Topic: Race the entire day
I know a driver who raced every stint in a single day. Spent 8 hours in the car. I’m curious how many times this has been done.
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The 24 Hours of Lemons Forums → Bench Racing → Race the entire day
I know a driver who raced every stint in a single day. Spent 8 hours in the car. I’m curious how many times this has been done.
A few people have done or tried it. I know Spank on the west coast has done iron man stuff in one of the minis.
It can go very wrong if you do not take active steps to prevent dehydration and overheating, like danger to yourself and others on track kinds of wrong.
I did it day one on our first race we ever ran. Our Fuel stops were really slow, and something broke that needed fixing, so I think I only drove like 5ish hours ( I changed this - as it could not have been more that 5 hours because we only got fuel once ) . I didn’t know any better - but man I was cooked. It was NH in Oct, and it was pretty cool. If it was Aug in Thompson, it would have been my last race.
I try not to keep drivers in the car more than two hours now. If a driver is uncomfortable and they come in after 45 minutes that’s cool and encouraged. If it’s not fun and you not feeling it... then come in - get the beer iced down and fire up the grill.
What they said!
Two hours is about the limit for us and decreases as weather gets hotter.
We've had a couple occasions where drivers came in much earlier because they either were exhausted or were just not feeling like they were at the pointy end of the spear (not focused).
Yes, Spank did it an Sonoma in the moke. He had a credit card on him and gassed up at the gas pumps. I had flown in that day to relieve him in the afternoon but IIRC, he wanted to see if minimal stops was the ticket to winning the big bucks. When he got out of the car he walked around like the tin man and his hands were permanently curved. The two of us traded off the next day and did more laps than he did by himself proving that the strategy didn't work. He also said it wasn't a healthy thing to do.
It's definitely not recommended for the average Joe. The ability to do it safely is a combination of personal fitness, how you took care of yourself in the days leading up to the race including the night before, your ability to get nutrition and hydration during the event, and catching the right weather, unless you have a cool suit.
I've done multiple 3 hour stints, but never had the opportunity to do more. We do a pretty good job of reminding the driver to use the camelback throughout their stint. I think it would be fun to turn a couple 2 hour stints in different cars with a break in-between.
My last 3 hour stint I went to take a drink out of the camelback and when opening the spout I unknowingly pulled the entire nozzle off. Ended up draining the 2L camelback in my lap in about a lap.
The longest I've been in the car personally was just about 4 hours. This was back in the daytona age. I am NOT in peak physical shape. I had water in the car, I was hydrated when I got in, I was fed when I got in. I opened the race, and ran roughly 3.5 hours of race time, and 20-30 minutes before that of sitting on grid/circling under yellow. I only mention that extra time because this was when our cool shirt system was just bad, so it added to the time baking in a suit.
That stint was exhausting. The problem was I didn't realize it until I was out of the car. I came in for a pit stop and thought I felt ok, but as soon as I got over the hot pit wall it all hit me at once and I almost fell over. I was running on pure adrenaline at the end and my lap times confirmed that. I felt like I had a hangover the next day. It's fun to sit and tell war stories about the days when we used to try to do 1 stop a day, but man I just can't and don't want to do it anymore. Hats off to those that are in shape enough to do super long stints and enjoy it.
This has made me remember an even at the first ever "cheap" race at Pittrace (admittedly champcar).
A team came in for driver and fuel.
Driver got out, and fuel and new driver going in.
The drive that got out made it over the hot pit wall, up into the grass, and collapsed. His team was not aware of his condition, and were concentrating on getting the car back out.
Luckily my son, (14 at the time) was going buy and saw the situation. He got the ambulance to come and take care of him.
Once he cooled off and got some water in him he was ok, and never had to leave the track.
Basically, pay attention to the driver that is getting out of the car, regardless of how long they were in. Your driver may be running on adrenaline, and as soon as the car stops, they are toast.
This has made me remember an even at the first ever "cheap" race at Pittrace (admittedly champcar).
A team came in for driver and fuel.
Driver got out, and fuel and new driver going in.
The drive that got out made it over the hot pit wall, up into the grass, and collapsed. His team was not aware of his condition, and were concentrating on getting the car back out.
Luckily my son, (14 at the time) was going buy and saw the situation. He got the ambulance to come and take care of him.
Once he cooled off and got some water in him he was ok, and never had to leave the track.
Basically, pay attention to the driver that is getting out of the car, regardless of how long they were in. Your driver may be running on adrenaline, and as soon as the car stops, they are toast.
That is one of the reasons the driver coming out is not expected to do anything on our pit stops AND someone is always designated to help them out of the car.
I drink like 2 gallons of water per day. How do you pee.
Me and a team mate each drove 3hr 45 min stints at NHMS a couple years ago. It really wasn't too bad we decided to "drive like it was practice". We both held up well under the circumstances. Only one self reported BF all weekend and that was due to a missed 5th to 1st downshift (spin) as we had lost 4th gear, 30 minutes from the end. I don't think a full stint is out of the question if you have the proper mindset, and are in somewhat decent shape.
Me and a team mate each drove 3hr 45 min stints at NHMS a couple years ago. It really wasn't too bad we decided to "drive like it was practice". We both held up well under the circumstances. Only one self reported BF all weekend and that was due to a missed 5th to 1st downshift (spin) as we had lost 4th gear, 30 minutes from the end. I don't think a full stint is out of the question if you have the proper mindset, and are in somewhat decent shape.
