----- Original Message -----
From: "Dave Hardy" <dave2020@mindspring.com>
> I'm not too wild about a feature at the start. Part of the reason is that
> it encourages precision at the start. If you start in a straight, then
you
> get in the general vicinity, and go. If you start in a turn, then you
need
> to setup for the turn at the line.
I cannot recall seeing a start, ANY start, where I did not want to "set up"
where I wanted to start from in order to maximize whatever was the first
obstacle down the course. Even if I set up in the middle, I did it
purposefully, not just because that's where I ended up being.
> This brings up a question. If you leave the course, hit no cones, and
> re-enter prior to where you left, then there is no penalty except for
time,
> right? Now if you do this before hitting the start lights, then there is
no
> penalty at all, right? I saw an "opportunity" at the Peru Tour (Day 1)
last
> year that I didn't exploit, but I could have, assuming the above is true.
> Instead of taking a left at the start, which is how the course was laid
out,
> I could have gone straight through a couple of cones on the outside of the
> turn, taken a right, gone a 100' or so, turned back around, and gunned it,
> re-entering the course upstream of where I left it, and not hit any cones.
> This all could have happened before the lights. I would have then passed
> through the lights at 50 instead of 20.
>
> I know that would be an assy thing to do, but would it be illegal?
If there is no specific rule against it -- and there is none in the
rulebook -- no. It has been discussed before, and even recommended to the
SEB that rules be in place making it illegal, but with no action. However,
it is not uncommon for LOCAL rules or event supp regs to be written making
such a move illegal. And sometimes course designers do smart things like a
wall of cones making such a move impossible.
OTOH, I have been at an event where one driver did it early on, and in the
absence of any rule or any obscacle cones, everyone did. We all just
considered it part of the fun. (It also was not any 200+ car event where
time was of the essence).
Basic premise, you cannot close the loophole after someone has driven
through it. "I don't like what you did so it's illegal" is patently unfair.
So, fix it up front. Put it in the supps, announce it at driver's meeting,
put up a sign ... or just set up the course so it is not possible (a cone
wall at the right place) if you don't want it to happen.
> Gosh - that sounds like I don't like precision. Let me add to that. I
have
> found in Atlanta, that in order to get a car out every 15-20 seconds, a
> straight start works better. If it takes 15 seconds to set your car where
> you want it on the line, then the event is slowed. I guess from a drivers
> perspective, I'm indifferent. As a person helping to run the autox,
> anything that slows it down is the enemy.
No reason it should take 15 seconds to set your car where you want it no
matter what the opening design of the course is. You drive to the line. You
stop. You should have a good idea WHERE you want to be from your coursewalks
and/or watching other runs. It takes no longer to set up at one side at an
angle than it does to set up dead center and straightlined. (And I've seen
Pro Solo guys fiddle and fuss at staging for their straightline starts, so
"straight" is no panacea).
OTOH, it has been pointed out already that with a straightline start, it is
vitally important every car start from the precise same line. However, if
you have a course design that puts in a turn or two before the lights,
providing a rolling start rather than a standing start, then it does not
matter within a foot or two where the car stages and thus staging is
quicker.
And starts every 15-20 seconds? Yow! That's pounding them through. Faster
than the Nationals standard, which is 25 seconds (ignore this year, it was a
special circumstance). But I'd submit what is necessary to start cars that
frequently is not a straightline start, but a course design that does NOT
turn back upon itself within the first 20 seconds, which would make you wait
for a car to be out of the way before sending the next one. Or a course
which has some point on it at which car A must pass before car B can arrive
forcing you to hold the start to ensure that happens. On small lots, that
ain't so easy.
--Rocky
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