Professor Helmüt Tester

One of the reasons why I dislike racing enduros with NASA. That, and their silly-assed tire rules. OK.....that changes a lot of stuff.

Note that I specified "pitting allowed during FCY". Under those conditions, if the pack, under control of the Safety Car, is approaching or at the front straight, Pit Out will be closed until they pass. If a late FCY, you'd rather already have completed your stop and be at the front of that pack rather than "tail-end Charlie" on it at the restart.


While 1.6L Miatas (90-93) will go 1.5-ish hours on a big, fast track, the 1.8L cars can go a solid 2 hours pretty much everywhere. Maybe a little longer if they paid attention to the internal tank vent last time they cleaned the pick-up screen on the fuel pump.

Edit - You need to start the race with gas running out of the filler neck.

Larry Herman

Get another driver who can run 2:47s.

Lemming

Or as I mentioned, just let the fast guy run, 3 hours is easy

Jim Child

If you start with a full tank just make 100% sure you burn off 10 or more gallons before you come in and try to put 10 gallons in. Spilled fuel will draw a penalty that will put you out of contention. If you run the slower driver first keep in mind that he will probably get better mileage than the faster driver, and may not burn off as much fuel as you expect.

mrbill_fl

I'd put the fast driver in 1st.

-my war story:
I had decided to split my car w/ a faster driver for a Endurance season (ECR), when my buddy sold his car. (I wanted to know if it was the car, or the loose nut behind the wheel that was the reason for not winning... I was consistently 3rd-5th out of 10+ cars) & he was .5 to 1 second a lap faster than me, with about 5 yrs more experience.

Normally I'd qualify and start, run half or to the 1st FCY, then he'd finish. We were eneded up 2-4 consistently.

One race I was beat, and let him start the race... (from 4th in class)
What a difference! He was picking off cars with ease... after 5 laps he was leading the class. not really that much faster than before... but was leading and pulling away... at least till I got in. lol. (I was mostly able to maintain position, only losing 1 spot and ended 2nd... 2nd to last lap... arrg!)

I have to think it was experience, racecraft and motivation...

Tom W

Your fuel stop does not need to be long:

I have a fuel cell with a 3" opening for filling. I have a 5 gallon jug with the bottom cut off and a vent installed that allows me to dump (and I mean dump) a 5-gallon jug on fuel in less that 10 seconds (with a 3" filler port it goes in as fast as it comes out of an inverted 5-gallon jug. The only issue in a NASA enduro is making sure you know how much fuel is in the tank and how much you can add without a spill because those 5-minute fuel spill penalties will kill ya.

With my cell and filler, the driver change takes a bit longer than adding 15 gallons of fuel.

mrbill_fl

^ Tom has a good point, if you have a fuel cell, would there be any inlet restrictions then?

(what does the GCR say about fuel cell inlet sizes ???)

Sterling Doc

No fuel cell, stock fuel restrictor = slow fueling, unfortunately

Pit stops under FCY in club racing carry a significant risk, and NASA is very particular about directly observing pit stops - staggered stops help to keep this safety net working.

I do see your point in pitting early under FCY. Unfortunately, very unlikely in our situation.

IcemanG17

I also like the idea of the slower driver out 1st.....then put the faster driver in for as long as a tank will carry him to the finish....hopefully crossing the line just about empty.....

FLATTOP

If you want to learn race stategy then try this on-line stategy game. http://batracer.com/-1FrontPage.htm?QXn

PedroNole

You never said if there was a minimum time on your pit stop or a minimum number of stops....

If you're really worried about fueling time, then fill the car full for the start of the race. However, from now until when the race starts you better be trying many different fueling options (filler necks, length of hose, breather opening in fill can...).

Don't put a wheel wrong and you'll have a very good chance, even against the Miatas. I'm always amazed at what happens in the first few hours of an enduro.

Professor Helmüt Tester

???

M758

We had a 3 enduro here last year. A late 944 can do it on one stop with adding 10 gallons. My advice is to start with the faster driver and run them for the first stint. Fuel window should be 1:45 to 2hrs. Run till the light comes on. The fast guy needs to run the car hard with a full tank. this will slow the car down some and change the balance. My car moves torward understeer with a full tank. The car should get faster as tank burns down. Then throw in the slower driver for remaing 1 hour of the race. That will minimize their time in the car and also 10 gallons should get you 1 hour easy. So worries about making it to the end just drive.

The only issue with driver 2 is they need to be able to run the car if the tire start going away and maange the car. The goal should be got gap the miata in first stint and hold station for the end. Gapping is key early and harder since you will need to work traffic in early on. By the end traffic will be more spread out and popably will have a smaller impact on lap times.

Tom W

In NASA's class structure for enduro's my car is 'ES' and there is no restriction on fueling (so no size limit for the inlet to the cell). I could use a fuel rig if I wanted to spend the money.

In the 4 hr enduro we ran last October, we were able to guess that a FCY was going to happen (they were a little slow to go from a local yellow to FCY) and got into the pits prior to the FCY so we could fuel and do a driver change then get back out at the back of the pack and not lose a lap or two. I also got lucky on another FCY where the race leader (a Daytona Prototype) was just about to pass me as the FCY came out. I got a free trip to the back of the pack and gained a lap on most the field (I think I was in 2nd place at the time).

Larry Herman

Interesting strategies. #1 is to run the slower driver till traffic thins out, and as early as possible put the faster driver in the car. That way he would have clearer track with (hopefully) a still "fresh" and ever lightening car to be the fastest at the end of the race. #2 is to put the faster driver in first and run for as long as possible to open a gap, and then put the slower driver in a "tired" car to try and hold of the oncoming hoardes.

Maybe #2 has worked for some, but I can see FCYs hurting that strategy, whereas they would help in #1. Also I don't think that #2 would fair well on tracks that are easy to pass on.