Guides › What is an undercut? The pit tactic that gave the game its name

What is an undercut? The pit tactic that gave the game its name

“Undercut” is one of the most used words in modern motorsport – and the name of our game. But what does it actually mean, why does it work, and why does it sometimes not work at all?

The basic idea

In a race where cars must change tyres at least once, a tactical problem arises: when should you stop? The driver who is behind an opponent but can’t overtake on track has an alternative – to overtake in the pits.

An undercut goes like this:

1. Car B is right behind car A but can’t get past on track.
2. Car B pits first and gets new, fresh tyres.
3. Car A stays out for another lap or two on worn tyres.
4. Car B drives its first laps on new tyres considerably faster than car A on the old ones.
5. When car A finally pits and comes back out, car B has made up the gap – and is ahead.

So the overtake happens without the cars ever running side by side. It is decided by tyre grip, a few laps of pace and how fast the pit stop is.

Why does it work?

The undercut relies on new tyres being much faster than worn ones. The bigger the difference, the more time the chasing car can gain on the laps when the opponent is still on old tyres. Three factors make the undercut stronger:

• Heavy tyre wear. Tracks where the tyres wear hard give the biggest difference between new and old tyres.
• Fast pit stops. Every tenth the team saves in the pits is a tenth less to make up on track.
• Clear track after the stop. If the car ends up behind slower traffic after the pit stop, the advantage is lost.

The overcut – the opposite

Sometimes the reverse works better. With an overcut you stay out longer than your opponent. It pays off when new tyres need a few laps to reach full speed, when your own car still holds a good pace on the old tyres, or when the opponent ends up in traffic after his stop. A team that understands both the undercut and the overcut can choose the right tool depending on the situation.

When the undercut fails

• The tyres barely wear, so new tyres give too small an advantage.
• The pit stop is slow and eats up the time gained.
• The chasing car comes out behind traffic.
• The opponent responds by pitting the lap after – known as covering.

The undercut in Undercut Racing Manager

In the game you don’t control every lap, but the same principles are built into how races are decided:

• Tyre choice and wear. Soft tyres are fastest but wear quickest, and wear punishes you most on twisty tracks – exactly the conditions where the real-world undercut is strongest.
• The engineers and the pit stop. The team’s engineers decide how fast the pit stop is – from around 3.6 seconds with a weak crew down to about 1.6 seconds with a full, strong one – and how much of the tyre wear can be compensated.
• The pit strategy. Every car makes a pit stop with a strategy that shows in the result, for example an offensive one-stop or a balanced two-stop. Better tyres on the car make a more offensive strategy pay off more.
• The pit stop record. Under Statistics → Records the shortest pit stop ever made in the game is saved – and which team made it.

The practical lesson is the same as in reality: a team with strong engineers and good tyres can afford to drive more aggressively. Read the tactics guide to see how to turn that into your choices before the race, and the staff guide for why the engineers are so important.

Glossary