Gingerman refueling rules what’s allowed?

Having raced both at Gingerman and a bunch in Colorado with hot pits now, here are some other things to note for efficient and safe hot pit stops:

- Bring a wagon of some kind to haul your cans, it helps

- Write your team number/name on your drip pan to signal your driver where to pit.  Its hard to tell which group of people in full gear with helmet shields down waving their arms is your team.

- Write your team name on your extinguisher, extinguishers get left on the pit wall fairly often on accident.

- Base pit stops on spaces available in the hot pit lane, not just on fuel/time.  It sucks pulling in and having to wait on a spot to open

- In that same theme, make sure you don't take up a ton of room while you're refueling

- Its even more important to not speed in the hot pit lane, so make sure everyone is aware of that, they're much more strict on hot pit lane speeds

- Having a motor that doesn't burn oil is worth a lot more in the hot pit setup.  Do anything you can to get oil consumption down, or add capacity somehow to reduce oil stops.  Same with any other fluids.  We actually rebuild or swap our motor whenever it starts burning any oil, even if the compression and leak down checks out ok.

I think there are benefits to a hot pit lane setup, not just the safety aspect.  The main thing is that you aren't penalized by getting to the track late and having a pit setup way out in the boonies.  We're able to do a complete hot pit stop in about 90 seconds and be off the track about 2 minutes total, no matter where we end up parking in the pits.

Its new for this race as part of the COVID changes.

This is certainly true, but at every east coast race I have been to, you can't even get to the cold side of the pit wall without full gear. There is usually only 1 entrance to pit lane, and there is someone watching as you pass through the entrance to check for gear, including having your helmet chin strap fixed in place. Its hard to communicate with your teammates when everyone has helmets on, so that's another reason why everyone should understand their roles during refueling before you head to pit lane.

Couple of more questions for those with more experience with this:

1- It's happened where the car won't start after heat soak- what happens then? (Gman is UPHILL in hot pit- yikes if we have to push it we did it once with big willy and about died)  Do we push / or do we have to wait for a tow (we've already demonstrated we don't have the expertise to fix the problem in the first place).

2- it's happened a lot where the driver notices a mechanical issue more than 1/2 way through the stint.   If hot pit is the only allowed fueling, does that mean that we either need to have him come in, top off, and then all run to the paddoc to fix the issue, or 2- if he comes into the paddoc first, do we have to send the next guy out to do a lap and then come in?

3- Once fueling is done and we're strapping in the next victim, do the "helpers" have to do the strap in with their helmets on, or can they then take them off (provided they have the obligatory COVID face covering?.

I guess in reference to #2- is fueling in the paddoc FORBIDDEN?

My experience:

1 - Never had this issue, but I expect that it might be track dependent. One thing is for sure, you NEVER want to make your car go backwards in the hot pit area! I saw a team do that one time and I thought that the official was going to tear their heads off.

2 - either situation works, its your preference. Depending on the severity of the mechanical issue, you might be better off coming in to the paddock first to sort out the problem before going back on track. I don't know the Gingerman layout, but if the entrance is up-stream of the hot pit area, you might not have to do any additional laps to fuel up. For us, NH is like that, you have the opportunity to pass the fueling area before heading out on the track. At Thompson, that doesn't work because the entrance to the track is after the pit area.

3 - NO! Helmets must remain on at all times in the pit area, even when strapping in the next driver. If someone saw you do that, they would NOT be happy. Its a bit awkward with the helmets on, I'm always banging my head against some part of the car during that process.

For tracks where hot pit fueling is mandated, there is NO fueling in the paddock area while the track is hot. You can fuel your car in the paddock only when the track is cold (before and after the race). The only exception is for tracks that have fuel pumps, you can fill up at the pump which is normally located somewhere in the paddock. Fueling at your paddock spot with hand held cans is another thing that might get you kicked out.

So using the fuel pump is still allowed?

If you're lucky, they'll have both ends of the pit open so you can enter the hot pit at the turn 11 end and drive to a hot pit space to fuel then send the car out.

this was asking about full lap of the track. As in pit in from track>paddock>Fix stuff>track entrance>lap>pit in>refuel>back out to track.

Which seems, obtuse given the track is designed for hot pit entry “up stream” in the paddock because of course you want to be able to go straight from the paddock to the hot pit without going on the track First if you’re only allowed to fuel in hot pit.

Are you bringing donuts?