March 2010 April 2010 May 2010 June 2010 July 2010
August 2010
September 2010 October 2010
November 2010
December 2010
January 2011
February 2011 March 2011 April 2011 May 2011 June 2011 July 2011 August 2011 September 2011 October 2011 November 2011 December 2011 January 2012 February 2012 March 2012 April 2012 May 2012 June 2012 July 2012 August 2012 September 2012 October 2012 November 2012 December 2012 January 2013 February 2013 March 2013 April 2013 May 2013 June 2013 July 2013 August 2013 September 2013 October 2013 November 2013 December 2013 January 2014 February 2014 March 2014 April 2014 May 2014 June 2014 July 2014 August 2014 September 2014 October 2014 November 2014 December 2014 January 2015 February 2015 March 2015 April 2015 May 2015 June 2015 July 2015 August 2015 September 2015 October 2015 November 2015 December 2015 January 2016 February 2016 March 2016 April 2016 May 2016 June 2016 July 2016 August 2016 September 2016 October 2016 November 2016 December 2016 January 2017 February 2017 March 2017 April 2017 May 2017 June 2017 July 2017 August 2017 September 2017 October 2017 November 2017 December 2017 January 2018 February 2018 March 2018 April 2018 May 2018 June 2018 July 2018 August 2018 September 2018 October 2018 November 2018 December 2018 January 2019 February 2019 March 2019 April 2019 May 2019 June 2019 July 2019 August 2019 September 2019 October 2019 November 2019 December 2019 January 2020 February 2020 March 2020 April 2020 May 2020 June 2020 July 2020 August 2020 September 2020 October 2020 November 2020 December 2020 January 2021 February 2021 March 2021 April 2021 May 2021 June 2021 July 2021 August 2021 September 2021 October 2021 November 2021 December 2021 January 2022 February 2022 March 2022 April 2022 May 2022 June 2022 July 2022 August 2022 September 2022 October 2022 November 2022 December 2022 January 2023 February 2023 March 2023 April 2023 May 2023 June 2023 July 2023 August 2023 September 2023 October 2023 November 2023 December 2023 January 2024 February 2024 March 2024
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29
30
31
News Every Day |

Super GT Mandates Four-Tyre Pit Stops In GT300, The Reasons Why, & The Future Implications

There’s been a lot of discussion amongst Super GT fans since the series announced on Thursday that starting from the next round at Fuji Speedway on 9 August, all GT300 teams are required to change all four tyres during regular pit stops.

As a result, it is no longer possible for GT300 teams to do fuel-only and two-tyre pit stops when exchanging drivers, just as Saitama Toyopet GreenBrave did when they won the season-opening race on 19 July, gaining valuable track position by not changing tyres on their pit stop. The only exception is during wet-weather races.

The strategy had been viable for the JAF-GT300 and Mother Chassis vehicles for a number of years. They do not boast the high top speeds of the FIA GT3 cars, leaving them vulnerable to on-track overtaking. They also have much smaller fuel tanks and smaller fuel flow diameters on their rigs. So to compensate, JAF-GT300 and Mother Chassis runners have taken advantage of their comparatively lightweight vehicles and opted for alternate pit strategies – either changing just two tyres, or not changing tyres at all.

Tsuchiya Engineering used a no-tyre change stop to clinch the 2016 GT300 Championship at Twin Ring Motegi with their previous Toyota MC86, holding on to a championship-deciding victory with the time and track position they’d gained in the pits.

Other teams have attempted such strategies with their FIA GT3 cars. K2 R&D LEON Racing, for instance, elected to change left-side tyres only during the first race of the 2020 season and may have won if not for an issue getting the left-rear tyre on, and Goodsmile Racing & Team UKYO have also experimented with two-tyre and no-tyre stops many times in recent years.

Such a strategy requires a durable race tyre, and requires skilled drivers that can run competitive laps on a set of tyres that have already had several kilometres’ worth of wear. One other key component required, however, is that the tyre pressures must be set quite low for the race.

So when both Team JLOC Lamborghini Huracáns, the new Porsche 911 GT3-R of Hoppy Team Tsuchiya, and Team Mugen’s GT500 class Honda NSX-GT all suffered punctures during the race, it obviously caught the attention of the GT Association as a potential safety risk. It seemed at the time to be an issue with their tyre manufacturer as they were all supplied by Yokohama – but looking back, these teams may very well have been attempting to go the whole race on one set of tyres, running dangerously low tyre pressures that put them at risk of a puncture.

