31 replies to this topic

[Leif Snellman]

Have anyone seen any good explanation why most Grand Prix tracks are raced clockwise while in all other sports I know of, including American motor racing, the competitiors are circulating the tracks anti-clockwise?
Brooklands and Indianapolis were both anti-clockwise. Was Monza the track that started the clockwise tradition?

[Barry Lake]

I researched, not so long ago, the origin of "pits" and, in the process, remember seeing some mention of this in relation to the pits.

It's coming back to me in bits and pieces. I am writing as it comes to me.

Something to do with having the main grandstand opposite the pits (and I am talking about the earliest French GPs, here, pre-WWI), slower cars keeping right, faster cars passing on the left...

So the pits had to be on the right hand side of the road and the grandstand had to be on the outside of the circuit, so patrons could come and go at their leisure (races lasted several hours in those days, remember).

Therefore, the circuit had to run clockwise.

It hasn't always been that way; there are exceptions.

Can anyone else elaborate on this?

[Barry Lake]

Which reminds me of another, slightly related, question.

I know the answer, even remember writing about it, but can't for the life of me drag it out of the memory banks.

So, can anyone remind me why, in Australia, the F1 pits are laid out the opposite way around to the rest of the world?

That is, in Australia, as the cars come into the pits, the first pits are the Minardis (and now Prosts) of the world, while McLaren and Ferrari are at the furthest end, near the start/finish line.

Elsewhere, the first pits the cars come to are Ferrari and McLaren; while the Prosts, Minardis etc have to go all the way down to the far end.

And don't try to tell me it has something to do with being "down under" and water going the other way around as it goes down the plug hole and all that sort of stuff.

I know I am going to say "Of course!" when the right answer comes up, but who can tell me?

[karlcars]

Good one! The 'pits' first came into use at the 1908 French Grand Prix, where the mechanics etc. were in a ditch dug alongside the track, on the right as the cars travelled, so they would not be blocking the view from the grandstands.

As to the direction of travel, does anyone know anything about horse racing? This may have provided a precedent.

[Barry Lake]

Ah yes! That is all coming back to me now.

That race when they dug the real "pits" - which actually were trenches in the ground - it was because the pits and grandstand both were on the one side of the circuit. I think this was so they both would be accessible from outside the track. The pits were required so that the spectators in the stands could see over them and watch the cars and crews when they stopped for tyres, fuel and repairs.

They then decided it was more practical to have "above ground pits" with the grandstand on the opposite side of the road. One of them had to be on the inside of the circuit. I suppose they decided the paying spectators had more right to the freedom of access by being on the outside than did the paid "performers".

But I am fairly sure it was to do with the rule of the road being drive on the right, pass on the left, that decided the pits were on the right hand side of the road, the grandstand on the left, and the circuit thus had to run clockwise to make it all work.

[Leif Snellman]

Thank you Barry and Karl. That seems to be the correct explanation. I don't know much about horse race cources as only trotting is allowed here in Finland, but as far as I know horse racing is "anti-clockwise" also. Brooklands was greatly influented by horse racing, it even had a special spurt section with the finish line, and it was as I said anti-clockwise.

[Roger Clark]

The 1906, 07, 08 and 12 Grands Prix were all run anti-clockwise. Why Amiens (1913) was run clockwise, I don't know.

[Darren Galpin]

Barry - the teams themselves usually choose which pit bay they want (first choice goes to which team finished first the previous year). Why they should go the other way around in Aus, I know not.

[Kpy]

IMO the "pits and stands" theory doesn't stand up, as whether you run clockwise or anti the pits can always be central and the 'stands external. In the early road circuit days temporary bridges were built over the circuits - nine bridges and two tunnels for the 1907 French GP for instance - to give residents and spectators easier access and egress.
I've always thought that when purpose built circuits began to appear cars were still right hand drive and that drivers felt more comfortable if they were on the "inside" for the majority of the corners - the previous long road circuits probable largely cancelled out this "circuit effect". Once single seaters became the norm it ceased to matter;
Purely my theory, not an ounce of evidence to support it.

[Barry Lake]

The over riding factor is not simply the location of the pits and stands.

It includes the "slow cars keep to the right, fast cars pass on the left" factor (I don't know if it was a rule or just a gentleman's agreement).

This is not simply a theory of mine; it is the result of researching via books, many of them contemporary.

One of the main sources of my research when I did that story on "the pits" was "Grand Prix Racing 1906-1914" by T A S O Mathieson.

As Mathieson was himself a racing driver, as well as a historian, I think he would have a good idea of how it all came about.

