Passing in Pit Lane ok?

[eyeballs19]

Not sure if this is the right forum but need clarity on pit lane rules.  At Indy we completed our service, were going a calibrated 20mph in the left-most lane (20 was the limit), and rolled past a slow moving car that was poking along in the center lane.  We were held for a little bit, told we couldn't pass in pit lane.  I honestly cannot remember if it was green flag or yellow. If yellow I get the restriction to passing but not sure what to do with a car going 10mph below the limit. If green I think passing should be ok if speeds are ok.  I cannot find anything in the rules either way.  

 

Thanks for any clarity

[skierman64]

There's no rule against passing on pit lane.  

[Bill Strong]

But, that car was exceeding the pit lane speed and was spoken to by a pit marshal.

[eyeballs19]

2 minutes ago, Bill Strong said:

But, that car was exceeding the pit lane speed and was spoken to by a pit marshal.

Bill, not sure I understand.  I was going exactly 20mph (unless my AIM GPS was wrong).  I passed the dude who was going less than 20.  I was told I shouldn't have passed on pit lane.  Maybe I misunderstood and they thought I was speeding since I went past the other guy.  No biggie.  Good to know on the rule.

[skierman64]

8 hours ago, eyeballs19 said:

Bill, not sure I understand.  I was going exactly 20mph (unless my AIM GPS was wrong).  I passed the dude who was going less than 20.  I was told I shouldn't have passed on pit lane.  Maybe I misunderstood and they thought I was speeding since I went past the other guy.  No biggie.  Good to know on the rule.

The pit lane marshals are sometimes volunteers who don't always know the rulebook exactly. 

 

I've seen it multiple times from both sides of the equation.  

 

And there's no way the AIM was wrong. 

Edited September 19, 2020 by skierman64

[eyeballs19]

22 minutes ago, skierman64 said:

And there's no way the AIM was wrong. 

Yeah, I looked at the video which has a speed overlay-- showed 20 mph all the way down that crazy long pit lane.   And the RPMs were also right for 20mph in 2nd gear.  Must be tricky for the marshalls to call it when they don't have a speed gun-- two cars of different speed means one is either too fast or too slow.

[skierman64]

On 9/18/2020 at 11:11 PM, eyeballs19 said:

Yeah, I looked at the video which has a speed overlay-- showed 20 mph all the way down that crazy long pit lane.   And the RPMs were also right for 20mph in 2nd gear.  Must be tricky for the marshalls to call it when they don't have a speed gun-- two cars of different speed means one is either too fast or too slow.

 

When pit lane speed is higher than the excruciating slow 20 mph at Indy.  I've been yelled at for going too fast when I was using 2nd gear (higher rpm/louder) and not yelled at when going the exact same speed in 3rd gear.  It's all in the pit marshals perception if they aren't holding a speed gun.  

[Scott]

Agreed, the volunteers probably didn't know.  I've been a marshal at a few races and seen it happen as you described.  We were told that as long as the speed limit isn't broken and the pass wasn't dangerous or because of an unsafe release it's okay.   Made sense to me.

Edited September 22, 2020 by Scott
typo