I don't see why its too much to ask if it increases the chance of everyone getting past the first few laps into some proper racing instead of there being a crash at T1 or Lap 1 and spreading or reducing the field further than it would be by a 'parade' lap; surely that's the idea of racing?
And whose fault would it be if a crash happens? Certainly not the racing's fault, but the drivers'. How are people ever going to improve if you keep sanitizing racing to the point where responsibility is completely taken off their shoulders?
Two major concerns:
1) Someone in front of you driving slowly and by having to stay behind without being allowed to pass, you drop time (and lose the tow) to the cars ahead.
2) Someone makes a mistake and you're forced to wait behind until they recover. And I'm not talking about spins or offs, but about going wide, losing the car for a moment, etc.
It's again the tendency to look for excuses for not driving in a more safe manner and reduce the risk of incidents by changing the nature of racing. Don't we have wide spread grids already? Don't we allow for shift-r? Aren't we going to try a rolling start for exactly that purpose? I think we should draw the line right there or next time someone is going to propose that you should never attempt to pass on the outside line or something.
I think it's a good idea to just avoid going 3-wide down the straight and to leave enough room in front of you in case of emergency (or just earlier) braking. That's what safe driving means and it doesn't detract from racing.
If we
are doing a rolling start that's what I was meaning by a parade lap, so it appears that there is confusion somewhere. Probably me misinterpreting something
Isn't this planned for the pro race so there is no shift-r?
Certainly my POV is not to sanitize racing by any means, nor look for excuses for bad driving but to maximise the chance of enjoyment for everyone, not just those at the front of the grid who normally get a clean start and have a decreased risk of having someone else's accident. We're talking about lap 1, not the complete race; I'd hate it to turn into the farce that is F1 at them moment where there is positive discouragement of anyone taking the slightest risk.
Martin - They did use rolling starts, frequently. Yes, they also used standing starts and on very tight grids to the point the drivers could reach out and touch the car next to them which were, for the spectator, far more exciting but, for me, they run too much of a risk in mid pack for sim racing starts and normally result in a significant incident to effective spoil the race for too many people too frequently.
Anyway, Clive has already indicated that he is considering the rolling start, it's his series and his call; if he decides to trial it then great, if not then I'll be happy with it also. As long as things are considered then that's all that can be asked.
