Race Starts

[Burp]

Hi all,


Me and my mate race in CSCC Tintops. So far Ive been doing the 2nd stint, as my mate has more race experiance, so ive never had to worry about starts.

3 weeks ago at Anglesey I did an extra race on my own so did my first ever grid race start. It went ok.

Were racing Tintops at Oulton this weekend and I may be starting this time. Any tips or advice on getting off the line well?

Ive not practiced or tried anything, just the one start at Anglesey.

Car is FWD, 200bhp, 875kgs.

Do you just pull away as normal with minimum wheel spin or keep the revs high and feed the clucth out?

At Anglesey my mate said 'as long as you dont stall you'll be fine'

A bit of theory might help me do decent job, Thanks

[jagracer]

As I have masses of torque I tend to rev the engine to about 2.5-3K then let the clutch out as quick as possible and then floor it just controlling the wheelspin, or rather just staying outside of wheelspin. As I always qualify midfield I find I can often gain anything up to 3 or 4 rows by the first corner, except on Sunday when I changed up from first straight into forth

[HiRich]

The theory part is that for maximum acceleration you should look for a little slip - grey lines rather than black.

Techniques vary on the car, but generally try to get the clutch-slip phase over as quickly as possible - that's the first phase of raising your left foot (releasing the clutch) whilst balancing off your right (accelerator) without burning the clutch to buggery (too much power, releasing the clutch too slowly) and without bogging down (too quick on the clutch, not enough gas).
Get through that phase and it's then a case of easing in easing up to full throttle without creating excessive wheelspin.

Do some practise starts on a decent tarmac surface. Things you should be recognising/doing are:

• Don't rev, otherwise you may be caught too high or low. From 5sec board to light off, find an rpm that works for you.
• On lights out, don't dump the clutch completely (ie moving your foot off sideways). Learn where the bite & slip points are in the pedal travel. Get out the clutch quickly and smoothly, and probably with more gas being fed in.
• With a good start, expect a slightly extended chirrup from the tyres (0.5-0.75 secs). In that same time feed in the clutch, and feel the nose rise (no dip, which means it's bogging down), and ditto for the revs, rising through that first phase.
• Excessive wheelspin will cost as much as bogging down, if you get it, feather out the throttle, don't jump off it.
• Once out of the clutch, all you need worry about is your right foot, feeding in as much power as the tyres can handle. That and cars blocking your path, gaps to pass, quicker starters to your sides, and a line for the first corner...

And your mate is correct - a half-decent start will be good enough, better than going for that last metre and spinning it away in tyresmoke.

In technique terms, try to come in from beneath with a more cautious technique. Start from a normal, spirited road start, and add aggression. It's easier to learn and avoid bogging down than wheelspin, and once you're moving it's easier to add more throttle than feather out and reapply (and of course faster). In short, a half decent start every time will do you OK; banzai starts will occasionally gain you places but more often you will cock it up and lose out.

[covboy]

And remember – don’t do a practice start on your warm-up/green flag lap – unless you want to see the C of C

[Kickstart]

The other thing to think about at a start is that normally you start 1/2 way down a straight and hence probably don't need to brake as hard or at all in comparison to normal.

Oulton is a bit of a prime example when you will see lots of drivers braking as per a usual lap and if you are lucky you can make up a lot of places as if you start mid grid you probably only need a lift to get round the first corner.

Have fun

[BertBert]

you can also try finding the biting point before raising the revs. SO find the biting point with the clutch, drop off it a bit (don't want a false start), then raise to your chosen revs. As the lights go out you only have to move the clutch a little to engage drive and you can easily maximise it from there with a little practice.

Bert

[Burp]

Thanks for all the replies chaps, very usefull.

Looking back I think my start at Anglesey was pretty decent, the car is so lively in 1st gear its quite tricky to control the wheelspin and short shifting into 2nd is nessisary.

Practicing it is hard to do without getting a slap on the wrist. Might have to do it at the car park back at the yard but the tarmac is a bit poor.

I'll try and find the bite point and as HiRich says do a normalish road start and then see how it goes.


Thanks again

[HiRich]

Burp said:

Practicing it is hard to do without getting a slap on the wrist. Might have to do it at the car park back at the yard but the tarmac is a bit poor.

Sorry, that's what I meant. Provided it's swept and level (and ideally tarmac), it's a passable equivalent. It's not like you have a carbon clutch or something marginal to the car, so it's similar to road (fast getaway at least).
Do a couple. Stop and think (and to let the clutch cool). Go and do some more - both to see if you are consistent, then trying a few things differently (e.g. less revs, aggressiveness of clutch operation) to see the effects and find the limits.

[MrLizard]

didnt realise it was frowned upon by laying a little rubber down on the green flag lap?

i can see why they might judge it as being out of control of the car if excessive, i did this at mallory and snett to help, rwd 300/300 is difficult to get a decent start especially when fighting scoobs

[jagracer]

MrLizard said:

didnt realise it was frowned upon by laying a little rubber down on the green flag lap?

i can see why they might judge it as being out of control of the car if excessive, i did this at mallory and snett to help, rwd 300/300 is difficult to get a decent start especially when fighting scoobs

It's not frowned upon from where you leave your grid position, you aren't supposed to stop during the GFL and do practice starts.

[covboy]

jagracer said:

MrLizard said:

didnt realise it was frowned upon by laying a little rubber down on the green flag lap?

i can see why they might judge it as being out of control of the car if excessive, i did this at mallory and snett to help, rwd 300/300 is difficult to get a decent start especially when fighting scoobs

It's not frowned upon from where you leave your grid position, you aren't supposed to stop during the GFL and do practice starts.

Thats what I meant to say

[Burp]

Made a fairly good go at it.

Found the bite point when the 5 second board went out, gave it a few revs and initialy got some wheel spin but blended off the throttle a little till it gripped and short shifted into 2nd. Made at least a car length on the guy directly in front.

But I need to start a new thread for next time......... 'How to get around the first corner without going onto the grass and loosing 4 places'

[jagracer]

Burp said:

Made a fairly good go at it.

Found the bite point when the 5 second board went out, gave it a few revs and initialy got some wheel spin but blended off the throttle a little till it gripped and short shifted into 2nd. Made at least a car length on the guy directly in front.

But I need to start a new thread for next time......... 'How to get around the first corner without going onto the grass and loosing 4 places'

Well done on the start, getting round the first corner is easy, you keep to the dark grey stuff between the barrier on the right and the green bit on the left.

[Dave Brand]

jagracer said:

It's not frowned upon from where you leave your grid position, you aren't supposed to stop during the GFL and do practice starts.

Not just the green flag lap - you'll be penalised for practice starts at any time! (The slowing-down lap at the end of practice seems to be a favourite time for practice starts)

[covboy]

Slightly O/T but perhaps worth discussion. Many moons ago at Donington during practice (for a BTCC race I think) Frank Sytner in his BMW (what else!) would slow to practically a stop down by the Exhibition Centre then boot it through the Goddards chicane.

At first we thought it was practice starts, but he was not coming to a complete standstill. It was then suggested that this ploy actually gave a higher exit speed out of the chicane and over the startline to get a good flier of a lap.

Any competitors on like to back that theory up?

[HiRich]

Doubt it. Whilst there are places where taking a different line through the final corner can give you a few extra revs over the line (sacrificing the current lap for the next one), I don't see any significant benefits at the short Donington - even then it would be a slower, tighter, careful RH for a marginally more open LH, and the effect would be more subtle than the "booting it" you could spot. It's a complex where you need to be carrying a fair amount of speed right through the corner.

My guess would be more likely finding some clear space ahead for a banzai effort.