[Purist]

It's been a bit longer than I intended, but here's the next piece.

Bends, Pinch Corners, and Other Niggly Bits
This area can be one of the trickiest to deal with. There are fewer constants to work with, and whether a curve works is very dependent on the track context.

Now, I probably have some of you wondering about that second item: "pinch corners". So, I'll hit that first. Basically, a pinch corner is a bend or kink located such that it pinches the effective racing line. When badly placed, these corners can have a very negative impact on racing potential. Pinch corners are also bad for bunched fields on starts and restarts, because they're a pile-up waiting to happen. I like good racing, and I'm sure you guys do too, but I do NOT want half the field wiped out right from the get-go.

Geometric corners tend to be worse for this. Circuito de Navarra is particularly troublesome with respect to this sort of corner. The big offender at Navarra is Turn 1, although Turn 2 doesn't exactly help things either. This corner really exemplifies what can go wrong. It's at the end of an 800m straight, so you're set to make a pass, or in the process of making one. This is a fast corner, but it's of a sufficient angle that you really need the full track width on exit. This is exacerbated by the next turn being even more severe, which makes getting a good, wide entry there that much more critical.And since Turn 3 is the tightest one of the sequence, not keeping the proper line from the start just begins to stack up against you with how much more you will have to slow down eventually, and how wide you are likely to run when you reach the hairpin. The final difficulty in this case is that these three corners are all very distinct turns, and separated by straight straights. If you had "straights" between them that had a slight bend, the effective turn angle is reduced, and since you're turning a little already, the vehicle is less likely to be unbalanced by the added input, which makes taking THE ideal line that much less essential.

Now, not all pinch corners are a real problem. Turn 4 at Navarra doesn't have enough of a straight leading into it for it to cause any notable problems, and you're not far enough along that run to be ducking out to pass anyway.

The worst variety of pinch corners are tight, or confined, chicanes. With these, there is just straight-lining between the first few apexes. You use basically one of two lines, and these are predetermined by the line you approach them on coming down the preceding straight. The trouble is, if two competitors are truly on the limit, they cannot negotiate those first two apexes side-by-side. One of them MUST give, or else there WILL BE a collision. Particularly bad examples of this include chicanes at Monza, Surfers Paradise, Portland, and Lime Rock (the new configuration). I'm also rather concerned what's going to happen in this year's British GP at Silverstone when everyone tries to pile into the Abbey Esse right after the start; there isn't much straight before that corner, and even at reduced speed from the standing start, I doubt more than two abreast is going to work through there.

Just to clarify something, the first two chicanes at Monza are tight; the opening chicane at Adelaide is not tight, but it is definitely confined.

I will add here that pinch corners can be useful for setting up passes by setting the guy behind up right behind the leader, on the same racing line, heading down a good straight.

Now, I'll take a look at bends, curves, kinks, and all manner of extra niggly bits that can cause difficulties. And the big issue created here is these added little changes in direction can REALLY foul up overtaking attempts. The especially happens when saide bend or curve is too close to the major turn that follows.

This issue of extra little jinks is what really plagues the urban circuit in Valencia. Turn 1 isn't a problem really, but just before Turn 2, there is an extra little bend to the right. Any overtakes into Turn 8 are made much harder by the pinch corner at Turn 6, and then you have the extra curve back to the right for Turn 7. The run to Turn 12 is complicated by right/left/right that comes just before the braking zone. The run into Turn 17 has a left/right to deal with just before that braking zone.

Except for Turn 7, none of these 6 extra little bends are really apparent on the track map. They are very subtle, but their impact is NOT. All of them serve to effectively tighten the corners that follow them. If you're trying to overtaking on the inside, you're already on a tighter line than is ideal. The extra bends just compound this, especially when you're not only closer to the apex of the main corner, but closer to the apex of these extra turns as well.

The ultra-compromised line for making an overtake is the biggest issue in all four aforementioned zones, and is the factor of note on the approach to Turn 2. For Turn 8, the trouble is made worse because drivers go from the far left inTurn 6 to the far right in Turn 7. Basically, you have to outbrake the guy as you're finishing the turn-out from Turn 7 and trying to make Turn 8, rather than just blowing it completely. The 3 bends heading into Turn 12 present the issue of the extra compromised line. On top of this though, the ideal line in effect weaves between the walls, when in fact it is almost straight, but this leads to the problem of the leading car being in the middle of the road for the regular line until you're virtually on top of the braking zone. The same thing happens with the 2 curves on the approach to Turn 17. Without the extra bends to interfere, you'd have good length of run right along the left edge of the track leading into Turns 2, 8, 12, and 17, with which you could quite reasonably set up the guy in front of you.

When Tilke added the Mercedes Arena to the Nurburgring GP Circuit, a kink was added to the front straight before Turn 1 proper. You essentially have to be coming alongside the competitor you want to overtake by the time you reach that kink and the braking zones, or else you are almost certain to blow the corner if you try the banzia it and straight-line the kink. You'll just be on too shallow and line, and that's all there is to it.

One thing all the above examples have is that the last bend or kink before the main corner is in the same direction as the main corner, but even in situations where this is not the case, the can still be some issues. Having a bend in the opposite direction of the main corner just before that corner can make blocking into the corner extraordinarily easy; just watch the FIA GT3 races from Jarama, and what happens going into Turn 1.

I know there are some other examples out there, but I think this gives a good basis for further investigation and discussion. And I'm sorry if I'm long-winded to the point of being a bit overwhelming with these. I just like to be accurate and thorough with my analyses.