Help! What's the secret to good GPL starts?

Okay, I give up. I've been working on my starts but just can't get off the line with the other cars! Seems that I always bog the engine or spin the tires! I've been running the Eagle and the Coventry (with Alison's setup). I've tried holding the revs around 5 or 6K and popping it into first (no clutch) as the flag drops. As soon as it's in first, I start giving it more throttle as the rev start to drop, but most of the time the engine drops down too low to get a good start. If I hold the revs around 7 or 8K to keep it from losing revs when dropped into gear, I end up with wheel spin. I was going to keep my mouth shut and just keep at it, but it's getting frustrating. What am I doing wrong? Can anyone provide any tips on clean starts? Thanks! skip

If you can keep the car straight, wheel spin is better than bogging the engine, because a small delay at the start usually means that someone will probably rear end you. As you punch it down to 1st, smoothly increase the throttle to account for the drag on the engine - wheel spin will me there, but not as bad as you would think. -- ========================================================= John Simmons - Redneck Techno-Biker (Zerex12) http://www.members.home.net/jms1/index.html John Simmons - Barbarian Diecast Collector http://members.home.net/jsimm/diecast_index.html IGPS Director http://members.home.net/jms1/igps.html If you want to send me email, go to either of the URL's shown above & click "Send Me Mail" in the contents frame. =========================================================

Here's what I do. Since I don't have a clutch rigged up, I just wait until the green flag goes up. Then I push the brake pedal down and put it into first. When I see the flag start to drop I drop the brake and gradually press down the go pedal. With a little practice I've been able to get off the line just as fast as everyone else, with little wheelspin. "ZZ" On vacation in Fla. and going through big GPL withdrawals, although I'm getting good at 4 wheel drifts with a golf cart :)

Well, my experience is only with the Eagle, and I don't use a clutch, but use a T2 wheel with split pedal axis. When I get to the grid, I stay in neutral, apply brakes, rev the engine to move the telltale tach redline to the max revs so I can compare my revs to max during the race. When the starter raises the flag, I go to revs about 10:00 or 11:00 on the tach. As *soon* as the flagman's arm starts to drop, and with the rev's at 10:00 or 11:00, simultaneously engage 1st gear, release the brakes and apply a bit of extra throttle, the tires will spin a bit, but you should get a good launch off the line, as soon as they start spinning, back off just a bit on the trottle until the tires spin less then catch, during this part it is important to make sure you make very small adjustments to the wheel at this time or else you will spin sideways, once the tires have caught, you have succeeded and are on your way, hopefully having left the other guys in the tire smoke. Practice this in a training session until you can comfortably do this over and over on cold tires. Also depending on your setup's 1st gear for the particular track, you may have to adjust how high your initial rev's are and/or how much throttle is needed to avoid the engine getting lagged down. I usually use the practice sessions before the race to pull out of my pit in a simulated starts each time I come out of the pit stall. Note that the above banzai techniques do not apply to when you are in the middle of the grid or when the guy in front of you fell asleep at the grid and forgot to go on the green flag. In these cases do your best to either go around the stalled car in front of you or give him an extra half second to start off and hope the guy behind you isn't already on top of your head. I really hate when people are too reckless on the starts and don't compensate for latency and reaction times, resulting in massive pileups before even leaving the grid, nothing like qualifying 4th or 5th and having to start the race with a shift-R because a guy in 18th place decided he could through the guy in front of him that had stalled... One way to avoid this is to qualify on the front of the grid and then you are free to use the technique I described at the top. Hope it helps, this works for me 75% of the time where I usually maintain my position on the start and often make up places, your results may vary. Seeyas on the track. --John (Joao) Silva

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>Okay, I give up. I've been working on my starts but just can't get off the >line with the other cars! Seems that I always bog the engine or spin the >tires! I've been running the Eagle and the Coventry (with Alison's setup). >I've tried holding the revs around 5 or 6K and popping it into first (no >clutch) as the flag drops. As soon as it's in first, I start giving it more >throttle as the rev start to drop, but most of the time the engine drops >down too low to get a good start. If I hold the revs around 7 or 8K to keep >it from losing revs when dropped into gear, I end up with wheel spin. >I was going to keep my mouth shut and just keep at it, but it's getting >frustrating. What am I doing wrong? Can anyone provide any tips on clean >starts? Thanks! >skip

I just wait for the flag to drop, and then give it about half throttle and slam it into first at the same time (as the revs are building to half-throttle), while trying to keep wheelspin to a minimum by adjusting the throttle accordingly. It took some practice, but now (on average) I usually get a better start than the AI cars. Of course, there is a certain amount of natural timing that is probably dependant on the individual with respect to the exact timing of throttle-application/gear-selection, but this can be modified with practice. Paul G