Szisz's Tracks

[Szisz]

Basically, I severely lack any skills with SketchUp, but do enjoy designing race tracks, so I used Google Maps to make some street circuits. I'd really appreciate some feedback and constructive criticism.

I may also try hand-drawing some proper race circuits.

[pirenzo]

Welcome to Ten Tenths, Szisz.

The Ormeau track looks pretty fearsome. A good one for the road-racing motorbikes. I'm not sure you'd find anyone else crazy enough to race on it. I think it would probably be even faster and scarier if you ran it in reverse.

[Szisz]

Originally Posted by pirenzo

The Ormeau track looks pretty fearsome. A good one for the road-racing motorbikes. I'm not sure you'd find anyone else crazy enough to race on it. I think it would probably be even faster and scarier if you ran it in reverse.

The 1.3-mile flat-out straight into a horribly acute hairpin? That sounds terrifying. I know it's completely unfeasible in real life, because there's no way of sorting out the safety provisions, but I reckon it'd make a fun virtual track.

[ScotsBrutesFan]

Indeed welcome Szisz.

An interesting opening in terms of both venues and different styles of street circuit, from long straights with minimal corners, through to highly twisty city centre types.

[Szisz]

With Annecy's airport no longer turning any kind of profit, the owners have opted to renovate the site and turn it into an all-new Autodrome. The oval course it approximately 3km in length, with an eight-turn road course that is slightly longer. Ironically, the presence of a huge new racing facility means that an airport would have been quite useful, so work is ongoing regarding improved transport links to Lyon and Geneva.

[ScotsBrutesFan]

Only real comments to make, is that an internal pit would work better for both the oval and roval courses.

[Szisz]

I hand-drew this one as it seemed like the best way.

[pirenzo]

Looks like a scaled up Mallory Park. I think it would be difficult to have the road course leave the top of the banking at speedway turn five and re-enter at the top of turn one. Unless the banking is very shallow?

[Szisz]

Originally Posted by pirenzo

Looks like a scaled up Mallory Park. I think it would be difficult to have the road course leave the top of the banking at speedway turn five and re-enter at the top of turn one. Unless the banking is very shallow?

Because it's such a long oval, there's little to no banking on the speedway turns. Their main function is to give different configurations to the road course, and they are only very occasionally used together to make the complete oval course.

As for the similarity to Mallory Park, you're quite right. I wish I could say it was the inspiration behind the track, but in all honesty I'm not really knowledgeable enough for that!

[Szisz]

So, I've spent the whole day trying to learn how to use SketchUp. All in all, I'm quite pleased with the result - especially that I've never used the programme before. To keep things nice and simple, I started by constructing a one-mile banked oval course (15 metres wide, with a concrete apron on the start-finish straight), before adding a neat little infield loop (12 metres wide) for small-time road races. The pits have 26 garages, each of which also has an upstairs viewing area for guests and VIPs.

I also added curbs and gravel traps for the infield area - the gravel comes right to the edge of the track, and would severely punish anyone who takes liberties with track limits. On the infield side, the safety barriers are about a metre high so that marshals can get to incidents, while on the outside they are two metres high with a further catch fence above in order to protect the audience from any debris.

I'd be interested in any feedback you can give me, because this is my first time and although I won't be using SketchUp very often, I'd still like to learn.

[ScotsBrutesFan]

A very good first effort.

A hint for showing off the final design, you can hide your contraction lines...such as the diagonals used to make the oval work. you can highlight and the on right clicking select hide. there is also a short cut button which I can't remember off the top of my head.

I hope that you do find time to try a bit more with Sketchup, there is the tutorial stickied at the top of My Track Design index page, that I started way back when that might help with some of the basics, though you appear to be well on with it just now.

[Szisz]

This is the Bullring Motor Club. It's a tiny oval course, inspired by the Bullring Oval in Las Vegas.



It's not really much good for anything other than banger racing and maybe as a karting oval, but I wanted to try my hand at making spectator stands. Garages would be in another adjacent building.

[Szisz]

I finally worked out how to make the GMap thingy work to my whims, which means that I've designed a whole load of airfield circuits.

