endurance racing

[lovef1]

hello there fellow racers,

Hopefully if things go my way, I will be participating in a 5 hour endurance race sometime soon. I have never participated in endurance races before, as all the races i've done are sprint races. Do you guys have any tips? I don't quite understand endurance races to be honest, it's too tactical for me. According to a friend, in endurance races you don't actually race in the traditional sense as in you don't defend your position etc. It's all about going at your own pace, and strategy becomes a big part of the results. As always, your assistance is very much appreciated.

[Peter Mallett]

Hi,

5 hours? Interesting race length.

We have competed in many 6 hour races with the Capri and the MGB. In both cases there's a balance between out and out pace and preserving the equipment. For instance the Capri will get through a set of front pads every 2/3 hours, more if we run at sprint race speeds. So we run about 5 secs off the pace in order to preserve the brakes. We lost third place last time out due to a late brake stop.

The MGB on the other hand is a different animal. We geared it to run long, which was a mistake on reflection. This year we will run the sprint diff ratio so that we can get up the hills faster. Fuel consimption will increase but we hope to finish higher up the order. Last year at Spa we started 96th and finished 46th.

As to fighting for your position, it is always worth taking places as and when you can. You don't want to go backwards and bear in mind most drivers will be thinking the same thing. The whole idea is to finish.

[lovef1]

thanx for the advice Peter, btw i'm going to be racing a crg kart....

[Peat]

Considering your other posts, lovef1, i would think an endurance or 2 would be good for you in terms of bum-in-seat time. Also, it will give you an oppurtunity to be lapped by the quick guys and hopefully get an idea of where you might be going wrong. Sprint races are over too fast to know what's going on.

If you 'race' everyone hard, you will certainly not win any friends from those trying to lap you and you may find yourself 'helped' off the the track quite quickly. You can protect your position, but there is zero point defending massively, you'll just slow yourself down and put yourself out of contention later on.

I race karts in 2.5hr/6hr/24hr races so have seen what happens if someone is too agressive.

Good luck.

[lovef1]

thanks for all the help guys....

[dtype38]

Be interested to know how you get on with this one. I'd been sprint racing in karts for about three years before trying and endurance event. I was invited to be part of a two man team for a 4hr evening event. I hated it. Just couldn't get the hang of not driving as fast as possible. If I drove flat out I was struggling with the physical effort and level of concentration needed, but when I tried to drop my pace I lost all rhythm and made silly mistakes. Perhaps I'd been sprinting too long to adapt, or maybe it's just not my thing. Anyway, I now stick to 15-30 min races in the main and am happy to leave it there.

[lovef1]

i will definitely give an update... again thank u so much for the feedbacks...