55 replies to this topic

[THE "driverider"]

Many great corners in motorsport, but such hate for chicanes. Is there such thing as a classic chicane?

[Afterburner]

Bus stop, full stop.

[DanardiF1]

The Monza chicanes in their various guises over the years have come to become a key part of the 'allure' of the track, getting the kerbs right and flicking the low downforce cars into the tight chicanes...

Also I'm with Afterburner, the Bus Stop (particularly the old one) is a classic.

[pingu666]

eu rouge
becketts
the one at suzuka ?

[Mox]

Many great corners in motorsport, but such hate for chicanes. Is there such thing as a classic chicane?

Not sure if you mean "classic" as in "old", or "classic" as in "the right kind"?

Most chicanes - if not all - are put in as safety measures to avoid "potentially dangerous speeds" (Well, DUH!), so they often change a circuit FROM the classic layout.

But I'll venture that some (perhaps only a few) chicanes are done right, and add to the challenge. Such chicanes as Variante Alta at Imola come to mind, as do the old "Bus Stop" at Spa, which was eventually changed twice, because it didn't play well with modern cars.

But Variante Alta was one of those tight bastards with fairly high curbs, making the margin of error quite small. Get it exactly right, you could go fast, get it slightly wrong, you'd add to the spectacle by launching your car over the curbs at viscious speeds. Get it wrong ... Well, there's a wall on the left, and trees on the right ... :-)

Variante Alta has since been tightened and the curbs flattened ... sadly. To me, it was a classic!

[Risil]

The first chicane at the Salzburgring, which Grand Prix bikes used to attempt to cut the (massive) kerb at the apex. Resulting in both wheels off the ground, huge tankslapper. There's a particularly choice one from Max Biaggi in his 250 days, but Youtube throws a blank. Suzuka, Thruxton and Assen's chicanes are good for a last-lap throw down the anchors style pass.

Third chicane at Monza (before the back straight) works, I think. Imola still works very well despite all the chicanes, although maybe it's too tight for F1 these days. No more so than Laguna Seca would be, perhaps. And I loved the crappy little chicane at the end of the Nurburgring on Grand Prix Legends.

Far as I can tell chicanes are the result of track owners not having the capital or the imagination to re-route their circuits with respect to the whole, or possibly not having the guts to stand up to the competitors and tell them that it's their machinery that needs to change. So they're unlikely to be very interesting.

Edited by Risil, 08 March 2012 - 16:50.

[Slowinfastout]

I'd say the last chicane on the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve has become kind of a classic.. not sure if it's the chicane or the wall though.

It's definitely tricky and very important for the lap..

[Hacklerf]

Bus stop was, and old Hockinheim, Suzuka

[Andy865]

Enna Pergusa, Monza, San Lius has some pretty special chicanery.

Also, the one at the top of the hill at imola, before they butchered it in 06.

[PayasYouRace]

Abbey chicane at Silverstone was apparently popular enough for people to complain that it was removed when they changed the layout a couple of years ago.

[Wingnut]

Classic Chicken

[Andy865]

^ On that Subject, Alonso loves chicken.

[August]

Third chicane at Monza (before the back straight) works, I think.

That's a nice corner but not the most typical chicane. If that's a chicane, then the Massa-Button chicane at Albert Park is another nice chicane. And the fast chicanes of Magny-Cours were part of that circuit's character.

[Snic]

The chicane added to Monaco is pretty immense from a viewers perspective. Sometimes you almost feel you can see how in-the-zone a driver is depending on how close they are to the barriers on entry and exit. Probably my favourite corner to watch during those 'Chaos laps' during qualifying

[zyphro]

Classic Chicken

ALONSO !

[stewie]

Old bus stop gets my vote.

[nada12]

Would probably have to be a chicane that's naturally embedded into the landscape, the corkscrew maybe?

[OO7]

Variante Bassa?

[Disgrace]

Classic Chicken

Well played.

[H0R]

Although I hated them with a vengeance in simracing, the Clark and Senna chicanes in Hockenheim were the only acceptables.

[HaydenFan]

Enrique Bernoldi?

Edited by HaydenFan, 08 March 2012 - 18:49.

[plastik2k9]

The chicane added to Monaco is pretty immense from a viewers perspective. Sometimes you almost feel you can see how in-the-zone a driver is depending on how close they are to the barriers on entry and exit. Probably my favourite corner to watch during those 'Chaos laps' during qualifying

I'm also a fan of that.

I think chicanes have their place, it's sad that they have such a bad reputation due to the way they're often shoved into classic circuits in unnatural places, which annoys the fans, upsets overtaking zones and often ruins the flow of a track, and just how they're generally overused in circuit design today.

[PretentiousBread]

Gotta be Ascari.

[MP422]

Variante Ascari

[Kubiccia]

Enrique Bernoldi?

http://f1.imgci.com/...S/3800/3864.jpg

well, we might also add old Jack New Village

[PNSD]

IMO, this one

http://www.imagesf1....2003/Bar/13.jpg

To those that do not know which it is, and where it is. Get out... now.

