We are working on these issues ourselves preparing for New Orleans. I figure it's going to be the hottest Lemons race to date. June on the Gulf Coast in a swamp land. We will probably be chewing the air we breath.
Before I get to coping with the heat, I'll comment on the driving stints. We have tried to go for 2 hours stints and it's hasn't worked yet. It's a long time. I don't event think we have the fuel capacity to go much over 1 1/2 hours anyway.
That's about as long as my friends ran in the Nasa enduro back in April. The weather was cool and we were still sweating in our gear just sitting around in the pits.
For newbies, short stints are a better idea. It will give everyone a better chance to drive. However, your black flags will probably force driver changes faster than you plan anyway.
In our first Lemons race in October 08, we had frequent meetings with the honorable judges. Nothing major but we were there. One driver only did two very short stints and he had had enough.
You get a very clear and sudden realization when you get on track under green, I REALLY COULD DIE!!!! The beauty and pain of Lemons is that all driver's are welcome.
If you're new, remember that the guy about to rear end you, side swipe you or cut you off are all probably as new and inexperienced as you are. So while you are cursing the guy that just cut you off, the guy behind you is probably saying the same thing about you.
After doing it a bit I realize how much you learn from the experience. You will reflect back on your race and things will start to become clearer. You probably won't get it at first, patience kinda has to grow on you.
Waiting 20 seconds or even a few laps for a pass is way quicker than a botched pass with a 30 minute penalty. Sure it's not your fault and you're Mario Andretti's long lost illegitimate child, here's your penalty.
Staying cool:
We are working on cool suits and we need a lot of capacity, most of those systems are designed for 20 minute sprint races and only last about 45 minutes tops. I am working on a larger capacity system to help get more time out of it but it's like driving on a battery, it's going away the whole time. I just bought a freakin' deep freeze to take so we can make ice too since I think the track may run out.
I run a lawn maintenance company in Houston, we need two bags of ice to keep ice water in our 5 gallon cooler all day without opening it much at all. So how much will we burn in 1 1/2 to 2 hours running it out of our cooler, around our bodies and back into the cooler, I don't know but I expect a lot.
I figure we will need more than a dozen bags of ice a day just for our coolers at the track. I think they charge about $3.00 a bag too. For the cool system, I hope to freeze something like 2 liter bottles and change them out during fueling. Way quicker than draining off the excess water and adding more ice.
Block ice will also last longer for a cool system than cubed.
In New Orleans, they have 8x8x12 blocks for their slush machine. If you think you will need a lot, I suggest you pre-order.
Without ice, a cool system is worthless.
Aside from the cool system, we plan to arrange personal water coolers with tubes to take a drink while driving.
Troy
#35 LRE
1973 Datsun 240Z