LukeyB

iTrader: (1)

Hey everyone, tonight we have a gokarting works "social" event which will inevitably be highly competitive. Its at kartstart in Aberdeen in case anyone is familiar.
The race is a 90 minute endurance race with 9 teams of 4.
Most teams have a mix of experienced drivers and noobies so there doesn't appear to be a run away team just on drivers alone.
The course is indoors and is about 30 seconds a lap with loads of hairpins so its quite physical.
The race will be won or lost on the driver swap / refueling strategy.
What do you guys reckon to be the best strategy for this?
Remember it is a work social event so it has to be fair for all drivers

romford-boy

The race will be won or lost of drivers spinning out and the slow / inexperienced drivers dawdling. Also under a yellow flag scenario the concept of "half race pace" varies wildly, lots of time is made up here.

Graz

Yep, although no overtaking is allowed on yellows certainly gives you time to catch up with the bloke in front of you

As for the rest of it, guess it's got to be one stint per driver really so 22 minutes 30 secs minus the time taken to swap drivers / refuel.

And don't go really hung over like I was on my stag weekend. The challenge was more to not vomit in my helmet rather than go fast

CREWJ

It's a case of giving the quick drivers more time in the car and stop as little as possible.

As it's a works do just have fun as you can't go in expecting to win with a mixed field.

Paulo P

iTrader: (42)

My colleagues did that to me at our works do and they made me complete about 90% of the race on my own! I kept signalling to the pits to call me in but the b*stards kept waving me by! We did win by some margin though and I lapped everyone I was knackered by the end though because it was a 90 minute race and I think I was in the kart for 75-80 minutes

LukeyB

iTrader: (1)

Race over. Was brilliant fun. Managed to qualify our team 2nd and we ran 10min stints. We dropped back to fifth in the first half hour but i bought us back to 2nd. Team ended up dropping back to 5th again and one our 2nd last driver(stupid idiot) overtook on a yellow in front of the marshall and got flagged off so I had to go for the final stint early. I was set for a 18 minute run and I climbed to 2nd again then my team flagged me off for some reason with 10 mins to go.. They then got selfish and all had a final go in the last 10 mins which dropped us back to 5th due to 3 driver swaps... Greedy idiots. Pretty gutted we missed out on medals but I did post the 2nd fastest lap of the night out of the 45 people as well as as clocking over 20 clean overtakes . Only guy to go faster has set the fastest lap 3 years in a row (closet pro). Can't wait to go again, although I'd rather in not with work as the amount of dirty cheating drivers was unbelievable, event organizer was fuming.

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

Unfair way; to WIN. Good drivers out longest...up to 30mins. Crap ones out for 5 mins.

Fair way; Each person has equal time. And stick to the minimum number of driver changes. Unless you have a diver that goes at 5mph everywhere- that's probably the only exception, where you check out your competetion and put your crap driver out at the same time the other teams do which acts as damage limitation.

Usually the track owner/organisers spot your onto a strategy and give you a random black flag just to f**k you up. And they definietly target you if you use your own gear/helmets etc. Better to be incognito and use the loaned clothing/helmets, so you blend in with the crowd


You may have guessed I've done this a few times now Got quite a collection of cheap and nasty plastic gold medals

Paulo P

iTrader: (42)

forgot to mention that, never ever turn up using your own gear because not only do the organisers know you're a karter but the other drivers try and take you out too, turn up act dumb wear **** overalls and whoop their ***** instead

Gambit

iTrader: (6)

I remember competing in a multi company endurance racing league in the isle of man years ago and at first race about halfway through somebody commented about one driver flying round just using 1 hand to steer, we where all calling him the cocky smug pro ******* of the day.

After the changeover we noticed he actually one had one able arm the other was prosthetic!!!

20min stint on a kart one handed soon turned into mucho respect for him l

GH80

Was on a stag do last year and we did this. I am no Schumacher but I had the top 10 fastest laps by the end, over 1/2 second faster than the next fastest lap and managed to qualify us on pole. I stayed out for about 2/3 to 3/4 of the race as my team mate didn't like karting much and we still finished 4th as a team. Endurance is in most cases lost by drivers spinning out, if you have a noobie with you the only thing they can do is to drive within their limits and try not to crash.

stilover

I've done a few Iron man races. 20min Qualifying, then a 40 min race.

My plan is always the same. Qualify in the top 5. Go all out in the first few laps and get in front. Get in the Zone and force my way past slower drivers I'm lapping.

Stay in front and win.

Plan seems to work fine.

kingofturds

iTrader: (1)

Weight can make a lot of difference to the speed of the karts. If you want to win drop the salad dodgers.

CrisPDuk

Not necessarily, I'm a big lad (120kg), but normally finish on the podium, especially in mixed ability stag do type events

Lighter drivers may accelerate better, but they don't stick as well in the corners

Especially if you manage to give them a sneaky tap on their way in

CrisPDuk

Massive respect to that guy

I've never finished an event without feeling that I've been endurance arm wrestling with a Klitchko

LukeyB

iTrader: (1)

Yeah I'm inclined to agree, one of my buddies isn't quite as good a driver as me but we had a good battle for about 6 laps before I pulled to far away from him. I'm 6'5 95kg and hes about 5'8 70kg. I'd smoke him in the hairpins but he'd close the gap every time on the straight.

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

'tis true. On a few open practice sessions, the track owner noticed we were doing some good laps and decided to join in.

He's a podgy lad and that's putting it nicely. He whooped my ****.

At least we had some extra laps for free

corradoboy

Monitor peoples lap times and pull them in when they start to drop off. We tried minimising stops but quickly realised that after about 30 mins of intense racing, tiredness knocks 1-2s off a lap, meaning a 10s pitstop for a fresh driver quickly becomes sensible. Also, consider stops when your driver catches up another similarly paced kart as overtaking can be difficult, but after the stop the new driver might have clear air in front and can maximise instead of wasting time waiting for a chance, or worse, getting tangled whilst trying to pass. Also worth putting your worst driver out when the other teams have their best on track, as your guy will spoil their laps

LukeyB

iTrader: (1)

That would work for a good team but my team was useless haha. I was running 22 second laps all night, the next fastest in the team was the woman with 25 (she was the only one who actually listened to my advice on line choice and once she got it down she was passing the guys in the other teams) then one of the guys in the teams best was a 26, the other one only managed a 27 but on average was about 30 seconds.