Secrets of the street fighters

Racing in the confines of a street track is always special. The wheel-to-wheel action may not always be the best, but the spectacle of top drivers flirting with the barriers make it one of the sport’s greatest challenges.

That’s particularly true now that most conventional circuits, particularly in Formula 1, have large run-off areas. And it helps to explain why the Monaco Grand Prix, the 75th edition of which will take place this weekend, is considered by many as the jewel in F1’s crown.

Red Bull racer Max Verstappen believes that the greater risk on street circuits means drivers approach the early part of the weekend slightly differently. Track time – and not putting it in the wall – is key.

“On a normal track, even when you go a bit wide it’s fine – you can run off if you want to,” he says. “Obviously on a street circuit it’s not possible so I think you build it up a bit easier.

“It’s just about feeling the grip, because you are always sliding and there’s not a lot of grip. That makes a difference between the drivers.”

Dario Franchitti scored many of his IndyCar successes on street circuits. He has always been a fan of their demands and believes finding the limit is harder than on a conventional track.

“I loved them all,” he says. “Even downtown Houston – it was all 90-degree corners, but it was still a hell of a challenge. Then there’s something completely different like Surfers Paradise, which I adored.

“I learned a lesson there. I thought I was on my limit one day and I missed the brake pedal over a bump and I managed to make the corner – I realised I could brake a lot later than I had been.

“There’s no room for mistakes. If you make a slight misjudgement you generally, at best, ding a tie rod. If you clip an apex wall, it sends you into the outside wall and you’ve done a lot of damage. It’s the precision of it.”

The four-time IndyCar champion also points out that commitment and confidence are big factors in finding lap time. And it’s not just the proximity of the walls that make life difficult.

“Because of the walls, a lot of the corners are blind, so you commit to the corner, the brakes, to getting off the brakes and running the speed without being able to see the exits,” adds Franchitti. “You’ve really got to know what comes next, which requires a level of commitment.

“With American and DTM street courses, the bumps and surface changes were another aspect to it – another part of the challenge. Toronto had concrete patches on the apex of every corner. You’d come down hellishly bumpy braking zones, get off the brakes and turn in on Tarmac and then hit the concrete and have no grip, so you had to learn how to deal with that.

“Two corners could have identical geometries but, because of the surface changes and the bumps, it completely changes how they drive” Dario Franchitti

“I see it now with Max Chilton [IndyCar driver and ex-F1 racer, who Franchitti helped in his role at Chip Ganassi Racing]. He’s driven at Monaco, but he’s never really – up until Indy Lights – driven a proper, bumpy street course. You’ve got to read the bumps and changes in grip over the surfaces – they dictate how you drive a corner.

“Two corners could have identical geometries but, because of the surface changes and the bumps, it completely changes how they drive. You’re working with the car leaving the ground; I loved the challenge. It was probably my favourite discipline.”

The different surfaces also add an extra dimension when rain arrives. Nigel Mansell blamed his 1984 Monaco GP shunt on a white line and Franchitti believes it’s a valid point.

Mansell’s damaged Lotus after he slipped up on a normal traffic white line

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“Wherever it is in the world the local government don’t use FIA non-slip paint,” he says. “Zebra crossings and arrows can be in the most unfortunate places. I can see where Nigel was coming from about Monaco – he was dead on with that one!

“Some surfaces hold the water more than others, some have got different grip levels. At Toronto, for example, the buses use the same line as you use when you’re braking for the hairpin. So when you go down there, there are two troughs full of water.”

Another fan of the art is Mario Andretti. The 1978 F1 world champion and four-time Indycar title winner believes street circuits require a very specific approach.

“What I loved about them was the fact that you needed to have a very controlled aggression,” he says. “That’s what would pay off. You had to be aggressive, but you really had to measure your slides and so forth.

“Today, even in my two-seater [IndyCar], when I go out there… people don’t know this but I drive the s*** out of it, and I get really close to the walls. I just love that part of it, because it paid you back.

“The drivers that get it done always have some whitewalls on the tyres. All you have to do is leave about six inches from the wall, and you’re not going to get your lap time. The trick is to use every inch and be bold, not be afraid of the walls. You really have to flirt with the walls and the guardrails, even on the inside. You really have to play it by the inch.”