[FlagMan]

The reason I have been told for clockwise racing circuits stems from the fact that in UK the driver sits on the right of the car, so it is easier to place the car on right handers than left handers. Hence clockwise circuits which give more right than left handers.

Most circuits then followed the UK principal in the 20's etc.

In the US they race the 'wrong way round' as the drivers sit on the left.

[Kpy]

Originally posted by Barry Lake
The over riding factor is not simply the location of the pits and stands.

It includes the "slow cars keep to the right, fast cars pass on the left" factor (I don't know if it was a rule or just a gentleman's agreement).

This is not simply a theory of mine; it is the result of researching via books, many of them contemporary.

One of the main sources of my research when I did that story on "the pits" was "Grand Prix Racing 1906-1914" by T A S O Mathieson.

As Mathieson was himself a racing driver, as well as a historian, I think he would have a good idea of how it all came about.

I respect your opinions Barry, but can you please explain why seven out of the nine races in the excellent book you refer to were run anti-clockwise?
The pits (or stands) were on the right side of the circuit in 1906 - see several 'photos in Mathieson's book (what a shame the book has neither numbered pages nor an index), as they still are at Imola. They don't have to be on the left hand side.

[Barry Lake]

______________________________________________________

"The pits... were on the right side of the circuit in 1906... as they still are at Imola. They don't have to be on the left hand side."
________________________________________________________

That is exactly what I am saying.

The pits on European circuits most often are, and have been, on the right hand side of the road. I believe it is for the reason I have stated: they followed the common (to them) road rule of slow cars keeping right, fast cars overtaking on the left.

Brooklands track, which dates back to that era, was anti-clockwise and had the pits on the left - which of course was the natural way for Britons, who drove on the opposite side of the road from the French. (Slow cars keep left, etc).

Over time, many European circuit designers have found it more convenient to make the circuit run clockwise so that the pits can be on the inside of the circuit, the main grandstand, which traditionally (but not always) overlooks the the pits from the opposite side of the road, can be on the ouside.

Obviously some, for various reasons, have chosen to do otherwise (Imola being just one example).

Remember the original question, "...why MOST Grand Prix tracks are raced clockwise...?"

The original story for which I did the research was some time ago and was primarily about the evolution of the "pits". I also traced the evolution of wheels and tyres, and the related pit stops.

Both stories, and the associated research, covered from the pre-WWI era, through to modern times. In the course of that research, using quality books, I came across the above explanation of why many circuits developed in clockwise form.

Without going back through all of the books again, I can not tell you exactly when the major trend towards clockwise circuits began.

Hopefully, someone will pick up on Leif's second question and tell us if it was Monza that started the trend. I suspect that it did evolve with the advent of permanent circuits, as opposed to closed public roads, which probably had many other contributing factors to the choice of circuit direction.

[Bladrian]

Here's a take-your-pick circuit. The original Zwartkops race circuit was run clockwise. In it's second incarnation it was run anti-clockwise, and in it's latest form it's clockwise again. It appears you can satisfy all of the people all of the time.

[marion5drsn]

If you can tell me why clocks run"Clockwise" you will answer your own question. Which way were the old chariot races run. Surely someone knows. Charlston Heston ran to the left didn't he? Or is that just Hollywood. Why are threads made right handed?


Edit # 1 http://www.bhi.co.uk/hints/clckwse.htm
M.L. Anderson

Thank you Ray!

[Barry Lake]

I think right hand threads are easier to explain than clockwise circuits. It's simply the natural way for a right-handed person to wield a spanner, isn't it?

Of course now that laws in the "developed" countries favour minority groups more than the majority, perhaps we soon will have a change-over to left-handed threads thrust upon us.

[Ray Bell]

Not if anyone in the decision-making bodies have ever tried to undo truck wheelnuts...

It's too late, of course, to refer to them maybe owning Chryslers? Mazdas, perhaps...


PS... Marion, if you edit again to separate the digit '1' from the 'http' your url will come up okay.

[Wolf]

Marion, I checked Your link, and I find this part actually interesting:

However, don't ask me why the Muslim faithful in Mecca circle the Ka'aba seven times counter-clockwise, why people lost in the wilderness tend to drift to the left as they wander, nor why Douglas 'Wrong Way' Corrigan flew widdershins in 1938 when he flew from Brooklyn to Dublin after filing a flight plan to Los Angeles, ...

I thought the latter one was obvious- he was refused the permission for New York - Dublin flight on grounds of poor condition of his plane...

