.

#12

Standing starts are part of Nationals, so to completely avoid them isn’t realistic, nor helpful to those racers who wish to compete at Nationals.

CMP, with it’s left/right transitions in close proximity in turns 1/2, might actually lend itself better to a standing start. We all know what the starting line issues can be, but I believe that a standing start would yield a slightly less-dense pack of cars heading 2-3 wide through those turns.

Steve, of course the recent T1 mess was on my mind as I started this thread, but my intent is really to ask, in a general way, what this group thinks about standing starts, and the responses were pretty mixed overall.

Anyway, I told Jim we could do one of each type next weekend.

#13

T1, Lap One, of any race you need cooperation and common sense from everybody (or most). The yellow/green is an interesting thought, but I don’t see how it accomplishes anything. You have to start racing at some point…you’re just changing where that happens. Single file start? Boring. No reason to change the way everything works because of one accident. Steve, we know you had bad luck at CMP, but something like that could’ve happened on any lap.

#14

Mike, true dat, but on any other lap a car wouldn’t have been as wide as David was in T1. Common sense would dictate you aren’t going to save a car that is completely sideways, especially when you have a packed field behind you.

#15

Gasman wrote:

Agreed. He should’ve driven off straight, but what’s done is done.

#16

I vote that we do a standing start on Saturday if it’s raining. I plan to start from the back anyway if it’s my first rain race!

:silly:

#17

mskeen wrote:
Agreed. He should’ve driven off straight, but what’s done is done.[/quote]

Again I agree. Not looking for reimbursement. Just trying to figure out how to minimize the chance of it happening to me or anyone else.

#18

mskeen wrote:

Mike - well put. I also believe if there was greater adherence to the CCR for evaluation of crashes, penalties and punishment, there would be fewer of these events.
Ed

#19

Whoa there Robert! Please don’t lump me in with David. There are some glaring differences. I did not take out 4 cars. I made a mistake and then made the right decesion of locking the car down in a place where people could get around me on either side. I chose right, David chose wrong.

#20

Ed, Mike, Steve, all.

Please carefully read your CCRs.

Start assigning points for the screw-ups on track. Correct me if I’m wrong, but it takes 10 points to be told to go elsewhere.

This isn’t BMWCCA racing and there is not a way to get a 13/13 implemented…or at least there wasn’t last year.I’ve already been down this road.

I’m in your camp.But,if you think rules will minimize you’ll have to look elsewhere.

Pantas, can you provide insight?

Regards, Robert Patton