As well as keeping an eye on their own crew, the chief mechanics are also watching the pit boxes around them to try an anticipate potential problems caused by cars pitting either side of them.

TREVOR LACASSE: You want to know, like, “Hey, it’s going to be real close with (Scott) Dixon in front of you here. He’s going to be coming across you as you’re leaving, so might have to hold (Power).” Had plenty of those over the years where as much as you just want to be done and send him, you’ve just got to pause those extra couple seconds, let them come across and then send him.

A team’s position along pit lane can have a huge impact on this part of the stop.

SIMON PAGENAUD: I’m not even sure IndyCar is aware of this, but your position on pit road has a huge effect on your race weekend, not just your race. For example, we qualified poorly in Portland so we were midway along pit lane (at Laguna Seca), and at Laguna the out-lap is very important to warm up your tires. People do it in different ways — some people go fast, some people go slow; we all have different methods. The problem is, when you need to go fast and other people are going slow, you end up being in a traffic jam and you can’t get your tires ready. If you’re first in pit-out, you don’t have that problem because you dictate the pace.

MARCUS ERICSSON: The biggest thing is if you have an open in. That really makes a big difference in where you can brake into your box. That’s more the luck of the draw, and whether someone else is pitting with you or not.

I always prefer an open in, because it’s easier to stop on my marks, and that makes it easier for the mechanics. On the exit, if you have to go around someone or if you can floor it and go straight… yeah, you have better acceleration. But for me, the biggest thing is to try to maximize the stop. And if I can stop exactly on my marks, that’s a bigger gain than if I have a straight exit.
Pagenaud launches from his box after receiving service from his No. 60 crew at WWTR. Michael Levitt/Motorsport Images

JOSH JUNGE: I just speak for the outside front position because there’s more responsibility than just changing tire. It’s calling the driver in, it’s watching as the cars come down pit lane to make sure nobody’s going to launch into us. And then at the same time, sending our car out… to be in those first three to four pit boxes makes that job 75 percent easier. Once you get to the middle or the rear of pit lane, that middle section can be extremely dicey. It’s a lot of cars coming out and a lot of cars coming in, and it gets pretty chaotic. So for sure, the first four stalls are very important.

Once the stop is completed, the driver is given the signal to leave the box and rejoin the race.

FELIX ROSENQVIST: You try to launch well, and there’s quite a lot of lap time in that as well, because these cars have such a long first gear. If you bog down a little bit you can lose a lot of lap time getting up to the speed limiter.

Then you get to the pit exit and press the button, and pretty much have the same thing as the in-lap — you have to make the best out of cold tires, and that’s a little bit of a guessing game. There’s always going to be a bit of a slide. It can be a bit rough and wild when the tires are cold, especially on street tracks; big-commitment tracks. So there’s a lot of lap time to be gained there. Those two laps are definitely the most important of the whole race.

SIMON PAGENAUD: The first corner is obviously super-treacherous. There’s always tricks with the anti-roll bars and the brakes that you can do for the first corner, and then you adjust again after that.

MARCUS ERICSSON: In Formula 1 you have tire warmers, so right from Turn 1, the full grip is there. Here in IndyCar, depending on what compound you’re on and what track you’re at, it can take a lap or two laps before you’re up to temperature. Some drivers are really good at hustling the car on cold tires, and some are less good at it. So there’s always a fine line there, which you try and maximize because it’s race time.
Lacasse (left) reaping the rewards of a season’s worth of good pit stops with Will Power. Phillip Abbott/Motorsport Images

Meanwhile back in the pits, the pit crew regroups.

JOSH JUNGE: The camaraderie definitely starts at pit stop practice here in the shop. I think it’s healthy for guys to kind of razz on each other a little bit, but it’s even healthier on the other side of the token for guys to pick each other up. It shouldn’t just be one person’s thinking, “Hey, that other guy, he had a bad day of practice.’ In our particular group, we’ve been very lucky to have some experienced people, so guys can lean on each other a little bit when they know that the guy that’s talking to them has experienced this stuff.

Then when you get into race weekend that’s even heightened. As soon as the stop’s over, the first thing you’ll see is after a pit stop when everybody gets over the wall and gets all their equipment over is, everybody meets either the back of the pit box or the back of the fuel rig, and it’s either patting each other on the back or it’s grabbing some guy’s shoulder and saying, “Hey man, you got it. That one’s OK. We’re still good and lifting each other up.” And that goes a long way, for sure.

