rec.autos.simulators

strange new rule to BTCC for pits stop
I thought most races were trying to do away with
pitstop, but now they have introduced it.

Anyway, how do you know you need to pit
there isnt any gauge for fuel onboard ??

--
regards

===========================================
Singapore

BTCC introduced the pit stop rule to add to the e***ment of the race
- in other words to allow the pit crew to***a drivers race up :-(

There is no need to refuel, just change tyres, either full or part.

When to pit, judgement call I'm afraid, just depends upon your
position in the race and also the weather conditions.

Pit stop *window* is between 15 and 75% of the total race distance.

Cheers

Steve

Whitley Bay - North East Coast of England

www.geordies.force9.co.uk
Photographs of the Newcastle Upon Tyne Area - http://www.racesimcentral.net/

This "pit stop rule" is a MUST, right?
so every driver must eventually come in.
whether he needs to or not,

sounds like baloney, didn't it create an uproar
when they introduce it?

BTCC is under FIA, isn't it?
FIA has been trying to change F1 to no pitstop.
That what I have been told, but not been following them
much.

| On 6 Jun 99 14:38:24 GMT, "* Leong"

|
| >Hi
| >
| >strange new rule to BTCC for pits stop
| >I thought most races were trying to do away with
| >pitstop, but now they have introduced it.
| >
| >Anyway, how do you know you need to pit
| >there isnt any gauge for fuel onboard ??
|
| BTCC introduced the pit stop rule to add to the
e***ment of the race
| - in other words to allow the pit crew to***a drivers
race up :-(
|
| There is no need to refuel, just change tyres, either
full or part.
|
| When to pit, judgement call I'm afraid, just depends upon
your
| position in the race and also the weather conditions.
|
| Pit stop *window* is between 15 and 75% of the total race
distance.
|
| Cheers
|
| Steve
|
| Whitley Bay - North East Coast of England

| www.geordies.force9.co.uk
| Photographs of the Newcastle Upon Tyne Area -
http://www.racesimcentral.net/
|

Yes

No.

BTCC is run by TOCA. Who are under the wing of RACMSA, which is the British
ACO, which makes it far detached, but under the FIA.

Actually, the pit stop is interesting, and the velcro strips undert the
drivers name make it easier to follow, but i can't help thing it holds back
soem hard racing in the feature.

Sprint is a better length, though..

Z.

With timings I think the pitstops are a good idea and I'm sure it makes
it more fun for the drivers, but as a trackside spectator it ruins the
whole thing.

I agree about the sprint... I just wish we could have 2 equal races
without stops again.

M

: With timings I think the pitstops are a good idea and I'm sure it makes
: it more fun for the drivers, but as a trackside spectator it ruins the
: whole thing.

  I disagree completely with you here.  As a trackside spectator at a
number of BTCC races, I've found the feature race to be consistently
more entertaining than the sprint race (no pitstops).  The feature race
also, in my experience, features many more overtaking moves.  

  In the feature race, because of the timings of the pitstops, you can
find that the leader is trapped behind someone who is slower but has
stayed out longer.  You can find that the guy behind is on fresher tyres
because he made his stop later.  

  The yellow velcro rule makes it really easy to follow what's going on
so even the dumbest spectators aren't confused by who's got to stop yet.

  Even when the pitstops do "screw up" it can make a race that much more
exciting.  Take this years season opener at Donnington - feature race
and independant Matt Neal was looking like he was going to stroll to
victory.  He managed to stall in the pits and lose 4 places.  The whole
circuit was cheering his climb back to 1st - don't think I've seen a
crowd so unified in their support of a win.  It really did make for a
superb race.

  Every time I've seen touring cars, the feature race has been the more
entertaining of the two.  So, whatever your theory, in practice, the
mandatory pit stop does make for better racing.

  (On the other hand, it makes me***up completely in TOCA 2 -
somehow, while I can win the sprints, the feature races are really
beyond my ability).

