Worst Pit Lanes

[SuperShouden]

Some tracks have bad corners, some are really challenging and others just have horrible pit lanes. Whether it's where the exit to pit lane is, or a 108 degree corner entering pit lane. Sometimes you have to wonder what the track designers were thinking when they designed some of these things.

I'll start:

1. Infineon Raceway - Exit to pit lane is right in the middle of a corner. This has actually caused a couple accidents in the past. The one I remember is an old C5 Corvette exiting pit lane as an Audi R8 rounded the first corner. R8 clobbered the Vette, ending it's race while the Audi just cut down a tire. It sucks when the pit lane exit messes up a the racing line through a series of corners.

2. Laguna Seca - The exit here's fine. It's the entrance that sucks. A narrow 108 (if I'm not mistaken) degree corner isn't the best idea for a pit lane corner and I've seen a few cars in real life actually hit the wall trying to make it. I believe, over the years, they've adjusted the angle of the corner and made it a bit wider, but they just need to get rid of it.

And that's all I can think of at the moment.

 

[lbsf1]

Monaco entrance is abit weird since you have to go slower round the corner before and then cut across the racing line so if someone tries to overtake you when you go slower round that corner you have to cut them up again to get into the pits.

Canadian Grand Prix pits exit. I don't think anything particularly wrong with this exit it just seems to cause lots of crashes.

 

[GoldenCrumpet]

The F1 Singapore pit lane is a bit odd. In the the 2008 race you had to stay on the racing line and brake to swing the car in. Often blocking off the cars behind and ruining their lap.

 

[TheMitsuzuki]

Not too sure if anyone's familiar, but the outside wall on pit exit at the 24hrs of Daytona has bitten a few cars in the past few years. Best I remember is Patrick Dempsey doing it. His car had an on-board camera too, the sound of the impact gave me the chills! Cold tires+cold track= bad news!

 

[Ardius]

Monaco entrance is abit weird since you have to go slower round the corner before and then cut across the racing line so if someone tries to overtake you when you go slower round that corner you have to cut them up again to get into the pits.

Canadian Grand Prix pits exit. I don't think anything particularly wrong with this exit it just seems to cause lots of crashes.

Only Jacques Laffite overtakes around Rascasse, the Monaco pit entry has never really been a problem. Even online in F1:CE its not really a problem, as you enter the pit lane just like you do normally exiting Rascasse - its just the line you are taking is different.
Its physically impossible for someone to be caught out by this unless they were planning some crazy move into Anthony Noghes.

Montreal is actually a good one, but not for the exit...for the entrance. To prove the point, we had Kubica and Sutil displaying why its a bad pit entrance this year. The exit merely sets people up to be side by side, which causes incidents later on, but not at the exit.

The most dangerous pit exits I've ever seen is probably Le Mans. All drivers have to be ultra-aware of what is going on.

To make this thread more positive, the better pit entrances and exits are: Abu Dhabi (both entrance and exit is clear, obvious and off the racing line), Bahrain, Catalunya, etc. Basically all the boring tracks .

Basically a good pit entrance/exit avoids putting the cars on the racing line at a high speed section. Generally the best way is out of the exit of one corner (where the cars are slowest) and back onto the braking point of another (where again, the cars are slowest).
The worst kind of pit entrance are the Montreal, Shanghai and Valencia kind, where its not always obvious which way the driver is going to go - pit or turn. This makes it so easy to catch out the driver behind for his braking points.

I see nothing wrong with the Laguna Seca, Shanghai or Adelaide style tight corner pit entrance - I quite enjoy seeing people caught out by something so simple as entering the pits carefully! ( David Coulthard )

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOhhhhhhhhhhh David Coulthard!

 

[GoldenCrumpet]

I know what you mean about the Le Mans pit lane. Also when many people are walking around, it can be quite a challenge getting around everyone. Just as it did this year when two camera men got run over.

 

[Roo]

The worst kind of pit entrance are the Montreal, Shanghai and Valencia kind, where its not always obvious which way the driver is going to go - pit or turn. This makes it so easy to catch out the driver behind for his braking points.

