Seattle in a Subaru 360

Before Subaru began officially selling cars in the US in the early '70s, Malcolm Bricklin imported Subaru 360s to the west coast. I remember seeing them as a kid around Seattle. Not only the sedan, but little vans and trucks based on the 360 as well.

So for my tour of the Seattle long course, I thought it would be fun to race it in a bone stock 360. At least it will give you plenty of time to enjoy the scenery.

The start/finish line is on Alaskan Way, facing north. The U-turn is at Spring Street, and then you're heading back south under the Alaskan Way Viaduct. This isn't actually a street, but a parking lot. Turn left at Yesler Way, then left again at James Street. The James Street climb is actually steeper in real life than it looks in the game. If you've managed to get your 360 up to about 45 mph while under the Alaskan Way Viaduct, you'll be able to carry enough speed to make it up the hill and still be doing about 35 at the top.

The three jumps on James Street are 2nd Avenue, 3rd Avenue and 4th Avenue. At 5th Avenue, you turn right and head downhill. Then it's a 90 degree right onto S Washington St, right onto Prefontaine Place, left onto Yesler Way, and a sharp left onto the 2nd Avenue South Extension. You don't need to brake for this left. It's fun to hang the back end out and powerslide around the corner. Get on the throttle quick and scream down the back straight.

The back straight takes you from the 2nd Avenue South Extension onto 4th Avenue South. Since the entire back straight is downhill, you can be up into the 70s, even in completely stock form by the time you reach the end. Just touch the brakes and turn right onto Royal Brougham. The right/left left/right chicanes take you through what used to be the south parking lot of the Kingdome. Both the dome and the parking lot are gone now, replaced with a football (both kinds) stadium and a convention center. Once you're back on Royal Brougham, you turn right under the Alaskan Way Viaduct. Again, this isn't a street. It's a couple of lanes for holding traffic waiting to board the ferries for Bremerton and Bainbridge Island on the west side of Puget Sound. A quick left/right chicane takes you back on to Alaskan Way and the start finish line.

My best time was 2:37.015. My goal is to break 2:35.

Hey, that's all kinds of nifty. Painfully underpowered cars are always good for a laugh. I remember first trying the kei cup in a Fiat 500 .
Great walkthrough of the Seattle circut, I'll have to try that out next time I'm down there.
Malcolm Bricklin, eh? Did he have anything to do with the Bricklin SV-1?

Hey this is a sweet walkthru! I live in Portland and I always wanted to explore the waterfront area for the real-life streets that are in the game! I'm up in Seattle at least once a week.

If you look in the distance (going up Alaskan Way towards the sharp double-turn) I swear you can see the Space Needle for a few seconds before the game blocks it with other images. Do you see what I mean?

Hey look what I just found: try going to http://www.goldjunkies.com/seattle/seattle.htm

Emohawk

Malcolm Bricklin, eh? Did he have anything to do with the Bricklin SV-1?

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Of course he did. It was his company that designed, built and sold it.

I'm glad you guys liked it. I had fun writing it up. Despite all the one-way streets in downtown Seattle, you can actually drive this whole course with one small exception. The road underneath the Alaskan Way Viaduct just after the first hairpin is one-way in the opposite direction.

I ran the 360 a few more times, and my best is now 2:33.865. I don't know if I can get it under 2:30, though. I'm already pushing that little toy car as hard as I can. I've been running it in the Muscle Car challenge, which is a riot. I love watching all those Camaros and Superbirds roaring off into the distance while I struggle to make it up to 50 by the end of the first straight. I can finish my second lap just before the other cars have finished their 3rd lap, which is the victory lap for them.

I was thinking of doing a video lap of Seattle like Parnelli Bone linked to, but more complete. Unfortunately, I don't have a way to do screencaptures.

Wow... I've just been inspired to fire up the PS2 for the first time in a long time !... Some low powered car at Seattle.. Coolies...

Anyway - I might find This Thread interesting... (Sorry for this blatant self promotion )

Flerbizky

Wow... I've just been inspired to fire up the PS2 for the first time in a long time !... Some low powered car at Seattle.. Coolies...

Anyway - I might find This Thread interesting... (Sorry for this blatant self promotion )

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I did find it interesting, and I don't mind the self-promotion. I'm getting very excited about the imminent release of GT4, so I've been in a bit of a GT frenzy lately. I've got GT3 running on my PS2 in the living room, and GT2 running on my PSX in my bedroom.

