Yeah, I got beat by a Cobalt SS the other day. I'm sure it made his day but I wasn't surprised. Afterall, the Cobalt was about 100lbs lighter with sixty more horses. Had I been in the right gear I don't think it would have been a foregone conclusion (but I was balancing my giant smoothie in one hand around a corner, so I couldn't downshift to second
).
That being said - I'm also not driving a Chevy Cobalt, so I win anyway.
In the end, there will ALWAYS be someone faster. You could be driving a Veyron and still get beat off the line in a short enough distance. If it's really important to you, then you just need to always be ready and launch right every time. For me personally, that seems like a lot of work.