There is nothing as exciting on earth as a race start, and few things more intimidating. It is a form of absolute chaos, the one time in the race where all the cars are together in one great big clump and everybody has to judge, plan and execute against everybody else at the same time. If the rest of a road race is a dance, the first corner is a mosh-pit where everybody seems to have been born with extra elbows. Just to add a bit of sweetness to it, Mazda GT’s will often reverse the grid (it’s up to the drivers), so if you are brand new to the series and struggling to figure out the car, welcome to the pole.
With a rolling start, that pole position is not as much of an advantage as you might think, either.
First off, being on the pole you have the responsibility to set the groups speed. Usually we’ll be at six thousand RPM in second gear. The pole sitter takes the position to the same side as the first turn (left be on left, right be on the right) and yes I did screw that one up once, trying to start Thunderhill on the “Pole” on the right hand side.
The major disadvantage is that while you are holding six thousand and waiting for the green flag, some of those awfully good drivers behind you might just try to time the start. Even with half the straight gone, a seemingly small advantage, like a couple hundred RPM just before the green flag, translates into a monster of an advantage by the first corner. I actually got swallowed up by the fourth row, from pole, once. That same race, Jon, who was fastest and started at the very end, got everybody by the third corner of the first lap.
Now strictly speaking this is almost cheating. And if done too obviously it will bring down unpleasant consequences on the offender, but the reality is that our starter is starting two or three separate races at roughly the same time; he has little opportunity to wave off any but the most blatant jumped start. A more common punishment is for the offender to get a black flag. As a rule of thumb, however, the officials won’t interfere as long as you don’t get such a jump that you pass before the start finish line. I’ve also known starters to deliberately hold off the green, in an effort to screw up the timing, if he sees someone lollygagging around to get a jump. And of course you can’t start to fan out before the flag since that will really give the officials heartburn and guarantee you your very own black flag.
As the pole sitter, you also have the responsibly to set the distance between ourselves and any groups that get a separate green. Too close and it’ll become a real mess in turn one as we swallow them up, too far back and if they are a lot quicker, their leaders will get into us as traffic right near the end of the race. No one will thank you for either of those results. If you find yourself on the pole the stuff to ask is first, “what RPM and gear?” Second, “Are we getting our own green?” And third, “How far back?” Get those three things right and your contribution to the start can’t be questioned.
Finally, let’s take a moment to think about the fun part. What tactics can work or fail from the get-go.
Starts are the most outstanding version on earth of what, in game theory, is referred to as the prisoner’s dilemma. Drivers have the opportunity to “cooperate” (which gives the best chance to improve both their positions), or to gain more advantage using the “defect” option (taking advantage of the racing room the “cooperating” driver leaves.) A driver who takes advantage of the “defect” option gains over the other driver, but only if the other driver chooses “cooperate.” If you and the other guy try the “defect” option at the same time you’ll both wind up hung out to dry. All this happens really fast, in a way you can’t think about at the time, any more than you can think about catching a baseball. It just sort of happens, but your mind is plotting while your senses are reeling. It is one brief moment of pure, ecstatic madness.
This level of madness only exists for a turn or two. Somewhere between the apex of the first turn and the exit of, at the very latest, the second turn, everybody will have fallen into single file. When they go single file is somewhat predictable, since it depends a lot on the corner combination. One reason it’s important to think about this before hand is the sad fact that you can hook yourself up to the wrong train doing a lead/follow while two wide. You need to think about the latest place to get in line, and which side of the track you’ll be on, to avoid being shuffled to oblivion.
At Willow Springs you’ll see everybody get in line around the entrance to turn two, while a #13 CW at Buttonwillow it might not be decided until as late as the end of the I-5 straight. Tighter and closer together tends to extract a lesser price, so the cars will stay side by side a bit longer the narrower the starting combination. A fast wide turn one, like at Thunderhill, tends to force everyone into line early while a sharp, but wide, combination corner like the off-ramp leaves us two wide the longest.
While we are two wide, my favorite starting tactic is one I think of as the ‘bumper strategy’. If you’ve got somebody good in front of you, glue your front bumper to his rear. After the cars fan out and everybody starts dicing, well… two cars leave less room than one for anyone on the other side to fall in line, and if you’re following somebody fast, after he shuffles them out you’ll probably pick off the same people he does. It’s simple, clean, easy and effective, and will rarely get you in trouble. But it only works when you’ve got somebody good to follow.
A related tactic I think of as ‘Moses parting the waters’. Sometimes one of the guys gets such a jump that he tends to scatter some of the cars in front of you. Or even become the third car contesting a corner. Rather than a futile gesture trying to stop him, if conditions are right you can take advantage of it. Once the fast car gets by you, and starts contesting the corner ahead, you might have a chance to use the whole track and catch them right back up (assuming you don’t have anybody contesting your entry) and then some. Even if you are side by side, sometimes if you back down just a bit, and make it clear you are going to follow someone with an equal start rather than contest the corner, the both of you will slaughter the guys in front as they go two or even three wide. Remember the prisoner’s dilemma; if you can get in line while the guys ahead are fighting each other you and the guy you gave room to will both gain a huge advantage over cars that are still slugging it out.
A tactic I like less and don’t use, but will often see (it’s perfectly legitimate, I just don’t enjoy it), I think of as ‘parking on the apex’. An early turn-in from the inside will allow later braking and pretty much sew up being first to the apex, but it comes at a price. You just can’t carry the speed or get on the throttle like that. Worse, you have to decide early if you are going to use all the available real estate on track out or leave racing room for two wide. Leave room, and your opponent might just switch to a late apex and leave you very lonely as a trail of cars passes you on the inside (after the apex). Don’t leave room and you might find yourself forced to stay off the throttle too long (or worse, run into someone) since a car is sitting on your outside, where you need to go.
All in all the biggest difference between passing in the first corner and passing later in the race is that you affect more cars at once. It’s not only possible, but common, for a driver up front to make a decision that suddenly closes a gap seen by a car all the way in the back. So you have to think about how much track you have available to you as well as how much you are going to leave for everybody else. Slow at the wrong time and the concertina effect will leave a huge pile of cars behind. Use too much track and you’ll just cause the kind of accident that, all too often, ends a bunch of races before they begin. Mazda GT drivers take a bit of pride in that we rarely hit each other during the mad scramble at the start, and you’ll not make any friends by changing that fact.
Finally there is what I think of as the ‘outside in’ attempt. If the first two corners are in opposite directions then you can plan the apex for your first corner one car width out. You have a very good chance at staying comfortably side by side through the first turn, while getting on the throttle a bit sooner since you have the outside. The extra speed along with the inside position for the next turn gives you a good shot at taking turn two far enough ahead that you don’t have to leave room for the other guy. The ‘outside in’ also works really well if the driver ahead uses the ‘park on the apex’ since it allows you to get on the throttle before the other guy.
Bottom line, for me the first goal is to get in trail, as far forward as I can, so I can get on my regular line and start using more track. Be patient, but be certain that if you stay side by side for very long, the front runners will get away and you’ll be a prostrate duck almost before you get started.
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