Take the Bull by the Horns with...
Stu's No bull strategy guide
W O W - what a monster of a racetrack. 200mph on a road circuit - yikes! Don't you just wish this was a real racetrack :) It would be absolutely AWESOME !!
What a heart stoppin' - tyre screamin' - gas gusslin' - car destroyin' - mind blowin' - engine killin' - brake fadin' - skill testin' - eye poppin' - pit stoppin' - rubber eatin' - gut wrenchin' - wicked racetrack, and I LOVE it <GG>
Whoever said "they don't make 'em like they used to", did NOT make this one, thats for sure. The $64 million question here is - how are we going to get to the end of 171 laps as quickly as possible within the given rules. I have compiled some strategies that I hope will help to make life easier to figure this out according to how you and your team feel you best want to play it accounting for what you know your strenghts and weaknesses to be. I don't think there is one right answer which is good because it gives us a choice to suit ouselves. There may well be variations on a theme that I have not covered here, but I hope to give you enough to help point you in the right direction and show/explain it in a way that is fairly straightforward to get our heads round. Just in case I have inadvertently misinterpreted any rules and so made a mistake here then please tell me asap - thanks!
I personally feel
that the better strategies are the quicker ones as you gain more
from being able to go faster than you do from having to pit
less. Towards the end of the fuel and tyre life the lap
times can drop off as much as 3-5 seconds per lap and be around a
second a lap slower even on fresh rubber due to the compromised
setup and having to conserve tyres and fuel. The pitstops
are also shorter when there are more of them. so on paper and
from the limited testing I have done I am certain to be going for
a higher amount of stops. Also worth thinking about is the fact
that although there may be more risk of accident when running
quickly the car is more predictable as its handling will not go
off as the tyres give up, so you are less likely to be caught out
by slippery worn tyres when your concentration is weaker at the
end of a run!
The
following points must be borne in mind when considering strategy
as they restrict the possibilities available to us. To
quote straight from the rules : "The race consists of four segments with each driver saving the race at the end of each segment." The following rules apply:
Although the rules do not say so implicitly (yet), I have checked with Sean and we can NOT have more than one driver per segment - this would have been a useful tactic for those with a 3 driver team as we will see.
- To clarify, I will use the term segment as it is defined within the rules and run or section to refer to the distance between pitstops.
- I have tried and been unable to get more than 25 laps from a full tank of gas despite trying all the usual long gearing and short shifting tricks.
- At 70 deg no wind the left side tyres go yellow at about lap 17-19 and go red before the end of a 25 lap run almost inevitably making the car a bit looser unless you have a setup to compensate for that.
- Black and
white areas denote pitstops and
- Coloured sections indicate when driver changes happen.
6 Stops
This is a good basic strategy for those that want to make the minimum possible number of stops and are happy to find a car setup that will last for the 24-25 lap runs required to make this work. This could well be the best choice for those who would rather not risk running quickly and having to run the risk of costly repairs. This is a very high speed track and even a small amount of damage will have a big effect on lap times. It will also require the drivers to think about saving the car for the last 5-7 laps when the tyres will be suffering or pay the price of a big drop off in pace towards the end of each run.
Pros - slower
pace, less chance of crashing from pushing too hard, dont need to
be a very quick driver to make it work well
Cons - Needs good car setup
that will last, will have to be careful to save car for end of
run, don't get to rev happy or you could run out of gas!!
7 Stops
Another good basic strategy dividing the race up into 8 equal runs gives you sections that are 21-22 laps each which still fits nicley into the rule about no more than 52 laps per segment as you only do 43. Likely to be a favourite amongst teams with 2 drivers.
Pros - The
fuel is now no longer an issue - More freedom with gearing and
general setup eg.running a bit more spoiler for the race if you
want to - divides things up equally for 2 driver teams who want
to split it evenly
Cons - Still can't give it
too much stick as you still need to look after those tyres
- Of course the extra stop will need to be made up for on
the racetrack ands you will have to keep up a faster pace to get
over the extra pitstop - this may run the risk of accidents -
8 Stops
Now we get into the more interesting stuff and faster strategies. This will suit a team where one driver wants to race harder and the other is happy to keep steady, or where both can take a turn at each which is why I have shown 2 examples of this. A 3 driver team example is also given where in this case you have 2 hard chargers and one taking the steady sections, but you could easily rearrange it however it suits you best. Of course you could rearrange any of the segments any way you like but this gives you a basis from which to work. A good way to run this may be to race your longer/slower sections first to get well and truly into the groove and run your faster ones later when you have less to lose if you do have an accident. Minimum run length is 17 laps, max 23.
Pros - A good
balance between taking it steady and having a blast - Max
23 lap run means no fuel worries - No tyre worries for 104 of 171
laps - easier to get through traffic - fastest strategy yet! -
Flexibility - Well suited to a 2 or 3 driver team - even more
setup freedom -
Cons - More pitstops - Must
get a move on in the short runs to get an advantage from this
strategy - more chance of damage - Still need to take it steady
in the long runs -
9 Stops
Here is what I think may well be the quickest way to cover the 171 lap race distance - Let me explain why. The car is always running on green tyres and is much easier to get through traffic due to a setup that does not have to be so compromised to reduce tyre wear. I have found from testing that this can make as much as a second per lap difference over the course of a race distance giving a 3 minute advantage. OK - you have to make 3 more stops, but that is never going to take an extra 3 minutes!
Pros -
Absolutely no worries about fuel or tyres - Can use fast setups -
flexible for 2 and 3 driver teams - Easy to get through
traffic - Very fast, quite possibly the quickest strategy of all
-
Cons - Must keep pushing for
whole race - higher risk of damage due to passing more traffic
and having to keep the pace up -
10 or more Stops
I also explored the possibililty of pitstop strategies with more stops than this. I found that we had probably reached the optimum here or in a 9 stop as you get to a point of diminishing returns after this. A 10 stopper means pitting every 15.5 laps. As the tyres stay green for the whole run on a 9 stop, the lap times do not drop off anywhere near as significantly from laps 15 to 17 as they do from say 22-24. Having said that this could work well with drivers that are happy to go out and enjoy a fast paced race with a good setup optimised for the job. I have certainly not ruled this out as a possibility myself yet.
Pros - Can
really use killer setups - tyres will take a lot of abuse - suit
faster drivers especially - short pitstops -
Cons - Essential to be quick
all the time to make the most of this strategy - even more
traffic to pass -