Everyone knows the famous ‘Le Mans’ style start: Riders lined up at one side of the circuit, then the flag’s dropped and the riders sprint over the track, mount their bikes and blast off into the distance…or sometimes into the back of a slow moving rival who can’t find second gear.
The tradition of these starts harks back to last century when Parisian men would gayly sip coffee in their local café only to hear a rumour of a German tank heading their way and peg it across the road, jump on their scooter and scamper off looking for the nearest unoccupied haystack to hide in for 6 years.
Up until 1987 GP races all had push starts – where the rider had to push their bike off the line with enough speed to bump start it. The problem was that ape like riders, such as Randy ‘silverback’ Mamola, had a significant advantage over the more weedy, noodle-armed Japanese riders. This often led to comical disparity of speeds where the manly riders who were already on their bikes could ‘accidentally’ clip the ankles of their nerdy rivals as they frantically tried to push their bike up Eau Rouge.
In 1987 though for the sake of oriental ankles everywhere standing starts were introduced.
But is it time to shake it up a bit? The famous Le Mans style start would definitely make MotoGP even more of a brilliant spectacle.
The main problem though is the danger. Like in the push start days there’s a large chance that one rider could be still crossing the road whilst looking for their keys as another is heading their way already doing 120mph.
Check out this video of Bradley Smith’s horrific recent start crash in this year’s 24 hour endurance race- a race that sadly for him was even shorter than his MotoGP achievement list. Thankfully Bradders and everyone else escaped unharmed.
Bradley’s known for going slow but usually he can do that from the safety of the back of the field. But with these starts there’s always a high chance of such an incident with potential large speed deficits.
But maybe if this problem can be overcome, possibly using a specified maneuverer based entirely on the opposite of what happens on the Paris inner ring-road, then Le Mans style starts can become a real thing.
So would you like to see MotoGP switch to a Le Mans style start? Here’s some more pros and cons to help you decide:
Yes, yes I would!
- It would randomly and artificially mix up the grid – something that would appeal to American motorsport fans
- It would correctly hinder fat riders who have bought their way onto the grid – such as what Uccio could one day try to do
- Alex Marquez could crash out of the race whilst getting on his bike and thus reduce his chances of injury
- It would discourage injured riders from returning too soon as they’d likely be hit by a Ducati as they hobbled to their bike
No, no I wouldn’t
- Short riders who often live in shoes, like Loris Capirossi or Dani Pedrosa, would be forced to carry a step ladder with them.
- Jack Miller could jump on the wrong bike because he can’t count up to his race number.
- Marc Marquez could see two bikes and jump on the one that isn’t there.
- We shouldn’t ever adopt anything thought up by the French.