Street circuits thus put a premium on the things that are always important in circuit racing and highlight them. As well as precision and confidence, getting into the groove and being able to lap consistently is crucial.

Six-time Monaco winner Ayrton Senna famously talked of getting quicker and quicker during a long run, almost mesmerised between the walls. This allows some drivers to make more of a difference.

Senna found he could increase his pace over a stint around Monaco even with tyre wear a detracting factor

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“Rhythm is really important on a street track,” confirms Franchitti. “When you get in the rhythm and the car is working you can really make a gap to the opposition. The driver can make the difference, but you’ve got to get the car working too.

“Part of it is giving the feedback to the engineer of what you need and what you think you’re going to need because there is a lot of track evolution. I wanted a car to work well over the bumps and be something I could be confident with.”

From an engineering point of view, the bumps are far more of a concern than the barriers. Mark Williams, former head of vehicle engineering at McLaren, worked in Formula 3000 before reaching F1 and knows the strain street tracks put on machinery.

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“When I ran cars at the Birmingham Superprix it was as bumpy as hell because the Tarmac wasn’t laid for the racing line but rather as required by the Highways Agency,” he says. “So roundabouts were a nightmare and suspension components suffered.

“I don’t think it’s that difficult to win Monaco – if you qualify well and you don’t make mistakes you can win Monaco. I don’t think it’s as big a deal as some people make it” Sir Jackie Stewart

“Now when you walk Monaco it feels like it is laid as a race track, so the only difference to a normal circuit is the proximity of the barriers.”

Although the Monaco GP has long been considered one of the great races, the challenge of street circuits has not always been so different to other venues. The appeal and speciality of them has grown over time as more conventional circuits have evolved.

Sir Jackie Stewart, who won three Monaco GPs, points to the lack of run-off at most tracks in the 1960s and 1970s. The approach when arriving at a street venue was therefore not dissimilar.

“Monaco was my first street track [in F3 in 1964], which was a huge thrill because of the history of it,” says the three-time world champion. “I’d never been to Monaco. Since 1929 it’s been the highest level of motorsport and the big guys have won it.

Stewart points out the risks of street tracks in the 1960s were not too different to purpose-built circuits

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“But I didn’t see it as anything different to a normal race track. On most circuits there were no run-off areas or kerbs. You couldn’t make mistakes – the penalty was so big. You didn’t have to go far to hit a wall. The discipline had to be so severe; the penalties were so severe.”

Stewart also has an interesting take on how Monaco stacks up to other events. He places it alongside his home GP and the old Nurburgring as one of the three circuits he always wanted to win at, but doesn’t believe it was the most challenging: “I don’t think it’s that difficult to win Monaco – if you qualify well and you don’t make mistakes you can win Monaco. I don’t think it’s as big a deal as some people make it.

“In 1971 I won with no rear brakes so you can’t say I was driving on the limit to the extent you would expect. It was obviously a good win, but the fact there were no rear brakes on a place that’s all stop and go…

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“Jim Clark never won Monaco but that’s because he drove for [Lotus boss] Colin Chapman. Monaco wasn’t the billiard table it is today – there were kerbs and manhole covers. There was no one smoother than Jim Clark and he didn’t run into anybody – the car didn’t finish.”

Monaco has certainly proved a car breaker, as well as a driving challenge, over the years. In the early days of the world championship it was not unusual for only two or three cars to cover the full 100 laps and even as late as 1996 there were only three cars running at the finish.

One thing that is beyond doubt is that street races can provide spectators with a real spectacle. They can normally get closer to the cars, and the walls help highlight the speed and sound.

At Pau, Stewart, Graham Hill and Clark used to go trackside for the support races. “Everyone made mistakes and it was spectacular,” says Stewart. “Fans are closer to it [at street tracks] – Monaco and Pau are good examples.”

Franchitti agrees with his fellow Scot: “I always feel that street-course racing is an event. You can walk to restaurants, go for a beer – it’s as much a party. You feel the whole city or town is getting into it.”

Monaco remains one of the rare tracks where the action gets up close and personal to the people

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images