Formula Drift released quite a few notes about changes to the rulebook during the 2013 season. One of them is the rebranding of the 5 minute rule to a “Competition TimeOut.” The good news for fans is that teams are no longer allowed to leave the hot pit (area where cars are on grid for competition) for the competition timeout. This means no team can spend 20 minutes getting a tow back to the rig, work on the car while it unloads, and then spend 5 minutes fixing it while most of the fans pick their nose! Here is the official rule release below from Formula Drift.
5-minute rule renamed and adjusted.
The “5-minute rule will has been changed to a new term, “Competition Timeout.” The time frame will remain at five (5) minutes for the competitor to use, however the competitors vehicle may no longer leave the hot area of competiton to go back to the paddock. All changes done to the vehicle must be done on grid unless otherwise specified.
I feel like this will only disadvantage lower budget teams. Big budget teams would essentially have another support rig trackside to handle whatever problems they may encounter. Smaller teams may not have that budget or luxury to have another support vehicle to respond in the fashion a larger team may be able to. Poor rule change IMO.
The hot pits are already a disaster AND unsafe. Its one thing to change tires on a bank or over crowded area with bone heads doing burnouts and doughnuts (in the hot pits) 15 minutes before they make a pass. Now FD expects these guys to “safely” jack up the vehicle and support it in that madness? I think the extra “10 minutes” to safely work on the vehicle in the pits is not asking much. If your worried about the crowd. Then show some commercials or give out some free shirts to the crowd. At the end of the day all it takes is one car to “fall of the jack or jackstand” and fuck it all up. *end rant*
‘I ain’t got time to bleed’ – Jesse Ventura
So basically they expect you to have any spare part that may fail or get damaged in a collision, such as every individual suspension arm, with you in the hot pits? They should plan on making the hot pits a huge are so everyone can just pull their haulers in there.
This is going to make Wall very interesting…
mechanical failure is one thing, but I wonder if this is an attempt to get drivers to reduce the risk of collision with the new change in the passing rule.
i think they need to now have a hot pits area separate from the grid area.. teams are going to carry full out corners already assembled now.. just pull everything attached and replace as a unit.
you have to start thinking about each track individually.
most of them have practically ZERO access to pits when the track is hot.
LBC – yeah right. you can’t even get into the privateer side once the track is hot. the other side is just as big of a mess. as long as they are OK with cars being fixed at the ALMS hot pits then I see no issues from this rule at LBC.
ATL – same thing. there is no easy way from grid to pits. you either cross the track or go on some backwoods expedition to get back to your pits.
etc.
I think if the track allow easy access to pits they should let people go back. This rule is tougher when you have a place like Irwindale which has a tiny, unsafe, and busy grid. Not to mention working on a car on a bank is pretty stupid and dangerous.
The current format works pretty well if a car needs 5 mins to get fixed. send the next pair out. or send a drift car with a stripper pole to entertain the crowd…
pps. if you’re in a pro series. you should have enough spares to MINIMALLY rebuild the suspension. no privateer level dudes are expected to have spare motors but they can easily carry some spare control arms, knuckles, etc. it’s a TINY investment compared to what is spent just getting to an event. and to ruin your weekend over a $50 part is pretty much the dumbest thing you can do. and i’m betting everyone has done it! hahaha
Forsberg’s team had a replacement for every suspension arm already in the hot pits, so did Gardella. Each was on a board with zipties, labled LF LR RF RR. Takes up almost no space.
I think the point is that if it’s anything more than a suspension arm or replacing a wheel and tire, you should be forced to retire. Plus it will eliminate the long downtime of dropping the car off at the pits. Tow truck just grabs the car and drops it 100 ft past the start line and says ‘good luck’.
That last post by George was one of the best pieces of wisdom that any newcomer should read and follow.
You’re going to spend $20k trying to go drifting, if you can’t keep $500 worth of spare parts on hand, don’t waste your time.