The Le Mans start, where drivers run across the track to their cars, start them and take off, was banned after the 1969 24 hour race due to safety concerns. Since real life and limb are not at risk in a sim, I started wondering if a Le Mans start is possible in LFS.

Of course not, you idiot. You can't get out of the car and do useful things like chase around prostitutes like you can in GTA. But what you can do is force everyone to telepit at the start of the race, then join from the pits after the green flag has dropped. How, you ask? Enclose the entire grid area in barriers. The start procedure is:

- Everyone joins the grid like normal.
- When the green flag drops, everyone telepits (shift-P), then rejoins after the LFS-imposed 12 second countdown. Pull out of the pits to start the race.
- Pit road speed limits apply, please don't ram someone while exiting your pit stall. If you get walled you can always telepit again.
- There could be a limit on the number of people who can pit/join at once. That's all part of the fun.

Since the starting grid is blocked, there is a diversion through the grass on the front stretch. I marked the s/f line in the grass with a line of cones, which you are meant to plow through. And there's an extra off road chicane to the back section of the course. I tried to pad the red/white barriers with hay bales to minimize moon shots.

To add even more chaos, the leader at the end of lap 3 gets a DT. This is loosely patterned after "The People's Curse" penalty at 24 Hours of Lemons events, although not nearly as harsh. It takes 12-15 seconds to serve a DT. There could be some interesting strategy trying NOT to lead lap 3.

The server "S3 Racing Lemons" is set up for this using lapper. There's an RCM at the start that tries to explain the oddities in 40 characters or less.

I'm thinking of a one off semi-endurance event, or maybe a league based on this concept, but it obviously needs some testing. Sure, it sounds like there's no way it could fail, but you never know until you try. :P


edit: I forgot, the server is set to XFG+XRG at AS2 and it's using a special layout.

Next series idea!!

We'll see how the test goes first. We don't want to count our lemons before they sprout. I'll be on the server (S3 Racing Lemons) Wednesday around 9pm. Hope to see you guys there.

Hope you guys get some practice in, was just on the server and about 30 seconds faster than Sho.

I was driving the course in reverse for an added challenge... didn't know my times were being so closely watched!

Running an endurance race entirely in reverse? Hmmmm... I smell another event brewing. Add into that forced TV view and we have a winner!

Oh god, might as well just do a demo derby and get it over with.

And I wasn't really paying attention to your times Sho, just was curious who the other person was that Lapper had recorded times for.

Thanks to the guys who were on last night for testing. I'd like to get your feedback on the format, keeping in mind that the actual event would be a one hour race instead of the ~10 minute ones we did last night. I'd probably also have a required pit stop in the one hour race.

I'll start with my impressions.

- LFS seems to assign garage spots based on your grid spot. So with a random grid like we had last night, the Le Mans start is left to chance. We could even have qualifications to try to get the best garage spot for the start.

- I liked the Le Mans starts. It was a nice change of pace from the usual standing start. Granted we didn't have many people on, but they were clean.

- As Cabby pointed out, the DT was a killer in a short race. An hour race shouldn't be too bad. In a short race we could have a chicane on the front stretch after the pit entrance to make the DT less potent. I'd also like your feedback on when the DT should happen - around 50% of the race distance? 20-30%?

Please keep in my that there are a few tracks in LFS where the available pit boxes are less than 32 (full grid).

Good point. That's assuming pit spots match garage spots. But also I don't think we're in any danger of having a full grid.

just an idea

20 lap race
optional drive thru on laps 5, 10, and 15.
each drivethru is worth 5 pts.
only the 1st drivethru on those laps are points given.

so if the first 3 guys dont go for it, the fourth place car starts to think about it. Maybe the leader goes for it on lap5, and has time to get the time back etc...
1 stop at 50% works too, but make it worth points for the gamble.

Yes, the DT in a short race is really a killer as you're pretty much guaranteed not to win at that point. As for adding in a required pit stop on top of a DT, that might be a bit too much, even during an hour long event. Then again it might not make a difference since all cars would have to do the pit stop.

As for when the DT should happen, that would be dependant on if you impose a restriction on when the DT needs to be served. If you allow the driver to serve the DT whenever they want before the last lap, then I think it could be handed out at any time. If you make them serve it within say 3 laps of receiving the DT then you'd want it a bit earlier to allow them the opportunity to make up that lost time by having more laps available.

As you pointed out, a good grid position is essential with this start. A randomized grid can be very handy in helping to even out the field for the first few laps, but then if the DT is early again like it was during testing then the advantage would go to the fast driver that had a crappy grid spot and was stuck behind traffic for the first 1/3 of the race. I'd say do a qual and let the faster guys have fun trying to wreck themselves and screw up intentionally to keep from getting the DT.

Quote from glenh :

just an idea

20 lap race
optional drive thru on laps 5, 10, and 15.
each drivethru is worth 5 pts.
only the 1st drivethru on those laps are points given.

so if the first 3 guys dont go for it, the fourth place car starts to think about it. Maybe the leader goes for it on lap5, and has time to get the time back etc...
1 stop at 50% works too, but make it worth points for the gamble.

That's very similar to the pizza delivery league that LOTA ran, which was a lot of fun. You're giving me something to think about...

I've been working on a new lemon layout, this time for FE3. Because of the nature of the track, a DT only costs you 5-6 seconds here.

I kinda like this one better than the AS2 one.