• Registered: 2016-09-13
  • Posts: 17

Topic: Stints - How Long?

Not a newbie here (3 races under our belts) but just a question: how long does your team run it's driver stints?  We've been doing 45 sessions, but was just curious how other teams go...

TIA.

  • From: Atlanta, GA
  • Registered: 2009-09-01
  • Posts: 561

Re: Stints - How Long?

As long as the gas lasts.  Usually around 1.5-2hr for us.

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st_rage's Website

  • Registered: 2011-10-14
  • Posts: 4,167

Re: Stints - How Long?

Anywhere from 45 minutes to 3 hours.  What is your goal as a team?

Want to win Class C (or B or A) in a car that is only mid pack for speed?  Stint length, strategy and fast fueling/driver change are your hot ticket/
Want to make sure everyone has fun, gets a stint before the car blows up, plenty rest for evening revelry? 1-hour'ish stints are great.
Then there is every version in between.

  • From: St Louis
  • Registered: 2011-10-20
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Re: Stints - How Long?

Have done a little over 4 hours to single stop an 8.5 hour day. it's more comfortable and less risk to stop twice most days so anywhere from 3 hrs to 3:45.
If the overall is out of reach then reduce the stints to a couple of hours each so no-one is over extended.

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Brett85p's Website

  • Registered: 2015-05-13
  • Posts: 122

Re: Stints - How Long?

A lot depends on temperature and the endurance of each individual. A cool shirt can help you do longer stint times. But every individual reaches a point where it is harder to maintain concentration. Some people can go 2 hrs while others will start picking up black flags after 1 hr. Keep stats by driver and adjust.

  • From: Birdsboro, PA
  • Registered: 2009-10-26
  • Posts: 892

Re: Stints - How Long?

We go as pong as we need to in order to minimize fuel stops in a day based on our fuel burn at that track with that setup, and the length of day.  Before the turbo on the Civic we have gone as long as 4.5 hours, usually stopping once per day. That required drinks and snacks in the car, which made a difference.  With the turbo we can’t go more than 3.5 at most, so that makes it a 2 stop day. 

You have to work your way up to marathon stints though.  We only let some of our team do it as some are not in appropriate physical shape to do so safely.  We also watch lap times later in the stint to see if someone is fading as that means they need to get out ASAP for safety.

Chris from 3 Pedal Mafia
  • From: Austin, TX
  • Registered: 2014-05-16
  • Posts: 274

Re: Stints - How Long?

Our team varies based on how long they can maintain concentration - from  45 minutes to 90 minutes - then we have to gas up.

YMMV :-)

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  • Mr.Yuck
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Re: Stints - How Long?

st_rage wrote:

As long as the gas lasts.  Usually around 1.5-2hr for us.

That.. Although we can't go close to 2 hours... 1.5 max

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  • VKZ24
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Re: Stints - How Long?

Brett85p wrote:

Have done a little over 4 hours to single stop an 8.5 hour day.

We attempt to split the driving time equally between our 4 car owners each day, which usually works out to about 2 hours each or a little less.  I'm pretty spent after 2 hours myself, so 4 hours...F that!  With no FCYs, our car can go about 2:15 on fuel, so unless we move to a fuel cell, which we don't want to do, it really doesn't matter I guess.

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  • bshorey
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  • Registered: 2009-10-06
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Re: Stints - How Long?

As others have said, it depends on your goals.  Every stop costs you roughly 10 minutes of not making laps.

We generally run 3 drivers with 2 stops each day, stints are 2-3 hours each.  (We're still not remotely competitive, but we suck less than we would if we were stopping every half hour).

bs

  • From: NH
  • Registered: 2010-01-20
  • Posts: 3,299

Re: Stints - How Long?

Always event specific. With the crew I had for the daytona we worked up to the point where we could do a single stop a day and that put people in the car 3.5-4 hours at a time. With the Saab I have more green drivers (siblings), so we're usually doing 2-2.5 hour stints to keep it safer.

Factors that change our strategy can include weather (is it blisteringly hot?), how long the race day is at that track, the track itself, etc.

If you're doing 45 minutes stints now, don't jump right to 4 hour stints. Try 1.5 hours, then 2, and work up to what works for your team.

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  • Registered: 2009-07-19
  • Posts: 1,585

Re: Stints - How Long?

Usually 2 hours, that's doesn't wear anyone out and gets us all a couple of stints. We've won twice doing that, so it must be enough. I've done longer, but don't know that I gained much by it, other than tiredness.

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Re: Stints - How Long?

We run out of gas around 2 hours, so we pit when the car sputters in the corners.

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14 Reply by chaase (edited by chaase 2018-03-14 01:38 PM)

  • chaase
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  • From: East Meadow, NY
  • Registered: 2009-08-06
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Re: Stints - How Long?

We try for class wins so we go as long as possible. That is 2-2.5 hours, which is how long the fuel lasts, so that is when we do driver changes. The length of the race day affects things too, so the last driver of the day may get a shorter stint. If the weather is really hot, then we will shorten the stints for people that don't tolerate it well. We don't want anyone getting sick or getting into an accident.

If you don't care about a class win, then that is a different matter.

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  • From: Chicago, IL
  • Registered: 2013-09-02
  • Posts: 169

Re: Stints - How Long?

moparfan wrote:

A lot depends on temperature and the endurance of each individual. A cool shirt can help you do longer stint times. But every individual reaches a point where it is harder to maintain concentration. Some people can go 2 hrs while others will start picking up black flags after 1 hr. Keep stats by driver and adjust.

This! On my team we have a couple guys who love to stay out for 2 hours at a time, they get in the groove and just keep going. For me personally, 1-1.5 hours max, I start losing concentration, wondering if I turned the stove off before I left the house, considering my dinner options, etc, etc until all of a sudden I've totally blown a couple braking points in a row and I'm driving erratically trying to stay on the track leading those behind me to stay away from the crazy car... It's really all dependent on the particular driver.

Butt Sweat & Beers.