My Tracks

[Tristan]

Hmmm..... as I swill it around my mouth I'm getting.... mmmm...... hints of Suzuka.... with a subtle edge of the second half of Albert park.... and.... what's that flavour I feel on my palate afterwards?? I dunno... it's kind of Imola-ey.

BTW: I hope you didn't think I was dissing your track earlier, mac! I think they're great!! (and very well drawn. What do you use??)

[MagnetON]

FIA Appendix O details the FIA requirements for track design, things like maximum change of gradient, track width, etc. I just thought it might make interesting reading for anyone interested in track designs.

[mac]

Originally posted by Tristan
Hmmm..... as I swill it around my mouth I'm getting.... mmmm...... hints of Suzuka.... with a subtle edge of the second half of Albert park.... and.... what's that flavour I feel on my palate afterwards?? I dunno... it's kind of Imola-ey.

BTW: I hope you didn't think I was dissing your track earlier, mac! I think they're great!! (and very well drawn. What do you use??)

Pen and texta. Very technological of me. The detailed ones are from Microsoft Paint.

I just draw what comes to me. I don't set out with an objective - ie. I'm gonna make this one like Imola. But it's nice to hear some comparisons.

[macdaddy]

A great mind at work, Mac! As for myself, I'd like to build a 2-mile oval with 18 degree banking. The difference being that the banking is reversed, with the top being on the inside of the track, sloping downward toward the grandstands. And if that didn't separate the men from the boys, at the end of the backstretch would be a loop not unlike a rollercoaster. They say that ChampCars could stick to the ceiling at speed, don't they? And halfway down the frontstretch, just before the start/finish line, the track would abruptly drop down three feet. The cars would have to jump over a row of barrels, and to knock any over would mean a drive-through penalty. Better soften up the springs a little! Actually, forget the oval idea. Lengthen the track a little and make it a figure-8.

[MagnetON]

If you do the maths on such a track the problem with a loop is the actual g-force to get up and over would squish a driver like a bug. Also no sanctioning body would license such a track as there would be MASSIVE safety issues regarding what happens if some poor unfortunate doesn't have enough speed to make it over the top.

Although it DOES sound cool

As for the figure 8, oh yeah, I'm assuming you want the crossover to be on the same level!!!! The marshals would LOVE you for that one

[Minardi fan]

I've designed loads of tracks too... I like your designs a lot - much more interesting than the Mickey Mouse tracks of modern F1... (Oh, and Albert Park was my first thought when I saw the first one!!!)

[mac]

Thanks Minardi fan!

[mac]

After witnessing the latest in modern track design at Hockenheim this past weekend , I thought I'd post my latest effort - Oyster Cove.

[mac]

Oyster Cove is probably my favourite so far. It is a demanding track, with a variety of fast and slow corners, as well as 3 good overtaking places. It will demand a machine that handles particularly well, due to the quite prominent direction changes.

Turn 1 is a 90 degree flat right-hander, and is the first good passing spot.

The turn 2 complex is a fast right-left-right-left esses section and is also flat.

Turn 3 is the slowest corner on the track, and is shortly after the turn 2 complex. The approach to turn 3 is slightly uphill, and the exit is slightly downhill.

Turn 4 is merely a slightly downhill flat-out kink, leading onto a straight.

The straight begins to run uphill at the exit of turn 4. The track flattens out before the braking zone for turn 5.

Turn 5 is a sharp and slow left hand almost-hairpin and represents the 2nd passing place on the track.

At the exit of turn 5, the track begins to to uphill towards the ultra-fast turns 6, 7 and 8.

Just before the entry to turn 6, the track begins to go downhill.

6, 7 and 8 is a fast, but tricky right-left-right. Turn 6 is downhill and a more gradual corner than 7 & 8. Turn 7 is immediately after 6 and is also fast, but is a sharper turn. Straight out of 7 is the fast, double-apex right turn 8. The track flattens out for turn 8.

Shortly after turn 8 is the turn 9 esses. Turn 9 is an uphill section comprising a right-left-right and is really a medium-speed, slightly spread out chicane.

Between turns 9 & 10 the track begins to go downhill. Turn 10 is a right-left esses combination. The right part is not a hard turn and goes slightly downhill. The left part is a harder turn than the right, and the track flattens out for this turn.

