open-pit-wall

Open Pit Wall is a Python tool that replays real Formula 1 timing and telemetry data as if it were arriving live. It is aimed at developers who are building dashboards, overlays, or other applications that need a realistic F1 data feed to test against, but do not have access to a live session. Instead of connecting to a live source, you point it at previously recorded session data and it broadcasts that data over a local WebSocket connection as though the race is happening right now.

The tool handles downloading and caching session data from a library called FastF1, which provides access to historical F1 timing records. Once a session is downloaded and cached, you can replay it at any speed using terminal commands: play, pause, fast forward, rewind, restart, or set a specific speed multiplier. The broadcaster sends data out on separate channels depending on what kind of information a client wants, covering driver telemetry, leaderboard positions, weather snapshots, lap counts, and race control messages like safety car calls.

Clients connect over WebSocket and subscribe to whichever channels they care about. For example, a dashboard showing a single driver's speed and throttle would subscribe only to that driver's telemetry channel. A race control display would subscribe to the race control channel. The repository includes a working example that connects to the server and prints telemetry data for a specific driver.

The data is stored and replayed as JSON files rather than a binary format, which keeps things readable and avoids certain security concerns around deserializing untrusted data. Cached session files are stored in a standard application data folder on your machine so they do not clutter the repository.

The project is licensed under the MIT license. It uses real F1 timing records for development and educational purposes, and the README notes that Formula 1 and its trademarks belong to their respective owners.