Imola to become a high speed circuit, again

[Blake]

Here.

The Imola circuit near Bologna, which hosts the San Marino Grand Prix looks set to undergo some serious modifications to once again make it a really high-speed circuit. Moves are afoot to straighten the Vriante Bassa chicane (the final corner) to give way to a one-kilometre straight from the second Rivazza corner to the Tamburello chicane.

The change is necessary so that the paddock facilities can be extended and improved - a fundamental requirement from Formula One Management if the venue is to keep its long-term future safe.

The Italian government has stumped up 10 million euro and work is expected to begin in the Autumn, in time for the 2007 San Marino Grand Prix - usually in April. The plans have not been given the final green light, but is expected to be given the go ahead in the next month.

 

[Omnis]

Is it still going to be all technical and stuff? The last thing we need is Italy to turn into superspeedway land.

 

[Impreza04]

The Italian government has stumped up 10 million euro

*poke*British Government*poke*

I think a faster circuit could be more intresting..

 

[Blake]

Is it still going to be all technical and stuff? The last thing we need is Italy to turn into superspeedway land.

Yeah, it should keep most of the technical section. From what the article says I assume the circuit will look like this:

 

[Lee]

Fun... They will be going much faster into Tamburello, I sense a couple of big accidents with that lay out.

 

[kensei]

Nice to see Imola finally getting some attention. It is my favorite circuit on the calender.....

 

[TheCracker]

Trouble is, Bernie is looking to cram a couple of new circuits into the season, they can't have anymore races per season so they'll have to drop of existing tracks. I believe Bernie is keen on Germany and Italy hosting only one race each (they hold two each at the mo). If this is the case then i expect the Italian GP will be at Monza and Imola to be dropped.

 

[Pupik]

I sense a couple of big accidents with that lay out.

There's plenty of run-off area there now.

A modern F1 circuit loses a chicane? This is news!

 

[daan]

I'm unsure if that'll help. The long straight is a great idea, but it's not actually straight. Those 2 kinks that are there, if they just remove the chicane, make it too easy for the driver in front to block.

If it could be done so that its arrow straight from Rivazza to Tamburello...

 

[SouL]

I'm confused. Did they not redesign the track to slow it down because of Senna's death?
Are they not forcing regulations to slow the cars down?
Yet they're turning tracks into "highspeed circuits"

They could end up going too fast into Tamburelo... they're probably going to tighten the corner up to force the cars to slow down significantly.

 

[daan]

I'm confused. Did they not redesign the track to slow it down because of Senna's death?
Are they not forcing regulations to slow the cars down?
Yet they're turning tracks into "highspeed circuits"

You can have fast corners as long as you have sufficient run off. After Senna's death, they had to either move the wall back at Tamburello, or build a chicane. There's a river behind the wall so they couldn't move it back, so they built a chicane. They re-designed it in a knee jerk fashion by installing 2 chicanes. The chicane at Villeneuve was completely unnecessary, as the new Tamburello chicane slowed the cars down suffieciently before they got there.

They could end up going too fast into Tamburelo... they're probably going to tighten the corner up to force the cars to slow down significantly.

Because they've moved the braking area back by installing the chicane, there is now enough run off there.

 

[amp88]

I'm confused. Did they not redesign the track to slow it down because of Senna's death?
Are they not forcing regulations to slow the cars down?
Yet they're turning tracks into "highspeed circuits"

They could end up going too fast into Tamburelo... they're probably going to tighten the corner up to force the cars to slow down significantly.

Yes, they added the chicane at Tamburello after Senna died there. It was a 190+mph corner before then. What the plan appears to be is to replace a chicane with a straight. However, the cornering speed at the Tamburello chicane will be the same as it it is now. Increasing the length of straight up to a corner does not increase the speeds at which the cars take that corner (that is, unless the cars are accelerating all the way up to the corner and have not yet reached their cornering limits (which isn't the case at Tamburello)). I'm not really bothered about this move, could make for interesting last lap sprints to the finish...but no more Hakkinens on the last corner

 

[Milliethemutt]

*poke*British Government*poke*

Yeah. They'll ship the cash in on a flying pig

 

[Roo]

You can have fast corners as long as you have sufficient run off. After Senna's death, they had to either move the wall back at Tamburello, or build a chicane. There's a river behind the wall so they couldn't move it back, so they built a chicane. They re-designed it in a knee jerk fashion by installing 2 chicanes. The chicane at Villeneuve was completely unnecessary, as the new Tamburello chicane slowed the cars down suffieciently before they got there.

I'm looking at an ariel shot (in a book) of Imola, and it looks like it would be fairly simple to just straighten out Villneuve and put a kink there, thus giving and overtaking oppurtunity into Tosa, espically if Tosa was tightened a bit.

Modified a picture in Paint of what I mean.

 

[Blake]

A modern F1 circuit loses a chicane? This is news!

So true!

