Compulsory Pit Stops?

[Aussie Mitch]

I hate the notion of compulsory pit stops. in sprint races, all the cars can go the distance on one tank of fuel and one set of tyres. Id like to see a decent length race without "compulsory stops". any comments?

[Seton Fanatic]

It's all about entertainment rather than pure racing these days. Compulsory pit stops liven up the show with a runaway leader having the potential to foul up at the pit stop (Remeber Ambrose at Oran Park in 2002). Another logical reason behind compulsory pit stops is that it keeps the teams in practice for Bathurst and Sandown, keeping their skills sharp.

[DKGandBH]

If there are legitimate overtaking opportunities on the track, then I'd like to do away with the compulsory stops.

David.

[lcfp2297]

As I've said before, do away with compulsory pit stops, but give the teams the option of hard and soft compound at the start of the weekend, and then they have to stick with the decision, an extra set of tyres and for races longer than 30 min, give them a fuel tank only large enough to go 75% race distance...(obviously leave the fuel tank as is for Sandown and Bathurst)...

With these rules, one pitstop would be required for refuelling (brings in race strategies such as light fuel at start, heavy fuel at start etc) and those on soft rubber an additional tyre change...so the lead they make on the softer rubber could be lost with the extra stop etc

Would have the added benefit of not having the farcical dive into pit lane the second the pit window opened...

[A9X05]

I like pitstops, but they should do away with pit stop windows and just do stops when they need/want to.They could run all different strategies, I think it would be a lot more interesting? (F1 style) Limit the tyres to how it is now, but unlimited fuel stops.Because they would not gain an advantage by that anyway!

[Beatcha]

I like pit stops but I think instead of making it compulsory and having a pit window they should put a smaller tank in them and let the teams decide when to pit, say put a 60 Ltr tank and let them rip, keep the big tank for enduro's.

[racer69]

Racing (and passing) is supposed to be done on the race track, and not in pits.

How some see pit stops (endurance racing excepted) exciting and livening up the show is beyond me.

[peckstar]

thats a very narrow view to have

every major form of car racing has pit stops and strategy (the ability to think, becomes just as important as the ability to drive fast

im all for CPS thay liven up the race and allow drivers to make extra changes to their car during races so that they perform even better

[Aussie Mitch]

why not have a driver set up his car in the practice and qualifying sessions, and then have a race to see who can push the hardest and fastest without having to worry about having a pit stop. you dont see athletes with a compulsory shoe change between the 40 and 65 metre mark during the 100 m sprint, so why have a compulsory tyre change for a 100k race when the cars can do it fine without one?

[William Dale Jr]

Originally posted by peckstar
every major form of car racing has pit stops and strategy

And in most cases it was introduced because there wasn't much on-track passing, so they needed something to spice up the show.

I'm with lcfp2297, ditch the fuel and tyre window, give them a choice of two or three compounds so that they are legitimately racing on strategy rather than having it thrust upon them. And I'll leave my aero-reduction-to-improve-the-racing rant for another thread.

[Senna05]

Brighty did A 3 stopper and still came 3rd.

The theory works - un-restrict them a little and let them go!

[DKGandBH]

You don't often see pit stps in sprint car racing...

David

[lcfp2297]

As I said above...races longer than 30 min...so not sprints...this renders comparison with 100m SPRINTS and SPRINT cars irrelevant...

I see long distance runners, long distance cyclists, long distance swimmers etc all re-fuel during events...have also seen changes in shoes during marathons, tyre changes in cycling etc

I define a long distance car race as anything over 30 min!

As for the endurance races, these are more akin to relay's in other sports...

Cheers

[Codger]

Compulsory pitstops equals fabricated racing, racing is not about malfunctioning rattle guns, stuck wheel nuts or fuel spillages, let the teams prepare the car, if in a longer race they need to stop for fuel or feel that a tyre change will benefit laptimes enough to compensate for the time lost in the pit stop then that's up to them.
The main consequence of compulsory pitstops seems to be to totally confuse the spectators at the circuit who don't have the advantage of TV commentary or lapboards.