Glad you put the self-promotion thing in Flerbizky's thread!
I never have cause to visit the GT2 threads, as I sold my PS1 before I moved from UK to US, and I've only played GT3 since getting the PS2.
Anyway, wanted to say how cool this is, I'm in Seattle on business, and I'm stuck here for 2 more days than I was expecting, staying downtown in the Crowne Plaza on 6th & Seneca. I've been a few times before and was never able to work out the exact route around the city that corresponds to the Seattle racetrack.
Now you've given me perfect directions with streetnames and everything! 👍

So I'm off to get the Valet to pull the car out, change the tyres and oil!!!!........... Look out Seattle traffic!!!!!

Now all we need is somebody who lives in Switzerland to tell us the streets in Grindelwäld, as well as someone in Rome to tell us where those streets are.

Parnelli Bone

Now all we need is somebody who lives in Switzerland to tell us the streets in Grindelwäld, as well as someone in Rome to tell us where those streets are.

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I think that would be great. I'd love a street by street walk through of those locations.

Smallhorses, I hope you're able to follow the route from my description. The only thing is that at the first hairpin, you can't go south under the Alaskan Way viaduct. You have to go east one more block and then you can turn right and go down to Yesler Way.

I think Grindelwald is actually an established track, and not a set-up of streets. I could be wrong, though.

mplacki

I think Grindelwald is actually an established track, and not a set-up of streets. I could be wrong, though.

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Beleive me, I've already burned up my search engine looking for anything relating to a real-life track. Enter ‘Grindelwald racing’ and all you'll get are Gran Turismo sites. Enter ‘Grindelwäld, and all you'll get are tourist brochures and stuff like taht!

By the way, my best around Seattle in the 360 is now 2:33.007. I brushed a wall right near the end. If I hadn't, I would have been down into the 2:32 range.

wow thats amazing! thanks for telling me where this circuit really is based on.

And now for the short course, this time in a dead stock 1975 Fiat 500.

The start/finish line is the same place, on Alaskan Way about even with Jackson St, facing north. Again, you make a u-turn under the Alaskan Way Viaduct and head back south. At Yesler, you turn left and head up the hill. That pointy building on your left is a parking garage the locals call the sinking ship. I once parked right on the very tip of it when I went to a Seattle Mariner's baseball game. It's a coveted parking spot, so I was lucky to get it.

At the top of the hill, you make two 45 degree right turns. The first is onto the 2nd Avenue Extention South. The second is onto 2nd Avenue South itself. Because of the layout of downtown Seattle, it's necessary to have two 2nd Avenues for three blocks. It's not nearly as confusing as it sounds. The left takes you onto Main Street. The next two right turns are onto 3rd Avenue South and South Jackson Street.

Run down the hill and turn left onto 1st Avenue South. The last building on the right just before the turn onto 1st has a little record shop in the basement, Bud's Jazz Records. If you're ever on the northeast corner of 1st & Jackson in downtown Seattle, look for the stairs that lead down the side of the building and visit Bud. I love to shop there. Bud enjoys the music and his customers, and he's always willing to talk. Just pull up a stool and get schooled in Jazz.

Back to the race. You're now on 1st Avenue South, heading south. The right is Dearborn St, and the next right takes you back onto Alaskan Way.

If you're driving a dead stock Fiat 500R like me, then it should take you around 1:33 to make the trip. The only place you need to brake is at the first corner, the hairpin. It's real tricky to brake just right. Too much, and you lose speed up Yesler. To little, and you scrub off too much speed just trying to get around the hairpin and you end up struggling up Yesler anyway. If your doing about 42 when you complete the hairpin, you should be doing great.

I'm glad you folks all enjoyed my walkthrough of the long course, and I hope you enjoy the short course as well.

This makes sense, cuz one day I was racing Seattle Short in a Rover Mini I think, and i turned too much and crashed into Bud's shop. Then later when I went into my garage, there was a bill that said i owed Bud some credits for a new plate-glass window. The next time I drove that course, I swore I saw somebody in the window there looking at me race by.

Naw, just kidding. Great walkthrogh!

Why dont you do the Seattle enduro in a Toyota Prius? 1 gear, 63hp, enjoy the scenery.

Do you think the scenery is going by too fast in my 22hp Fiat 500?

Edit: Oh, the enduro. I missed that the first time I read your post. If I ran the Seattle Enduro in something like my stock Subaru 360, that would take about 2 hours and 10 minutes or so, and I would likely be lapped about every lap and a half.

How about a Seattle hotlap in the Daihatsu Midget II tuna wagon?

Or hybrid the least powerful engine into the heaviest car 22hp in a 2000kg+ body = very slow.