Starts

[Bob"oldnslo"Roberson]

Seems like every race we have a huge incident at the start. I know because I have caused some myself.
Too many good cars are damaged at the start and too many places are lost through no cause of their own.
There is a lot of cars losing control when the backend breaks away by wheelspin.
I propose that we consider the rolling start. Or have we had the same problems with that ?
Another solution would be for everyone to start in 2nd gear with no revving and just gas it when the flag drops. Works for me. Since I started doing that I start very smoothly and get up to speed very quickly. In fact I still almost run over cars that were ahead of me on the grid.
But I know everyone seems to think they can get a rocket start and blast by everyone and improve their position.
But..........guys it just isn't working

[blackcat77]

I don't like rolling starts because I don't like formation laps of any sort. Besides that, seems like most tracks we race are really close on fuel and that one extra lap might be the difference between "That was close," and "Oh s#!*"

There's really no substitute for respect and common sense. I hate to see the league go all Bernie on things, but if there is an issue with problems on the first lap, maybe we need to consider VOR's Orange Zone rule which prohibits passing for approximately the first half of the first lap unless someone spins or goes completely off the track. In last night's race, the Orange Zone would have been the area up to that straight leading to the hairpin. By that point, everybody could have been up to speed and sorted out...

[greds04]

Agreed, the Esses is just not a safe place to try and do anything to gain a position and on an opening lap of the race when there is an hour to go, just wait for the straight after the hairpin or the drag strip section. And it was mentioned during the practice and warm up about the esses not being a smart place for trying to make a move, which makes it just that little more annoying that something still happened 12 seconds (I might be a little generous with the actual time of the incident) into the race.

Rolling starts are okay but they are not immune from their own set of issues like people trying to slow the whole field down and then gassing it to get a good gap going, people still lose the car or run into someone in those situations.

[BCurtis]

One thing I find about starts and why I may not mind a pace lap is the straight to the grid doesnt seem to give everyone's connection time to settle down. Someone mentioned me blinking during the start last night...but my ping thru the race was very good when I checked it. If there was a pace lap with a standing or rolling start it may give a chance for everyone's connection to stabilize.
The standing start may get tricky cuz everyone has to basically get 'staged' before the green will come out I think. Last night it seemed like the game didnt finish synchronizing before the green came out, I found it kinda weird, I looked down and swear that there was still 20 seconds left but the lights were comin on.
Anyway just an observation about connections at the start.

[blackcat77]

You were warping bad for me both Saturday and last night. You'd vanish for a couple seconds, re-appear for about five and then vanish for a couple more. First time I've seen any issue with you...

[greds04]

Same problem I had with Brent, I was honestly scared that he would re-appear on top of my car, I thought I was experiencing lag, but then everyone else was driving normally and not lagging into the dirt.

[Ced Collins]

I have to agree with Paul in not liking the rolling start thing. This league has always been standing starts. I also have to agree on the common sense thing. Know your car, if it starts to step out let off the gas. I did that Sunday when mine started to break loose, only takes a blip and you can get back in it. That's how Rocket J Weasel got me...lol. I'll take a look at the start for the esses incident. And most know with this track, that passing there is not wise. Bob, we did have some clean starts while you were out so it's not every race that this happens. Just watch the vids that I post. That is probably the one thing no one practices, how there car handles from a standing start. Maybe everyone should. I'll look at this over the next few races. So lets be on good behavior for the starts.