Major UK Airports (Completely unrealistic)

Gatwick Airport
With 15 turns over nearly three miles, it would be a pretty high-speed circuit in most places. I'm not really sure if it should be raced clockwise or counter-clockwise.

Glasgow Airport
With 2.7 miles of mostly flat-out circuit, this would probably be far too dangerous not to have far more chicanes than I've put in. All the same, I quite like its general shape, which is slightly similar to the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

Luton Airport
This is one of my favourites, with its long sweepers to the left and right at the start of the lap. I'm not too happy with the chicanes I put in though - they're a bit clunky and just sort of ruin the flow of the circuit. I should have left it with just the seven turns.

Stansted Airport
With about a dozen sharp turns in just over three miles, I kind of imagine this with metal barriers on either side and stock cars gunning their way between them. Would probably lead to a processional Grand Prix race, though, and Maldonado would crash into someone diving up the inside.

Airfield Circuits (Probably more realistic)

Bascombe Down
This MOD site was apparently host to numerous US black ops, but probably nothing as scandalous as that kneecap-shaped thing I put in the middle of the penultimate straight. I can only apologise for that.

Brize Norton
This is probably my favourite circuit so far - it looks like it would flow quite nicely, and it's quite a pretty shape. I'm not exactly sure if there are enough slow (or even medium) speed corners on there, but it would be pretty exciting to drive.

Honington
I like this circuit because it mixes some high-speed sections with other technical, twisty bits and funky chicanes. The RAF wouldn't like it because some roads would need widening and some buildings might be endangered.

Waddington
This one would need the most upgrades on its facilities - there's a lot of very narrow and/or rubbish paved road after mile three. The circuit itself seems to be a little bit new-Nurburgring-shaped.

[Szisz]

One more airfield circuit I forgot to share:

Lossiemouth
I really enjoy the look of this four-mile circuit; a nice mixture of sweepers and hairpins, chicanes and straights that I think would work perfectly well as a Grand Prix circuit (although you'd obviously never get the British GP all the way up into the Scottish Highlands).

[Szisz]

More Airport and Airfield Circuits

Atlanta
Using just a tiny portion of the airport that is statistically America's busiest, this circuit still ends up over four miles long. It would contain plenty of overtaking opportunities and plenty of flat out driving. The bravest driver would win here.

La Guardia
The compact layout of La Guardia meant that it was impossible to design a course that wasn't full of hairpins. All in all, I'm happy with how it turned out, but it's almost got a Tilkedrome feel to it. And obviously this could never happen in real life.

Lambert-St Louis Airport
A somewhat intricate three-mile track, this track sweeps left and right in a way that looks a little bit like Interlagos, but wouldn't drive anything like it. For one thing, there's obviously no elevation change. However, the interesting runway layout meant that I could get some more interesting shapes than usual.

* * *

I know that's a lot of circuits in one evening, but any and all feedback would be appreciated. I also have a road course that I'm putting far more effort into designing, and feedback from these could influence that.

Thanks in advance!

[SKG]

Good effort with the ovals, they are really tricky on sketchup.

I'm not sure about these airfield circuits, a lot seem too long, with straights of over a mile in length which wouldn't really be realistic. Instead of using the whole airport, maybe try using only a section, say one runway and its surrounding taxiways. This might help to create more believable design, both in track layout and in its feasability (since the airport may still function with its other facilities.... maybe...?)

Lets see some more!

[Szisz]

Originally Posted by SKG

Good effort with the ovals, they are really tricky on sketchup.

I'm not sure about these airfield circuits, a lot seem too long, with straights of over a mile in length which wouldn't really be realistic. Instead of using the whole airport, maybe try using only a section, say one runway and its surrounding taxiways. This might help to create more believable design, both in track layout and in its feasability (since the airport may still function with its other facilities.... maybe...?)

Lets see some more!

Thanks for the comments on the ovals, always nice to hear compliments.

Here are a couple more airfield circuits that I'd done before you posted the feedback:

Leuchars
This one is quite long at four miles, and has a flat-out section that's nearly a mile long, but is broadly a technical track. Maybe it could do with the odd chicane or two.

