Pit Lane Safety Systems

[woodpecker]

Dear all,

I am looking into safety systems for pit lane, and am hoping to draw on the wealth of experience in this forum. At the Melbourne GP, a pit lane siren/hooter is used to warn of incoming cars. Opinion is divided on whether this system is a help or hindrance (largely in that the sound doesn't always indicate an imminent vehicle, only to be aware that one may be coming through).

Would appreciate any thoughts from those who have officiated in pit lane at Melbourne, and also feedback from others around the world who have worked with similar systems. Are they good/bad, how do they compare with flags and whistles, any other systems?

Any feedback would be appreciated - all opinions valid and welcomed!

Cheers,

Woodpecker

[Steve Tarrant]

Hi,

I am the siren operator at Thruxton, and the feedback I get is generally of the supportive kind. Our marshals in pitlane do carry yellow flags which they can use as neccessary, but the siren alerts them that there is/will be moving traffic in pitlane, and they can then protect themselves and mechanics who are usually occupied with working on their car to look after their own safety.

We had a situation at the end of last year where the amplifier broke, and had to resort to whistles, and everyone seemed to find it far harder to manage.

The advantage to having a hand pressed siren button rather than one of the broken beam systems is that I can vary the type of sound by length/repeats, so that if something out of the ordinary is happening, given several short repeat bursts rather than the single standard length burst can alert even the busiest of people.

Another advantage is that when the track is noisiest, such as a rolling start when everyone's engine is making most noise, I can extend the length of the siren when pace cars roll in.

Also, when cars are coming off the track, when they are coming in as one continuous stream, you only need to sound the siren for the first 2-3 cars and then stop. Then if there is a break in the stream or a straggler comes along on their own after a period of quiet, you can then alert pitlane of it's arrival. That's got to be better than having the siren sound 20-30 times when each and every car breaks the beam.

These are my findings after doing this role for the past 3 seasons.

Cheers


Steve

[hogmany]

In my time I believe that I have visited most pit lanes in the UK, the only exceptions being Cadwell and Lyden. So circuits, like Thruxton have someone manning the buzzer and others like Pembrey have an automatic system

While I understand that circuits install these automatic systems for their easy of operation, especially during weekday testing, track days, I have to admit that I dislike automatic systems as they are often triggered by people walking in front of the beam and other false alarms.

I much prefer manual systems with an operator that can make decisions based on the circumstances, as Steve points out in his posting.

One of the most important considerations is the length of the Pit Lane. For example at Silverstone and Rockingham, which both have very long Pit Lanes, if the buzzer was to sound for a car entering the Pit Lane, it would be of little relevance to someone near the exit of the Pit Lane. At Silverstone there is a second buzzer ½ way down the Pit Lane to cater for this.

[Sheila M]

As a car pit marshal I'm used to the system of having a pit lane buzzer or whistles to warn of approaching vehicles. However, I have just spent three days as a bike pit marshal at the Grand Prix at Donington and they use a system of flags, which I thought was very good.

The idea is that as a bike enters your sector you wave your yellow flag to warn people of its whereabouts (looks a bit like a yellow Mexican wave when the bike is doing the full length of the pit lane). I have done something similar for cars but only from the pit wall never from the middle of the lane itself.

You can't always hear the pit lane buzzer or a whistle over the sound of noisy engines but you can see a waved yellow flag, even if you are not looking for one.