TREVOR LACASSE: After the race all the guys are looking for the time sheet to see who was the fastest team in pit lane and that turns into a friendly competition, and that’s always cool. And then the last few years we’ve been pretty fortunate to be able to win the Firestone pit stop award at the end of the season. So that’s some pretty cool bragging rights, for sure.

JOSH JUNGE: Everybody definitely deserves every bit of credit that they get for what they’re doing in the pit stops, because unlike other racing series, the guys that go over the wall in our series are also the mechanics. They’re also the truck drivers. They’re also the bodywork guys, the carbon guys. Everybody plays more than one role than just going over the wall. So to have an aspect of your job that has an instant reward…. In motorsports, we get instant rewards 17 times a year in the race results if you work hard. But then you multiply that over pit stops and the feeling when you are successful… to get that many rewarding moments during the race season is an incredible feeling.

TREVOR LACASSE: This year I bought an Apple Watch, and you’ll have some times during in the middle of a stop that you’ll feel it vibrate because your heart rate’s up. Your heart rate just spikes real quick, so the watch thinks something’s going wrong with you. So after the stop you’ve got to acknowledge that, “Nope, I’m OK!” So yeah, your heart rate definitely has some spikes in there. It’s a pretty big adrenaline rush. Even doing it as long as I’ve done it, it’s still the coolest part of the job.

 

Understanding and adapting to that demand has been the key to Vettel’s breaking of the code on how to get the best from his Red Bull over the past few years. Into 2012, the technology was limited by new regulations, and for a time Vettel’s advantage over Webber was small at best and sometimes not there at all. This had also been the case for a large part of 2010, when the technology was not present for most of the year.

However, by mid-season, teams were finding ways around the rules, and this has only been enhanced during 2013. The cars now have almost as powerful a blown-exhaust effect as in the full-fat 2011 season of cold and hot off-throttle/ on-throttle blowing. The bigger the effect, the bigger has been Vettel’s advantage.

With the banning of off-throttle blowing since the beginning of 2012 came the need to destabilize the rear of the car on corner entry. Because the boost in rear downforce was coming only as the driver stood on the throttle, a conventionally well-balanced car with a stable rear end going into the turn would heavily understeer once the driver stood on the gas. So, generically, F1 cars moved to becoming less stable into a turn. Red Bull took the concept way further than anyone else – and a major reason why was Vettel.

“Seb drives the car very much like a motocross or speedway rider on corner entry,” says Red Bull Racing team boss Christian Horner. “He is totally relaxed to have the car moving around beneath him as he turns in – and not many drivers are. I would say he’s developed that feeling and sensitivity over the years, because what is so impressive about his technique now is its repeatability.

We’ve seen fantastic things from him before, moments of brilliance, but this season what has been so outstanding is how he’s able to switch it on on demand. He’s driving to a fantastically high level all the time. It’s really on an elevated plane, I feel. I would put him against anyone in these cars, and I think he’d come out on top.”




It’s been Vettel’s adaptation to that generically unstable generation of car that’s allowed Red Bull’s aerodynamicists and vehicle dynamicists to push further along the path than others – and the further they go, the faster the car has become. This year, engine mapping techniques have evolved to vary the emphasis on cutting cylinders, bank to bank, according to which direction the corner is. In this way, cylinder cutting can be used to aid direction change. This has increased the demands upon the intelligence and dynamism of the driver’s right foot. He has to turn in with the cylinder cut enhancing the turn in,

then he has to get hard on the gas to boost the exhaust flow over the downforce-inducing devices at the back, halting the rear-end slide. But then he often has to revert back to part-throttle to prevent the rear wheels breaking traction. This fantastically intricate dance requires a supple mind combined with sublime feel for a car that is sliding around beneath him.

This is Sebastian Vettel’s area of magic – but only because this is the area where the advantage is to be found. Next year, a different blend will be required, and Vettel will doubtless ace that, too. He is so much more than a good driver in the best car. He’s an intrinsic part of why it’s the best car simply because he’s able to operate it in a way denied to most

 

Flags currently in use in F1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlJai8hlRkc&t=66s



Flag Meaning
Yellow The meaning can vary depending on the way it is waved and how many are waved.