Yeovilton
A much shorter circuit at about three miles, with lots of short straights, breaking zones and technical turns in the first sector. Again, though, the middle part of the lap is flat out for a long time. I should probably have turned right after turn twelve to shorten the lap.

- - -

So, if I review my airfield circuits so far, ruling out any unwieldy-long circuits and circuits with excessively long straights, I probably end up with the following from best to worst:

Adquate
1. St Louis
2. La Guardia
3. Luton
4. Stansted
5. Waddington

Inadequate
6. Brize Norton
7. Yeovilton
8. Leuchars
9. Lossiemouth
10. Honington

Horrible
11. Gatwick
12. Boscombe Down
13. Atlanta
14. Glasgow

Are there any you'd pick out as particularly good or bad examples to help me in the future?

[ScotsBrutesFan]

If you want an airfield challenge, then take a look at Chicago Midway. I made a challenge of it years ago if you want to search for it.

[rubaru]

Have a look at Baltimore-Washington, as well. Lots of interesting angles and taxiways.

[Szisz]

European ePrix Circuit - Strasbourg International Airport (Clockwise)
So over the last couple of days I looked at some Formula E circuits and designed this one at Strasbourg airport. It would probably be doable with only limited infrastructure upgrades - a bit of aphalt, some barriers and some stands would I think be pretty much all it needs? I kept the length right down under two miles, which is unusual for me, and I'm pretty sure this wouldn't have to interfere very much with the running of the airport - which would provide for a pretty spectacular backdrop to the race. All in all, I like it.

- - -

I also did this for SBF's Midway Challenge but I don't think it's ready yet. Are there any good changes anyone would recommend?

[ScotsBrutesFan]

Your link to midway isn't working, you have just given the gmap website, not the circuit designs save link

[Szisz]

Originally Posted by ScotsBrutesFan

Your link to midway isn't working

Oh poo. I've lost that link now, too.

Serravalle Street Circuit - (San Marino ePrix)
I'm very happy with this one - a short, sharp, ePrix-style street circuit, inspired a bit by the Norisring, which is essentially just a couple of hairpins with a couple of other turns to link them up. Having street-viewed the roads, I reckon it would be viable, apart from a couple of bits of traffic furniture to remove.

[Szisz]

Luxembourg Airport Circuit
Another, shorter airport circuit, this time in the banker-funded microstate of Luzembourg. In hindsight, this is quite impractical unless the pit-lane is not on the start-finish straight, which would be a pretty unique arrangement. I've ended up with a circuit that's a little bit Catalunya-shaped, and I like the fact that there are very few right-angled corners on the circuit, despite being at an airport.

[SKG]

Originally Posted by Szisz

Luxembourg Airport Circuit
Another, shorter airport circuit, this time in the banker-funded microstate of Luzembourg. In hindsight, this is quite impractical unless the pit-lane is not on the start-finish straight, which would be a pretty unique arrangement. I've ended up with a circuit that's a little bit Catalunya-shaped, and I like the fact that there are very few right-angled corners on the circuit, despite being at an airport.

Sorry I didn't reply before, but this is pretty much exactly what I had in mind!

+1 for putting a screenshot here instead of a link, it makes it a lot easier to browse.

Now regarding the pit problem, Here are a few suggestions. If you excuse the doodles, as SBF would say, I feel you could move the start finish straight up where is more available asphalt. I'm not sure which way the circuit is running, but with tweaking these ideas could work either way.

If these straights are not long enough, there is plenty of space to make things work.

P.S. This was a great chance to try out my new touchscreen laptop, and I must say, editing track doodles with the swipe of a finger rather than a click of a mouse felt good.

[Szisz]

I did a thing:


A little while ago, I hand-designed this road course - but I never got around to uploading it. I'd estimate it to be about three miles in length, although I never really designed it with a specific length in mind. To the top is a shortcut, as well as a couple of historic configurations from the pre-safety days. The modern configuration is the one in bold, with the pit-lane towards the bottom. As you may be able to tell, I have yet to master pit-exits.

Oh, and if you look really carefully, you can faintly see another pretty snazzy track I designed with three parallel straights, a bridge and a lake which I then ruined by trying to design spectator seating and safety measures and such like, hence why I left this one bald.