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Here's a solution though up by a write in PlanetF1
Tour de France style round about
FORMULA ONE'S NEW CHICANE?
Thursday 14th January 2010
PlanetF1 can unveil the new PF1 Tour de France chicane that could revolutionise dull processional motorsport races, where cars follow each other for lap after lap.
Observant readers to this website will know that PlanetF1 feature writer Frank Hopkinson has long been a fan of the Tour de France, in particular the mighty Lance Armstrong and the Manx Missile Mark Cavendish.
One of the features that caught Frankie boy's eye in previous tours is the way riders take roundabouts on the run-in to stage finishes.The fantastic aerial camera footage of the race shows the peloton splitting and going both sides of many roundabouts and rejoining on the far side.
"What if this were applied to F1?" he thought. It would certainly break up processional races and banish the Trulli Trains forever.
Bernie Ecclestone has revealed today that he himself has been thinking up even more radical proposals to improve the GP show - starting with a controversial plan to introduce "shortcuts" at grand prix tracks that each driver could use for a limited number of times per race.
Talking to Autosport the F1 supremo said: "I think it would be very easy for us on each circuit to have an area where you could gain a bit of time so you could overtake - a shortcut if you like - which a driver could use five times during the race, so it would stop people getting stuck behind somebody," he suggested.
"It's good for TV, good for the TV commentators, they could talk about somebody having three [shortcuts] left and somebody else having two and what's going to happen and so on."
The problem with Bernie's scheme - apart from offending the purists - is that everyone would need to use the shortcut on the opening laps of the race, because that's when you can make up the most places.
Frank admits that his solution is also not for the purists. "It may be a bit Scalextric but quite frankly I'm sick and tired of staring at dull processional F1 races. If F1 is going to reclaim the Xbox and PlayStation generation then it needs to shake things up and this is one of the ways to do it without spending a load of money redesigning the cars."
The PlanetF1 staffer's solution is like a dual chicane where you can take either route and each is the same distance, with the same entry and exit angle. There is a blend line that starts before the braking zone for the chicane. This acts like the pitlane exit line that drivers cannot cross, drivers will incur a penalty if they cross the blend line either before the chicane or after it.
In effect the line is there to stop cars weaving at the last minute, but there could be a certain amount of kidology about which side drivers are going to choose before they get to the line. In effect it broadens the racing line to the width of the track as cars approach the chicane.
"There could be a lot of faking and feinting - like Mansell and Piquet going down the Hangar Straight into Stowe in 1987. Or two drivers might try one side and a third driver, behind them both, could sweep past on the other. It's all to play for."
It'll be interesting to hear what Bernie has to say.
