Carrera “Chicane” or stock pit lane entry? Opinions wanted!

[Fourshipp]

This is last year's track. It is 16 x 6 digital. We are going with the same basic layout this year with some changes to the infield section and lengthening the straights, but the outside and ends will remain unchanged. The new table will be 20 x 6.

Previously the pit lane was at the beginning of the long back stretch with a straight section off the 180 prior to the entry to reduce missed entries caused by tail slides. The issue was with the big 180 being one of the fastest sections, cars would regularly deslot entering the sharp turns on the stock pit entry. We tried the pit on the front straight but there was not room for a reasonably long pit lane and the start finish/CU on that shorter straight.

This year we are using a two lane pit with the Evolution/Pro-X electronics for pit lane sequencing. That will increase the overall pit length to a minimum 7 straight sections.

My first option is to leave the pit the pit lane on the long back stretch but use a two piece chicane for the inboard pit lane entry and a stock pit entry for the outer lane. This would hopefully give the cars a longer and shallower pit entry with more time to decelerate. They would still need to slow enough to negotiate the stock entry for the outer pit lane. This would also increase the pit length to 8 sections.

The second choice would be to move the pit to the shorter front straight but use the stock pit entry throughout. The cars should be slowed coming off the hard right hander and be able to enter the pit without difficulty. The track was originally set up as shown with the short straight being the front straight with the start finish line. This year we will flip it 180 out and put the long straight in the front, leaving plenty of room for both a pit and the start finish line.

I’d appreciate any thoughts on the pros and cons of each option or other suggestions I didn’t think of. Fire away. The table extensions are under construction and we’ll start laying track after thanksgiving.

[dw5555]

This is a toughie. Obviously the back straight has the room for a great pit but putting it on the exit of a fast curve is not the best answer but it's a question of putting it where it fits. The front straight going to be a lot slower but realistically going to about 3 straights long. You will still have to put a couple of short pieces after the curve to straighten the car out from the curve before the pits, The only other option I can suggest is maybe putting the entrance to the pits in the straights above the front straight and running a 3rd lane around the inside of the corner before the pits. I don't think you have the room in between the tracks for a full width track though. I don't know.
Dave

[Fourshipp]

Thanks, Dave for the thoughts. I do plan to lengthen the table and add a few sections to each straight. That will give me more room wherever the pit goes. If I started over on the table I would go 7’ wide instead of 6. An extra 12 “ would open up options in the infield portion.

Bruce