Parts, Damage & Wear

Your car is built from 11 components, each with its own performance, health, and reliability state. Damage doesn’t just cost lap time — it can take a part out of usable range, force a free replacement, or end a race in retirement. This page covers what the numbers mean, how damage applies, and what your options are between weekends.

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The 11 Components

Component	Group	Primary effect on the car
Front Wing	Chassis (Aero)	Front aero — corner pace, draft tradeoff
Rear Wing	Chassis (Aero)	Rear aero — corner pace, straight-line drag
Floor	Chassis	Aero plus — diffuser efficiency, corner stability
Body	Chassis	Monocoque rigidity → cornering precision
Suspension	Chassis (Handling)	Mechanical grip, responsive in corners + braking
Brake	Chassis (Handling)	Braking-zone deceleration
Engine	Powertrain	Straight-line speed; supplier-driven
Gearbox	Powertrain	Acceleration zone, gearchange snap
Electronics	Powertrain	TC + ABS + diff mapping (accel + braking + mid-corner)
Fuel System	Powertrain	Per-lap fuel rate efficiency
Cooling System	Powertrain	Engine heat damage rate (lower temps = less damage)

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Each Part’s Stats

Every component carries the same five fields:

Field	Range	What it means
current_perf	0.0 – ~1.20	Live performance — what feeds into the speed multiplier this lap
initial_perf	0.85 – 1.10	The “fresh” reference — used as the repair target and damage baseline
potential	1.00 – 1.15	Cap on how high current_perf can be pushed via R&D improvement
health	0 – 100	Structural condition — informational; very low health flags imminent failure
fiability	0.70 – 1.20	Reliability multiplier — drives failure probability rolls

Performance scale: a current_perf of 1.00 = nominal (a generic mid-tier part). Above 1.00 = a developed/improved part. Below 1.00 = degraded.

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How Damage Happens

There are four damage paths, ordered roughly by frequency:

1. Mechanical Wear (every race)

Engines / gearboxes / brakes / electronics accumulate wear across kilometres. After their endurance threshold, failure rolls start firing each lap with increasing probability. A failure causes:

• A pending power-loss countdown (subtle to dramatic over ~30s of racing)
• DNF when the countdown completes
• The failed part takes a catastrophic hit: current_perf *= 0.90, health → ≤30%

The supplier’s base_endurance and base_reliability set how late this kicks in.

2. Engine Heat Damage (continuous, race-only)

When the engine runs above its critical temp, every tick adds engine_heat_damage_rate × heat_excess × dt × fiab_factor × cooling_factor to permanent power loss. Cooling system perf and engine fiability both shape the damage rate — a frail engine in a poorly-cooled car can lose 10%+ per race; a healthy one with good cooling makes 10–15 GPs without forcing a swap.

3. Tire Damage from Crashes

Each of the 4 tires has its own damage state (0–100%). A spin into gravel or a barrier hit can drop a tire’s contribution to grip and produce flat-spots. Affects cornering / braking / straight-line speed (zone-weighted).

4. Collision / Crash Damage (event-driven)

Every collision event with force ≥ 222 kN applies damage:

Force tier	Range	Effect
Tier 1 / 2	< 222 kN	Logged only, no damage
Tier 3 (severe)	222–354 kN	40–60% reduction on exposed parts
Tier 4 (catastrophic)	≥ 355 kN	60–100% reduction; debris emission

Exposure depends on the collision role:

Role	Front-of-car parts hit	Rear-of-car parts hit
Striker (front-ended someone)	Front wing, suspension, brakes	Minor body / floor
Struck (rear-ended)	Minor body / engine	Rear wing, gearbox, floor
Self-Crash (mistake, spin)	Zone-based (braking → front, accelerating → rear, lifting → all)	Same

A Tier-3+ impact at force ≥ 355 kN and a 1.0 exposure weight can take a part from current_perf 1.0 straight to 0.0 — a fully destroyed component.

5. BIG-tier Driver Mistakes

A Spin or Crash mistake spawns the same crash physics; if the car hits a wall at high speed, force tiers apply normally (Tier 4 catastrophic at high impact).

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The “Salvage” Threshold

After the dust settles, the part lands in one of three zones:

Zone	current_perf vs. initial_perf	What you can do
Healthy	≥ 99%	Nothing to do
Damaged	50% – 99%	Repair via WU — costs Work Units proportional to the deficit
Destroyed	< 50%	Forced replacement — FREE WU, swap from spare stock

The 50% threshold is the line between “R&D can fix this” (consumes WU) and “the team just bolts on a spare” (no WU charge). The R&D screen flags destroyed parts visually with ⚠ DESTROYED and a Replace button instead of Repair.

