R3E Pit Stop Guide

This is an update of the old pit stop tutorial as a couple of things have changed since it was written. We've had a number of questions about how pit stops work in the club recently so hopefully this will clear things up.

During our club races there will sometimes be a mandatory pit stop. What this means is that you must make at least one pit stop during the race, though you can make more than one if you wish. The race will have a pit stop window, which is a period during which your mandatory stop can be made. This period begins ten (10) minutes after the race starts, and ends ten (10) minutes before the race finishes. In order for your pit stop to be valid you must take at least two tyres, either the fronts, the rears, or both. Whether or not you take fuel is your choice.

Before the race starts, make sure that you have assigned buttons/keys to the pit stop controls. The most important controls are highlighted below in red. You must use your pit speed limiter or you risk a drive-through penalty for breaking the pit speed limit. Pit Request Toggle activates your pit request, and Pit Menu Toggle opens and closes the pit menu while driving.

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The controls highlighted in orange are optional. They are only needed if you want to be able to make changes to what happens during your pit stop on the fly, instead of using the preset menu.

After you have joined an event, you will see a button called Pit Stop Presets on the menu. Click that to set up the work you want to have done when you make your pit stop.

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Create a new preset, give it a name, and then use the options on the right-hand side to decide what happens when you make your stop. Make sure that the changes you want to happen are highlighted in green by clicking on them, meaning they are activated. Anything left white will not be done.

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During the race when you want to make your pit stop, press they button/key you assigned to Pit Request Toggle. This will request a pit stop and bring up the pit menu. You should do this some time before reaching the pit entry, or you will suffer a delay during your stop to simulate your crew not being ready for your arrival.

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Notice that the things you activated in your pit preset are again highlighted in green. Also note that your stop is automatically confirmed... there is no need to scroll down the menu and confirm it manually! If you find the menu distracting while trying to race, simply press the button/key assigned to Pit Menu Toggle to make it disappear.

When entering the pits, keep a close eye on where the pit speed limit comes into force. This is often denoted by a white line across the pit lane with orange cones on either side, but can also be denoted by a sign post, lights, or other methods. Check where this line is during practice before the race starts to avoid getting yourself a penalty. Slow down and enable your pit speed limiter before the line and you're good to go.

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Now just pull up into your pit box as close to the STOP sign as possible, wait for your crew to do the business, and off you go! Make sure to keep your limiter enabled until you cross a marker similar to the one on pit entry denoting the end of the pit lane speed limit.

Hints and Tips
  • Taking fuel is often a separate process from changing tyres, meaning it adds time to your pit stop. It is usually much faster to take enough fuel to complete the race from the start, as the time lost due to the extra weight is generally less than taking on more fuel.
  • Many classes change the front and rear tyres separately, so if you can safely get away with changing two tyres rather than all four, you can potentially shave seconds off of your stop time.
  • Practice your pit stops during the practice or warm-up session! This will allow you to spot the pit speed limit entry/exit lines and gives you an idea of how long your stop is likely to take.
  • Always use your pit speed limiter. It is possible to keep to the limit manually, but exceeding it by even 1mph will result in a costly drive-through penalty.
  • If you have keys/buttons assigned to the ignition/starter you will need to stop your engine manually before taking fuel during your pit stop, and start it manually afterwards. If you leave these functions unassigned, this process will happen automatically.
As always, if you have any questions post them here and we'll get them answered for you. See you on track! :cool:
 
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Very good info! Thank you for this. Please, lets to describe setup options :D Yes, there is way to try and improve step by step in practice, but I think its stil missing special setup guide only for Raceroom and its simulation mechanics.
 
I've added a new tip to the end of the guide:
  • If you have keys/buttons assigned to the ignition/starter you will need to stop your engine manually before taking fuel during your pit stop, and start it manually afterwards. If you leave these functions unassigned, this process will happen automatically.
Glad the guide is proving useful to people. :)
 
So I had a pitstop earlier, pulled in, and the timer began, with it saying waiting I believe, it was in VR so it was not the easiest to read, eventually I just got bored and left the pits and nothing seemed to be happening, nothing turned green, or red whilst I waited. I was not even sure if any work had been carried out. I just left after 50 seconds or so. Is therea crew message or audio message to say it's complete? I followed the rest of your guide, thank you for that.
 
