Following this logic, where an on-time arrival is essential out of a star it would be best to make it hands-across (H-A). In a H-A star, folks can use a similar arm angle adjustment to vary the star circumference (and resulting speed). Due to the configuration, there's less opportunity to gently* influence star speed with the pack saddle/hand-on-wrist form. BTW, in dances featuring a star where a pair drop out I mention there's no need to shove your opposite away at disengagement - centrifugal force will gently take care of it once you let go of them. This is a curious bit which only seems to happen in this case - I've never received a parting shove when an "everybody" H-A star breaks up, but there's always someone in the line doing it in the drop out variant. *