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Repair Mechanics

Each weekend you have a budget of Work Units (WU) = weekend_repair_wu(engineering_level). Use them on:

• Repair — bring a damaged part back to initial_perf. Cost scales with deficit and engineering efficiency (lv1 = expensive, lv10 = cheap)
• Improve — push current_perf toward potential (15 WU per step)
• Reliability — push fiability toward 1.20 (12 WU per step, slow)
• Design — start a new-part R&D project (variable WU, longer timeline)

Repair WU Cost (formula)

deficit = initial_perf − current_perf
efficiency = 0.5 + engineering_level × 0.05    (lv1 = 0.55, lv10 = 1.0)
cost = ceil(deficit / efficiency × 100)

Special case (forced replacement): if current_perf < initial_perf × 0.5, cost returns 0 regardless of engineering level. The part is too far gone for R&D — the team swaps in a spare.

Worked examples (engineering = 5, efficiency = 0.75)

Damage	current_perf	Cost	Notes
Light	0.95	7 WU	Cheap, queue first
Moderate	0.80	27 WU	Standard repair
Heavy	0.60	54 WU	Big WU bill — consider scope
Destroyed	0.30	0 WU (free)	Forced replacement, label says Replace

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Fiability & Reliability Work

Fiability is a long-game stat. Pushing it up costs WU now and pays off in fewer mid-race failures later.

• Range: 0.70 (frail) – 1.20 (rock solid)
• Default: 1.0 (nominal)
• Per-step gain: 0.007 + engineering_level × 0.001 (~0.008 at lv1, ~0.017 at lv10)
• Per-step cost: 12 WU
• Performance trade-off: every Improve step on the same part subtracts 0.003 fiability — pushing perf stresses reliability

Reinforced repairs (objectives system): hitting a supplier’s primary objective at season end can apply a permanent fiability boost to the matched component (engine for engine supplier, etc.) that survives across seasons.

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Mid-Race Damage Indicators

While racing, watch for these warnings:

Indicator	Trigger	What it means
🟡 Yellow Engine	Engine ≥ +10°C over critical	Mild overheat, ease the map
🟠 Orange Engine	Engine ≥ +25°C over critical	Real damage accumulating
⚠ Imminent Failure	Failure countdown ≤ 30% remaining	Pit now or DNF in 10–30s
🔧 Limping	Crash terminal damage detected	Driver heading to pit to retire

These are spaced out by cooldowns so they don’t spam the commentary feed.

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Limp-to-Pit & Terminal Damage

After a crash recovery, the car is checked for terminal damage:

Component	Threshold	Effect
Suspension	≤ 60%	Limp to pit, retire
Body	≤ 50%	Limp to pit, retire
Floor	≤ 40%	Limp to pit, retire

Tires (any %) and front wing don’t terminate — the driver soldiers on with reduced grip / aero. Limping caps the car at ~40% pace until it reaches the pit lane.

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Inventory & Spares

The R&D screen has an Inventory tab listing every part you own:

• Fitted — currently bolted to car 1 or car 2
• Spare — sitting in stock (unfitted, can be swapped in via “Fit”)
• Damaged spare — an old fitted part that was unfitted on a swap; useful as a backup if the new part fails

You can manually swap a fitted part for a spare at any time — useful if a destroyed part is auto-replaced and you want to put your improved version back on once the destroyed one is healed.

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Best Practices

1. Don’t repair destroyed parts — they’re already free. Spend WU on cheap-deficit improvements first (better value-per-WU).
2. Check the value-per-WU sort — the R&D screen ranks repair candidates by perf_loss_pct / WU_cost; queue from the top.
3. Leave fiability alone early game — it’s a slow grind. Focus on perf improvements until you’ve got a stable platform.
4. Save WU for after a crash race — a Tier-3+ collision can wipe 100+ WU of damage; carrying a buffer is safer than a tight 100% utilisation every weekend.
5. Cooling matters — a high-cooling-perf car prints 4× less heat damage than a poor one over a hot calendar. Worth investing in early.
6. Watch the AI — opposing teams replace destroyed parts the same way you do. They’ll buy new with budget if rich, swap free with WU if poor.

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Quick Reference

Threshold	Effect
current_perf ≥ 99% × initial_perf	Healthy — no action
current_perf 50–99%	Damaged — repair costs WU
current_perf < 50%	Destroyed — free replacement
health < 50% (AI)	AI considers buying new
Suspension ≤ 60%	Terminal — limp to pit
Body ≤ 50%	Terminal — limp to pit
Floor ≤ 40%	Terminal — limp to pit
Engine over critical temp	Heat damage starts accumulating

Force	Damage tier	Reduction
< 222 kN	None	0% (logged only)
222–354 kN	Tier 3	40–60% on exposed parts
≥ 355 kN	Tier 4	60–100% — destroyed parts likely