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Like the title states, are F1 tracks allowed to have a part of the track that goes over a bridge that crosses water? I know the Anderson bridge in Singapore kind of meets this criteria, but it's a very short draw bridge. I'm talking about a bridge that's 400+m long over water, would it be a safety issue, with cars potentially falling into the water?
Monaco is right at the very edge and they don't see any problems there with the correct fencing. There was also a bridge at the Valencia street circuit and they never found any problems there
Mark Webber went over the bolts bridge in Melbourne as a part of a demo run..but his speed was limited to 100kmph. As long as the road surface and any other requirements meet fia spec. It should be ok.
don't see why it would be an issue providing its barriers are safe enough. one would wonder why you would want to though. they are expensive and making it wide enough for track plus barriers and grandstands would add serious costs
an already built road bridge might be suitable. so we would be looking at a new street circuit. and if the bridge is not wide enough to come back on yourself you would need a 2nd bridge to come back. if it was crossing a river
perhaps if an f1 track was built in an area where sea is shallow you could have the entire track above water like a race course version of Venice would be very expensive however
Well Singapore has 2 bridges. Corner after the Anderson Bridge up to the corner next to the building that look like a durian. Its a dual carrage way bridge.
Wouldnt see a problem with falling in the water. They pretty much run right next to the water in Monaco and it seems fine now.
don't see why it would be an issue providing its barriers are safe enough. one would wonder why you would want to though. they are expensive and making it wide enough for track plus barriers and grandstands would add serious costs
an already built road bridge might be suitable. so we would be looking at a new street circuit. and if the bridge is not wide enough to come back on yourself you would need a 2nd bridge to come back. if it was crossing a river
perhaps if an f1 track was built in an area where sea is shallow you could have the entire track above water like a race course version of Venice would be very expensive however
Just looking at a possible street circuit in my home town, and it may involve a bridge that crosses water and is around 500 meters long.
Valencia was 140m long. Breaking zone entering and immediately following. This limits the speed over the bridge (possibly by design).
Approximate speeds of ~70mph onto the bridge, top speed of ~120mph and breaking for the next corner ~40mph.
With 500m the speed just before breaking zone is going to be much higher ~180mph.
As ever its a question of safety:
Is there space for TechPro barriers all the way along either side of the bridge?
How wide is the bridge and the road portion?
Could the bridge handle a high speed crash from an F1 Car?
Is the road surface flat enough for that speed, or can it be made flat enough?
what run-off area follows the bridge in the breaking zones?
How deep is the water?
How fast is the water flow?
All of these will define how risky it will be and therefore how likely the venue will meet safety standards.
I think main problem may be if there´s an accident. Can a crane reach any point of the bridge to take the car out of the track?
As shown, TecPro barriers are not a must, a wall may work too, but retiring crashed cars is a must, so there must be cranes, or the bridge have to be wide enough to allow a truck/crane go into the bridge while the cars can still pass, under SC obviously
I don't think a bridge will be a big problem per sé, they''ll asphalt it through enough so that there will not be a gap or height difference where normally the moving parts/area connects to the non-moving area of the bridge.
biggest issue with a bridge is the danger of having an accident where there is the potential that the car will somehow veer into the water. Walls will do most of the job, but you need good high fences with a good inward edge to prevent a car going 'over the wall'.
but then, if you're severely unlucky, Webber's crash into the back of a backmarker a couple seasons ago was fast and high enough to have the risk of flying over such a barrier, which would be a concern.
recover isn't the biggest issue as it would simply turn into a SC or VSC situation.
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