Chicane

A chicane is an artificial feature creating extra turns in a road, used in motor racing and on streets to slow traffic for safety. For example, one form of chicane is a short, shallow S-shaped turn, requiring the driver to turn slightly left and then right again to stay on the road, which slows them down. Chicane comes from the French verb chicaner, which means "to quibble" or "to prevent justice".

On modern racing circuits, chicanes are usually located after long straights, making them a prime location for overtaking. They can be placed tactically by circuit designers to prevent vehicles from reaching speeds deemed to be unsafe. A prime example of this is the Tamburello chicane at Imola, which was placed after Ayrton Senna's death at the original corner. At Le Mans, chicanes were placed alongside the 6‑km Mulsanne Straight in order to slow down Le Mans Prototypes, which with Group C Prototypes went to speeds as high as 400 km/h.

Some tracks, such as the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi, feature optional chicanes. Faster cars will take the chicane, but slower cars (such as amateur club racers) may avoid the chicane because they are not capable of reaching equally high speeds on the straights. Such chicanes are used at Watkins Glen International and Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, where there are separate chicanes for cars and motorcycles.

Another example is the Tsukuba Circuit in Japan. A chicane was added after Turn 7, creating a right turn, followed immediately by a left. This chicane is used only for motorcycles. It was implemented to divert motorcycles from taking Turn 8, which is a high speed long sweeping left corner. Turn 8 was deemed to be unsafe for motorcycles, as immediately following this is a slow right hairpin corner. This means riders may still have been leaning to the left when being expected to begin braking for Turns 9 and 10.

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