Rolex 24-Stint Length?

Can anybody tell me about how long a stint drivers do in the Rolex 24?

In real life?

I think it depends on the driver/team, they usually only change drivers
on a fuel/tire stop and usually then only every 2nd or 3rd stop. 2ish
hours? Most series have a miniumum time that a driver must run in
order to qualify for points, something like 45 minutes over the 24
hours.

Of course this doesn't count the teams where the team owner gets a
token 15 minute stint

Thanks, a couple of us are going to do a 4-6 hour race in SCC
(closest/best I have with a copy of the track) and were wondering how
often to change. Since SCC has fuel usage problems (to be fixed in the
patch) on longer races we turned off fuel usage and can't use that.

"tlgtr" > wrote in news:1107299657.910060.105000
@l41g2000cwc.googlegroups.com:

> Thanks, a couple of us are going to do a 4-6 hour race in SCC
> (closest/best I have with a copy of the track) and were wondering how
> often to change. Since SCC has fuel usage problems (to be fixed in the
> patch) on longer races we turned off fuel usage and can't use that.
>

What cars are going to use? It's not too hard to 'adjust' the track
files or the engine files to hit the marks. You will have to simulate
sitting still for approximentally a minute and the AI certainly won't do
that, but I can probably suggest some settings that should get you close.
Pitstops for fuel should occur in just under an hour for the lmp1 and lmp2
class. New rules this year have limited the Porche GT3 cup cars to smaller
fuel tanks so they too can only run approximentally an hour between stops.
Let me know which car(s) you are using and I'll see if I can suggest a
simple fix.
dh

Using an ALMS field. 6 LMP1, 4 LMP2, 5 GTS, and 15 GT. We are doing
the race just to get the 'feel' as we watch. So getting it exact isn't
a big deal for us. We just wanted to know how often to change
drivers...

However your kind offer is appreciated.

"tlgtr" > wrote in news:1107317247.277750.182180
@l41g2000cwc.googlegroups.com:

> Using an ALMS field. 6 LMP1, 4 LMP2, 5 GTS, and 15 GT. We are doing
> the race just to get the 'feel' as we watch. So getting it exact isn't
> a big deal for us. We just wanted to know how often to change
> drivers...
>
> However your kind offer is appreciated.
>
>

like you said, getting the cars to behave faithfully is
difficult...which car will you and your friends be drivng?
Are you planning on sharing one car or running a mix?

dh

We drive the Caddy LMP2...(the most beautiful car ever made)...and we
will be sharing the same car...it's just a fun way to share the
afternoon and watch the race with friends.

We have done as high as 9 hours of LeMans using the 4 SSM tracks...that
was work...

"tlgtr" > wrote in news:1107440876.404264.176620
@c13g2000cwb.googlegroups.com:

> We drive the Caddy LMP2...(the most beautiful car ever made)...and we
> will be sharing the same car...it's just a fun way to share the
> afternoon and watch the race with friends.
>
> We have done as high as 9 hours of LeMans using the 4 SSM tracks...that
> was work...
>


Well there are a few things to think about. Back when the Caddy's
ran, the cars usually did about an hour between fuel stops. Today, at Le
Mans and Daytona, the fuel window is more like 45 minutes.
Now don't confuse the fuel window with a driver change. Most teams
will run a driver through two complete fuel runs before swapping in a new
driver. And teams with really good tires(say Michelin) can often go that
same distance without changing tires. But SCC doesn't model that kind of
longevity...and the pitstops are all way too fast anyhow.
But I used Waldo's fuel use system from F1 Sim Links...a site EVERY
F1c modder MUST have bookmarked.
http://www.f1simlinks.net/index.htm

Using his pattern, I settled on multiplying the track length found in
the aiw file by 13. This gets the fuel use up to where the LMP cars can
go 33 to 37 laps before pitting and that should have most of the LMP1
cars in and out of the pits just before an hour goes by. LMP2 cars will
be nearly the same on track, but most likely will be a lap or two down so
they can extend their window some.