• Single waved yellow flag means overtaking prohibited due to danger off the track. A speed reduction is required.
• Double waved yellow flag means overtaking prohibited due to danger on the track. A speed reduction is required.

SC board Safety Car is put out on track when an incident blocks the track or leaves a lot of debris. Drivers stay behind the SC until the marshals have cleared up. VSC (Virtual Safety Car) is for more minor incidents, where no safety car is on track, but drivers must slow down to a required Delta. This board is always accompanied by a single waving yellow flag.
Yellow and Red Striped Slippery track, due to oil, water or loose debris. Can be seen 'rocked' from side-to-side (not waved) to indicate a small animal on track.
Green Normal racing conditions apply. This is always shown following a yellow flag to indicate that the hazard has been passed.

 

A green flag is also shown at the start of the first session of the day.
Blue A blue flag indicates that the driver in front who is one or more laps down must let faster cars behind pass. If the driver ignores 3 consecutive blue flags, a penalty is issued to the driver. In practice and qualifying, this is shown when a car is being hindered by a slower car.
White Slow moving vehicle ahead - often waved on the last corner during free practice when drivers do practice starts. Also used when a miscellanious vehicle, such as the medical car or an ambulance, is on track.
Red Session suspended or stopped due to imminent danger to competitors or spectators, or due to bad weather. All cars proceed to pits.

 

Black Driver is disqualified and must return to pits immediately. This flag is accompanied by the driver's race number.
Black with orange circle Car is damaged or driver has a mechanical problem and must return to pits as soon as possible. This flag is accompanied by the driver's race number.
Half black/Half white Warns a driver for unsportsmanlike behaviour. May be followed by a black flag upon further infringement. Accompanied by the driver's race number.
Chequered flag Session is completed. In practice and qualifying, this means drivers are not allowed to start laps, but they are allowed to complete laps.

 

Romer wins Prototype 1 with smart pit stop.

Changing to rain tires at the right time.
Will it take less time to drive fast when others are creeping along, compared to how many seconds it takes to do a pit stop?

Always choose the best place for your pit!......even when the race is SUPPOSED to be over before time for a pit stop!

Jon Krolewicz / Staff
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emailBy SCCA | October 1, 2022 6:16 PM ET

SCCA Runoffs races are designed so that they don’t require pit stops. At the 59th SCCA National Championship Runoffs — taking place Sept. 24-Oct. 2 at Virginia International Raceway–a full-length race is 15 laps, which is about 49 miles on VIR’s 3.27-mile, 18-turn circuit located along the border of North Carolina in Alton, Va. But on this Hagerty Race Day, drivers experienced a unique condition — heavy rain at Turns 11 and 12 at the south end of the race track, known as Oak Tree corner, while the north end of the track was dry.

As the drivers prepared for their race, every car was outfitted with slick tires in anticipation of a dry track. From the paddock and grid, it seemed that the whole track was dry. However, a passing squall of heavy rain was drenching the southern end of the course as the cars headed out onto the track.

At the start, all nine drivers fell into a neat line in Turn 1, with Slusher taking the lead, Devenport in second place, and Romer in third. It all fell apart at Oak Tree, however. Slusher slid off track and impacted the tire wall, ending his race. Devenport also went off-track and found himself stranded on the wet grass at the exit of the corner. Cars went everywhere, scrabbling for grip.

“We got up there and it’s pouring rain,” said McAleer after the race. “It’s a downpour.”

When the field sorted itself out again, sixth-place qualifier McAleer was in the lead with a 6.463-second gap over Romer. Vanacore was running third as the full-course caution flag and safety car came out.

It was then that Romer made a critical decision to pit and change to rain tires. As the field circulated behind the safety car, Romer’s crew made a swift tire change that allowed him to rejoin the field at the back of the pack without losing a lap. Devenport also pitted for rain tires, but only after losing a lap stuck on the grass.

“I was already crying,” Romer said, “I knew they couldn’t call the race, so it was crazy.”

When the race went back to green for lap six, Romer and Devenport carried a huge advantage over the wet portion of the track, approximately a third of the total distance. The two drivers sliced their way past struggling cars running on slick tires until Devenport went around to drive his way through his lost lap, and Romer found himself in second place following McAleer.

