[WEC Race] 2014 FIA WEC - Round 4 - Circuit of the Americas

[TF110]

Originally Posted by Mike Hedlund

The "track surface" is delineated by the white line, not the curbing.

-mike

Yeah, who says? No investigation, no warning, no foul. If white lines define track limits, just about everyone breaks it.

[TzeiTzei]

Originally Posted by TF110

Yeah, who says? No investigation, no warning, no foul. If white lines define track limits, just about everyone breaks it.

The rules? It's just an impossible situation for the race director to control, that's why they don't bother penalising the drivers. F1 tried in one race this year and dropped it afterwards very quickly.

[TF110]

Originally Posted by TzeiTzei

The rules? It's just an impossible situation for the race director to control, that's why they don't bother penalising the drivers. F1 tried in one race this year and dropped it afterwards very quickly.

What rules are there to define and who defines track limits? If the race director doesnt penalize for it, is it even a rule? Porsche could have protested the pass as gaining position by going off track if it was outside track limits. Seeing as they didn't I assumed it wasn't a cut of track, but a pass off the racing line. I bet Bahrain has some racing 'outside the lines too'. Shanghai sure did!

[TzeiTzei]

Originally Posted by TF110

What rules are there to define and who defines track limits? If the race director doesnt penalize for it, is it even a rule?

Sporting regulations. It really is very simple. The white lines are part of the track, everything outside them is not. This has only become a problem after they started building tracks on parking lots.

[J Jay]

My word, there's some proper fanboy defending going on here!

Buemi got away with it, which I admit even I didn't catch first time. While I would have expected Freitas to spot this, I can understand why it wasn't picked up by him (and everybody else at the time), especially at night. In fact I wouldn't be surprised to find out that most of the factory drivers have done this at least once this season, but that they had the grace of not being caught on camera.

Would I prefer to have seen Buemi pinged for this? Absolutely, and the same applies to every other driver who does the same (lookin' at you, Ben). But it's just as pointless throwing Buemi to the wolves as it is white-knighting him over this.

Now if there was something put next to the line that impeded progress if a driver exceeded the track limits, this wouldn't have happened. What a novel idea that would be. Any chance Jean? Pierre? Gerard?

[TF110]

Originally Posted by J Jay

My word, there's some proper fanboy defending going on here!

Buemi got away with it, which I admit even I didn't catch first time. While I would have expected Freitas to spot this, I can understand why it wasn't picked up by him (and everybody else at the time), especially at night. In fact I wouldn't be surprised to find out that most of the factory drivers have done this at least once this season, but that they had the grace of not being caught on camera.

Would I prefer to have seen Buemi pinged for this? Absolutely, and the same applies to every other driver who does the same (lookin' at you, Ben). But it's just as pointless throwing Buemi to the wolves as it is white-knighting him over this.

Now if there was something put next to the line that impeded progress if a driver exceeded the track limits, this wouldn't have happened. What a novel idea that would be. Any chance Jean? Pierre? Gerard?

No fanboyism and white-knighting. Just throwing out there, even going by white line is the track limit, ok, which one? Because that turn has a white line inside the curbing, and outside the curbing. The track has this all around on different corners actually-




This inside the curb was used through the race and in f1. I agree that its these new types of tracks that lead to this, but imo it wasnt a cut. I wonder what happened to the orange pyramids?

[Matt]

Originally Posted by TF110

No fanboyism and white-knighting. Just throwing out there, even going by white line is the track limit, ok, which one? Because that turn has a white line inside the curbing, and outside the curbing. The track has this all around on different corners actually-




This inside the curb was used through the race and in f1. I agree that its these new types of tracks that lead to this, but imo it wasnt a cut. I wonder what happened to the orange pyramids?

There's actually three white lines there.

[TF110]

Even more confusing.

[Mike Hedlund]

It's really not confusing if you've ever been in a FIA (or any major series for that matter) drivers meeting. The rules are always the same... the only thing that changes is the way officials sometimes choose to enforce them.

The innermost white line is always the "track limit" unless you're told otherwise in the meeting (which is very rare). I wasn't in the Austin WEC drivers meeting but based on how they were driving the rest of the track, I can guarantee you the standard rule applied. You can gain 1-2 seconds per lap by "cutting" the track in a few parts and it's very hard for the officials to catch unless they watch you lap after lap.

-mike

[TF110]

So the innermost would be before the curbing. If thats the limit, then multiple people including Buemi should have been penalized. At Shanghai it was just as bad with the astro turf coming up from repeated off tracking. Seems like theyve laxed that enforcement lately.

[Matt]

Originally Posted by TF110

So the innermost would be before the curbing. If thats the limit, then multiple people including Buemi should have been penalized. At Shanghai it was just as bad with the astro turf coming up from repeated off tracking. Seems like theyve laxed that enforcement lately.

Innermost in those pictures would be the one right next to the grass.

At least I'm taking innermost as the innermost one on the corner.

[TzeiTzei]

Originally Posted by Matt

Innermost in those pictures would be the one right next to the grass.

At least I'm taking innermost as the innermost one on the corner.

It's the one between the black stuff and the kerb.

[joeb]

Originally Posted by Matt

Innermost in those pictures would be the one right next to the grass.

At least I'm taking innermost as the innermost one on the corner.

I thought the line by the grass would be the outermost if you are on the track.

[Lusitano]

Originally Posted by TzeiTzei

Sporting regulations. It really is very simple. The white lines are part of the track, everything outside them is not.

As simple as that.

Been watching the other races, and the impression that I got is that my compatriot Eduardo and his posse and lacking a bit of attention of lately. They harass some teams for nothing and then miss such blatant situations. Makes me wonder...

Ocasionally, even the radio commentators miss a situation or two.