[John71]

I looked all the evening in my library, because I knew that recently I read about this subject. Finally I found a piece in a book about the history of motorcyclesport in Holland. In the next sentences I’ll try to summarize what is written in the book.

The author is starting to say that the earth is turning anti-clockwise and the human being tend to drift left when lost in the wilderness (desert, sea, and as Wolf discribed, the air). Traces that archaeologist found of the Roman period showed that already then the Roman people tended to drive on the left side of the road.

A real scientific explanation is not know to the author, but he found some interesting opinions and interpretations. According to a scientist of the university of Leiden the dominantly of going clockwise or anti-clockwise is ‘a matter of tradition’ and ‘because the most things go anti-clockwise people are trained in doing things anti-clockwise’. The statistics shows that if there are more accidents on racetracks on right corners than on left corners (directly after the start, when it is still crowded on the track).

A more deep explanation is found in the different functions of the two sides of the brain. The left part of the brain is mostly for communication whilst the right part is for multidimensional orientation. The movements of the body are cross-controlled by the brain (the left brain part controls right side of body, right part of brain controls left side of the body).
Mostly the left part of the human brain is better developed than the other part. Maybe this is an explanation of this funny human behavior.

John

[Wolf]

The drifting part had me pondering a bit on the issue... Maybe there is simple explanation, which could be obtained from a small survey (same as every other on the subject, but taking into regard whether person was right-handed or not). I suspect, since most people are right-handed and have right-hand side of the body better developed, that the problem might lie with fatigue (or otherwise, even pshchologically induced 'fatigue') which will sooner and more acutely affect (weaker) left foot, and causing decrease of its stride. This would eventualy result in drifting to the left...

[David Beard]

Digressing slightly...I'm sure I can remember going to more than one motorcycle race meeting at Brands Hatch (late 60s?) that was run anti clockwise. Have any other circuits alternated? Armco would have to be overlapped in the opposite direction...and all sorts of other problems.

[marion5drsn]

I thought I had a good thing going with the Charlton Heston thing and no one was able to capitalize on it. I am very disappointed in you people. Oh well, live and learn.

Yours, M.L. Anderson

[Barry Lake]

Originally posted by John71


The author is starting to say that the earth is turning anti-clockwise...

It might be turning anti-clockwise to you, up there. But, to us, down here, it is turning clockwise.

[John71]

Mmm, you got me, Barry. I didn't think about it a single moment......

John

(Hi there down under )

[JacnGille]

My memory of the explainations do indeed relate back to horse racing days. And the history of US/UK relations. After America severed her ties with England we Yanks decided that to do things the English way was the wrong way. The direction that horse races were run being one example of doing things differently. Early auto races were run on horse tracks so the direction of travel was maintained. Who is right? Who knows!

[David Shaw]

I have a British book on horse-racing which has diagrams of 2 tracks, Aintree (home of The Grand National) and Epsom (home of the Epsom Derby) and they both are left-hand (counter-clockwise) tracks. In Australia, 2 states namely New South Wales and Queensland, have the horseracing tracks running counter-clockwise (with the exception of 1 track), and all the other states run clockwise.

[Mihai]

Originally posted by Barry Lake

That is, in Australia, as the cars come into the pits, the first pits are the Minardis (and now Prosts) of the world, while McLaren and Ferrari are at the furthest end, near the start/finish line.

Elsewhere, the first pits the cars come to are Ferrari and McLaren; while the Prosts, Minardis etc have to go all the way down to the far end.
[/B]

I remember a couple of year ago, maybe more, the Romanian commentator said in his endless wisdom about a driver making a regular pit stop: too bad for him that his pits are at the back of the pit lane ! The idiot didn't realised that driving to the pits and out of the pits inside the limited speed are one and the same in terms of the time lost.

[Garagiste]

There can be a small advantage to being the first pit (closest to pit entrace) though, as one can simply drive straight into the pit rather than having to drive around the other team's mechanics.

[D-Type]

Originally posted by Garagiste
There can be a small advantage to being the first pit (closest to pit entrace) though, as one can simply drive straight into the pit rather than having to drive around the other team's mechanics.

Surely you just have to drive round them while you're accelarating out instead. You could be right - it probably is more of a problem when you are braking.

Back to the original question: I have been to British stock car meetings where some classes raced clockwise and others anti-clockwise. I think it was the contact classes - bangers and the like who racedanti-clockwise to minimise impacts on the driver's door while the 'real' stock cars (the ones that look really weird) raced clockwise.

