zzdcar
Home
/
Reviews
/
Racing
/
A Close-Up Look At All Of The Crazy Action In A Routine Sportscar Pit Stop
A Close-Up Look At All Of The Crazy Action In A Routine Sportscar Pit Stop-November 2024
2024-02-19 EST 22:11:30

If you thought choreography was just for dancing, you’ve clearly never seen a quick pit stop. Here are a few up-close shots of IMSA Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge team CJ Wilson Racing fueling and swapping out drivers and wheels on their Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport.

First, everyone participating in the swap had to be ready. Everyone has to be in the appropriate gear, including the driver. There are a few moments when everybody’s standing around and sweating in full race gear, complete with an often less-breathable-than-desired helmet on top. That’s all worth it when you aren’t fumbling to still get dressed when the car is pulling in, though.

Everything has to be in just the right place to grab quickly, too, like the cool shirt tubes that are taped to driver Marc Miller’s leg. Why risk tangling those up or flopping them around when a simple bit of painter’s tape can make finding them in the car way easier?

Once the car pulls up, it’s on.

Miller didn’t even wait until the car was completely stopped to hop over the wall.

The sign held out in front of the car’s pit space gets lifted up so no one trips on it, and the team springs into action.

Air jacks pop out of the bottom of the car to raise the car off its wheels, so an air line has to be inserted into the top of the car to make them work. Air goes in, car goes up.

Fuel goes in under the hood, so the person manning the fuel hose also has to lift up the hood.

Everything comes down to the delicate art of not stumbling over each other. The driver getting in helps the previous driver get out of the car, then the previous driver sticks around to help his replacement get situated.

Lugnuts are gently glued in place ahead of time to help the team make a quick stop.

Meanwhile, television cameras hover around the pit stall to ensure that people at home get to watch, too. That (usually!) doesn’t stop anyone from getting the car done.

Sometimes it’s a tight squeeze to have everyone working on different things in one pit stall, though, as driver Danny Burkett found out when he almost lost his balance for a second.

Burkett walks off to shed the sweaty gloves and helmet until he needs to drive again.

The walk back in to the pits is significantly calmer than everyone’s jump out to service the car.

Once all the wheels are done, the air line comes out and the car drops on to its wheels.

Of course, the car can’t go anywhere until it’s done fueling, too.

When the car is ready to leave, everything left out gets picked up from the pit box.

With the car out of the way, crew members hunt for the lugnuts that were taken off the car. Since they’re only being taken off, it’s fine and normal to just throw them around wherever (as long as no one trips on them).

As long as the team doesn’t have to use this tool—a giant baseball bat often used to bend bodywork back into place—it’s a pretty successful stop.

Comments
Welcome to zzdcar comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
Racing
Formula One Returns This Weekend In Malaysia
Formula One Returns This Weekend In Malaysia
Welcome to the Jalopnik Weekend Motorsports Roundup, where we let you know what’s going on in the world of racing, where you can see it, and where you can talk about it all in one convenient place. Where else would you want to spend your weekend? Formula One is back...
Nov 17, 2025
The Acura Prototype Team's Test Schedule Now Includes Petit Le Mans
The Acura Prototype Team's Test Schedule Now Includes Petit Le Mans
Team Penske’s getting ultra-serious about their new Acura prototype run. Not only has it been spotted testing at Sebring, but they today that they will enter their drivers in an Oreca 07-Gibson LMP2 and race at Petit Le Mans this year. Just running one of IMSA’s most infamous races for...
Nov 17, 2025
I'm Racing A Volkswagen 411 And Towing It Home In The Ultimate Act Of Vehicular Masochism
I'm Racing A Volkswagen 411 And Towing It Home In The Ultimate Act Of Vehicular Masochism
Back in Ye Olde Days of Jalopnicke, editor Murilee Martin—bless our Saucy Minx—had a feature called . One day, he featured a . We’re racing that exact car this weekend, and I’ve called dibs on towing it home. Now it’s sinking in: oh no, what have I done? I did...
Nov 17, 2025
Loose Drain Cover Sends F1's Romain Grosjean Spiraling Into A Wall Like A Bad Carnival Ride
Loose Drain Cover Sends F1's Romain Grosjean Spiraling Into A Wall Like A Bad Carnival Ride
The Malaysian Grand Prix next year, and so far, it’s going out with the wrong kind of bang. Kimi Raikkonen and Valtteri Bottas’ cars helped knock a drain cover loose near turn 13, leaving it sticking straight up when Romain Grosjean came around. Things went as you’d expect. reports that...
Nov 17, 2025
The Last Formula One Race In Malaysia Was A Stunner
The Last Formula One Race In Malaysia Was A Stunner
As the Sepang International Circuit hosts its last Formula One race for the foreseeable future, it certainly didn’t disappoint, and damn near beckons for the series to keep coming back. Sepang is the first track Herman Tilke designed in the late 1990s, ushering in a new design language nearly all...
Nov 17, 2025
I Took My Mom Drag Racing And Now She's Writing Me Out Of Her Will
I Took My Mom Drag Racing And Now She's Writing Me Out Of Her Will
Alanis Takes Her Mom Drag Racing in Her Everyday Work Car A couple of months ago, Texas Motor Speedway asked me to come out for some drag racing one Friday night. The track lets everything from mild daily drivers to all-out dragsters race to see who’s fastest down pit road,...
Nov 17, 2025
Copyright 2023-2025 - www.zzdcar.com All Rights Reserved