Shanghai Street Circuit

[Purist]

I haven't gotten to watch the DTM race just yet, but I saw enough from the snippets on YouTube that I wanted to start a discussion here.

Basically, there are a few nice elements to the layout of the course; however, particularly toward the end of the lap, there are some serious issues.

My eyeball analysis is that the track has 7 corners, so that's what I'm going to base my description on.

First off, the chute between Turns 5 and 6 is very narrow; at best it's 2 lanes wide, and it might not even be the full 24ft regulation width.

Next, the pit entry is immediately after Turn 6, which is a left-hander. As the entry is on the left, you have to stay very slow while still more or less on the racing line as you enter the pits, and the entry road is just one lane wide. Also, if things get squirrelly coming out of 6, you could nail the end of the pit wall.

This next bit is a bit complicated, so stay with me. Coming out of 6, the track is 3 lanes, but you almost instantly lose the left one to the pit entry. Next, almost simultaneously, the wall to the right moves back, finally allowing you access to the right 2 lanes, but as this is happening, the pit entry shifts to the right by one lane. This means that there is only ONE through lane for that part of the course, but since you're in the middle of a right-hand turn there, you're still having to turn anyway, and you really have to thread it between the walls on either side right there. To complicate matters further, Turn 7 is very bumpy, even in the road-going C63 AMG, and so you may not even want to use the lane to the far inside.

Finally, as the pits are on the outside, you have to watch it as you drift out to the left on the exit of Turn 7 and the approach to Turn 1. You could clip the end of the pit wall, and you also have to look out for cars exiting the pits at least partially on the racing line.

Here's the page from the DTM site:
http://www.dtm.com/rennen.php?rennen=2010-11-28

Here's onboard footage from the Mercedes "ring taxi" at Shanghai:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyPCl1qWi-M

So, now, what I'm looking for is first, do all of these trouble spots register with you guys? Do you guys see any other issues the I haven't mentioned? And of course, what changes would you make to improve the course, both for safety, and potentially for the racing itself?