Originally Posted by
Turbo900rr
I was curious as to what a pit stop actually costs a driver as far as time, and was quite surprised. Its 7 seconds. I have the 2008 liverc Ifmar worlds. The time remaining in the race is on the screen and I watched two drivers side by side, and one pulls into the pits while the other driver stayed out. About 30 feet past pit lane is where I made note of the time. After the pit driver passed the marker that was the stop time. It was 7 seconds. It may only take 3 seconds to fuel a car but you loose time slowing for pit row and getting back up to speed. Keep in mind this was the A main final for the Ifmar worlds, so I doubt even the local guys could do any better unless the pit lane actually shortened the track.
But eventually the other car will pit, and put both cars side by side with each other. Unless the car that stayed on the track can run another 2.5 MINTUES without pitting, he will have to pit and any advantage on the track will be gone.
My point is that in a 30 minute main, you have to be able to get ALLOT more run time to get any advantage on the track.
Scenario: 1 car that pits at 7 min, one at 8.
Car 1 - Pits at 6min, 13min, 20min, 26.5 min
Car 2 - Pits at 7min, 14min, 21min, 28 min.
Both cars pit 4 times. Will car 2 make it to the end? Maybe. Will he flame out? Did they get the tank FULL to the top?
So he starts driving conservitive to make sure he does. Car one doesn't have to worry about it, and is full on the power the last 5 minutes of the race. And will eat up a 30 foot dis-advantage of a pit stop in quick fasion.
I have watched guys practice and "say" they can get 9-10min of run-time, but practice isn't racing. The same guys will pit at 7 minutes, cause he knows that last 2 minutes of run time are all dependant on how much fuel they got in the car, tune, temps and if you get marshalled or not.
That is why IMO you have to get to damn near 11 minutes of "On Track - Race Condition" run time in order to get down into a 3 stop fuel strategy. And right now, IMO, the only way to get that much run time is to de-tune the engine. Try qualifying with 80% vs. that of the guys running 100% power.