I think it will be very interesting – there is a shortcut across the final chicane on many F1 games, and it quite a fun straight!

 

[Nasadus]

I hope they don't touch that corner Roo. It's one of the best on the entire track. They go thru it so fast, it's awesome to watch.

 

[Blake]

It is such an awesome track – I love almost every corner, but the final chicane won’t be missed, at least not by me… As long as they keep the really awesome corners like Villeneuve, Piratella, Acque Minerale, Variante Alta, and Rivazza.

Tamburello is an awesome corner, but I wouldn’t mind if they took the chicane out. Not going to happen, though.

 

[THE ED3]

This sounds good to me.

 

[The Internet]

The chicane at Villeneuve was completely unnecessary, as the new Tamburello chicane slowed the cars down suffieciently before they got there.

I believe the issue with Villeneuve wasn't the amount of runoff, but the shape of it. There was sufficient runoff there when Ratzenberger's accident happened but he hit the wall right at the end of the runoff, where it came back out toward the track to protect the house that overlooks Tosa. Putting a chicane in there would reduce the chances of hitting that barrier, and motorcycle races at Imola were already racing on a chicane through that turn for the same reason.

 

[FWA2500]

Fun... They will be going much faster into Tamburello, I sense a couple of big accidents with that lay out.

ya, might almost be safer to zap the chicaine so your not braking through the turn (thus making the car less stable) and instead on the strait approaching Villenueve.........could be quite interesting.....

 

[L8 Apex]

When they installed the chicane at Tamburello after Senna's accident, that made Variante Bassa pretty much redundant since it was, after all, originally intended to slow the speeds going into Tamburello. When they remodeled in 1994-95, they should have just got rid of V.B. altogether then and there, but with the safety hysteria of the day still very strong, they kept it and straightend out the kink on the way into it (Which made perfect sense after the curbs there launched Barrichello's Jordan onto the top of the tire barrier in practice, nearly making him the third life lost that weekend.).
Should be interesting to see how it affects the racing there.
Also, if they're going to expand the paddock like the article says, they may have to move the frontstetch and pits back toward the stands because space behind the paddock is limited by the Santerno River, the same geographic feature that prevented them from adding runoff at Tamburello and keeping it the gut-checking sweeper that it was.

 

[east]

Imola, with the new chicanes put in after Sennas death, has to be the most boring race track ever conceived, this is going to be a great move to take out the corner so its a straight, sure those chicanes made the track safer for the drivers but they also made overtaking virtually impossible! Hopefully this change will make the racing at Imola interesting again.

 

[FLK]

They should restore Hockenheim to it's former layout, not that keen on the smaller Indy circuit they've been using since. I know it was done for safety but how often were there fatal accidents during the 90's, most accidents seemed to happen on the first corner or in the pits.

 

[The Internet]

They should restore Hockenheim to it's former layout

They've torn up the old road (except for the straight that used to lead up to Senna, which is now an entrance I believe) and planted trees in its place, as was the agreement with local environmentalists when they chopped down more trees to lay the new track.


It wasn't done for safety, it was done because Bernie didn't believe it was profitable to hold a race where the spectators would only see the cars 45 times.

 

[tigermoth737]

They should restore Hockenheim to it's former layout, not that keen on the smaller Indy circuit they've been using since. I know it was done for safety but how often were there fatal accidents during the 90's, most accidents seemed to happen on the first corner or in the pits.

Hockenheim was boring before they changed it. Indy circuit?????? for christ sake its called formula 1!!!!
now i look forward to watching the german gp, there's lots of over taking at the hairpin and it is simply more entertaining.

But also imagine if imola hadnt of had the final chicane there in 2005. the battle between alonso and schuey might have been an absolute killer of a race then!!

 

[east]

The old Hockenheim track was quite unique compared to other race tracks, the thing with the new layout is that now it doesnt have any specific feature that seperates it from any other race track, its no longer unique, it no longer seems special, it just seems like any other race now.

 

[The Internet]

If they ever do make cuts to the f1 schedule, I'd be hard-pressed to choose between keeping Hockenheim or Nurburgring. Both tracks are poor shadows of their predecessors. If they keep the European GP, they could rotate it (Nurburgring, Hockenheim, Brands Hatch, Jerez, Valencia, Imola, and Paul Ricard would all provide good racing).

 

[L8 Apex]

If they keep the European GP, they could rotate it (Nurburgring, Hockenheim, Brands Hatch, Jerez, Valencia, Imola, and Paul Ricard would all provide good racing).

I don't think Paul Ricard would be capable of holding a GP in its current form. (No grandstands, pits set way back from the frontstretch, etc.) Maybe the Bugatti Circuit at Le Mans could be the French venue...

 

[east]

Bring back the A1-Ring I say, that track always gave up a good race.

 

[amp88]

Bring back the A1-Ring I say, that track always gave up a good race.

We must be watching different races then, because IMHO the races at the A1 ring were generally quite boring and relatively uneventful.