--
Richard G. Clegg     Only the mind is waving
Dept. of Mathematics (Network Control group) Uni. of York.

www: http://www.racesimcentral.net/

The stops also do break up too many potential battles, and while the velcro
helps, it's all a bit too messy generally.

Z.

Please remove NOSPAM from my email address when replying.

:>  Even when the pitstops do "screw up" it can make a race that much more
:>exciting.  Take this years season opener at Donnington - feature race
:>and independant Matt Neal was looking like he was going to stroll to
:>victory.  He managed to stall in the pits and lose 4 places.  The whole
:>circuit was cheering his climb back to 1st - don't think I've seen a
:>crowd so unified in their support of a win.  It really did make for a
:>superb race.

: er... except it was the poor performance of the Honda in the feature tire
: wear, etc, not any brilliance on Matt Neal's part.  

   He didn't just pass the Honda though - there were another 3 cars to
get past.  I don't think you can take away from Neal's performance by
saying that Honda underperformed.  Thompson wasn't the only other driver
out there.

: In any case, i really do
: feel that having watched *live* 11/14 rounds last year, that the first half
: (pre-stop) of the feature is very ho-hum now. People are not as willing to
: race in the first hal;f and as such it can be very boring.

  Well, in your opinion, is the feature race with stops more exciting
than the sprint without?  You see more races a year than me - in the
races I've seen, the race with stops has always featured more passing
for position and more "hard racing".  (The exception being silverstone
final last year where the championship was decided in the sprint race
and the feature looked like something of an anti-climax).

: The stops also do break up too many potential battles, and while the velcro
: helps, it's all a bit too messy generally.

  Hmm...  I don't think so.  From what I've seen the stops create more
battles than they break up.

--
Richard G. Clegg     Only the mind is waving
Dept. of Mathematics (Network Control group) Uni. of York.

www: http://manor.york.ac.uk/top.html

What happens in the feature is cars start out, and race- but not as hard
(imho) then in the 15 lap boring time, they're all stopping, which adds
interest- but is terrribly confusing. I use a walkman Radio TOCA, etc, but
it's still to hard to work out how much gap there is between stoppers and
non-stoppers, to follow who's actually ahead to the result of the end of the
stops.

By that time, some cars are repositioned due to stops, and it's likely some
are on the ballpark, and soem slower cars are ahead of faster, hence soem
racing, but it's all too spread out still by the end.

Without the stops, the race would be spread out and boring by 15 laps out of
30... which would be dire.

Z.

Please remove NOSPAM from my email address when replying.

You must pit between the 15% and 75% stage of the race, and you must
change your tyres. Note that you can pit without changing your tyres, but
this is foolish as you will be disqualified!!!

All this info is in the TOCA2 manual, you *DO* read the manual don't you?

8-)

*Peter*     8-)

True, but considering most teams cars weren't running well and the only
other real Nissan racer (I've stopped considering Leslie a racer, more of a
backup car) took himself out at the Old Hairpin the pace Neal was running
at was much faster than anyone. James Thompson was the only person able to
get near him really and he was much slower. Incidentally, had it not been
for the stall at the stop, Matt would have been well ahead after all the
stops and we'd not have had a few laps of racing where he was trying to
pass the Honda.

Horrifically hard to follow tho, no? Can you honestly tell me that you know
who is making time up, who is losing time, and how much time a given driver
needs to make up in order to pass the car in front? No, I'm sure you can't.
At home with the TV timings it's easy but from the trackside, almost
impossible.

The idea of stops was a good one, but like Zonk says, the first portion of
the race can often be dull as drivers are happier to wait until the car in
front stops and then bang in some fast ones and "pass in the pits" like in
F1.

To be honest I have no solution as, I will agree, racing was often dull in
the feature before stops butfor this other than going back to as it was.
Then again, those races weren't always interesting were they?

M

--

DeekM

But this year Knockhill will have the required pit facilities, which is
a good thing. I find the new style BTCC much more exciting.
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