Pit road

[call_me_andrew]

When I watch movies like Grand Prix and Le Mans, I notice two things about the pits.

1. The stalls are on the track.
2. There's a wall.

Where did the concept for the modern FIA pit road come from and when did it become commonplace?

[DazzlaF1]

When I watch movies like Grand Prix and Le Mans, I notice two things about the pits.

1. The stalls are on the track.
2. There's a wall.

Where did the concept for the modern FIA pit road come from and when did it become commonplace?

Its to do with the improvements in faclilties over the years which I think its FOM who've been responsible for makign sure tracks meet the standards they want.

As for the FIA, I think all they've done over the years is the pit lane speed limit.

[call_me_andrew]

Whose idea was it to connect garages directly to the pit stalls?

[Saint Devote]

Whose idea was it to connect garages directly to the pit stalls?

I'd say convenience - actually well into the 90's the garages at Monte Carlo were a long way from the pit boxes and they had to push the cars up the hill every time!!!

[Mark]

When I watch movies like Grand Prix and Le Mans, I notice two things about the pits.

1. The stalls are on the track.
2. There's a wall.

Where did the concept for the modern FIA pit road come from and when did it become commonplace?

I'd understood it was always that way in European racing? And that the concept of the "wall" was something unique to American racing as they have a limit on the number of personnel "over the wall"

[D-Type]

Its to do with the improvements in faclilties over the years which I think its FOM who've been responsible for makign sure tracks meet the standards they want.

As for the FIA, I think all they've done over the years is the pit lane speed limit.
The FIA have always made the regulations not FOM.

I have a 1975 copy of the FIA Yellow Book. This includes a section on safety criteria for circuits with a sub section for the pits which includes minimum lengths for the pits, a barrier (wall) between pit and pit lane, a raised signalling platform and wall between pit lane and track, entry and exit lanes etc.

[Don Capps]

And that the concept of the "wall" was something unique to American racing as they have a limit on the number of personnel "over the wall"

Actually, it was quite commonplace in European racing until the modern era to have a limit on the number of personnel who could service a machine when it stopped in the pits during a race. Of course, given that the crews were rather small to begin with, this was not quite the handicap that it would seem.

As Duncan points out, the FIA through its sporting commission, the CSI, had established circuit criteria by the middle of the Seventies which included the pit area. These criteria have continued to be refined and revised and updated many times since then, of course.

In the aftermath of the Le Mans disaster in 1955, several European circuits did modify their pit areas, but few did much until forced to do so by the CSI. The GPDA did play a role in this effort for a while, forcing the CSI to make changes to the circuits and pit areas; the F1CA played a role in the upgrading of paddock facilities, an effort that the FISA and FOM later made part of their standardization and homgenization program.

Also, walls between the pit area and the track did not spring fully realized in US racing, the walls only slowly emerging over a period of many years before being mandated by several sanctioning groups by the early decades of the post-WW2 era.

[Bruce D]

Don, you'd probably be able to give the more exact facts but there was a French GP in the early 60's or maybe late 50s that had a situation where there was no wall between the track and pits and the police caused chaos there. Since that time the wall became common but it wasn't originally.

[Don Capps]

Don, you'd probably be able to give the more exact facts but there was a French GP in the early 60's or maybe late 50s that had a situation where there was no wall between the track and pits and the police caused chaos there. Since that time the wall became common but it wasn't originally.

That would be, I assume, the 1962 GP de l'ACF at Rouen-les-Essarts, when Trevor Taylor and Maurice Trintignant came together in the finish line area in an almighty crash that could have easily had fatal results. However, the gerdarmes cluttering up the pit area at the end of a race was a standard problem during those days for both the GP de l'ACF as well as the GP de Endurance (Le Mans). The Taylor-Trintignant shunt is the one that popped into my mind.