I ran 2 endurance races this year, one as a ironman and another with 2 other drivers. Some solid advice in this thread. Good luck and have fun.
2 Likes
Pay attention to the time it takes to get to the start finish timing line from the pits. For example, if it takes 45 seconds and you have a 4 minute mandatory pit stop window, the next driver can leave at 3:17.00. At least that’s how it works at the OKC endurance races we run, crossing as close to the 4 minute mark as possible. Check the rules to be sure ….these races can come down to the wire believe it or not and giving up unnecessary time in the pits adds up over the course of the race. We use Cardo talk packs and can tell the teammate on track to back off as they’re approaching the timing beacon if they’re right up against the minimum pit time. If it’s a hard hold for the 4 minutes in the actual pit, forget what I said. But, it’s usually a time you track yourself after crossing the pit line….the race director doesn’t time every kart individually. Too many to keep track of so we self police our pit times and we’ve never had a time penalty infraction using our method.
Entering and exiting track: this counts for time. Be as quick about it as possible but without risking penalty. No toodling.
Thanks for all the tips! Well it was an eventful first attempt at this for our team! We learned a lot. Had a really good mindset of how and when to save time! We had a great fast start leading 239 laps covering the first 3.5 hours. Then we went down hill with a blown tire, seized up clutch(we started push starting it instead of replacing it) and a loose seat! After all of that we still took 4th and had the most fun I’ve had a kart in a while!
Thanks again for the tips!
5 Likes
Awesome, glad you had a fun and successful race.
1 Like
Was this your first enduro? Whatcha think compared to sprint days?
It was my first! And I loved it. IMSA and WEC are my favorite disciplines of racing. It was really fun working with my race buddies instead of racing against them. Strategy was fun too–don’t pit in with another car, if stuck in traffic come in early. Simple things to think about saving time. We had a big team with 6 drivers–that was 1 too many pit stops but it didn’t matter at that point anyways once the issues started. But driving for 1:15 straight was something else too. My hands and wrists were burnt after my stint–my wrists are still a little sore. And then Sunday we had a normal TAG Masters race. I felt great when I woke up, but after the final I was burnt out again. Yesterday I dragged ass all day–It really surprised me how tired my body was. But got back in the gym this morning without issue and feel great again!
I would rather run 6 of those events a year than my 10 sprint races. That was some of the most fun I’ve had an event. Even with the issues!
2 Likes
What’s nice, to me, is that it’s a bit more social (although tenting with a team is social also). I also like how we get a lot of driving in. It’s chill but not. All the enduros I’ve been in have been well attended, too. It’s a lot of fun racing against a bunch of other karts.
In an ideal world, one big enduro monthly, sprint races the other 3 weekends.
Glad you had a good time!
