We have already talked about the digital stand in an article, but today we will talk a little more about this accessory. Fuel management brings a plus to the race and it is undeniably a very good accessory.
I quickly ran into problems.
I arrived very quickly in the pits, and I couldn’t stop on the pit rail. So, I set off again for a lap. In order to overcome this problem, I increased the length of the pits by adding a straight line before the refueling rail. This gave me a little space to slow down. My goal was always to stop well on the area delimited by the four corners of a rectangle.
We all leave with full tanks and we all need to refuel at the same time. And even with two cars, it’s a traffic jam. It’s impossible to all stop at a refueling zone. So I thought about adding a second refueling zone.
To add this new zone I had two ideas in mind.
Put this second refueling zone in series
Put the two supply areas in parallel.
I haven’t tried these two assemblies because I only have one Pit stop accessory.
As I researched more about how the pit works, I realized that I wasn’t necessarily using the pits as I should have.
The first essential element is that it is not necessary to stop in the delimited refueling area. I thought it was mandatory. Well no. Passing it over the refueling zone cell activates the possibility of refueling for this vehicle. This status remains active as long as you don’t drive too fast. Indeed, if you go too fast, you lose the possibility of refueling.
Apparently, if you pass over the pit cell with a speed lower than 50% of the handle, the possibility of refueling is activated, you can then stop anywhere on the track. You press the button on the controller and the fuel level increases. Just know that if you pass the starting line (or a check lane), the possibility of refueling disappears. The management base does not know where your car is, it is only if you pass a check lane or a starting line that the CU becomes aware that you have left the pits.
Driving too fast when arriving in the pits instantly deactivates the possibility of refueling.
So you pass the refueling zone, you drive slowly and you stop where you can to refuel.
So concerning my problem of stand length my idea of extending the stand length is good but it is preferable to add the rail after the refueling zone. Thus it is possible to activate the refueling possibility upon arrival and then to stop before the end of the pits.
Second positive point, when arriving in the pits, we activate the possibility of refueling and we can stop a little further, so if another car arrives it can activate and stop to refuel too. Having several refueling rails in series is totally useless.
Note: when the possibility of refueling is active, even if you remove the car from the track, you can press the button on the controller to refuel.
So this scheme is a bad one, apart from the decoration on the rail, it is not a good solution.
Regarding the second scenario with 2 parallel stands, it is widely used by slotters. We see a lot of them on the internet.
This makes traffic in the pits easier because 2 vehicles can refuel at the same time. Because in the one-track version, you have to wait if the vehicle in front is dragging!
The disadvantage is that the pit lane is longer to accommodate the 2 switches and this increases the budget a little.