Car Warmup in Paddock

[WhiteM3EMC]

Just a curiosity question to see what the general consensus is.

How are you track rats handling the car's warmup if its parked in the paddock the whole time? Do you just let it idle until the oil is warmed up and drive nice and easy on the out lap? Do you drive around the paddock?

Bonus question for you folks with the Oil Diverting Valve, how does this process look for you, given the longer warmup times?

For me, sometimes it works out where my sessions are closer to each other and therefore the car doesn't cool down too much. Other times, I have an hour or two between sessions and the car damn near cools all the way down.

I guess I'm just not crazy about the idea of letting the car idle to warm up 8x in a weekend, especially given that your trans and diff aren't warming up at all during that time.

[Estoril Blue]

Drive around the paddock (at paddock low speed) varying RPM and respecting the cold engine temperature RPM limit. When I'm close (temp) I'll just get in line and spend time getting the car set, helmet and gloves on, etc.

[Chris_PDX]

Process on my both my cars (E92 and E46) are the same. If it's been sitting for an hour+, start up and idle for a few minutes, then do some slow laps around paddock area if there is one, then get in line.

First lap out is the warm up, short shift and get the trans/diff/tires/oil up to temp, then #sendit.

If it's shorter duration, usually the oil is still plenty hot and by halfway around the outlap it's up to temp.

[WhiteM3EMC]

Originally Posted by Chris_PDX

Process on my both my cars (E92 and E46) are the same. If it's been sitting for an hour+, start up and idle for a few minutes, then do some slow laps around paddock area if there is one, then get in line.

First lap out is the warm up, short shift and get the trans/diff/tires/oil up to temp, then #sendit.

If it's shorter duration, usually the oil is still plenty hot and by halfway around the outlap it's up to temp.

For sure. Last time I was at Road Atlanta was like a nightmare schedule for car warmups. I had at least an hour and a half between each session on Saturday, and then the same timing for 3 of the sessions on Sunday.

[dogbone]

You’re overthinking it. Just go out and drive reasonable on lap 1. The car will be fine. I have an oil diverter. It requires no extra thought.

If you trailer a car, the brakes definitely need warm up during the first couple laps of the day. After the first session, even the brakes are fine after one warm up lap.

Regarding tires, it depends on what tires you run. Street tires need virtually no warm up. Hard compound slicks need lots of warm up.

[WhiteM3EMC]

Originally Posted by dogbone

You’re overthinking it. Just go out and drive reasonable on lap 1. The car will be fine. I have an oil diverter. It requires no extra thought.

If you trailer a car, the brakes definitely need warm up during the first couple laps of the day. After the first session, even the brakes are fine after one warm up lap.

Regarding tires, it depends on what tires you run. Street tires need virtually no warm up. Hard compound slicks need lots of warm up.

Good to know, was glad to see you weigh in! I wasn't so concerned with brakes or tires, I think it's fairly easy to tell when those are ready for punishment.

But yes, in regards to oil, I probably am overthinking it. Appreciate your thoughts!

[Richbot]

Out lap is for learning how to manage cold tires on an out lap

Going slow on an outlap is for people who want to get passed because they don't know how to drive on cold tires

[WhiteM3EMC]

Originally Posted by Richbot

Out lap is for learning how to manage cold tires on an out lap

Going slow on an outlap is for people who want to get passed because they don't know how to drive on cold tires

yeah, i always feel an overwhelming sense of urgency to not get passed on the out lap by cars that I know I'll just have to pass again in 2 laps.

For the record, brake and tire management are not my questions, I have no problems with those. I merely wanted to see what other track rats did with regards to getting their mechanicals warmed up in the paddock before beating on them.

[kyippee]

It's tricky. I can do similar things to get the engine warm, but tires cold is problematic. I tend to drive at 6/10ths on the outlap and try to send it 7-8/10ths 2nd lap, in the 3rd lap go crazy

When the engine oil is still cold, I try to shift up by 3.5-4.5k RPM but it's hard to be responsible...

[Richbot]

Originally Posted by WhiteM3EMC

yeah, i always feel an overwhelming sense of urgency to not get passed on the out lap by cars that I know I'll just have to pass again in 2 laps.

For the record, brake and tire management are not my questions, I have no problems with those. I merely wanted to see what other track rats did with regards to getting their mechanicals warmed up in the paddock before beating on them.

