Start procedure

[David Church]

In qualifying your time starts when you cross the loop. In the finals the time starts when the buzzer sounds and when you cross the loop it registers your car and what position you are in, then when 5 min is up you are finished when you cross the loop.

[David Church]

So I suppose in line starts we didnt have to go at it like a race, we could have waited a second or 2 as your time didnt start till you crossed the loop, the downside is if you were a fast driver would be traffic.

[KevLee]

Originally Posted by David Church

In qualifying your time starts when you cross the loop. In the finals the time starts when the buzzer sounds and when you cross the loop it registers your car and what position you are in, then when 5 min is up you are finished when you cross the loop.

Are you sure? Whats the point of line starts if you are not racing for position all the way through the run? I'm pretty sure the time starts on the buzzer so there is no point waiting...

I have to say i do like the racing and knowing your position with line starts, but its very difficult to have consistent starts, especially if you have a couple of jumps straight after the line and a range of driver ability.

I'm also confused as to whether you are supposed to let a faster car through in qulaifying? or is it a race? If it is qualifying then your point about needing a referee for stagger start qualifying should stand for line starts Andy?

I'll attend the meetings no matter what the choice becuase i enjoy the track but i think for me Staggers have to be the fairest way.

[David Church]

Originally Posted by KevLee

Are you sure? Whats the point of line starts if you are not racing for position all the way through the run? I'm pretty sure the time starts on the buzzer so there is no point waiting...

I have to say i do like the racing and knowing your position with line starts, but its very difficult to have consistent starts, especially if you have a couple of jumps straight after the line and a range of driver ability.

I'm also confused as to whether you are supposed to let a faster car through in qulaifying? or is it a race? If it is qualifying then your point about needing a referee for stagger start qualifying should stand for line starts Andy?

I'll attend the meetings no matter what the choice becuase i enjoy the track but i think for me Staggers have to be the fairest way.

No I am not sure, that's a good point. We will have to see how the computer was set or how it can be set. If it is set for everyones time to start on the buzzer then Grant's idea can be used!!! Provided he lines all the cars up every race!!!
As for the rest of your points, I think all of these would have to be discussed, but all good points

[chris_dono]

Originally Posted by David Church

In qualifying your time starts when you cross the loop. In the finals the time starts when the buzzer sounds and when you cross the loop it registers your car and what position you are in, then when 5 min is up you are finished when you cross the loop.

I was told that your time starts when the buzzer goes...

[David Church]

Originally Posted by chris_dono

I was told that your time starts when the buzzer goes...

If this is true I was wrong.......doh

[mw02veg]

its ok dc we understand u cant help it

[David Church]

Originally Posted by mw02veg

its ok dc we understand u cant help it

Aw thanks mate

[stuartw]

Originally Posted by David Church

In qualifying your time starts when you cross the loop. In the finals the time starts when the buzzer sounds and when you cross the loop it registers your car and what position you are in, then when 5 min is up you are finished when you cross the loop.

In staggered starts, your individual clock starts when you hit the loop for the first time, (ignoring late starts etc, then a different set of mathematical calculations kick in).
In line starts (or as some call them - mass starts), its the same as finals, buzzer goes, clock starts for all.
As I say, i am ignoring all the masses of complicated parameters behind the scene, so hopefully my simple statement clarifies it for you.

[MattADH]

Originally Posted by stuartw

In staggered starts, your individual clock starts when you hit the loop for the first time, (ignoring late starts etc, then a different set of mathematical calculations kick in).
In line starts (or as some call them - mass starts), its the same as finals, buzzer goes, clock starts for all.
As I say, i am ignoring all the masses of complicated parameters behind the scene, so hopefully my simple statement clarifies it for you.

With a line start (or grid) the clock starts on the buzzer - hanging back will only lose you time!

[mw02veg]

so wots the verdict matt/steve can we do grid starts? i think the marshal closest to the main straight should grid them up either b4 or after they have marshaled if not i will do it

[MattADH]

Steve and I will need to have a chat I think - maybe we can make a second grid or come up with four lines (two cars on each) under the rostrum which would make it closer to scrutineering.

This is important as the person in race control needs to make sure everything is OK with the right number of cars on the grid, etc before starting the computer.

[discostu]

if grid starts are gonna be used for qualifiying then the heats needs to be sorted more persise for driving talent and who would decided who number 1 and who number 10 would be it seems pretty stupid to me staggerd is the only way for qualifying in my opinon.

as for late starters to the staggerd system goes they are the cleverest drivers out there by creating some space not only for the guy who went off last but also the other 9 cars in front cos its gives everybody more of a chance to spread out.

stu

[brookie]

Lots of issues here me thinks!
But hopefully nothing that we can't resolve quickly and increase the driving experience at future rounds of the EPR Winter Warmer series

As we've both said before the heats WILL BE seeded for the next round of the Winter Warmer based on your newly published BRCA Formula for 2010.

Stuart's is a valid point, how do you decide who is number one in any particular heat and who is number 10, formula + championship position?

The four line grid ONLY works if we put eight cars in each heat, with the increasing numbers attending the Winter Warmer series 10 car heats are increasingly more likely to reduce the amount of heats and time taken for qualifying especially as the days will be shorter when the clocks go back tonight! Ten cars cannot obviously be fairly rotated around four rounds of qualifying!

We can not rely on a marshal forming up any potential grid start, we now have a vast spread of abilities attending the championship and it's very early days in some drivers 'careers' and it's not fair to put this responsibility on these individuals!

As DC quite rightly pointed out if we grid cars up on the main straight there's plenty of opportunity for individuals to come a cropper before they get to the timing loop, whether it be self-inflicted or assisted, we all know it happens, you only have to look at the finals

As Matt has said, we will discuss before next weekend but would personally think that single line, staggered starts would be the simplest and quickest solution. Guess we might have to use more than one line if we get more than about 6 Short Course/Stadium trucks!

[David Church]

Alot of interesting comments which is good to see.