And a tyre failure always causes a risk of a serious accident depending on where the failure happens.
So after gaining the approval of the teams and tyre manufacturers, the decision was made to make four-tyre stops mandatory for the foreseeable future on the grounds of safety.

Of course, the decision wasn’t popular amongst every team in the paddock either. Perhaps the strongest voice of frustration so far has been from former driver Tetsuji Tamanaka, the team director and chief engineer for Team Mach – whose Toyota MC86 also elected to not change tyres on their pit stop, and drove on to a third-place finish for their second podium finish in two seasons.

Voicing his views on social media, Tamanaka said, “I’m surprised at this regulation change a week before the race. I’ve never heard of a last-minute change like this in any race in the world.”

Tamanaka-san also shed some light on another major change that was made during the massively altered 2020 season. “We had to decide a month in advance which tyres we would use for this race because of the tyre manufacturer’s manufacturing commitments, and that’s a big problem for the teams who have chosen to use hard tyres because they’d committed to a no-tyre exchange strategy.”

“If it had been decided before the season started it would have been fine, but this last-minute change takes away the strategy for the teams and it also takes away the fun and excitement for the spectators. What race fans want is unpredictability, the bigger the battles, the more interesting the race. Is it fun to watch a fast car just run the top of the pack, change all the tires, get back on the track at the top and finish at the top? It’s a race for the fans – and I’m a fan of racing too, but it’s not fun at all to be able to predict which car will win before the race has even started.”

To offset the time loss from having to take four tyres to comply with the regulations, JAF-GT300 cars like the Subaru BRZ, Toyota Prius, and Toyota GR Supra are now exempt from requiring the 27.5mm fuel flow restrictor on their refuelling rigs. And the Mother Chassis cars now have a larger fuel flow restrictor for themselves – up from the previous 27.5mm to a 31.2mm diameter that’s comparable with a GT3 car like the Audi R8, Lamborghini Huracán, and Porsche 911 GT3-R.

The new pit work rules could have the biggest impact on our newest race winners at Saitama Toyopet GreenBrave, who now have realistic ambitions of competing for the championship in 2020. Their team is staffed by a crew of mechanics who work full-time as shop mechanics in Toyopet dealerships, not by mechanics with full-time racing backgrounds. GreenBrave spent all of pre-season testing, before and after the extended COVID-19 hiatus, focusing on long-run race simulations with the goal of being able to run as many races as they could on just one set of harder-compound Bridgestone Potenza tyres, and as Tamanaka-san explained, those tyre compounds would have been selected one month in advance.

The concern going forward may be less about how the GreenBrave GR Supra can perform next weekend with a 60 kilogramme Success Ballast handicap, but rather, if their crew of humble shop mechanics have gotten enough practice changing tyres in race conditions after going into the season preparing not to do so on a regular basis.

Then again, Saitama Toyopet GreenBrave have built a team that seems as if it is strong and resourceful enough to adapt to the challenge – just as they did when they asked fellow JAF-GT300 entrants apr Racing to aid them in the design and construction of their all-new V8-powered GT300 Supra this offseason.

This wouldn’t be the first controversial new rule from the GTA in recent years. The closed pit lane rule during Safety Car interventions has been a hot button topic since it was put into place following 2015’s infamous pit lane traffic jam at Sugo. It’s especially discussed after a race where the results have swung wildly based on a Safety Car coming out during a pit window, as it did last September in Autopolis, and as it did last August during the Fuji 500 Miles. Only in 2020 were the regulations relaxed somewhat to allow for the race director to open the pit lane under a safety car for emergency service.

One thing we won’t know yet is if this rule change will still be in effect by the next time an endurance race like the Fuji 500 Miles returns to the Super GT calendar, be it in 2021 or 2022.

The 2019 Fuji 500 Miles had a mandatory four pit stops with driver changes, and we saw last year Team JLOC’s race-winning #87 car seize the GT300 class victory with a bold strategy that saw them take their first and second stops in back-to-back laps to turn it into an effective three-stop race. That same race, the aforementioned Saitama Toyopet GreenBrave, then competing with their Toyota Mark X MC, double-stinted their first set of tyres and triple-stinted their second set to minimize time in the pits and take a then-best second-place finish. Now such a strategy would be outside the regulations as it stands.

