The thread of weird race tracks

[Grand Prix]

At last year's German Grand Prix, Martin Brundle said most of the drivers were bored by it, because they spent most of the race either going in a dead-straight line or through a chicane.

So by that logic, couldn't they ditch Monza then? All it is straights and chicanes with Parabolica and the Lesmos being the only real interesting corners.


I still find it funny that the closest and most exciting finish in F1 history was on the old Monza in 1971, which was then castrated by chicanes the following year, ironically preventing another race as such.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

The Nordschleife is an ex-GP circuit that has been maintained and continued to see motorsport action.
Hocknheim-long is an ex-GP circuit that hasn't been maintained and will never see motorsport action again.

[...]

Why did Hockenheim have to be ripped up and not used ever again for any motorsport? I think most of us would be reasonably happy if it was at least kept for F3/DTM/WTCC or whatever. Now no-one will ever race on it ever again.

When the owners of the old Hockenheim were told that they had to make changes to the circuit or risk failing their homologation, they evidently felt that maintaining the old circuit after the reconfiguration was too expensive and that there would be too little use.

So by that logic, couldn't they ditch Monza then? All it is straights and chicanes with Parabolica and the Lesmos being the only real interesting corners.

The drivers evidently don't feel the same way about Monza as they did the old Hockenheim.

 

[Ardius]

they evidently felt that maintaining the old circuit after the reconfiguration was too expensive and that there would be too little use.

Yes obviously. Point is - at least for me, as a motorsport fan and a fan of that old track - their decision to completely rip it all up and not even attempt to maintain it without F1 was stupid.
And before you answer again, yes I realise money involved, etc etc etc. Doesn't make me like it any more.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

But can you really blame them for making the decision that they felt was best for them?

 

[Ardius]

Er, yes. I believe I just explained that. Just because I understand and appreciate something, doesn't mean I have to like it.

 

[Grand Prix]

The drivers evidently don't feel the same way about Monza as they did the old Hockenheim.

In this changing motorsports world with increasingly complex circuits being used - give it some time. Perhaps not now, but perhaps later.


Getting back onto the topic of weird circuit layouts, this one is a bit, ermmm, suggestive:

That thought goes away once you're tried it in a sim though.

 

[Prince.M5]

The Marrakech street circuit is pretty weird too... Looks like some sort of knife used in a surgery

 

[cgr-10]

'Weird' tracks tend to be interesting tracks, especially for spectators. I've seen a couple of Norisring DTM races on TV before and they really were great fun to watch.

 

[F1 fan]

At last year's German Grand Prix, Martin Brundle said most of the drivers were bored by it, because they spent most of the race either going in a dead-straight line or through a chicane.

I think he actually said that he just didn't like it due to it being down to "who has the best engine". Personally, I still prefer the old Hockenheim. A real test of the drivers nerves going wheel to wheel at 220mph.

My point with bringing the Nordschleife up is that it is a far larger track and far more dangerous and expensive to maintain. Therefore there stands little reason why Hockenheim should be any different. At no point was F1 even referred to and at no point is it relevant at all.

The difference is that the Nordschleife is used most days of the year for track days/manufacturer tests. That pays the bills, but I do agree that there was no point in ripping the old track up. At least then, there would have been a chance that it could actually resurface at some point on the calendars of racing series'.

 

[Jimlaad43]

And this is somehow worse than trying to marshall and control a race on the Nordschleife?

For the big race events, they ship in marshals from loads of places, the British marshals get brought in by the bus load. The circuit has been made a lot easier for marshaling and safer.

 

[LMSCorvetteGT2]

I always thought Phoenix was a really weird layout, especially the 1991 version:

Too bad they couldn't race there in today's world since the light rail takes up through turns 1-8.

 

[Jimlaad43]

August 26th 1960, and Honda are given the first draft at a the Suzuka Circuit

Yeah!
Also, 1978 and the Sudschliefe is being redeveloped. "Hmmm, what shall we do to the track?"
"I know, lets

"
YEAH!


I think both these tracks look ridiculous.

 

[F1 fan]

Caesar's palace. 👎

Jimlaad, I've seen that picture of Suzuka before. Good job Hugenholtz was onboard. Too bad about the casio triangle though. Ran a version of the original Suzuka layout in (microprose's) Grand Prix 2. Flat through 130r, then flat through the last corner.

 

[Jimlaad43]

I mean look at the bridges on the Suzuka layout, that is what astounds me.

 

[Grand Prix]

GT5 Course Maker would make something like this.

 

[F1 fan]

Wouldn't be surprised if the first reason for rejecting that proposal read "Too expensive".

 

[Jimlaad43]

Go to this page and then click on Birmingham.
http://theracingline.net/racingcircuits/racingcircuits/UnitedKingdom/index.html
There are some really weird proposals for the circuit.

 

[SuperShouden]

Here's the newest course along the banks of the Columbia river in Oregon. A 6 mile course that can be broken up into 8 different courses:

I think that qualifies as weird.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

I don't know - it's really quite long, so it's not like it's going to be a slow circuit. And some of the shorter configurations look quite good - especially if you cut out the loop on the bottom-left and start with that giant corner as the first bend.

 

[Jahgee]

Da Boot (I've attended 3 NASCAR Races there [2004 Nextel Cup & 2006 Busch Series & Nextel Cup])

 

[Pupik]

At last year's German Grand Prix, Martin Brundle said most of the drivers were bored by it, because they spent most of the race either going in a dead-straight line or through a chicane.

Correct, it wasn't much of a challenge once Ostkurve was "chicaned". Never was very popular with the F1 fraternity, although I confess the 2003 redesign is personally far more interesting than the old configuration.

The old Columbus Grand Prix Circuit for IMSA, et al used in the 1980s has one of the oddest pit lane layouts I've ever seen:

http://www.pbase.com/mwphoto/image/68328493.jpg - If the image doesn't show.

Anderstorp had a pit lane halfway around the circuit from the start/finish line.

 

[Tom]

Here's a few I find weird..