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A rolling start is one of two modes of initiating or restarting an auto race; the other mode is the standing start. In a rolling start, the cars are ordered on the track and are led on a certain number of laps (parade or caution laps) at a pre-determined safe speed by the safety car.
When race conditions are ready, the safety car will leave the track, and the race marshal will show the green flag, indicating that the field is allowed to accelerate. The safety car typically leaves the track some distance before the finish line, and a few seconds may elapse between the safety car's departure and the showing of the green flag. Cars must wait for the green flag to accelerate to race speeds. In the past, drivers would need to look for the flag, but in modern times this information is typically communicated to drivers via two-way radio, or at the proper acceleration zone, marked by a line or cone, determined at the pre-race drivers and mechanics briefing.
In international-level motorsport, races with rolling starts are typically started by the starter changing the starting lights from red to green after a specified number of green flag pace laps behind either a lead car or safety car. In this case the red lights are pre-illuminated part of the way around the final pace lap and are changed to green once the starter is happy with the composition of the field. International rolling starts may be aborted by leaving the red lights illuminated and the displaying of an "Extra Formation Lap" board and/or flashing yellow lights. [1]
Rolling starts are often accompanied by several rules to prevent drivers from getting an unfair advantage during the start of the race. For example, drivers on the inside line cannot overtake cars on the outside until they have passed the start line. Drivers must stay behind the pace car and maintain their position within the field, unless entering the pits or given leave to go around. Furthermore, as the green flag nears and the pace car exits the track, drivers must maintain speed and position heading to the proper line. The lead driver cannot slow excessively to force trailing cars to bunch up, which would give the leader a jump on the restart.
Motorsports utilising a rolling start include stock car racing, sports car racing, and several worldwide touring car championships. Formula sports tend to avoid the rolling start for the initial start of the race, mostly because of the physics and technology behind the sport (for example, being too close to the car in front for too long can cause overheating and engine problems), but also because of the quicker acceleration times, and bigger dangers behind accidents within the sport.
The initial start of the race may organize the cars in specific lines. For instance, NASCAR races start double file, [2] and the Indianapolis 500 starts triple file. Restarts, however, are often only single file, but lapped cars may form a second line on the inside. Some short track ovals have a rule, adopted by NASCAR in June 2009, and IndyCar in 2011, where the restarts are all double file, with the leader's choice of inside or outside on the ensuing restart.
Virtually all restarts in motorsports are held as rolling starts for time constraints; it is much quicker to get the cars to go on a rolling restart than a standing start (under the FIA Code, once a red flag is displayed, it takes ten minutes to restart a race via standing start) [ citation needed ]. Formula One has a rule stating that in case of an excessively wet track, a rolling start may be used to start the race with the cars behind the safety car. In such cases, laps start counting immediately.
Some Formula One races — 2022 at Monaco, 1997, 2000 and 2021 at Spa, Belgium, 2003 at Interlagos, Brazil, 2007 at Fuji, Japan, 2008 at Monza, Italy, 2009 at Shanghai, China, 2010 at Yeongam, South Korea, 2011 at Montreal, Canada, 2014 at Suzuka, Japan, and 2016 at Monaco and then Silverstone, Great Britain — started with a rolling start because of weather concerns. They were not proper rolling starts because they started the race behind the safety car and so when racing properly started, they took the line in single file.
In motorsports, a pit stop is a pause for refuelling, new tyres, repairs, mechanical adjustments, a driver change, as a penalty, or any combination of the above. These stops occur in an area called the pits, most commonly accessed via a pit lane which runs parallel to the start/finish straightaway of the track and is connected to it at each end. Along this lane is a row of garages outside which the work is done in a pit box. Pit stop work is carried out by the pit crew of up to twenty mechanics, depending on the series regulations, while the driver often waits in the vehicle.
