Hey guys....

I was just wondering why the team bosses with the engineers sit on the pit wall between the team's pit stall and the racetrack? Though I've never seen a car go flying into the catch fence, I won't be surprised to see someone windup with computers, monitors, and a whole lot of metal imbedded in their chests. Just doesn't seem like a safe location to me. Why is it so critical to have it in this location? As elaborate as F1 is, i'm surprised a team hasn't already constructed a "race command" station in the team transporter.

My understanding (as lightweight as it is) is that the pit wall has the following advantages:

1.) It is the absolute central point of the “strategic circuit”: best place to see your drivers (e.g. is something hanging off the car?), your own garage (e.g. are the tires ready?), and very importantly, other people’s garages (e.g. is Lewis coming in next lap or not?, how much fuel did Jarno put in?, is Kimi on prime tires this stint?, etc.)

2.) FIA probably designates the pit wall area (after full logistical analysis) for certain team functions (e.g. team representatives for formal decisions and communications), so teams probably don’t have a choice – for continuity and control. Relative to the FIA making demands on circuit owners, the pit wall seems sensible (vs. providing a series of rooms). Again – continuity from race to race.

3.) Along the straight (where almost all pit walls seem to be located) is probably one of the least dangerous places on the circuit to get a good look at your cars. However, if an accident were to occur, I’m sure it could all be packed up and taken back to the trucks.

4.) It’s the best box seat in the house! Right in the dead center of it all. And strategically, from race to race, it’s probably best to be physically in the same spot again and again – at the start finish. Helps with strategic thinking.

5.) It may be one of the best spots, physically, for radio communications to the driver.

Note that putting guys out on the pit wall does not preclude a full room of guys from existing in the back room/truck, or even direct networked communications with 100+ employees back at the mothership corporate headquarters.



And telemetry data from the car is zapped directly to the truck (about 4MB per lap, in BMW’s case anyway, per the vid below) so all team PC machines are no doubt networked wirelessly between the truck, garage, and pit wall as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zt_FahKp4J8

It may be something as simple as tradition. Watch the older races in most any series and you will see team members hanging all over the pit walls and in some cases even on the edge of the track. It's also a good way of limiting the number of media who can wander in to ask dumb questions!

Relevant info today

http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2009/10/behind-the-scenes-images-from-japan/
"Above the timing screen from the McLaren pit wall, you can see the radio buttons for communication with drivers and key personnel. Note the button in the bottom right of the screens, it is for speaking to the Strategy people back at McLaren’s HQ in Woking, England, who are modelling the race on computers and advising the race engineers what to do next."

Also this thread is key – for posterity (i.e. people who actually search this db for related info)
http://www.speedtv.com/forums/viewthread/471860/

Glad to see in the new forums a search brings forth new as well as "old" forum info…