The World Rally Championship has something new in store for this weekend's Rally Finland: Virtual Chicanes are set to make their debut.
Each year, WRC fans look forward to Rally Finland. The event is one of the most popular on the calendar due to its enormous speeds and even more enormous jumps on the gravel roads passing through the Finnish countryside. Rally cars approaching 200 kph on the stages make for an immense spectacle.
Of course, this also introduces a certain amount of danger to the equation. For tricky sections, chicanes have been a way to slow down cars when approaching, be that on permanent racing tracks or on rally stages. On the latter, these chicanes are usually created by placing big straw or hay bales for the cars to wind through.
At the 2024 Rally Finland, an alternative system is going to make its debut from August 1 to 4: For the first time, a virtual chicane will be part of a stage. This had been tested in Latvia at the shakedown only previously, but in Finland it will be part of the competition.
Placed again in the shakedown as well as the Ouninpohja stages, the virtual chicane is supposed to slow cars down without physical objects being in the way. That way, the risk of damage when striking a bale is reduced, and neither will they have to be moved back in case a car hits them, minimizing the risk of accidents with following cars while this is carried out.
Image: WRC.com
The virtual chicane itself is not really new, as series like the European Rally Championships have used it before, and the concept has been explained in a YouTube video uploaded almost ten years ago already. Oh, and of course, there is a penalty for not slowing down enough, too. For each kph over the limit, two seconds will be added to the stage time.
Predictably, drivers are not exactly thrilled with the prospect of having to slow down in the middle of an open track. Hyundai driver Esapekka Lappi told Autosport.com: "I have to take my eyes off the road and look for a green light. In shakedown it is fine as you have low speed, but in Ouninpohja you will arrive at this place at 185km/h, I don’t want to take my eyes off the road. It’s a bad system.”
Rally fans are not particularly convinced, either, as several Reddit posts show. There are some who see the upside of it, as moving hay bales back in place usually requires heavy machinery, but many fans do not understand the reason behind the change.
However, I feel like there could have been a better solution to this, particularly considering Lappi's comments. Taking your eyes off the road, especially a gravel one, at close to 200 kph just seems a lot riskier as well. Maybe the tracking system that visualizes the distance to the virtual chicane can be optimized to avoid this, then the whole concept might work better. The GPS system needs to work flawlessly, too, to avoid confusion on where to actually slow down.
In general, I feel like it is counterintuitive to brake for something that is not physically there. On the other hand, it levels the playing field - the hay bales of a proper chicane could open up the trajectory if they are slightly moved over and over again, but not enough for tractors to move in and move them back. In theory, that could give teams that run later in a stage a slight advantage in these spots.
Assuming that the chicane is the same for everyone, it also takes away driver skill as a difference maker - those who thread the needle perfectly could gain time in the hay bale chicanes, while that is unlikely in the virtual chicane.
That said, the introduction of virtual chicanes is a bit of a double-edged sword. They do reduce certain risks inlcuding the one of car damage, but your average rally stage has enough other small hazards that can have big consequences, too.
With rally still being relatively pure when it comes to its racing environments compared to circuit racing, it feels like virtual chicanes are something that just do not really fit in with the rest of the event, kind of like hybrid powertrains - which will be ditched for the 2025 season.
I guess we will have to wait and see how these virtual chicanes work in competition, then. But I also feel like a lot of the controversy could have been avoided by not calling them "virtual chicanes" when they are not.
What are your thoughts on the introduction of virutal chicanes at Rally Finland? Let us know on Twitter @OverTake_gg or in the comments below!
Each year, WRC fans look forward to Rally Finland. The event is one of the most popular on the calendar due to its enormous speeds and even more enormous jumps on the gravel roads passing through the Finnish countryside. Rally cars approaching 200 kph on the stages make for an immense spectacle.
Of course, this also introduces a certain amount of danger to the equation. For tricky sections, chicanes have been a way to slow down cars when approaching, be that on permanent racing tracks or on rally stages. On the latter, these chicanes are usually created by placing big straw or hay bales for the cars to wind through.
At the 2024 Rally Finland, an alternative system is going to make its debut from August 1 to 4: For the first time, a virtual chicane will be part of a stage. This had been tested in Latvia at the shakedown only previously, but in Finland it will be part of the competition.
Placed again in the shakedown as well as the Ouninpohja stages, the virtual chicane is supposed to slow cars down without physical objects being in the way. That way, the risk of damage when striking a bale is reduced, and neither will they have to be moved back in case a car hits them, minimizing the risk of accidents with following cars while this is carried out.
How do virtual chicanes work?
However, the virtual chicane really is all but a chicane. Instead, it is more of a zone within which teams need to slow down to 60 kph - once they did that, they can accelerate again. Drivers and their co-drivers will be made aware of these 200-meter long zones by markers placed 300, 200 and 100 meters ahead of its start. Additionally, the in-car warning box which is also used to display red flags shows when the virtual chicane has been reached and when the car has slowed down enough to pick up the throttle again.Image: WRC.com
The virtual chicane itself is not really new, as series like the European Rally Championships have used it before, and the concept has been explained in a YouTube video uploaded almost ten years ago already. Oh, and of course, there is a penalty for not slowing down enough, too. For each kph over the limit, two seconds will be added to the stage time.
Predictably, drivers are not exactly thrilled with the prospect of having to slow down in the middle of an open track. Hyundai driver Esapekka Lappi told Autosport.com: "I have to take my eyes off the road and look for a green light. In shakedown it is fine as you have low speed, but in Ouninpohja you will arrive at this place at 185km/h, I don’t want to take my eyes off the road. It’s a bad system.”
Rally fans are not particularly convinced, either, as several Reddit posts show. There are some who see the upside of it, as moving hay bales back in place usually requires heavy machinery, but many fans do not understand the reason behind the change.
Editor's Take
It is a bit of an odd one, this introduction of a virtual chicanes - especially since they are slow zones and not chicanes at all. Of course, the thought of increasing safety is a good motivation behind this, as you obviously cannot rework rally stages like you can with purpose-built racing circuits.However, I feel like there could have been a better solution to this, particularly considering Lappi's comments. Taking your eyes off the road, especially a gravel one, at close to 200 kph just seems a lot riskier as well. Maybe the tracking system that visualizes the distance to the virtual chicane can be optimized to avoid this, then the whole concept might work better. The GPS system needs to work flawlessly, too, to avoid confusion on where to actually slow down.
In general, I feel like it is counterintuitive to brake for something that is not physically there. On the other hand, it levels the playing field - the hay bales of a proper chicane could open up the trajectory if they are slightly moved over and over again, but not enough for tractors to move in and move them back. In theory, that could give teams that run later in a stage a slight advantage in these spots.
Assuming that the chicane is the same for everyone, it also takes away driver skill as a difference maker - those who thread the needle perfectly could gain time in the hay bale chicanes, while that is unlikely in the virtual chicane.
That said, the introduction of virtual chicanes is a bit of a double-edged sword. They do reduce certain risks inlcuding the one of car damage, but your average rally stage has enough other small hazards that can have big consequences, too.
With rally still being relatively pure when it comes to its racing environments compared to circuit racing, it feels like virtual chicanes are something that just do not really fit in with the rest of the event, kind of like hybrid powertrains - which will be ditched for the 2025 season.
I guess we will have to wait and see how these virtual chicanes work in competition, then. But I also feel like a lot of the controversy could have been avoided by not calling them "virtual chicanes" when they are not.
What are your thoughts on the introduction of virutal chicanes at Rally Finland? Let us know on Twitter @OverTake_gg or in the comments below!
