DEFINITION
Re-fueling is the process of adding fuel to the car between sessions or runs. It is tightly regulated: it can only happen in the designated re-fueling zone, never in the hot pit, never with the engine running, and always with a fire marshal present.
TOSFED, Formula Drift and FIA all impose mandatory PPE (gloves, fire suit) and a fire extinguisher requirement during re-fueling.
HISTORY & ORIGIN
Re-fueling protocols in motorsport were tightened across the board after a series of high-profile pit fires in F1 and IndyCar in the 1990s and 2000s; drift adopted the same standards from FIA Appendix J.
TECHNIQUE BREAKDOWN
Driver shuts the engine down, the crew rolls the car to the re-fueling zone, attaches the dry-break coupler or pours from a sealed jug, and a marshal logs the litres added.
PRO TIPS & COMMON MISTAKES
• Always re-fuel cold. A hot exhaust manifold and gasoline vapour are a fire waiting to happen.
• Common mistake: skipping fire-suit gloves because 'it's just a quick top-up'. Fires from quick top-ups are how the rules got written.
After a long Top 16 battle the crew did a quick re-fueling before the Top 8.