I recently signed up with a friends race team to pit crew for them for the NASA enduro race series. We just had our first race yesterday and things went mostly well. We had finished second in our class but due to a transponder error we weren't credited for our laps after lap 53 (by our count we did 75) resulting in an official last place .

Any how, we are looking to improve our pit stops and I was wondering if any of you have advice on equipment to make the pit stop go smoothly. There are 2 parts that I'm currently looking into making/improving.

1. Pit lane sign. The next race will be at night so I was thinking of making a pole with our car number on the end using some reflective material. I'm not too fond of standing in the pit lane to wave the car in when it's dark.

2. Fuel jug. The rules restrict us to using simple 5 gallon jugs with hose fittings (no dry brake equipment). The setup we use now flows adequately but could be better but judging when the tank is full is only known when I can see the fuel backing up.

Any advice/recommendations on the equipment above or other things would be helpful.

 

1. Forget the sign. Buy a pit to car radio. If the funds aren't available and safety is an issue, buy the sign but display it in another area besides the pit lane.

2. Practice. Practice. Practice. You're going to have to determine how many gallons will make the car full at a certain point on the gauge and then put in a preset amount in the car. For example, see how much fuel will make the car full when the car is at 1/4 tank. Now put in the preset amount during the race.

Good luck!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Ponyboy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">1. Forget the sign. Buy a pit to car radio. If the funds aren't available and safety is an issue, buy the sign but display it in another area besides the pit lane.

Good luck!</TD></TR></TABLE>

We have a radio for driver-pit communication but I was thinking of having a sign so that when the driver is coming down the pit lane at night it would be easier to see our pit area, especially if the pit is full of other cars pitting at the same time. Just a thought.