[Roger Clark]

The issues of direction go right back to the beginning of circuit racing. There is an an interesting article in Motor Sport March 1951 on this subject, by Baladeur, who I believe was Kent Karslake.

The first circuit race was the 1902 Circuit des Ardennes. This was run anti-clockwise. Baladeur assumed that in doing that they instituted the "drive on the left, pass on the right" rule. One possible reason for this is that racing cars of the time were right hand drive and passing on the right gave the overtaking driver the best possible view of the road ahead. The following year's Gordon Bennett race retained the drive on the left rule, as would be normal in Ireland, but the course was a figure of eight, so no conclusions can be drawn as to the direction of circulation.

The first race in France on a closed circuit was the Eliminating Trial for the 1904 Gordon Bennett, run anti-clockwise. The race (in Germany) was also run on an anti-clockwise circuit. However, the 1905 GB race (in France) was run clockwise. This caused Baladeur to remark that Théry, who won all three events, and who was known as "the Chronometer" was as good as a clock as he was as an anticlock.

Baladeur suggests that the change to a clockwise circuit in 1905 may well have been due to attempts to streamline the cars.

In the earliest racing cars...it was customary for driver and mechanic to sit side-by-side on a bench seat; but by about 1898, some of the more enthusiastic drivers, to decrease wind resistance, were making their mechanics sit on the floor with their feet on the step....(By 1908) the Mors and De Dietrichs had high-sided streamlined bodies, somewhat resembling upturned boats. In these it was impossible for the mechanic to sit with his legs hanging out, and apparently it soon became unsmart for him to do this even when he could. .... This development I suggest, must have given the ACF authorities the idea that the mechanic, having now as exalted a view as the driver's, and being seated on the left-hand side of the car, could be relied upon to observe the position when overtaking, and thus remove the obstacle to right-hand (clockwise) circuits and the right hand rule of the road.

The first Grand Prix in 1906 introduces further confusion. The race was run anti-clockwise, and the pits were on the right hand side of the road. The curious thing is that there is a map published in several contemporary papers, and in Gerald Rose's Record of Motors and Motor Racing on which arrows clearly indicate a clockwise course. Baladeur speculates that this was an early map, prepared when the circuit was first decided upon; there is no indication on it of the wooden by-pass built to avoid the bad pieces of road around Vibraye and St.Calais. He further points out that the Auvergne race featured controlled sections to reduce the amount of overtaking. Rose says that there was trouble at first over the St.Calais corner (at Le Mans) and it seemed at first that a neutralisation would be necessary. When it was decided to build the by-pass it was "decided to make the race a two-day affair with no neutralisations or stops of any kind" (Rose) This meant that there would be much more overtaking than in 1905. Baladeur suggests that it must have been this consideration which induced the authorities to revert to the left hand rule of 1904 and thus relieve the mechanics of an undue measure of responsibility.

The three Grands Prix at Dieppe were run anti-clockwise, probably for the same reasons as 1906.

In 1906 and 1907 l'Auto had run a successful Coupe des Voiturettes. These consisted of a six-day reliability trial followed by a race on the seventh day on the same circuit. The reliability trials were held on unclosed roads with the result that the right hand rule of the road had to be observed and the circuit was therefore covered clockwise. When the Grand Prix moved from Dieppe to Amiens this convention was retained.

From that time, the use of clockwise circuits for road racing became the norm. Presumably this was because racing cars were two seaters, usually right hand drive, and it made sense to have the driver close to the inside on the majority of corners. By the time single seaters became common in Europe the precedent was set. However, I understand that the new Turkish formula 1 facility will have the cars running anti-clockwise. Perhaps the wheel has come a full circle, but in which direction I wouldn't care to say.

[Vitesse2]

From the same era, the British GBT trials on the Isle of Man were also run on a clockwise course, as were the subsequent TTs (on a shorter one). At least in the TTs the Isle of Man pits were on the left! And so were the pits at Ards, also a clockwise circuit.

[Arthur Anderson]

Originally posted by Leif Snellman
Have anyone seen any good explanation why most Grand Prix tracks are raced clockwise while in all other sports I know of, including American motor racing, the competitiors are circulating the tracks anti-clockwise?
Brooklands and Indianapolis were both anti-clockwise. Was Monza the track that started the clockwise tradition?

American racing drew its real growth on oval dirt tracks, which abounded in the US in the early 20th century, for both flat saddle and harness (sulky) racing (the latter personified then by the legendary pacer, Dan Patch). All horse racing in the US is done counter-clockwise, for whatever reason, so it followed, naturally, that oval track motor racing would be in the same pattern.

Art