[Michael Martin]

Update after the Asia race.

Mediums will go the distance at Chang but they struggled a little at the end.

As for strategies
Winner went soft/soft with a bit of fuel
2nd soft/soft with a bit of fuel. 3.1 seconds behind
3rd Medium and just add fuel. 3.9 seconds behind

http://www.simracingsystem.com/raceresul...qLqtGVqZ3n

[David Weber]

Update after the Asia race.

Mediums will go the distance at Chang but they struggled a little at the end.

As for strategies
Winner went soft/soft with a bit of fuel
2nd soft/soft with a bit of fuel. 3.1 seconds behind
3rd Medium and just add fuel. 3.9 seconds behind

http://www.simracingsystem.com/raceresul...qLqtGVqZ3n

For an hour-long race, driving skill surely trumps pit strategy when we're talking about gaps of 3.1 and 3.9 seconds, right?

[John Gordon]

For an hour-long race, driving skill surely trumps pit strategy when we're talking about gaps of 3.1 and 3.9 seconds, right?

Well, if you have two drivers of a similar skill level, then perhaps the pit strategy could be the deciding factor. Undercuts/Overcuts etc.

[Michael Martin]

I think pit strategy plays a massive part in it.

Take the second race for example at Silverstone.
I decided to go 50:50 and change mediums. Finished second because the car ahead was low on fuel.
The winner of the Asia race went soft/soft again and finished 5th

There may have been other factors but imo you need the right strategy to compliment your pace.

Silverstone is roughly 4.5 liters a lap.

[Peter Shubert]

It also depends if you can run consistent pace on used tyres, not too much slower than on a fresh set. If you're in a battle with somebody, you may decide to pit late if you're running good pace on worn tyres, giving you the advantage late in the race having the fresher rubber (assuming fuel load at this point of the race is similar, seeing as though you have both made a stop and have the same distance to go). You may also be able to go for a softer compound. But if you find yourself seconds per lap slower and fighting the car, you may want to pit as soon as possible.

I have found my self using this strategy and being faster than the guy I was racing earlier on in the race simply because I was consistently fast on worn tyres, and had the fresher set when it came time to push that little extra. At the end of the day, it may just come down to how hard you use your tyres, and how consistent your driving style is.

Also as others have said, set up a pit strategy before the race. I made the mistake of not having one in my first 1Hr race and I pitted 3 time times in that race...
-1st time my strategy was no tyre change and no fuel. (1 liter of fuel or a tyre change is mandatory).
-2nd time I didn't put enough fuel to make it to the end of the race.
-3rd time was to correct my error.

Treat your first race as a learning experience. You'll take a lot away from it, even if it's learning the car as it evolves over the 1 hour.


** When I use the word fast, it's all relative to the position I'm in at the time and the pace I'm running. I'm rarely up there fighting for wins, if ever. Especially in the 1 hour races.**

[Stefano Zanella]

with this car setup and driving style makes a huge difference, with a smooth drive you can do soft soft without problem, at Chang, with an aggressive style, it's better to go to soft-medium, and even medium medium in high wear tracks like Silverstone, because Mediums aren't much slower, at Chang with soft i did low 1:39s for like 10 laps but raised to mid high 1:39s after that, with mediums the pace was in the mid 1:39s even after 35 mins.

and it's better to change the tyres, because you will use more than 100lt, and so you need to stay in the pit a lot.

[Jason Whetton]

6)Have a drink handy and go to the loo before you start.

Best advice for 1hr races!!!

So many times 30mins in and im concentrating on not peeing myself rather than the next corner!!

(athough you young ones may have stronger bladders)

[Shachar Liberman]

Best thread ever. Thanks everyone for the info! 
Should have read this *before* running my 2nd ever 1hr race today, at spa:
1st pitstop 35m in, did not take enough fuel
2nd pitstop 3-4 minutes to the end of the race, refueled for a bunch more laps
3rd pitstop... Was a 'back to pits' for - you guessed it - an empty tank
I would have finished 3rd or 4th without the extra pitstops, which sounds ridiculous to me! I don't know how I pulled 3rd place for as long as I did!
I'm loving SRS.

[Pawel Kusmierek]

I should have re-read the thread. I did not intend to change the type of the tyres when I made my pit stop, but I planned to change the tyres. Stupidly, I set the pitstop strategy at "no change" which means "do not change tyres" not "change tyres but use the same compound". So I came in, got fuel, and sat there for a while trying to figure out what to do with my completely worn tires now. Ultimately I did Esc -> back to pits and changed them there, but that resulted in an additional penalty. Not that this would give me any better position as I was very slow in the race, but still it was stupid

[Dennis Ipenburg]

Most of the feedback in this threat was based on the GT3 championship. In the BMW/Ferrari 458 GT2 championship that just finished, the strategy was pretty straight forward. Depending on the track most winners went with either Soft/Soft or Med/Med, 50% race distance and then change tyres/add fuel.

To those who managed to do Soft/Soft on Nordschleiffe: Kudos! I tried that once, my softs were completely dead after 3 laps. How you guys managed to do 4 laps on softs with very acceptable lap times... It means I still have a lot to learn