This means, though that the GT classes will probably be shortchanged.
They will probably be pitting too soon. F1c only calculates one class
when it estimates fuel so this is a long running problem You can be
ambitios and edit the eng.ini files and reduce the fuel consumption
variable so that the Porches and such run longer.

So here are the details.

Go to your Rolex24hr track folder and choose the aiw file that matches
the season you are running. There are at least 3 of them so either edit
all of them or pin-down the year you have chosen.
double clik on the aiw file and hopefully a text editor program will fire
up scroll down through all the pit settings until you see the following:


[Waypoint]
trackstate=467
times=(134.0721,130.3118)
number_waypoints=1458
lap_length=5794.075684 <<==look here!!
sector_1_length=2333.288330
sector_2_length=4290.769531
LeftHandedPits=1
FuelUse=75322 //106727.640625 (x13) <== look here!!
GrooveWidth=5.000000

notice I left the original fuel use number(106727.640625 ) behind the
// marks...this is a rem statement and means nothing behind that is read
by the program.
the (x13) was my note to myself what I changed. Multiply the the digits
to the left of the decimal point on the lap_length line by 13.
So 5794 x 13 = 75322

If you want to run MORE laps per tank, choose a number lower than 13
and calculate the new result, replacing the 75322. If you want to run
fewer laps between pitstops, then increase the 13 to a larger number and,
again, replace the 75322 with your new result.

I did a lot of work last year on the engine files to balance out the
fuel consumption, so I don't know how well your cars will ESTIMATE their
laps per tank. I suggest after changing these items, that you let the
ai run a race and monitor when they pit. They should be in fairly close
to what the headups up display reports when they start the race. If the
fuel estimates in the eng.ini files are off(like most of the default SCC
values are) the cars will often run out of gas ontrack. Run a quick
test, use ctrl t to accelerate the time and verify the cars can do close
to 35 laps per tank. If not gimmie another shout and I'll send you a
text file with my eng.ini changes.

dave henrie

I will play around with it this afternoon a bit-if I have time. I have
been hoping the "patch' would be out soon as it is supposed to fix
this. We were having a horrible time last year when we did our LeMans
with everybody running out of gas. So we just turned of the fuel
usage-while not a great solution it did let us do our long races.
Though we do usually pull into the pit for driver changes...

I saw Waldo's fix when it first came out, but never got around to
trying it and then got too lazy...

Thanks for the info.....

"tlgtr" > wrote in news:1107536448.684619.83170
@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com:

> I will play around with it this afternoon a bit-if I have time. I have
> been hoping the "patch' would be out soon as it is supposed to fix
> this. We were having a horrible time last year when we did our LeMans
> with everybody running out of gas. So we just turned of the fuel
> usage-while not a great solution it did let us do our long races.
> Though we do usually pull into the pit for driver changes...
>
> I saw Waldo's fix when it first came out, but never got around to
> trying it and then got too lazy...
>
> Thanks for the info.....
>
>

Well the fix for cars running out of fuel is in the engine files.
Basically
you have to move the fuel estimation number from about .5 to closer to 1.
Most cars start behaving around .800 or .850. Except the dang Judd V10.
That one always ran short...the ai would come in with 3 laps left and leave
with two laps of fuel..meaning one more stop..grrr I never did figure out
why.

dh
Here's the relevant line from the Audi engine file.

RPMTorque=(10500, -469.4, -469.4)
FuelConsumption=4.814e-005 // affected by throttle
position and engine speed
FuelEstimate=0.896 // fudge factor for
differences between vehicle types (used for lap estimates and AI pit
scheduling)
EngineInertia=0.360

see the FuelEstimate= is up near .9 You can also affect the cars
mileage by tweeking the FuelConsumption number. Going from 4.814e005 to
4.214e-005 will also increase your fuel mileage, meaning fewer stops.

But the the fuel estimate line is the one that will keep the ai on track.
You may also want to increase the strength of the rear wing, so they don't
get ripped off at the start. The turbo cars are really slow starters and
that often results in green flag mayhem.

The damage.ini file or the paticular carmake_damage.ini file has the
amount of force needed to detach the wings. Double or treble the number.

dh