Endurance Racing Techniques

[rwleonard]

For those if you who participate in endurance events, how, if at all, does your technique change? Do you trail brake less, for example?

Thanks

 

[Vorshlag-Fair]

I have raced in a few of these, we have built several endurance cars for customers, and we are building a shop car now for endurance road racing (BMW E46 with LS power and 315s).

The driving technique you need really depends on the car your are driving, but generally:

1. You don't want to abuse the brakes, tires, engine, trans, etc. Conservative driving is necessary to make a car last on a 8/12/24 hour race length.
2. You shouldn't take "low percentage moves" but you do need to make a LOT more passes than you would in a typical club level W2W race. The oft quoted line is "I made more passes in that 2 hour WRL stint than I did all season in club racing!", and its not far off.
3. Consistent lap times are much more important than a ringer lap followed by an "off". Don't be a hero, just put in solid lap times and shoot for consistency.
4. Never assume anything about other drivers, except that they are "trying to kill you". Seriously, the talent level is ALL OVER THE PLACE (you don't need to enter a comp driving school or have a comp license to race in most groups) and you can never assume that the guy in front even sees you, so assume the worst.
5. Whatever the car feels like - KEEP MAKING LAPS!

There will usually be some issue on the car you have to "drive around", like a blown shock, faulty synchro, faded brakes or the like. Endurance racing isn't usually a perfect drive, and the car can and usually does deteriorate over the 8/12/24 hour race. The goal is to notice the BAD things, relay them to the team, and wait for the call to come in to fix it or "JUST KEEP MAKING LAPS!". Repairs in the pits or paddock can ruin the whole weekend, and are hopefully avoided.

All other issues aside, you need to drive consistently, and usually the team lead will have a GOAL LAP time to have each driver shoot for. An on board predictive lap timer is CRUCIAL, as is a real time lap timer readout in the pits. A spotter should be placed on overwatch to look for flags, to stop traffic ahead/behind, and to give you a better view of what's going on beyond what the driver can see.

Too much fun - you will enjoy it!

 

[rwleonard]

Thanks!