CSCC Donington: (Donington Park): 26 Oct 2019 07:30 - 27 Oct 2019 18:00

[Lancsbreaker]

Congrats to Andy for your award - well deserved I'm sure


I think Paul's comments serve to reflect what a friendly yet competitive club CSCC is - we met Paul through racing in Future Classics and have become good friends - despite him being way quicker than us! - and as he indicated Club members help each other out - whilst suited and booted and waiting to take over our car at the pitstop, whenever possible I help Paul's wife Sue to assist in Paul's pitstop - we actually regard it as a mini-competition of its own to try to get him in and out as quickly as possible - and normally are in the top 3 or 4 crews....


Can you imagine Lewis's pitcrew helping Vettel's pitstop ?

[coppice]

I can't even imagine them helping with Bottas' stop..


Great meeting, some lovely machinery , some excellent driving in horrible conditions and , in contrast to many other series, huge grids too.

[Mike Harte]

Originally Posted by Lancsbreaker

Can you imagine Lewis's pitcrew helping Vettel's pitstop ?

No, but I do believe that the Ferrari pit stop strategies are designed and carried out to assist the Mercedes' drivers.

[Lancsbreaker]

Originally Posted by Mike Harte

No, but I do believe that the Ferrari pit stop strategies are designed and carried out to assist the Mercedes' drivers.

Fair point, well made

[Paul D]

Originally Posted by Lancsbreaker

we actually regard it as a mini-competition of its own to try to get him in and out as quickly as possible - and normally are in the top 3 or 4 crews....

Yes indeed Richard, and it's much appreciated.

This time we were indeed third quickest pit-stop, less than a second behind the second quickest. Can't complain at that for a bunch of old duffers!

We didn't manage to repeat the trick in the night race, so that must have been Steve's fault!

[Gerard C]

What is the length of your race and what kind of pit stop do you make? Richard, do you have pictures when at pit?

[andy97]

Originally Posted by Gerard C

What is the length of your race and what kind of pit stop do you make? Richard, do you have pictures when at pit?

CSCC races are generally 40 mins with a pit stop for a driver change. Pit stop is as quick as you can manage it, except in Magnificent 7s where it is a fixed 1 min.
If you dont have to change drivers, the single driver must get out of the car, shut the door, open it again and get back in. There are club officials on hand to make sure belts are not undone too early, and are done up correctly. A 60kph speed limit applies in the pit lane.

[Lancsbreaker]

As Andy says....as for pictures.....If you have a look at some of the youtube videos you'll get an idea - this one for example:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zELTUe5edh0


Pit stop window usually after 10 minutes and before 25 minutes, pit lane speed limit usually 60 kph - and it is checked! Engines have to be switched off on stopping and not restarted until the new driver's belts are fastened, and usually a marshal will be checking that belts are properly fitted over the HANS.

[Gerard C]

I guess the 50" from the video is a good result. May be the fix limit, one or two minutes is better for safety reasons but less fun. HANS device doesn't help in this matter making the belts difficult to do up for the driver.

[Paul D]

Gerard - there has been much discussion within the club over the years about how the pit-stops should be conducted.

There are basically two factions: those that want the current system of doing it as fast as you can, giving an advantage to those who can manage it quickest, for whatever reasons. Then those who would prefer a simple mandatory timed stop of, say, one minute, meaning that no one gains or loses (assuming, if you're changing drivers, that you can actually manage it in under a minute! I guess most could).

The club are actually intending to have a formal discussion about this very matter over the winter, so whether things will change as a result remains to be seen. The club maintains that the majority have always wanted the current system, but I'm not sure that opinion is reflected in the paddock when talking to other drivers, so who knows?

We'll see what happens...

[Gerard C]

Thanks for the interesting answer and point of view, Paul. Dont you think the Hans system brings new habits? To be perfectly safe it can take a while sometimes. But the contest you have is much sympathetic, a race in the race involving more than the driver. Vox populi, vox Dei as they say!

[andy97]

Certainly many many drivers were in favour of not having a time limit for pit stops over the 6 years i was on the Committee inc the 2 or 3 when i was a series rep, and in addition to the reasons given above, there was a strong feeling from many that it introduced a team element in to the race, and it wasnt just the drivers that were responsible for a result.
Of course, safety is paramount and whilst i wouldnt say we havent had close calls I would say that we do have a lot of observers and Stewards monitoring for unsafe behaviors and cars have been prevented from leaving the pits if deemed unsafe. Hans devices add a slight complication but i dont find them an issue.
To be fair, how many pit lane incidents have there been in 12 or 13 years? I genuinely dont know of any.
Interestingly, though, in Magnificent 7s there is a 1 min statutory pit stop, and this is because the confines of the 7 cockpit and cage mean that this is deemed to be safer. As a 7 driver now, i appreciate the rest that the 1 min stop gives me, but if i returned to saloons ior GT type cars I would very happily have the unregulated pitstop & dont feel they are unsafe.

[David Stallard]

Bit late with links, sorry guys - you have probably all seen them by now but just in case:

SATURDAY

SUNDAY

Been asked back for next season so see you all then

.DAVID.