What Gear To Start Off With

First or second, that is the question. First is quicker off the line but the shift to second takes some time. So which way is quicker? Armed with curiosity, I took a video with my (cough...hands free...cough) smartphone to compare the two ways of starting off from a stop:

So it is a tie. 0-50 km/h takes 13.5 seconds with both methods. The quicker acceleration of first gear is exactly offset by the time it takes to shift to second gear. And since starting off in second is easier, that is what I will do from now on.