standing starts

[danny123]

i just watched the race review on indycar.com and thought the rolling start of the race was horrible as most of the time it is on a road course with cars spinning even before the green flag (even under yellow restart). Do you think they will implement standing starts next season with the addition of many more road/street courses? Or what till 2010 until the new car comes out? If i remember correctly didnt they wait till CC went to panoz DP01 because they had a onboard starter (that didnt work), incase the stalled on the grid. I really think it is something they need to look at for next season. Add to the excitement, and makes it fair for everyone.

[Lousada]

There was no rolling start, they started behind the safety car. After that it is normal to go green single file.

[nigelred5]

F1 has always had SS's and I've never seen or heard of an onboard starter on them for safety reasons. Of course re-starting is technically not allowed under most circmstances in F1 anyway.

The starters weren't primarily for safer standing starts. The likelyhood of a driver stalling at the drop of the flag, then getting the car in neurtral and RE-started and getting under way before he was rearended is somewhere between slim and none. He(She) would have been lucky just to re-start and join the field on their own. The starters were more of an answer to needing every car possible on track with the small field, and drivers that couldn't seem to keep a car moving in the right direction and almost always stalled on track causing rediculously long FCY's on street courses. I wholeheartedly believe it was a good idea. Of course it never worked, but they simply needed more $ for development of a better battery and starter system.

Yesterday's race had the same issues. How many FCY's were there because drivers had to be re-started because they spun and killed the engine. There were a few more that only needed a local yellow, but the problem was the same.

[JSH]

i just watched the race review on indycar.com and thought the rolling start of the race was horrible as most of the time it is on a road course with cars spinning even before the green flag (even under yellow restart). Do you think they will implement standing starts next season with the addition of many more road/street courses? Or what till 2010 until the new car comes out? If i remember correctly didnt they wait till CC went to panoz DP01 because they had a onboard starter (that didnt work), incase the stalled on the grid. I really think it is something they need to look at for next season. Add to the excitement, and makes it fair for everyone.

A standing start in the wet is just as dangerous(if not more) as a rolling one IMO.

As soon as the cars start to move you get instant water spray so anyone behind the front row can't see at all. It's a pure guess and hope that the guy infront of you actually got moving.

[danny123]

rolling starts just never seem to work on road/street courses, theres usually so spead out towards the rear and is a big gaggle and gaps everywhere, just looks unprofessional in a way, espcially now its bigger issue since theres 26 cars. Just something they should defiently consider.

[xtlm]

i miss those a 32+ car rolling starts at road america

[pvtjoker]

No Standing Starts...ever!

[JasonD]

I like standing starts for the simple fact that everyone is on the same stretch of road as everyone else.

Now if some of the dough head drivers would just put their foot down when coming out of the last turn we could actually have some pretty decent starts.

Its tough because we want them all bunched up, but we dont want carnage.

[Placid]

I like standing starts for the simple fact that everyone is on the same stretch of road as everyone else.

Now if some of the dough head drivers would just put their foot down when coming out of the last turn we could actually have some pretty decent starts.

Its tough because we want them all bunched up, but we dont want carnage.
I place my vote as well.

[xtlm]

dare i say....rolling starts make qualifying even more important?!

(i am partial to rolling starts)

[ShiftingGears]

Rolling starts on road courses are boring. I like seeing driver talent coming into play at the start of a race.

[evo5_mat]

for all the trouble people thought there would be in standing starts last year in champcar, there wasnt any.
OK 1st race in portland they held the cars abit longer than they should and the cosworth guys in race control said go now or engines will over heat but it was a great success and added to the fans tension and excitement before the race.
From what ive seen over the years at different tracks rolling starts seem to be a hit and miss, yes if the starter has the guts to wave them off and be consistant with that then the drivers will bunch up and have a nice orderly start.
The 1st couple of races so far to me seems to have be a mess, when at homested they got waved off they seemed to be better bunched and lined up than when they got the green, again to me st pete i didnt see the point of single file, as there still same amount of spray etc etc.
I remember few years back at Laguna with A1GP, standing start on a hill and in the rain/snow etc. Now all my fellow cornerworkers were amazed they decided to race like that but then i said drivers in europe are and most of these were young kids and the starts passed off safely, even into turn 1 at laguna.
Maybe there should be a balance in IRL, ovals the traditional rolling start, street and road courses standing starts ?

[JasonD]

Rolling starts on the ovals and standing on the roads/streets would be my vote.

I really think that could work and would sure make it interesting and more of a challenge since the drivers will have to master two disciplines.

[garyshell]

I really think that could work and would sure make it interesting and more of a challenge since the drivers will have to master two disciplines.


What and add more diversity? What a concept?

<<<The above message should be read knowing I had my tongue placed firmly in my cheek.>>>

Gary

[Pat Wiatrowski]

Rolling starts on the ovals and standing on the roads/streets would be my vote.

Diddo! Just like Champ Car.

[DazzlaF1]

I really think that could work and would sure make it interesting and more of a challenge since the drivers will have to master two disciplines.
I agree, the introduction of Standing starts in ChampCar last season i thought was a great idea, but one thing i've noticed about the rolling starts on the ovals in recent years (this year at Homestead especially) they're usually very unorganised.

Do you think a rolling start procedure similar to that used in NASCAR would work in future Indycar events?

[Jimmy Magnusson]

Please no, keep the standing starts away. IndyCar has to remember that it is an American series, and thus should have proper American rolling starts!

[weeflyonthewall]

Rolling starts on the ovals and standing on the roads/streets would be my vote.

A standing start at Indy would make things interesting.

[xtlm]

"A standing start at Indy would make things interesting."

blasphemy!

[Marbles]

Definitely standing starts for road and streets! Long Beach, with it's ultra tight hairpin that leads on to the front straight, is a prime reason why rolling starts just can't be worked out fairly on such courses... never have been and never will be. Atlantics, Star Mazda, SCCA GT and TC... standing starts ain't an F1 thing -- they're a motorsport thing.

Regarding onboard starters. As mentioned, I think they were primarily meant to cut down on cautions in CC. Either way, I see no need for them in the future of the IRL. Considering F1 has been using software to prevent stalling for years now (geabox defaults to neutral when the revs drop to low) then by the time the IRL rolls out their new specs in a year or so, this sort of technology ought to be available cheap and over the counter at NAPA.