It also helps that the weather is nice and cold at NHMS.
I drink like 2 gallons of water per day. How do you pee.
In your suit, in the seat... Nature, um... finds a way.
rozap_ wrote:I drink like 2 gallons of water per day. How do you pee.
In your suit, in the seat... Nature, um... finds a way.
Woof. My dedication to Lemons glory is lacking it seems.
I thought you were asking about color
rozap_ wrote:I drink like 2 gallons of water per day. How do you pee.
In your suit, in the seat... Nature, um... finds a way.
Unless you drink a large amount of water right before you get in, you will likely sweat out everything you drank and then some. The one mistake people make when hydrating is they take in too much too quickly. Your body can only absorb 1L per hour of water so make sure you start hydrating early. You can't hydrate quickly since your body runs a feedback system. If you start dumping too much water into your system, your kidneys will just go into overdrive trying to get rid of it.
KeiCarMike wrote:rozap_ wrote:I drink like 2 gallons of water per day. How do you pee.
In your suit, in the seat... Nature, um... finds a way.
Unless you drink a large amount of water right before you get in, you will likely sweat out everything you drank and then some. The one mistake people make when hydrating is they take in too much too quickly. Your body can only absorb 1L per hour of water so make sure you start hydrating early. You can't hydrate quickly since your body runs a feedback system. If you start dumping too much water into your system, your kidneys will just go into overdrive trying to get rid of it.
This is great info, thank you. I don't understand how the human body works at all and usually pound down half a gallon of water in the 30 minutes leading up to my stint and wonder why I have to pee 45 minutes into my stint. My idea was my body will store it in my stomach and "stock up on water"... haha.
chaase wrote:KeiCarMike wrote:In your suit, in the seat... Nature, um... finds a way.
Unless you drink a large amount of water right before you get in, you will likely sweat out everything you drank and then some. The one mistake people make when hydrating is they take in too much too quickly. Your body can only absorb 1L per hour of water so make sure you start hydrating early. You can't hydrate quickly since your body runs a feedback system. If you start dumping too much water into your system, your kidneys will just go into overdrive trying to get rid of it.
This is great info, thank you. I don't understand how the human body works at all and usually pound down half a gallon of water in the 30 minutes leading up to my stint and wonder why I have to pee 45 minutes into my stint. My idea was my body will store it in my stomach and "stock up on water"... haha.
I stop drinking an hour before my stint and go right before I get into the car but we have water available in car to prevent dehydration. Full course yellows are great because I can relax and take a few drinks of water.
I did 3 consecutive 2.5h stints at NOLA. It's not a big deal if you're from Houston, Texas where it's hot AF. Might even get into the zone if you're comfortable. The second fuel stop was pretty painful and pathetic though.
squidrope wrote:Me and a team mate each drove 3hr 45 min stints at NHMS a couple years ago. It really wasn't too bad we decided to "drive like it was practice". We both held up well under the circumstances. Only one self reported BF all weekend and that was due to a missed 5th to 1st downshift (spin) as we had lost 4th gear, 30 minutes from the end. I don't think a full stint is out of the question if you have the proper mindset, and are in somewhat decent shape.
It also helps that the weather is nice and cold at NHMS.
I did a 3hr 50 min stint at Thompson in mid 90's heat (no bf's). The cool suit stopped cooling with 20 minutes left in my stint. It was hell at the end.
I did a 3hr 50 min stint at Thompson in mid 90's heat (no bf's). The cool suit stopped cooling with 20 minutes left in my stint. It was hell at the end.
Dear god. Good on you for being able to do that, I simply cannot. Saturday I got to the 1 hour mark, called in that I'd do another 30 min. Did 10 more minutes and then it hit me like a brick wall and I just NEEDED out of the car. I was hydrated before I got in the car, I was very not hydrated when I got out, just sweat too much. Did a little over an hour and a half Sunday, felt a little better, but was still wasted.
squidrope wrote:I did a 3hr 50 min stint at Thompson in mid 90's heat (no bf's). The cool suit stopped cooling with 20 minutes left in my stint. It was hell at the end.
Dear god. Good on you for being able to do that, I simply cannot. Saturday I got to the 1 hour mark, called in that I'd do another 30 min. Did 10 more minutes and then it hit me like a brick wall and I just NEEDED out of the car. I was hydrated before I got in the car, I was very not hydrated when I got out, just sweat too much. Did a little over an hour and a half Sunday, felt a little better, but was still wasted.
That's why I don't race Thompson anymore and play judge. I don't tolerate the heat very well.
squidrope wrote:I did a 3hr 50 min stint at Thompson in mid 90's heat (no bf's). The cool suit stopped cooling with 20 minutes left in my stint. It was hell at the end.
Dear god. Good on you for being able to do that, I simply cannot. Saturday I got to the 1 hour mark, called in that I'd do another 30 min. Did 10 more minutes and then it hit me like a brick wall and I just NEEDED out of the car. I was hydrated before I got in the car, I was very not hydrated when I got out, just sweat too much. Did a little over an hour and a half Sunday, felt a little better, but was still wasted.
Sweat dripping into my eyes was the "worst" part until the cool suit stopped cooling.
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