Folks, Richard's points are good. Also, I think the other issue is an early
green flag, before as much of the grid as possible gets visible to the
starter and vice versa. A later green flag also means less speed going into
Turn One, and hopefully less chance for incidents.
As someone pointed out, it might be appropriate to have a "relay" flagman up
stream, with a green flag for those situations like RA, where the tower flag
cannot be seen by the rest of the grid. If the relay flag man doesn't wave,
then you know the front didn't get the green and you can stop accelerating
and slow down.
Chuck S
YS73
GT3 89
-----Original Message-----
From: Richard Hardison [mailto:blueshadow@starband.net]
I believe most vintage drivers would agree that the most dangerous moments
in any race include the start, the first turn and the remainder of the first
lap. I have noticed a worrisome change in the start of my races in the past
few years. My worries are:
- Grids are getting larger
- By the time the last 1/3 of the cars in a 40+ car grid get on the
track, the pace car and the front runners are as much as 1/3 of
a lap ahead
- With increasing frequency, the pace car sets a rather fast pace,
I think to conserve time
- Invariably, there are drivers who seem to be more concerned
with extensive "warm up maneuvers" than with closing the grid
- Toward the end of the pace lap, there is a mad scramble for the
back of the grid to close up
- The back of the grid frequently goes to full acceleration before
they know if the track is green or not because they cannot
see the start/finish tower at that time and don't want to loose
"precious seconds"
- If there is a hesitation or no green flag, disaster looms.
I have two suggestions. Pace car drivers need to have racing experience in
order to understand what is happening throughout the grid behind them, and
to be sure they have the grid closed well before the end of the pace lap.
Drivers need make every sane effort to close the grid behind the pace car
during the first 1/2 of the pace lap.
Wish I didn't have any experience in the back 1/2 of the grid!
Can't blame the pace car for all the messes we create during the first turn
and the rest of the first lap!
Everyone feel welcome to fire away!
Richard
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