Edited by PNSD, 08 March 2012 - 19:38.

[DanardiF1]

IMO, this one

http://www.imagesf1....2003/Bar/13.jpg

To those that do not know which it is, and where it is. Get out... now.

In that form as well, when the drivers could still ride the kerbs, it's a stone cold classic.

[Madras]

The one in Canada with the Wall of Champions is good.

[tomboyracer]

well, we might also add old Jack New Village

I think you mean Jack Newtown ;p

[BRG]

The only classic chicane is the one at Goodwood, which was there from the beginning. All the rest are bodge jobs which we could well do without.

[Andrew Hope]

I can't think of a single chicane that I wouldn't rather have go away. There are good chicanes and bad chicanes, I just can't think of any I like more than the track they replaced.

Except, possibly, the old bus stop at Spa.

Edited by Andrew Hope, 08 March 2012 - 22:38.

[Risil]

The only classic chicane is the one at Goodwood, which was there from the beginning. All the rest are bodge jobs which we could well do without.

There was a very fast corner halfway round the Osterreichring called "Schikane", wasn't there? I don't mean the one they put at Hella-Licht curve some time in the late '70s. (Don't think Goodwood chicane was an original part of the circuit, though it was certainly there in the '50s.)

Owing to the road layout around there, Monaco's chicane's been there since time began as well.

[BullHead]

Bus stop, full stop.

Answered straight away. And that is really it, or should i say was

[ashnathan]

Veedol Chicane at Nurburgring
I personally always loved the Villeneuve chicane at Imola such a fast corner.

Old bus stop of course.

[BullHead]

But Variante Alta was one of those tight bastards with fairly high curbs, making the margin of error quite small. Get it exactly right, you could go fast, get it slightly wrong, you'd add to the spectacle by launching your car over the curbs at viscious speeds. Get it wrong ... Well, there's a wall on the left, and trees on the right ... :-)

Variante Alta has since been tightened and the curbs flattened ... sadly. To me, it was a classic!

And that one...

[Les]

My initial answer was a firm no but Ascari at Monza and the last turn at Gilles Villeneuve were moentioned so I'm wrong.

[BullHead]

oh yeah, that one as well.... ish

[ashnathan]

Am I the only one who rates the Veedol Chicane as the most challenging on the calendar? The time to be gained through their is immense, just look at Hamiltons lap from 2011 he gained buckets of time through there.

[Rob G]

Owing to the road layout around there, Monaco's chicane's been there since time began as well.

Indeed, although of course it has changed over the years. The original one was indeed a classic, but it was also insanely dangerous, more of a high-speed needle-threading flick than what we now consider a true chicane.

Trivia time: When did the first chicane appear at Monza? Hint: it wasn't 1972.

[wacktifosi]

Since I can think of at least three 'bus stops' off the top of my head I have to ask - where is the original?

And to put in my 2 cents - best chicane has to go to Singapore for the bone-rattler. (Seriously though, Monaco).

[PayasYouRace]

Indeed, although of course it has changed over the years. The original one was indeed a classic, but it was also insanely dangerous, more of a high-speed needle-threading flick than what we now consider a true chicane.

Trivia time: When did the first chicane appear at Monza? Hint: it wasn't 1972.

I'm thinking 1934/5. I know it had chicanes in the 30s after a particularly disastrous weekend with a number of deaths and IIRC they wanted to slow down the German teams. They used a strange combination of the standard circuit, but then missed out the corner that became the Parabolica and instead diverted to the banking from the middle straight. I don't know how accurate the layout in "Spirit of Speed: 1937" for PC was but it had chicanes in the 3 current locations, one before the south banking and one in the middle of the banking.

[heineken2008]

I actually really really like the swimming pool at monaco, they zip through that f*&ker, wicked

[Kop Alonso]

I used to like Woodcote as it was up until 1985 just becuase it was so blindingly fast, likewise the one at Monaco that Senna clipped in 84 it was a terrific chicane.

[davegp3]

Old Hockenheim chicanes were great - from 350kmh down to 60kmh

[Altitude]

The chicane behind the pits at Zolder. Unfortunately it was changed about 5 years ago. Also the old Aqua Minerale chicane at Imola.

[Crazy Ninja]

Does the Masta Kink count?

[cheapracer]

Salzburgring had chicane with the jump for GP bikes that was awesome and Australia's Lakeside has had the "Bus Stop" for bikes for as long as I can remember.

I actually liked the first chicane(s) at Monza that was used through the 80's and 90's and for a track that has to have chicanes I think the second one is well done and has provided action even though it did cost a life, sad to say.

[Baddoer]

one @ Hungaroring

[midgrid]

There was a very fast corner halfway round the Osterreichring called "Schikane", wasn't there? I don't mean the one they put at Hella-Licht curve some time in the late '70s.

Yes: the Texaco-Schikane, although it's not actually a chicane in the traditional sense.



Probably most famous for these two incidents.

[Reinmuster]

Tamburello of Imola, made to reminds me of the one Ayrton Senna..