Originally posted by TwinTurbo
What do you mean he stopped after 3 laps? When do the other Miata's pit? How many times?
How is the Miata on Super slicks?
If I have to pit around lap 30 on a 40 lap race shouldn't I use Slicks and Try to go 20 laps?
Given the speed advantage he displayed and the fact he stopped on lap 3 I suspect he was on supersoft slicks.
As I mentioned in another thread, the Miata's a pretty solid little chassis and apart from a lack of grip while the tyres are cold it's pretty well behaved. The only thing to look out for early on is braking at turns one and two, it can be pretty easy to dump the car in the gravel in the outside of turn two.
ZeroCool nailed it with stopping for fresh tyres - these enduros are about ensuring you get the best out of the tyres.
It's difficult when racing, but I try to do a little time estimate in my head of what a pitstop will cost time-wise, and then keep an eye on how much time I'm losing on tyres - often you can save a stop.
Good example was the first Formula GP event I ran last night at Midfield - by looking after the tyres I was able to eke out 10 laps with each step, which meant on a 30 lap race I only had to stop twice. In longer races, ekeing out an extra one or two laps per set of tyres can often save extra stops.
As an example, in a 100 lap race, stopping every 15 laps means 6 (15-30-45-60-75-90) stops, but if you stop every 17 laps it means 5 stops (17-34-51-68-85) plus you make more efficient use of your last set.