The balance of the race — which was ended after 13 laps due to time loss during the caution — saw McAleer and Romer trade the lead several times. Romer would make a pass in the wet segment, only to have McAleer retake the lead on the dry portion. In the final laps, Romer made a pass and made it stick at the risk of grinding through his rain tires on the dry part of the track. At the checkered flag, it was Romer by 0.450 seconds over McAleer, and then about another 18 seconds back to third place, Jason Miller.

“It was a good day for us,” Miller said, “finishing on the podium. It’s an advantage for me to be up with these guys.”

“It was treacherous out there,” Romer said. “This guy [McAleer] is the best rain driver I’ve ever seen. My hat’s off to him.”
------------------------------------------------
A win is a win! .450 seconds is still a win!

 

You're going to watch this twice...can you focus as far enough down the road
as Ken Block can drive it?

Or can Ken Block out drive your eyeballs?

GO FAST RISK EVERY THANG: The Wild Story of Ken Block’s ’22 Rally Racing Title Chase

Ken Block
1.91M subscribers420,100 views Dec 13, 2022
GO FAST RISK EVERY THANG. This is the mantra that we often have to use when racing rally. Sometimes it leads to champagne ceremonies, sometimes to crashed cars. In the 2022 American Rally Association season, it often led to both.

While there were many wins and successes throughout the season, there was also mistakes and setbacks. So, we had to go fast and risk everything to chase that title right to the end – and this is the behind-the-scenes story of how that all went.

When dust is so thick, and you ask the officials for a 3 minute delay for the dust to settle so you can see as well as the first car out who has no dust, and officials tell you to go screw yourself, Ken Block makes up the time when no one can see
on the course and ends up in 2nd place!..........by NINE TENTHS OF A SECOND!
The best drive of his life.

 

Ken Block's 14y/o Daughter Gets Drift Lessons from Formula Drift Champ -Vaughn Gittin Jr.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=widfqO86prQ&list=RDCMUCpCJ0y-_y03qPlG4zrYAAvQ&index=13





Ken Block
2M subscribers2,343,232 views Oct 9, 2020
When we set out to build the Vanilla Ice inspired, drop top 5.0 Fox body Mustang, we had one major goal in mind - Teach my daughter Lia to drift with it. For her instructor, I enlisted the help of my friend and Formula Drift Champion, Vaughn Gittin Jr. As it

turned out, Lia would get the FULL drift experience. Breaking parts, track side modifications, running out of fuel, and persevering through it all to finally nail the final trick. The Borla Exhaust completely changed the tune of this Fox and not surprisingly, the Toyo Tires we ran held up through the entire day!

 

Verstappen not focusing on his place in Formula 1 history, so what does he focus on?

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emailBy Chris Medland | February 9, 2023 8:35 AM ET

Max Verstappen says he’s not concerned about where a third title would place him among the all-time greats in Formula 1 because he’s already achieved more than he imagined in the sport.

The Dutchman is going for a third consecutive championship this season, a number that would put him alongside the likes of Ayrton Senna and Niki Lauda as one of only 10 other drivers to have at least three titles. To get three in a row would be even more rare, as only Michael Schumacher, Juan Manuel Fangio, Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton have achieved the feat, but Verstappen says such statistics don’t motivate him.

“I think I already achieved more than I could ever dream of, so for me I always just try to get the best out of myself,” Verstappen said. “I don’t really think about where I am between all of the all-time greats in terms of championships or wins. I just want to do my job. I of course know I have a contract though 2028, so I want to try and win more with this team — more races and potentially championships.

“But I’ve never really been a guy that likes statistics or whatever. I always want to come out of a race weekend and tell myself that I gave it all and that I really extracted everything out of myself, because then I’m happy. Then also once you stop racing, if I can look back at my years in Formula 1 and say, ‘Did I really get everything out of it?’ and if I did and I can say ‘Yes’ to myself, then I’m happy.”

Verstappen credits the years when he was in uncompetitive machinery with Toro Rosso and his early Red Bull years as key to his development, allowing him to be ready for the championship opportunities that have come in recent seasons.

“You definitely lose more than you win! So it will be hard to catch up on that. But you just have to accept it. You know that Formula 1 is like that — normally there are only one or two teams a year that you can win races with and we know the sport has been like that. So the mentality has always been there.

