Hahahahaha you tool. The chicanes are the best part of the track. Wake up you wanker! Without the chicanes the cars would be way to fast and dangerous. Not just for the drivers but for spectators as well. The old CART cars were easily capable of doing 300kph before the first chicane alone. You got to remember that its a very narrow track with spectators just a metre from the track. Its not like Monaco where there are a few spectator points here and there with a grand stand there and over there. If you buy a general admission ticket you can get to any corner on the track and be within a meter of the cars. They can't modify the track as part of it is on a highway and your running past hotels and shops. The grandstands that are built are built on the beach (To walk past the double chicane on the right you have to go on the beach and walk under/around the grandstand as there is not enough room to get people along the track) and along the back straight there is a 15m drop before a river. To run the bartercard chiacne as you say they would have to level the whole corner off as that corner is not flat. Not to mention that run off area is only 1 lane wide with a sharp right at the end. Murphy cut across that and I heard this huge bang/scrape sound as he straightened up. There packed from room as it is now. The spectator areas are on footpaths and the front lawns for hotels. You just can not change the layout.
Scott - The main layout has been the same since the first race. The only modification was adding an extra chicane after T5 and opening up a few of the corners.
It may not appear good on TV but if your at the track you sure do get your moneys worth. Especially if your at that double chicane. Fuck its amazing to see the cars go through there. Just listening to the revs the cars use through there you can tell who is going for it and who is just plonking around. Power had high revs coasting while Danica was just tapping the throttle in low gear before flooring it after the exit. Last year was just insane. I was at the double chicane during Powers qualy lap and fuck it was fantastic. Its a real drivers track. If you want to be fast you have to take risks and if you make 1 small mistake you will end your day in the concret jungle. Look at the Moraes crash. He stuffed up the entry to the chicane which put him in the exit barrier of the chicane. Youtube Power's 2007 CCWS Qualy laps. His second lap is just breathtaking.
Oh and the only reason that there wasn't a lot of safety car periods was because the corner marshals constantly had to keep running onto a hot track and move a tire bundle that some back marker had hit. Not to mention that there was a huge amount of debris on the exit of the bartercard chicane. I almost got my finger chopped off when some of the paint hit my hand. Since when is paint 5 layers thick and has some weight to it.