Round 14: Grand Prix of Portland, Portland International Raceway. Sept 11-12

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by mstets

I wasn't able to record the race and would need to see a replay, but it looked to me like Rosenqvist caused the turn 1 mess. Hard to say if Dixon and Palou would have made it through the corner otherwise, but Felix was not penalized and ended up sixth - ultimately benefiting from the turn 1 contact.

Wonder how AMSP feels about the issue. O'Ward was arguably the biggest loser from the turn 1 incident.

Here are the extended race highlights and they include an aerial shot of the Turn 1 incident.


https://youtu.be/pfPiYbPvreE

[mstets]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

Here are the extended race highlights and they include an aerial shot of the Turn 1 incident.


https://youtu.be/pfPiYbPvreE

Really poor video quality but it still looked to me like Felix caused the initial contact.



Could the race be started at another point where contact is less likely? I'd be in favor of anything that prevents the T1 mess that seems typical at Portland. Start the cars in single file in 5 second intervals, whatever it takes.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by mstets

Really poor video quality but it still looked to me like Felix caused the initial contact.

It looked fine, it wasn't pixelated or anything like that.

Originally Posted by mstets

Could the race be started at another point where contact is less likely? I'd be in favor of anything that prevents the T1 mess that seems typical at Portland. Start the cars in single file in 5 second intervals, whatever it takes.

I think they should reduce the angle of Turn 1. There was a pile up at the start of the race in 2018 and a similar incident 2019.

[Teretonga]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

It looked fine, it wasn't pixelated or anything like that.






I think they should reduce the angle of Turn 1. There was a pile up at the start of the race in 2018 and a similar incident 2019.

Back in the cart days there were problems as soon as they put it in. So start on the back straight? The only other place.
Or this. Start after the chicane. ON the entry to the sweeping curve at the end of the straight. It will spread the field out but is that such a bad thing?

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by Teretonga

Back in the cart days there were problems as soon as they put it in. So start on the back straight? The only other place.
Or this. Start after the chicane. ON the entry to the sweeping curve at the end of the straight. It will spread the field out but is that such a bad thing?

They need to do something about it. If they want to keep the chicane as is, then why not start from the back straight. Otherwise, make the angle less severe.

[mstets]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

They need to do something about it. If they want to keep the chicane as is, then why not start from the back straight. Otherwise, make the angle less severe.

I thought that they did start the race on the back straight at some point.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by mstets

I thought that they did start the race on the back straight at some point.

During the CART era, when it was the Budweiser/G.I. Joe's 200, I don't remember the race ever starting on the back straight. That doesn't mean it didn't.

[Purist]

I don't think it ever did.

The trouble with the back stretch is then they're flying into the esse, and not in single file. I'm not sure that that ends up being any better.

Frankly, if it worked for IMSA GTP up through 1991 to just not have the chicane at all, I'd be good taking it out altogether.

It seems like having the track narrow down over hundreds of feet is better than trying to do it practically almost instantly.

I mean, Cleveland proved that there's no amount of room that will be "enough" to prevent Lap 1, Turn 1 issues. And if anything, paving the areas behind the curbs in the chicanes at Surfers Paradise actually made things worse. It was like the guys just charged in even harder after that was done versus when it was grass in those islands.

Checking the 1992 CART broadcast, it seems that the drivers thought the old (1984-91) chicane wasn't slow enough or a good enough passing place. Some of the team owners, and drivers, too, may have come to rue that conclusion.

[broadrun96]

I couldnt find anything about starting on the back stretch like Mid-Ohio does. But Mid-Ohio is because of the final turn complex before the start and not the track after. After the start you have to expect the drivers to be adult and when they aren't, well that's what yellows and the penalty chicane is for.

That said it could be reworked to return it to a bit more shallow approach and rework the exit. Give drivers a chance to out-brake and then enough room for two through the final half the corner. Right now it's so square it drives more narrow than it measures, slightly better flow but not so much it's like the bus stop at The Glen and becomes a singular lane.