On restart, no overtaking until crossing the start/finish line?

tomforsyth

New member
Been watching a bunch of GT racing lately, and this was a significant difference I noticed from what we do. I believe that for ICSCC (and correct me if I'm wrong!) that on a restart, as with a normal start, the instant the green flag waves, the whole field is free to race, overtake and so on, even before they cross the start/finish line.

By contrast, TC America and GT4 America (who recently raced at Portland) allows cars to change position and speed as they wish, but they may NOT complete an overtake until that car has crossed the start/finish line. I believe the same is true of the Blancpain GT series. Note this is only on a single file restart after a safety car - on the standard double-file start they do the same as us. I'm not sure why they decided this, and I can't see any real advantage to it (especially as they all have radios), but is there any interest in changing simply to agree with this wider standard?
 
Never write a rule you can't enforce. Professional series have multiple timing loops around a racing circuit, television cameras, and a bank of monitors to review multiple camera angles. More importantly they have the people to do it. A lot of time we're lucky when we can get enough people to staff every turn station around the track with the ICSCC minimum of 2 people per turn. We need to focus on finding more people to staff the turns, so that we can improve the safety of our racing.
 
Also something to consider - When a full course yellow comes out the pace car picks up the leader but there are invariably fast cars stuck mid pack that are lapping their way through the field. When the green is thrown again the leader(s) take off but fast cars stuck behind lapped cars may be significantly delayed while the leader(s) open up gaps to the first lapped car and your suggestion would not allow them to pass even though they might accelerate at a much better rate. This would bunch them up behind lapped cars and then lead to a shorter distance to the first corner which in tune would compress fast and slow cars into a tighter pack leading to more opportunities for contact. For the most part amateur racing organizations use restart procedures similar to ours and in my humble opinion it logically leads to less car contact than waiting until the start finish line for passing.
 
I agree with Rick. When the green flag is displayed, the race is on.

But.

Until the flag flies, the field must hold the speed the pace car set.

If the starter hold the green until the first car crosses the start finish line, then the field should still be holding the pace car speed. If he drops it sooner, it is time to get going.
 
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