From the fan’s perspective, making this change to the pitwork rules is wholly understandable on safety grounds. But losing this element of strategic variance and “risk versus reward” is still lamentable from an entertainment perspective. And I’d imagine there will be a lot of fans eager to hear from GTA Chairman Masaaki Bandoh when he addresses the media at his pre-race press conference on Sunday.

Images courtesy of the GT Association (GTA)

Top 10 Love Affair Movies of the 2000s and 2010s

Top 10 Emmanuelle Seigner Movies

I was diagnosed with cancer aged 39… you are never too rich, too famous or too young, says Dr Philippa Kaye

The 10 Intense New Action Movies on Netflix That Left Me on the Edge of My Seat!

Ria.city






Read also

Man Utd want to agree surprise deal for 13-goal star playing for Real Madrid - report

Police foil gunmen attack on Anambra station

'Stirring an empty pot': Newt Gingrich hit for attacking Biden’s bridge rebuild promise

News, articles, comments, with a minute-by-minute update, now on Today24.pro

News Every Day

Top 10 Emmanuelle Seigner Movies

Today24.pro — latest news 24/7. You can add your news instantly now — here


News Every Day

The 10 Intense New Action Movies on Netflix That Left Me on the Edge of My Seat!



Sports today


Новости тенниса
ATP

Хачанов: хочу вернуться в топ-10 ATP



Спорт в России и мире
Москва

Победителями Всероссийской олимпиады по физике стали школьники Московского региона



All sports news today





Sports in Russia today

Москва

GeekVape в сотрудничестве с Absolute Racing выиграла чемпионат в категории GT3


Новости России

Game News

Teeny Tiny Trains — новая мобильная игра по типу Railbound


Russian.city


Москва

Архитектурные доминанты округов Москвы


Губернаторы России
Россия

Всем по местам: в России назвали топ благополучных регионов


Шапки женские вязаные на Wildberries, 2024 — новый цвет от 392 руб. (модель 466)

Чем опасны чесночная настойка и другие народные средства для защиты собаки от клещей, объяснил кинолог

Metaratings: "Спартак" может уволить Абаскаля по ходу сезона, клуб ищет тренера

Нелли Закирова, вдова музыканта Георгия Гараняна: «Он разок-другой дунул в саксофон и моментально понял, что это — его инструмент»


Певица Диана Арбенина опубликовала редкое фото матери

Новая программа пианиста Сергея Арцибашева: Бах, Моцарт, Шуберт

Певица Ирина Понаровская перенесла концерт в Москве

Провести свой Большой Концерт. Тариф Большой Концерт.


Битые корты: Медведев и Александрова вышли в четвертьфинал Miami Open

Теннисистка Касаткина отреагировала на высказывания Винер о россиянах

Хачанов победил Черундоло и пробился в 1/8 финала турнира ATP в Майами

Рыбакина, наряду со Свёнтек, имеет 70% побед на WTA-1000 против соперниц из топ-10



Перенос дат II этапа культурного проекта «Классика: история и современность» в Дмитрове

Пассажир рейса Москва — Пермь попал в реанимацию

Шапки женские вязаные на Wildberries, 2024 — новый цвет от 392 руб. (модель 466)

«Радио Зенит» – информационный партнер форума «Мы вместе. Спорт»


Топливному компромиссу между Украиной и Азербайджаном пришел конец?

Актриса Яна Поплавская станет одним из почетных гостей Национальной премии «СВОИМ» в Нижнем Новгороде

«Радио Зенит» – информационный партнер форума «Мы вместе. Спорт»

На Алтае подвели итоги работы центра одаренных детей за 2023 год


Эксперт Президентской академии в Санкт-Петербурге: «Государство - драйвер роста капиталовложений в субъекты РФ»

БАМ подорожал на триллион: Москва услышала Кожемяко

Websoft объявила «Партнеров года» на конференции Websoft.Практика 2024

Москва назвала проблемы развития сельхозотрасли ДФО 



Путин в России и мире






Персональные новости Russian.city
Диана Арбенина

Певица Диана Арбенина опубликовала редкое фото матери



News Every Day

Top 10 Love Affair Movies of the 2000s and 2010s




Friends of Today24

Музыкальные новости

Персональные новости