Indy 500: How often do you pit?

  • Thread starter chaosdd
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AcceptYourDeath
I had the same experience with a Minolta. I did Indy 500 the first time today using a joypad and no driving aids whatsoever, but automatic shifting.

I didn`t pay alot attention first, but later I tryed every tyre and felt hard racing tyres were worn out faster than soft. It could be such a high speed during a corner destroys hard material on a hard surface faster than softer material. Thats the only explanation i have for this experience today.

The Minolta was set to a top speed of 410km/h ...it hit 385km/h on a straight 397km/h with drafting and slowed down to 350-360km/h through corners.

Laptimes reached from 38,7 to 40,0. Although i had noticable more pitstops than the AI I won with 12 laps ahead.

I don`t see the benefit of hard racing tyres. You could use them for races about 25-30 laps on regular tracks avoiding any pitstop compared to soft tyres.
But you have to pay more attention, you can`t take certain sectors as fast and you may even have to brake or roll while you could go full throttle with soft tyres in some cases (car<>track<>corner).
Considering you risk to spin out alot more with hard tyres which takes away alot from their lifespan thats another point to choose soft racing tyres.

All in all the lifespan of hard tyres don`t seem to be noticable longer to accept all drawbacks they have.
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I found similar things... I can get more laps out of Medium compund than Hard compund(havent tried softs in enduros yet) I think its due to the car sliding around more on the harder tyres and wearing them out faster.
With all the grip softer tyres have, its much faster and easier to drive smooth and get life from a softer tyre than to prevent the hard tyre from sliding.
 
I think its due to the car sliding around more on the harder tyres and wearing them out faster.
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Yes I guess thats why! I didn`t put alot of effort into this boring race. Because a minolta and similar cars can do a lap on full throttle I drove like that.

Maximum steering from outside to apex and back to the outside. Which could be considered as very agressive if you think about a tyres lifespan, but easier to drive because you only have to push the stick against the border and hold it.
 
Knelly
Can anyone tell me if you conserve fuel and tyres by drafting?
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From what I could tell, no. I was drafting one car for about 10 laps and it didn't seem to have any effect.
If you've got a car that's appreciably faster than the competition I'd advise just going hell for leather then pit when you need to.
 
Guys, this seems to be a discussion more about tyre wear than the Indy 500 itself. I recommend you search and read other threads about tyres in Aspec events in GT5. btw Racing Soft ... whatever the weather. ;)
 
Minota, full downforce, racing hard tires and flatout with no lift for the corners. Average lap time 40' with no slip
I could only get 15-18 laps out of the tires used about half a tank of fuel each run
Can't r
remember the time but 7 laps ahead
 
Menown
Quick indy question, how long does the race take?QUOTE]

i did it in 2 hours with the X1. soft tires, typically 28 laps between pit stops. as someone said earlier, fuel is easily the limiting factor w/ the X1 in this race. tire life is a non-issue.

if you let the car careen around the corners you can expect approx. 2.5 hour race times w/ the X1.
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Holyman
On the FGT I can get 37 laps out of a tank, running lap times between 37.8 - 39.5 seconds. (Lap times < 38 seconds require lucky drafts with the backmarkers)

Don't seem to have any problem making racing softs last that distance, unless I spin out 'cos I hit a backmarker at speed. Didn't notice a lot of difference in wear/grip between racing softs and racing mediums.

Also: I tend to map the pit changes across the whole of the 200 laps, so I pit on laps 35, 70, 105, 140 & 170. I guess it's worth using a car that can go 40 laps per tank, because you could cut out the 5th pit; but I find running on ragged tyres more effort than I can be bothered with whilst driving 200 circles.

I did play around with fuel loads as well, but found that refuelling time per litre was less than the time advantage gained per lap per litre less of fuel (didn't measure anything scientifically, just used the ready-reckoner in my skull).
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lucky, i only got 34 laps out of it =/ the only thing i would add to this was that i got pit manouvered by a back marker and they shoved me in less than half way through a stint and the lap times showed that i dont think its worth doing short stops, its defo worth maxxing it out until you have to coast at 50 mph coz your fuel has run out :S
 
Using the DGFT I could get the Minolta to 33 laps ran 34 twice once on purpose once on accident both times the 34th lap was spent spinning with zero on the right rear tire. I still have fuel left on each run though.

With new tires I was running 41 seconds towards the end it would climb to more like 45 as I tried to baby the tires. I was pushing for 34 so I could make it on 5 stops which I managed to do.
 
I used the Mazda 787b and got consistent lap time of 39 to 41 secs. I used SR tires and got about 30-35 laps out of them. Gas was about 35-39 laps per stint.
 
I ran the Minolta and pitted for everything with every 25 laps and still won by 9 or 10 laps...A few laps in the 38sec region...Total around 2:25 if I remember.
 

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