Standing start

A standing start as seen in Mario Kart: Double Dash!!.

Le Mans-style start at the Nürburgring in 1965

Land rush start

A standing start is a type of start in auto racing events, in which cars are stationary when the race begins. In a standing start, cars are completely still when a green signal is given to start the race. This is often preceded by a set of lights (for example, five lights are given before all lights extinguish in Formula One races). Standing starts are common in many motorsports, including most single-seater (Formula One and GP2 Series notably, but not Indy Racing League, LLC or Sports Car Club of America sanctioned racing), Touring Cars (most notably British and World Touring Cars), V8 Supercars, and many types of short-course off-road racing. The standing start often occurs following a parade lap.

A Le Mans-style start was used for many years and required the drivers to run across the track to their cars parked on the other side, climb in, start the car, and drive away to begin the race. However, these were very unsafe with drivers walking on an active track and possibly rushing the process of fastening their safety equipment. As a result, they are no longer used in any motorsport except for endurance motorcycle racing, such as the Coca-Cola Zero Suzuka 8 Hours. A Le Mans-variation called a "land rush start" is used at short course off-road races at Crandon International Off-Road Raceway where the vehicles start lined up side-by-side on a wide part of the track. The "land rush start" is based on the 1970 24 Hours of Le Mans start, and is used in historic races at Le Mans in some situations. The vehicles are running and the drivers are wearing their safety belts when the starting signal is displayed.

In Nintendo's Mario Kart series, the standing start follows the same thing, but with go-karts and instead of following a parade lap, a special racing fanfare is used for this series, signaling the arrival of Lakitu with his traffic lights, which starts the countdown.

The opposite of a standing start is a rolling start. Standing starts are often deemed safer in Formula sports, due to the higher acceleration speeds, which could cause problems if a rolling start were used, based on the speed of the safety car and regulations regarding the start (some forms of motorsport are strict on when cars may accelerate after the safety car enters pit lane—some do not permit acceleration until the cars are near the start line at starter's orders). A standing start can cause problems, however, such as stalled cars being hit by the driver who starts behind them on the grid. One example of that was the 2007 Champ Car Mont-Tremblant, where multiple cars stalled on the start, resulting in a safety car. Motorsports using standing starts usually penalise drivers who "jump the start", by moving before the lights extinguish.