Pit Boxes For 2010 (Now Confirmed...)

[Crash Test]

Nope, there are two booms side by side.

[Axeman444]

oh really? ok... so the main bays have 1x boom, with 1x pair of guns, while the shared bays have 2x booms, with 1x set of guns each boom?

[GTRMagic]

Originally Posted by Axeman444

oh really? ok... so the main bays have 1x boom, with 1x pair of guns, while the shared bays have 2x booms, with 1x set of guns each boom?

Thats the way they are set up yes...

From Homebush...



Note the 2 booms...

[Axeman444]

ahh cheers

[STEALTHY]

Lol, lucky they were both green, cause if bright kept going til he saw the Fujitsu sign, he's have to do another lap.

[RotorFan]

Originally Posted by madman16

It is strange that in v8 land the "best" end of pitlane is closest to the exit yet in f1 the top team is always at the entry.

Someone has to be wrong?

Actually thats not completely correct. Unless I'm very much mistaken, the pit order is reversed for the Australian Grand Prix.

In a question on PanelBeaters once, Neil answered that the advantage is for the team closest to pit exit because they have a cleaner exit, and also said that it is standard to order the pit boxes in this order, and that F1 does the same. He was wrong on all counts (not least because the last pit bay also has to turn sharp left/right to avoid the witches hat/immovable marshal. In competition terms, I've always thought the advantage is to be closest to pit entry, for the reasons discussed already - in most cases you will be less likely to lose time merging with your competitor.

[Tourer]

It's a "swings & roundabouts" thing RotorFan. Both entry & exit have their issues but the thinking tends to be this:

The whole field enters pit lane at the same time (due to a Safety Car for example). The car leading the race has its pit bay at pit entry, the car running second has its bay at exit. Lead car pits but then has to wait as the entire field (which was behind it) file into pit lane to their pit boxes (which are in front of the lead car's pit box) - only way out is to try and push into a small gap if one presents itself.

The car running second has a clear run down pit lane to its box at exit once the lead car pulls into its pit box. Car running 2nd makes stop, gets out with no interference from other cars, all of whom have pit boxes behind it and came in after it did.

Likely outcome: lead change. This is why the pit exit end is seen as a preference.

In reality, either end can be managed to a certain extent by stopping out of sequence to avoid traffic in pit lane etc.

[Driver TBA]

Originally Posted by Tourer

It's a "swings & roundabouts" thing RotorFan. Both entry & exit have their issues but the thinking tends to be this:

The whole field enters pit lane at the same time (due to a Safety Car for example). The car leading the race has its pit bay at pit entry, the car running second has its bay at exit. Lead car pits but then has to wait as the entire field (which was behind it) file into pit lane to their pit boxes (which are in front of the lead car's pit box) - only way out is to try and push into a small gap if one presents itself.

The car running second has a clear run down pit lane to its box at exit once the lead car pulls into its pit box. Car running 2nd makes stop, gets out with no interference from other cars, all of whom have pit boxes behind it and came in after it did.

Likely outcome: lead change. This is why the pit exit end is seen as a preference.

In reality, either end can be managed to a certain extent by stopping out of sequence to avoid traffic in pit lane etc.

The above outcome was more obvious a few years ago when everyone pitted as soon as the pit window opened, the teams at the end of pit lane had a clear advantage.

This year has seen more teams employ different pit strategies, so every car fileing into pit lane at once was alot less common. Also officials seem to have put the witches hat alot closer to the last pit box so 888 had to re-enter as if there was a car pitted infront of them. Is this right? I seem to remember the teams at the end having more room to merge.

As someone pointed out earlier in the thread. Who had more pitlane violations in regards to merging this year, 888 or HRT?

[Tourer]

Like I said, swings & roundabouts. Any position in pit lane can be managed but at the time that pit exit was decided on as where the highest ranked team would go, it made more sense to be at that end.

Bear in mind too that there was also some safety thinking in the call to go with pit exit - in the situation where all came bombing in together, the likelihood of cars passing crossing over each other in pit lane is less (not removed) with the better performing teams at pit exit.

The witches hat at exit is always right on the "end of pit lane" line so can't imagine that its moved in recent times - maybe just that some of the newer tracks make a point of using more of pit lane to give the teams more space in there?

[davester]

Pit Entry box benefits:
1) Damaged or out of fuel car has less distance to travel.
2) Once exiting pit box, you have right of way over other cars waiting to exit their pit box.
Pit exit box benefits:
1) Clear early track in practice and qualifying.
2) If leading race, will not easily be blocked exiting pit box, unlike pit entry.

THE ONE RULE THAT NEEDS TIDYING UP is queuing team cars which blocks other teams. The rule should be that unless you can enter your pit box completely then you MUST go around, thereby avoiding disruption to others.

It's up to the teams to work out the lesser of two evils.

[STEALTHY]

Originally Posted by davester

THE ONE RULE THAT NEEDS TIDYING UP is queuing team cars which blocks other teams. The rule should be that unless you can enter your pit box completely then you MUST go around, thereby avoiding disruption to others.

Totally agree with this. Something needs to be done. Must be a laughing stock to the rest of the world when they see a car that has no damage stopped in the middle of the pit lane blocking everyone else. Or i'd like to see other teams using this rule to its fullest advantage, such as, HRT having its lead drive pitting, and its other driver parked in the pit lane blocking everyone else, thus making sure their car is out in first

[Driver TBA]

Originally Posted by davester

THE ONE RULE THAT NEEDS TIDYING UP is queuing team cars which blocks other teams. The rule should be that unless you can enter your pit box completely then you MUST go around, thereby avoiding disruption to others.

Originally Posted by STEALTHY

Totally agree with this. Something needs to be done. Must be a laughing stock to the rest of the world when they see a car that has no damage stopped in the middle of the pit lane blocking everyone else. Or i'd like to see other teams using this rule to its fullest advantage, such as, HRT having its lead drive pitting, and its other driver parked in the pit lane blocking everyone else, thus making sure their car is out in first

Here here on the queuing.

Easy way to fix.

If a team queues it's cars, which in turn holds up another competitor, then both cars get a drive through. This stops teams sacrificing the 2nd car to benefit the 1st car. Also if a cars trundles down pitlane below 40kph to soak up time to avoid queuing, in turn holding up competitors, again both team cars get a drive through. If pit lane is empty or if you can get both cars in before another car comes along, then by all means queue.

Having said that how many cars have actually been held up by queuing cars? If teams like HRT, 888, FPR or GRM had one of their cars lose grid position from queuing cars no doubt they would have made alot of noise about it.