Lemons lap counting. . .

We did a lot of work on our pit stops from our first race to the last, and it made a huge difference.  You don't realize how much time you waste.  We were amazed at how much time we used at Nelson's.  We managed to cut about 2 minutes off each stop the second time we went to gingerman.  Same pit stop.  Just make sure everything is ready, and have an extra person suited up to fuel.  That way driver comes out, get's handed fire extinguisher, and spare person fuels.  As soon as the cap goes on, new driver in the car.  Makes a big difference, at least for us.

+1

We are only 2 races into this madness and we are so very disorganised and slow....but we know that and are working on it!

Some fuel issues that we have seen.....

Some places seem to allow electric fuel transfer pumps in the fuel area, some don't....

Some places want big drip trays under the fuel filler area, some dont.....although one team at New Orleans got a black flag penalty for excessive fuel spillage in the fuel area....

We bought a couple of 5 gallon fuel containers, but so far we are not that impressed with the vent system to allow the fuel to exit quickly enough....for 2 hours driving we can put about 10 gallons in the car......currently its taking us a good 7-10 minutes to do that, then we flap around getting a new driver in and hence losing a lot of laps!

Watch some of the experienced teams to see what techniques they use, the communication between crews and their equipment......

Our first race, we were lugging around fuel cans, funnels, extinguisher  etc by hand in 100 degree texas heat......never again!

In our first races the pit stops were as slow as molasses. Over 5 minute stops are deadly. We started watching the fast guys stops and learned. We are down to 3 minutes or less, stopped time.

You need fuel jugs that empty quickly, 5 gal. in less than 30 seconds. A wagon to haul the heavy jugs to the pit lane or from the gas pumps to your pit. Be ready for the stop. No fumbling around getting the firesuit on etc. when the car is coming in. The pit crew should be ready and waiting by then. When the car stops, help the driver undo the belts, cool suit hoses, radio wires, water bottle hose, etc and get them out of the car. Same for getting back into the car. One person on either side is best. Watch your pit speed leaving, in all the rush and hurrying around it's easy to forget there's a pit speed limit. The Judges get very angry with pit speeders. That's a big no-no.

This can be the biggest factor.  One of the things I like about the New Orleans race is the way the paddock is designed.  Every car has to drive the same distance from tract exit to track entrance.  Pit location in the paddock has very little impact on the total off track time a stop takes.

Most other tracks it seems you need to get there EARLY to get the best pit spots in the paddock.

At Summit Point, we easily burned 8-20 minutes on every stop thanks to a leisurely pumps-only fuel strategy and needing to adjust the sub belt so I'd fit. At CMP, we improved to ~ 5 minutes on no-fuel stops and 10-15 on fuel stops because of flow rate issues from our fueling setup.

As we were rotating drivers every hour, pit strategy hurt HARD.

I've heard legends of DIY fueling setups that push 10 gallons into the car in 30 seconds using only the power of gravity.

When the track permits, do all your fuel and driver changes on pit lane instead of the paddock. The other tasks aren't really necessary.

There definitely is room for you to improve - there was one team at CMP that was doing 1:30 stops in the hot pits. Their routine was something like this:
Guy 1 forcibly rips the Driver 1 head first out of the seat (seriously, the driver landed on the ground outside the car)
Driver 2 tosses a drip tray under the car while that happens, and undoes the gas cap.
Guy 3 is standing around holding a fire extinguisher, looking important.
Guy 4 Runs the fuel cans.
Once the last fuel can is down, Guy 1 and Driver 1 strap Driver 2 down while guys 3 and 4 clear the fueling equipment.

DRILL. Time the flow rate from your cans into the car once - and have an extra dude run a stopwatch to actually simulate filling the car with gas. Seriously, do you have anything better to do on Friday?

New rules just came out, so we'll all be using five gallon jugs.
No more rigs or big fast-fill cans.

KT