Regardless of the T1 pileup change, I think going to diagonal grids is a good idea. For one, first place is then gridded with a slight distance advantage over second place, second over third, and so on. It wont change the actual distance from one rider to the next in front of him, however. If its just a matter of where Bob draws the dots, then I say lets do it.

If someone can tell us the current distance from one row to the next, we could do the math and figure out a simple template. I imagine the superbike and MotoGP guys do it for a reason right? 8)