I would add Interlagos and, since the latest reprofile of the Bus Stop, Spa. Interlagos' pit entry is right on the racing line, at a point when all the cars are flat out. How noone has been sent airbourne there I've no idea. Spa's entrance is now a very narrow blind corner with concrete walls on both sides - in part due to the topography of the area. One mistake and the pit lane is blocked.

I see nothing wrong with the Laguna Seca, Shanghai or Adelaide style tight corner pit entrance - I quite enjoy seeing people caught out by something so simple as entering the pits carefully! ( David Coulthard )

Johnny Herbert and Roberto Moreno had similar pitlane incidents during the race in 1995. Moreno rearranged his rear suspension and retired, whilst Herbert slid wide and managed to miss the wall, compeleting another lap before his pitstop.

 

[Ardius]

Aye, but Coulthard's was the most spectacular from the lead of the race and with that great Murray treatment .

Interlagos is a bit odd, but it gets away with it because the cars are not slowing down till they are in the pitlane itself. In a similar way to Monaco, its unlikely for the car behind to be caught out unless they were really thinking of a move on the inside immediately after the apex of the corner.
I agree that its not a healthy place though at such a high speed section and is just waiting for that bizarre situation where it does catch someone out.

 

[SuperShouden]

Le Sarthe is a pretty dangerous pit. It does kinda have a Infineon-style "exit in the middle of a corner" thing going on. Although, Infineon's pit exit has moved down so it's not in the middle of the corner, but at the beginning...which is almost worse 'cause you're still blind and if you suddenly see a car pop out, you might try to dodge it and put yourself in the wall.

But with Le Sarthe, I've gotten taken out a couple times on GT4 exiting the pits there. It's not that it's on the corner it's that the corner it's near is a high speed corner, like Infineon, and so when exiting the pits, you got to stay out of the racing line and watch your mirrors.

le Sarthe's pits have always been dangerous, though. In the 50s it was the entrance that was crazy. The old entrance was right after the final S's and it caused a massive disaster when a Jaguar J-type cut off a Mercedes 300SL as the Jag dove into the pits. This is why the pit lane entrance for le Sarhe has moved to a much safer location.

 

[Ardius]

The only thing you can do at Le Mans exit is to keep to the inside all the way to the 1st corner (where its then the outside of course). Its safer than trying to move across the track out of the way as it allows the faster cars on the track to react more easily - its a more predictable line. (of course, GT4 AI doesn't work that way)
Its not so much where the exit is located, more the difference in speed, as I said earlier its better to have an exit onto a part of the track where cars are going slow anyway, it helps reaction times and reduces the severity of incidents.
Also, the pit entrance to Le Mans is another one of those "not sure where he is going to go" entrances and we've seen plenty of incidents because of it.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

The old Canberra 400 pit lane has to be the worst I've seen. It was an open one, like Monza; there was nothing to slow the cars down inside the actual lane. Unlike Monza, however, it was very narrow because the entire pit lane had to be built on two lanes of roadway. But the real problem was that you had the cars filing out of this giant right-hander before taking a left-right flick around the actual lane. As a result, you got cars lining up for the pit entry at a high-speed section of track. And where the pit lane speed limit was 60km/h, at Canberra it was reduced to 40km/h. The pit exit was just as bad - the first turn was a right-hander just short of ninety degrees, and the second corner was this long hook-like left. The pit lane deployed right on top of the point where the cars changed direction. Here's a map.

The Bathurst pit entry always confused me as well. I'm all for slowing the cars down, but Bathurst's has always been a fiddly, squiggly thing.

 

[waggles]

I think Albert Park used to have a chicane before the entrance, which catches me out on rfactor quite a bit.

Magny Cours has a Montreal style entry, but a brilliant exit.

Malaysia's entry is fun-stay on the race line until the apex of the last corner, then straighten your steering. There is also a bump at the entrance turn, so it's apparently quite easy to spin.

 

[Famine]

To make this thread more positive, the better pit entrances and exits are: Abu Dhabi (both entrance and exit is clear, obvious and off the racing line)

And in a bastard tunnel...

 

[Ardius]

Which has so far not produced any problems in any series.

