I could cry - revisions to the bus stop chicane
November 13th, 2006
Name a list of the top 10 corners in F1, and 2 of those corners (at a minimum) will probably be located at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit - the infamous Eau Rouge and the Bus Stop chicane being my choice. In real life the bus stop chicane is like it says on the tin - a bus stop. Cars come off the back straight (err more like curve) at 200mph and are required to stand on the brakes to make it around the ultra tight left, right, right left combination.
It looks ungainly because it is. The manufactured F1 tracks of recent years are all flowing corners and the obligatory long straight leading into a hairpin. Most of the circuits are perfectly forgettable. The bus stop chicane stands out as an oddity - there is no designer in their right mind who would make a series of corners like it, and as the scene of so many incidents over the years it has earned its place amongst the great corners of motor racing.
Sadly it is no more.
Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone signed a promotional deal with the circuit last week and, with commercial terms agreed, work is now about to begin on bringing the track up to standard.
Revisions to the Bus Stop chicane, which will now become a right-left chicane, as well as a new paddock and pits complex, will begin on November 6th and will be finished ahead of next September’s race date.
Oh good, a right left chicane, we haven’t enough of them in F1 these days. All this is being done to facilitate a revised pit layout, presumably so that the corporate entertainment types won’t have to put up with a cluttered environment full of cars and mechanics whilst they eat their prawn sandwiches and compare photographs of their yachts.
Entry Filed under: Formula 1
10 Comments Add your own
1. Don Speekingleesh | November 13th, 2006 at 7:23 pm
They’ve moved around La Source too to fit in the new paddock. We all know where Bernie’s priorities lie…
2. bluenose | November 13th, 2006 at 11:17 pm
Let’s face it. We’re dinosaurs. F1 has become something where all the bits must “blend in”, to borrow words used recently by Martin Whitmarsh to explain why JPM did not succeed at McLaren (his failure to blend in), and apparently why the team failed to win a race this year.
The car has become a computer with wheels, the track has morphed into something a computer is more comfortable with, and the driver have become a mute vestige still necessarily accommodated in the machine, in strict adherence to the rules.
3. jtm | November 14th, 2006 at 4:57 am
This is a travesty. Bernie complains about having the same old tracks every year, but now he wants to remove the defining features of the few great tracks left. What a crock.
4. Keith | November 14th, 2006 at 1:59 pm
As long as they confine their dicking around to the bus stop and leave Eau Rouge, Pouhon, Stavelot and Blanchimont well alone then it could be worse, as far as I’m concerned.
5. Stephen | November 14th, 2006 at 9:47 pm
Drove the corner in August, nout wrong with it, an awesome corner on an awesome track with more history than Kimi’s bed post.
The pits are basic, but that’s part of the charm around Spa. I agree with the author, it’s about the track, not about how many trucks you can park round the back.
6. clinton bowen | November 15th, 2006 at 8:47 am
They may maim my tracks, they may halt research on F1 engines…. they will not have my driving skills!!!!
7. Formula One news, comment&hellip | November 18th, 2006 at 7:28 pm
[...] I could cry - revisions to the bus stop chicane - Clinton Bowen at Linksheaven is worried about changes to Spa-Francorchamps’ bus stop chicane ahead of its reintroduction to the F1 calendar in 2007. As long as the leave the rest of the magnificent circuit as it is it won’t be too bad. [...]
8. Formula 1 blog - Linkshea&hellip | June 23rd, 2008 at 9:42 pm
[...] in the track is great, but please stop destroying the elements that make Spa great. The “Bus Stop” corner for example was one of the great anachronisms of Formula 1. For [...]
9. F1 News, Live! » Bl&hellip | June 24th, 2008 at 4:31 am
[...] in the track is great, but please stop destroying the elements that make Spa great. The “Bus Stop” corner for example was one of the great anachronisms of Formula 1. For [...]
10. H | July 13th, 2008 at 8:36 pm
Bring back the late 80s, early 90s!
I remember watching Senna through the bustop on TV…one hand on steering wheel, the other on the vertically mounted shifter. Now that was talent!
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