I just got bored and left the pits and nothing seemed to be happening, nothing turned green, or red whilst I waited.
Nothing will "turn" green... it needs to be green already. :) In the pit preset menu you use the arrows to decide how much fuel and what tyres you want (if applicable), and then click on the options on the right to toggle them green or white. Green items will get done during your stop, white items won't.

This also applies to the in-car pit menu, assuming you assigned keys to the controls. Use the up/down keys to navigate, the increase/decrease keys change the values, and the select key to toggle between green/white.

There are indeed on-screen messages during your stop. Initially it will show you the distance to your box as you drive down the pit lane, then it will display the current time in seconds while work is carried out, and then it will show a completion message when finished. Also, if you use Crew Chief you will get audio cues too.
 
Hi, I’m late to the party with questions regarding pit rules for club racing online:

If I push my assigned pit speed limiter key at the “correct” time, does AI take over and drive to my pit for me or does the limit simply appear for me on screen? I didn’t tick the AI control box but trying to figure out the extent to which limiter helps driver.
So far I’ve only seen limit (80?) on screen and tried to stay under.
Perhaps I need to learn to recognize when to push limiter key.
Been focusing so much on driving a decent line and not wiping out every other corner that this pit stop business is overloading the few brain cells I didn’t burn up in my youth...

Hopefully someday I’ll see this post of mine (from the podium) and laugh :D
 
Hi, I’m late to the party with questions regarding pit rules for club racing online:

If I push my assigned pit speed limiter key at the “correct” time, does AI take over and drive to my pit for me or does the limit simply appear for me on screen? I didn’t tick the AI control box but trying to figure out the extent to which limiter helps driver.
So far I’ve only seen limit (80?) on screen and tried to stay under.
Perhaps I need to learn to recognize when to push limiter key.
Been focusing so much on driving a decent line and not wiping out every other corner that this pit stop business is overloading the few brain cells I didn’t burn up in my youth...

Hopefully someday I’ll see this post of mine (from the podium) and laugh :D
You need to brake and activate the pit limiter either way. When AI control in the pit lane is activated, the AI takes over as soon as you cross the pit entry line.
 
I didn’t tick the AI control box but trying to figure out the extent to which limiter helps driver.
The limiter is just a speed limiter to help you keep to the pit lane speed limit. As Majuh said, you still need to brake yourself in order to get your speed down, but after that the limiter will physically prevent you from exceeding the pit lane speed limit. You can push the pedal to the metal if you like, but you won't go any faster.

So yeah, the limiter does nothing to help you manoeuvre in the pit lane or stop you in your pit box. It just helps to control your speed, nothing more.
 
Thanks for the tips, made trial and error go quicker for sure. I also discovered what happens when you forget to turn it off coming out of pits - I thought my crew had forgotten to put the rear tires on LMAO

I am officially the slowest guy coming out of the pits, no matter if I have a lead or not, I’m last one out... just more practice needed?
 
I am officially the slowest guy coming out of the pits, no matter if I have a lead or not, I’m last one out... just more practice needed?
If you mean literally just leaving the pits after your pit stop has been completed, then two things might help.

When you're in the last second or two of your stop, make sure you're in 1st gear and hold the throttle down. Don't worry, you won't go anywhere. Doing this means the moment your pit stop is finished you will begin moving, and giving it max throttle means you'll be up to the pit lane speed limit as quickly as possible. (Maybe use 75% throttle initially if it's a high-power car to prevent spinning.)

Then, make sure you get your limiter deactivated as soon as possible. There are markers near the end of the pit lane to show where the speed limit ends, but you can also go by the HUD. As soon as the warning message about pit lane speed disappears, you're out of the limit zone and can deactivate your limiter.

One more thing, if it's your actual pit stop which is taking longer than everyone else. In most classes it is quicker to take enough fuel to finish the race, rather than refuel at your pit stop. This is because the time lost refuelling is often far more than time lost because of the extra fuel weight at the start of the race.
 

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