 

[Ibonibo]

historicly i would say lemans, because there happend to be one of the worse pit lane accidents, which was the cause of bordering the pit lanes off the circuit worldwide on offical fia circuits

nowadays with the circuits i know i would also say singapore because the exit of it is really trickerly bended

 

[waggles]

Istanbul's entry is much like Laguna Seca's too, to be honest.

 

[Clark]

Donington's wasn't brilliant either, and Brands Hatch's can be hairy if there's a few cars going into Paddock Hill as a car exits.

 

[Prince.M5]

Another one is Valencia... The enterance is, eventhough they have fixed it but it's still dangerous. Cars can get rearended or maybe a slight mis-comunication can result in worst incidents. Those who wants to enter the pit must be on the left side of the track very slow, but those who wants to take the hairpin also wants to be on the left in greater speed....

Bad pit lane...

 

[SuperShouden]

Fuji's is pretty bad. Not because of how it's designed, but because of where it's at and the stupid chicane at the entrance is annoying. But, when you're going 200+mph, the tiny little pit lane entrance of Fuji can blend into the wall. And accidents here won't be caused by cars rear ending you, 'cause the straight is wide enough, it'll be because you're not going slow enough for the chicane or you miss the pit lane entirely.

 

[Clark]

Pau's pretty bad, although we all know the one certain situation wasn't made better by the safety car driver.

 

[Small_Fryz]

( David Coulthard )

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOhhhhhhhhhhh David Coulthard!

What did DC do wrong at the end? in the mclaren car? totally forget the speed limiter?

 

[Alex.]

Another one is Valencia... The enterance is, eventhough they have fixed it but it's still dangerous. Cars can get rearended or maybe a slight mis-comunication can result in worst incidents. Those who wants to enter the pit must be on the left side of the track very slow, but those who wants to take the hairpin also wants to be on the left in greater speed....

Bad pit lane...

You mean Singapore?

 

[Peter]

Sepang's own is bad mainly for the huge ump on entry, which can easily spin you. That thing has cost me race victories in F1:CE many times. Also, Catalunya's pit lane before 2008 when they added the chichane.

 

[Northstar]

Bristol has probably one of the most confusing pit lanes as it actually splits them between the two sides of the track. Even veteran's that have been in the sport for 20 years mess up where they are supposed to enter(during green flag stops you only have to go through the side your pit stall is on but under yellow you have to enter on the front stretch).

 

[Famine]

But, when you're going 200+mph, the tiny little pit lane entrance of Fuji can blend into the wall.

That's exactly what you want though (not to mention the chicane). Compare to a nice, wide, straight pitlane entry that a car crashing at 200mph can easily get into - so you have a wonderful megajoule accident funnelled down a narrow tube packed with unprotected people...

 

[homeforsummer]

Donington's wasn't brilliant either, and Brands Hatch's can be hairy if there's a few cars going into Paddock Hill as a car exits.

Donington's wasn't too bad. The entrance was fine (varies depending on whether the Melbourne loop was used or not, the longer circuit had a pit entrance on the loop), and although the exit drops people straight onto the racing line, cars coming down the straight have a reasonable view of cars coming out of the pitlane.

The proposed changes to the circuit would have made a safer pitlane, though.

 

[Prince.M5]

You mean Singapore?

I mean Valencia. The case is sort of similar in Singapore but here in Valencia where two person are racing but don't know where the driver in front is going whether to take the hairpin or into the pit lane.

In Singapore, the both drivers are racing but then the driver in front move over to the insde into the pit with reduced speed while the driver at the back also going to the inside but is taking the apex of the corner.

I think the pit lane in Valencia enterance should be lengthened a bit so that the driver who's making his way into the pit is not too slow or the driver at the back might rearended him...

Just my opinion of what they should do.

Also the sepang pit enterance on the hairpin is a bit dangerous. If you sit at the tower, you can see a bit of bump going down to the pit lane but so far yet to see any big incident.

 

[Azure Flare]

Fuji's is pretty bad. Not because of how it's designed, but because of where it's at and the stupid chicane at the entrance is annoying. But, when you're going 200+mph, the tiny little pit lane entrance of Fuji can blend into the wall. And accidents here won't be caused by cars rear ending you, 'cause the straight is wide enough, it'll be because you're not going slow enough for the chicane or you miss the pit lane entirely.

The whole track sucks.