Obviously what most people do is idle the car for a bit to make sure it's not dead cold by the time you're called to grid, then once you're gridded, BOUNCE IT OFF THE TWO-STEP FOR 5 MINUTES STRAIGHT BRAP BRAP

This is one of the many differences between racecraft and driving around doing lapscraft

Bringing in cold tires quickly, which means driving them on the (lower, ever-changing) limits, without overdriving them, can only be learned on cold tires on an out lap, there's nowhere else to learn it, otherwise it's a wasted opportunity to get better as a driver

Drives me nuts when people weave during an out lap in a qualifying session. Just drive the damn car

It has the advantage of warming all the other fluids up a lot quicker than just puttering around too

[WhiteM3EMC]

Originally Posted by Richbot

Obviously what most people do is idle the car for a bit to make sure it's not dead cold by the time you're called to grid, then once you're gridded, BOUNCE IT OFF THE TWO-STEP FOR 5 MINUTES STRAIGHT BRAP BRAP

This is one of the many differences between racecraft and driving around doing lapscraft

Bringing in cold tires quickly, which means driving them on the (lower, ever-changing) limits, without overdriving them, can only be learned on cold tires on an out lap, there's nowhere else to learn it, if you don't want to learn it, that's fine, but you're wasting an opportunity to get better as a driver

It has the advantage of warming all the other fluids up a lot quicker than just puttering around too

great points. I think, for the sake of expediency, its probably a good practice to just start it with the throttle pegged to the floor and wait until your oil is up to temp.

But for real, I agree. I think its actually really fun to explore those limits of the cold brakes and tires, which is why I started to the thread, to see what people are doing to make sure the car is up to temp prior to actually heading out.

[Richbot]

it's like your own personal rain cloud for half a lap

[WhiteM3EMC]

Originally Posted by Richbot

it's like your own personal rain cloud for half a lap

[Chris_PDX]

Originally Posted by Richbot

This is one of the many differences between racecraft and driving around doing lapscraft

Bringing in cold tires quickly, which means driving them on the (lower, ever-changing) limits, without overdriving them, can only be learned on cold tires on an out lap, there's nowhere else to learn it, otherwise it's a wasted opportunity to get better as a driver

This is a fair point, but also bears thinking about the goals of a HPDE day vs. race-day.

Driving cold tires at the limit in a race-car is a lot different than driving cold-tires at the limit in a heavy street car that you can't afford to write off (the topic of being able to "afford" writing of a car you drive on track is another topic...).

I've taken race-cars out and sent it on the first lap on cold tires, because it's a race-car. Nobody is driving it home at the end of the day. I never do that in a street car.

[Richbot]

Then agian, if you're tracking on A052, RE71R, or similar, the tire is at operating temp if you rub it lightly with your hand in grid

[dogbone]

At many HPDEs in CA, on the first session of the day, they have no passing rules during the 1st lap and sometimes the first 2 laps of the day. The Yellow flags are out in full force around the entire course.

I find this reduces the stress about getting passed all over the place while trying to get your warm up lap in.

[SYT_Shadow]

Originally Posted by dogbone

At many HPDEs in CA, on the first session of the day, they have no passing rules during the 1st lap and sometimes the first 2 laps of the day. The Yellow flags are out in full force around the entire course.

I find this reduces the stress about getting passed all over the place while trying to get your warm up lap in.

PCA does the same thing in the northeast... so you just take it easy on the first lap

[WhiteM3EMC]

Originally Posted by dogbone

At many HPDEs in CA, on the first session of the day, they have no passing rules during the 1st lap and sometimes the first 2 laps of the day. The Yellow flags are out in full force around the entire course.

I find this reduces the stress about getting passed all over the place while trying to get your warm up lap in.

Originally Posted by SYT_Shadow

PCA does the same thing in the northeast... so you just take it easy on the first lap

True, most times the organization I run with (NASA) will do full course yellows on the first lap, but maybe about 30% of the time we will go out under green, so I definitely feel some pressure to not get passed by someone I know that I'll fly by once everything is warmed up.

[tsk94]

Typically I let the car idle for ~10-15mins after taking it out of the of the trailer. In the mean time I check the wheel torques and get all my driving stuff on. First lap out short-shift and by lap 2 the oil should be basically up to temp. For the rest of the day the oil will basically be warm right from the start of a session.

Like others have mentioned, don't overthink it. No need to drive around the paddock or anything like that.