“(When) I came into Formula 1, I was in the midfield and at the back of the grid; you deal with that because it’s all in your learning process for potentially moving up to a winning team, which luckily I could do. And then once you’re in that position you have to show that you learned in the midfield, all the experience gained and that you can put it on the table and win those races.”

The 25-year-old was challenged by Ferrari early in 2022 and then Mercedes was able to win a race towards the end of the season, but he’s unconcerned about the potential for Hamilton and George Russell to mount a more serious title tilt this year.

“Not worried because we have to focus on our own job. We have to try and improve our car. We know that there are always things we can do better — the same from my side — and that’s the only thing we can control, so that’s what we focus on.

 

IndyCar to alter handling of clock and red flags in qualifying. Oh?

So the trade off is: either get your butt out there before there is fresh rubber on the track from previous qualifiers,

or hold off to the last minute and have plenty of last-minuters getting in your way ....and then complain about how "unfair" things are!

Why don't you bunch of babys grow up!

What does it take for the officials to realize that if there is a practice session before the qualifying session, there will be fresh rubber on the track for qualifying?

Or will the officials be trying to please a different group of complainers?

Motorsport Images
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emailBy Marshall Pruett | February 27, 2023 1:00 PM ET

With a packed entry list of at least 27 cars for each of its 17 races, the NTT IndyCar Series will try to give its drivers more time to complete the multi-round knockout road and street course qualifying sessions. But the new approach to managing the clock for each round comes with an interesting caveat.

IndyCar’s practice of giving drivers 10 minutes for the first two segments remains unchanged, but rather than continue the practice of having the race director start the 10-minute countdown clock from race control while cars sit on pit lane, the series will have the clock start once the first driver in each session takes to the track and comes around and crosses the alternate start/finish line. Great to have an empty track for that first qualifier.

More IndyCar!

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New alternate tire procedures for St. Pete, Long Beach, and WWTR

INSIGHT: The wide-ranging talent of the IndyCar paddock

The result would give teams more time to ‘gap’ themselves before their qualification runs begin. There is also a benefit for teams who have pits towards the back of pit road – giving them more time to get onto the race track to begin their timed laps.

Additionally, it’s likely more teams will send their drivers out early in each round to complete their first runs on Firestone’s primary tires while leaving more time to complete their second runs on the stickier Firestone alternate tires which produce the fastest lap times.

Depending on the length of the lap, the change should add somewhere between a whole 60 to 90 seconds of time to each round for drivers to use. Yippee! Race control will alert its teams as to when each round has started, even though the official 10-minute clock will sit idle until the first car crosses the alternate start/finish line.

But as fans have often observed, many teams are in the habit of holding their drivers for three or four of those first 10 minutes as they sit and wait to see if rookies and slower drivers will head out and become the first to put down new rubber on the circuit.

Assuming teams are proactive and send their drivers out when each round begins, (which is one heck of a far reaching assumption) ndyCar will employ its new clock-starting procedure when the electronic timing loop is triggered at the alternate start/finish line. And if teams opt to hold their drivers, “We’ll start it for them in a time determined at each venue,” IndyCar president Jay Frye told RACER.

“With a growing field, these changes will allow teams a better opportunity to create spacing during their qualifying runs while not penalizing teams who have pits towards the back,” Frye added. “We worked with teams and drivers on this change and we believe this will prove beneficial for everyone.”

Asked if there was a set amount of time IndyCar will wait before starting the clock, Frye said it will change from track to track since track lengths and the time to complete a lap varies. Although there’s no specific period of time that IndyCar will wait – if necessary – before starting the clock, look for the series to have limited patience on the subject.

On a related topic, IndyCar has adjusted its rules for managing red flags during road and street course qualifying. New for 2023, the series will stop the clock during the first red flag in each knockout round, but it won’t be stopped again if more red flags are required during that session. Previously, the clock would only stop during the final round of qualifying, the Firestone Fast Six, which guarantees a six-minute session.

Although the occurrence of multiple red flags in a single round are rare, the shift to only halting the 10-minute countdown clock on the first red flag is yet another change being made in the name of urging teams to get out early and get their ‘banker’ laps on primaries and best laps on alternates done with ample time left on the clock.

What does it take for the officials to realize that if there is a practice session before the qualifying, there will be fresh rubber on the track for qualifying?