I'm curious what the PROPER starting procedure is, to get not only a fast start, but to also not damage the car.

What I usually do is just rev the engine a few times to keep the RPMs up, and then right as the chrismass tree hits green, I floor it.

This used to work just fine in the demo, and i'd always start pretty high up in the pack, and without too much wheel spin, but i've noticed that in S2, everybody seems to just redline their engine and wait for the christmass tree to hit green.

I was under the impression that this would not only damage your engine, but also give you a slow and wheel spin laden start, but this hasn't been the case. Consistently, using my starting procedure, i've been falling to the absolute last of the pack, and having to hope that either turn 1 takes out enough people for me to get a reasonable place, or to just full on fight my way to the top.

So, what is the PROPER way to start? Does redlining your engine off the grid not damage it or something?

Quote from sinkoman :

Consistently, using my starting procedure, i've been falling to the absolute last of the pack, and having to hope that either turn 1 takes out enough people for me to get a reasonable place, or to just full on fight my way to the top.

....so why keep doing it?

In patch W I just nail it and go, never noticed any engine damage.

I do things a little different in the new test patch due to the possible false start, I no longer just redline it, I stick around 3/4's of the rev range and then just flick it into first, seems to work pretty well.

There is no proper start procedure, just do whatever gets you off the line best.

after the false start that is officially introduced in Patch X, flooring it before green will not work. Some guys I saw in the test patch just floor the pedal in neutral gear and switch to 1st gear when the christmas tree hits green. However, what I know is that, you should be keeping your rev around the largest torque rev area to launch, so it is various for every car.

I would have thought you can adjust your 1st gear ratio to avoid wheel spinning at the start?

I've not really fidled with my own set ups yet, still trying to learn how to race consistently around all tracks combos first. Generally I am using inferno or kind folks donation sets. One day I will get the motivation to try my own tinkering.

Clutch; 1st gear; 100% throttle; dump clutch.

Quote from sinkoman :

I'm curious what the PROPER starting procedure is, to get not only a fast start, but to also not damage the car
......
Does redlining your engine off the grid not damage it or something?

Rev limiter prevent damage. You only get damage when you over-rev changing down a gear. Correct me if I am wrong, the rev limiter was introduced only a few patches ago.

Quote from JasonJ :

Correct me if I am wrong, the rev limiter was introduced only a few patches ago.

ill do.
the rev limiter was introduced with S2.
and since then there havent been changes although i hope there will be.
kinda like S1.

Quote from keithano :

after the false start that is officially introduced in Patch X, flooring it before green will not work. Some guys I saw in the test patch just floor the pedal in neutral gear and switch to 1st gear when the christmas tree hits green. However, what I know is that, you should be keeping your rev around the largest torque rev area to launch, so it is various for every car.

Due to turbolag you'll get low power if you keep it in the max torque range. You'd better rev the charger as much as possible, which means 100% throttle.

I've tried slipping the clutch when the revs drop too low (when using a longer 1st gear). That seems to be amazingly slow. I guess this probably mirrors real life as dumping the clutch seems to be the norm.

Ummm ... same way I launch my own car in real life.

Biting point is actually quite similar too

Quote from keithano :

However, what I know is that, you should be keeping your rev around the largest torque rev area to launch, so it is various for every car.

Not quite. You want to rev around the maximum amount of torque your wheels can cope with, because you want to be just on the edge of spinning the wheels without doing so. On loose surfaces like gravel though, you want to rev just slightly above that point and spin the wheel just a little bit when accelerating off the line.
Of course, when the lights go green and you dump the clutch, you want to get up to full throttle as soon as possible without any wheelspin.
It's hard to get this right in LFS though, because of the many different setup, car and tyre combinations - you'd have to make the calculations before going out on the track.

Quote from detail :

Due to turbolag you'll get low power if you keep it in the max torque range. You'd better rev the charger as much as possible, which means 100% throttle.

most of the times you cant even reach max boost in the fxr before the green light

Quote :

Clutch; 1st gear; 100% throttle; dump clutch.

Works for me IRL. Sure, you get wheelspin in 1st but once you're in second, you're away.

Clutch in, shifter in 1st, throttle sufficently to keep the revs high but before red-line, just before the lights go green 100% throttle, not soon enough for it to get to the rev limiter though. As of the latest test patch its a case of reacting to the green light now, as opposed to predicting it.

Quote from detail :

Due to turbolag you'll get low power if you keep it in the max torque range. You'd better rev the charger as much as possible, which means 100% throttle.

Yup...Thought almost the same way...

With the g25, i usually floor it, in 1st gear with the clutch in all the way, then holding the handbake, i release the clutch slowly, untill the car starts to move ahead. You can move a little bit before the green light. As soon as the light goes green, i release the handbrake, and release the clutch slightly more, there is no wheel spin, but you get an incredibly fast start. In the XRR, I get 1.30 g's all the way through 1st, which i have redline going about 85 km/h.Doing this, no-one will touch you. You can do a burn-out at the beginning, depending on the car you are driving. the gt cars do them nicely. and heat the tires good for turn one. I dont really agree with auto-spectate when you false start. Kind of off topic, but, whats the point of having false starts if you cant actually have one? I know there would be rammers at the line, just to ruin others races, but you can ban them. I think having a drive through penality may actually be ok, if you know you can make it far enough ahead of everyone else at the start. Not to mention getting away from the turn one havoc.

Quote from stevewhite :

I dont really agree with auto-spectate when you false start. Kind of off topic, but, whats the point of having false starts if you cant actually have one?

I have never got auto spectate on a false start. You have to go really really early to auto spectate. I think the limit was something like 5 metres before the green light which is a massive false start.