Maurício Gugelmin is a Brazilian former racing driver. He took part in both Formula One and Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART). He participated in 80 Formula One Grands Prix, debuting in 1988 for the March team. Gugelmin achieved one top-three finish and scored a total of ten championship points in the series. He competed in CART between 1993 and 2001, starting 147 races. Gugelmin won one race, in 1997 in Vancouver, finishing fourth in the championship that year. His best result in the Indianapolis 500 was in 1995 where he started and finished in sixth position, leading 59 laps. For a period, he held the world speed record for a closed race track, set at California Speedway in 1997 at a speed of 240.942 mph (387.759 km/h). Gugelmin retired at the end of 2001 after a year that included the death of his third child.
The Indianapolis 500 auto race has used a pace car every year since 1911. The pace car is utilized for two primary purposes. At the start of the race, the pace car leads the assembled starting grid around the track for a predetermined number of unscored warm-up laps. Then if the officials deem appropriate, it releases the field at a purposeful speed to start the race. In addition, during yellow flag caution periods, the pace car enters the track and picks up the leader, bunching the field up at a reduced speed.
In motorsport, a safety car, or a pace car, is an automobile which limits the speed of competing cars or motorcycles on a racetrack in the case of a caution period such as an obstruction on the track or bad weather. The aim of the safety car is to enable the clearance of any obstruction under safer conditions, especially for marshals and/or await more favourable track conditions weather-wise. By following the safety car, the competitors' tyres remain as close as possible to operating temperature while their engines do not overheat. A safety car is also preferred over stopping the race and restarting as the latter takes longer.
Oriol Servià Imbers is a Spanish racing driver who competes part-time in the IndyCar Series. He raced for Dragon Racing in the 2014–15 Formula E season, and left the series prior to the 2015 Miami ePrix to become managing director for the technical and commercial partnerships of Dragon Racing. Servià holds a degree in mechanical engineering from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia. Since 2018 he also serves as pace car driver at IndyCar races outside the Indianapolis 500.
Donald Scott Goodyear is a Canadian retired racing driver. He competed in CART Championship cars and the Indy Racing League. Along with Michael Andretti, Goodyear is the only driver to have won the Michigan 500 more than once, in 1992 and 1994. Goodyear also twice finished second in the Indianapolis 500, both times under contentious circumstances.
Racing flags are traditionally used in auto racing and similar motorsports to indicate track conditions and to communicate important messages to drivers. Typically, the starter, sometimes the grand marshal of a race, waves the flags atop a flag stand near the start/finish line. Track marshals are also stationed at observation posts along the race track in order to communicate both local and course-wide conditions to drivers. Alternatively, some race tracks employ lights to supplement the primary flag at the start/finish line.
A standing start is a type of start in auto racing events, in which cars are stationary when the race begins. Some categories of land speed record also require a standing start, although the absolute land speed record uses a flying start, where the vehicle has reached its top speed by the starting point of the timer.
In North American auto racing, a green–white–checker finish (GWC) is a racing restart procedure one in which the race is restarted from a caution period with 2 laps remaining. When the race distance is extended to accommodate such a finish, it is also sometimes known as an overtime finish or stage four. The name alludes to three racing flags:
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) makes and enforces numerous rules and regulations that transcend all racing series.
The 1991 Daytona 500 By STP was the first stock car race of the 1991 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season and the 33rd iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, February 17, 1991, before an audience of 145,000 in Daytona Beach, Florida at Daytona International Speedway, a 2.5 miles (4.0 km) permanent triangular-shaped superspeedway. The race took the scheduled 200 laps to complete. Following a period of three late-race cautions, Morgan–McClure Motorsports driver Ernie Irvan took the lead from Dale Earnhardt with six laps left in the race. With three laps to go, Earnhardt spun and collected Davey Allison and Kyle Petty, bringing out the final caution with two laps left. Coasting to the finish on fumes, Irvan was able to take his second career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory, his first victory of the season, and his only Daytona 500 victory. To fill out the top three, Junior Johnson & Associates driver Sterling Marlin and RahMoc Enterprises driver Joe Ruttman finished second and third, respectively.
The following is a glossary of terminology used in motorsport, along with explanations of their meanings.
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