Rules? Which Rules?

One of the major tasks facing the  ALMS and Grand-Am officials over the next year will be to come up with a set of rules and regulations that will allow teams from both series to compete. I am thankful it is not my task to do so. Let's just look at one fundamental piece of this rule-making task: pit stops.

Under Grand-Am rules, the pit stops are pretty simple and straight-forward. First let's look at the allowed pit personnel:

Other than drivers and "industry representatives", only 6 people are allowed in the pits during a stop. In a full-service stop (includes tire change), the car comes into the pits, goes up on jacks, fuel goes in, the tires are changed while fueling, the jacks come down and the car merges back onto the pit lane. Done. The engine may remain running and the mechanics can push (or push-start) the car.

Now lets look at the ALMS pit-stop. The ALMS follows the ACO rules for pit stops. As before let's see who is allowed in the pits during a full-service stop:

This pit stop is not simple. There are three phases to each full-service pit stop: Refueling, wheel changing, and repair. There are strict rules governing the personnel in each phase and what they can and cannot do. So, the car comes into the pit, the engine is shut off, refueling begins and other than changing memory cards, cleaning windshields, changing water bottles and drivers, no other work can go on and the car must remain on the ground. Tire and brake technicians may inspect those parts, but not work on them. Once the refueling has been completed, then the car can go up on jacks, the wheels may be changed and repairs can be made. Once the work is completed, the car comes off the jacks and must re-start under it's own power. The car may not be pushed or push-started in the pits. BTW, the pit crew is allowed 2 wheel guns, but only one may be used at a time.

Imagine a race where one class uses the Grand-Am pit rules and another uses the ACO rules. There would be a huge advantage to the class using the Grand-Am rules. So what will the new unified series do about pit stops in 2014?

Currently the ALMS gets a number of "automatic" invitations to compete in the Le Mans 24, including: LMP1 class champion, LMP2 class champion, GTE (Pro and Am) class champions, Michelin Green-X Challenge champions in prototypes and GTE. In order to keep this relationship with the ACO, what will be required? What if keeping ACO pit regulations were part of those requirements?

Most of the justification for the elaborate pit-stops under ACO rules have to do with safety. Specifically the avoidance of fire in the pits. The engine is shut off to lessen possible ignition sources. The car remains on the ground so it can be moved in the event of a fire. Then there are rules that are related to the endurance of the car: the car must start under it's own power. Finally, the restriction of using only one air gun at a time was a recent addition to the rules, and was done to discourage frequent tire changes by requiring more time for each such change, for both economic reasons and to add another factor to team strategy.

In Grand-Am, they use spec tires and are limited in how many they may use at any event; this is how they control tire expense. After watching archived videos of this year's Rolex races, I get the distinct impression that ALMS prototypes get much better tire mileage than the Daytona prototypes. At Le Mans, Audi was able to quintuple-stint their Michelin tires. The difference is likely to be in the tire development by the tire manufacturers fostered by the open tire formula used in the ALMS. Technicians from Michelin, Dunlop, Falken, Pirelli and Yokohama work with the teams to provide better tires for nearly every race. So a simple rule change can have a large impact on am important aspect of endurance.

I don't envy the technical teams that have been charged with unifying the rules of ALMS and Grand-Am (they still need a name for this beast). Simpler may be less expensive (fewer personnel) and easier to police; simpler pit-stops are easier to follow and faster, but are they as safe? What is the relationship of the LMP and GTE classes to the ACO with regard to pit stop rules? I will have to wait for the answers like everyone else.