N3: am I crazy or what? (When to pit)

When do you guys pit? At the VERY, VERY last moment? And how do you enter the pit lane: brake HARD at the very last moment or slow down in time (losing time, I think) like the AI? I just did a 25% race at Talledega (47 laps or so), and my crew told me to come in for fuel. So I did, a bit early to avoid heavy traffic. But in the end none of the AI cars pitted, so I ended up last! Do they have more fuel or something? Or shouldn't I have listened to my pit crew and stayed on the track until it was REALLY necessary? Or is this a bug? Jeroen P.S. Are there any penalties for driving on the track immediately after exciting the pits (instead of driving the first corner VERY slowly like the AI)?

> P.S. Are there any penalties for driving on the track immediately after > exciting the pits (instead of driving the first corner VERY slowly like the > AI)? If you drive immediately on the track in an online race, you will not look good to the guy that has to swerve to avoid you. At tally, not much swerving can be done so a wreck will surely be the result. Jason. -- Jason Monds http://members.home.net/gpl.mondsj/gpl - For my combined gas/brake setups http://members.home.net/stuff.mondsj/n3prc - Nascar3 Pro Racing Club (Please remove 'no extra spork' when replying)

At the VERY VERY last moment! Hit the brakes like mad and slide to a screaming smoking stop beneath the 83 sign. 25% at Telladega = 47 laps I just did 30%/56 laps and pitted with, I think, 10 laps to go. ALL the AI cars pitted the next lap :-) You must have been just on the edge of making it without a fuel stop. Did you check fuel status with F3? That seems fairly accurate to me. /petern

I'll second that! > >When do you guys pit? At the VERY, VERY last moment? And how do you enter > >the pit lane: brake HARD at the very last moment or slow down in time > >(losing time, I think) like the AI? I just did a 25% race at Talledega (47 > >laps or so), and my crew told me to come in for fuel. So I did, a bit early

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> >to avoid heavy traffic. But in the end none of the AI cars pitted, so I > >ended up last! Do they have more fuel or something? Or shouldn't I have > >listened to my pit crew and stayed on the track until it was REALLY > >necessary? Or is this a bug? > >Jeroen > >P.S. Are there any penalties for driving on the track immediately after > >exciting the pits (instead of driving the first corner VERY slowly like

the

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> >AI)? > At the VERY VERY last moment! Hit the brakes like mad and slide to a > screaming smoking stop beneath the 83 sign. > 25% at Telladega = 47 laps > I just did 30%/56 laps and pitted with, I think, 10 laps to go. ALL > the AI cars pitted the next lap :-) > You must have been just on the edge of making it without a fuel stop. > Did you check fuel status with F3? That seems fairly accurate to me. > /petern

I guess that would qualify as a penaltiy ? Heh.. Hi Jason

If the crew chief calls you in, you're not gonna make it... I have coasted to a stop 15 yards short of the line in a 200 miler not heading his call. VERY FRUSTRATING. BTW: from a fuel consumption perspective, don't downshift for turns unless you really, really have to. Jan. ----

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> <Snip> > At the VERY VERY last moment! Hit the brakes like mad and slide to a > screaming smoking stop beneath the 83 sign. > 25% at Telladega = 47 laps > I just did 30%/56 laps and pitted with, I think, 10 laps to go. ALL > the AI cars pitted the next lap :-) > You must have been just on the edge of making it without a fuel stop. > Did you check fuel status with F3? That seems fairly accurate to me. > /petern

Yeah, the same thing happened to me! I think they are filling up their roll cages with gas... -Larry