Turn 10 leads you onto the next (and final) straight of the lap. This is a flat straight and takes you up to turn 11 - the 3rd and final passing place on the track. Turn 11 is a flat and slow double-apex 180 degree right-hander, basically comprising 2 90 degree rights. However, the corner is taken as 1 turn.

Straight out of turn 11 is the triple-apex turn 12 left. Turn 12 is uphill and pretty much flat-out. The track flattens out again on the 3rd apes of turn 12.

Immediately after turn 12 is the fast and quite long, right-hand, turn 13.

The final turns, 14 & 15 are the final of the lap and lead you onto the main straight. 14 and 15 are shortly after 13 and are a fast left-right esses section. This section is flat, and the main straight also remains flat.

*The colours on the map have changed. I have now added some tarmac run-off to some corners. They are now grey and the paddock is now blue.

What are your thoughts?

[Speedworx]

Oyster Cove looks good.

[Speedworx]

Just got around to looking at Onionstone.

Also looks very good.

If anyone knows how, maybe they could make these tracks for SCGT.

[mac]

I would have no idea. As I said earlier, it took me a day to figure out how to get them on here.

[Rutle]

mac - do you design these circuits with an existing terrain in mind - or do you make up the terrain as well. Just curious.

[mac]

I usually make up the terrain. As I don't own any great heaps of land (or know of any suitable for a racing track), I make up the terrain. I like to think that I could apply most of my tracks to most areas of land that are big enough.

[Lee Janotta]

Hi Mac. Onionstone looks good, not sure about the others, they are a bit tight... Would you mind if I added a design to the thread? I'm working on one presently that goes with the earlier idea of making a track based on all the best corners... It's a blend of the previous Hockenheim, the Nurburgring Nordscliefe, Brands Hatch GP, Cadwell Park, Laguna Seca, and Linas-Montlehery, with Michigan International Speedway and Darlington thrown in for good measure. Very fast and dicey GP course, lovely and flowing little 2-mile club course, lots of scenery and elevation changes, passing opportunities, long and short ovals as well.

Eh, I'll show it to you when I'm done.

[Shinners]

Think you should have a word in Ernie's ear straight away Mac

[Shinners]

oops, sorry Bernie, spelling mistake - the result of a long day and a very long night

[DNQ]

Bloody hell, were do you get the names from

I like your tracks, but I don't think they'd be that good for Formula One, they are a bit tight. Onionstone is the best of them all.

[DNQ]

Today I am REALLY bored, so I will add a track later perhaps.

[Jordi]

I will also add tracks, but I will have to design them in Paint directly, as I don't have a scanner...

[Lee Janotta]

Okay, this is the first "complete" version I could do... Other pieces of track which form a club course, national circuit, and other parts will come later.

I'll also add photos from other tracks which illustrate elevation changes and views of corners similar to these. For reference, the larger oval is 1.5 miles in length, an except duplicate of Michigan.

If you've raced at Cadwell Park, you should notice I lifted the Mountain and the esses just afterwards, and dropped them into that section in the lower right area.

As the track leaves the first oval, is runs through a gap in the stands. It enter the second oval likewise, but leaves it by cutting down into the infield, and then passing thru a tunnel. It re-enters the larger oval by going through another tunnel, running onto the drag strip in the middle of the oval, and then onto a short road to the right leading back onto the oval at the start of the banking.

Hope ya like!

The name, by the way, is Rocky Mountain International Raceway, and while I don't have a specific plot of land picked out, should be within two hours of Denver, Colorado.

[emmer]

hm mac i know chicanes may be good but you seem to love them, huh? :confused:

this topic reminds me that game for genesis "ayrton senna's super monaco gp ii" for which senna have designed two tracks. it was possible to racing in these both + his kartrodome.

sadly this game was fun but the tracks lenghts weren't real. anyway it was interesting to see some tracks designed by him.

i like tracks with fast turns and long straights, such as the old interlagos.

[Mark F1]

Hi Mac, nice designs there, I especially like Oyster Cove as it looks like quite a fast free flowing track, not like some of the current F1 tracks, i.e Hungaroring

I myself have designed loads of F1 tracks and wouldn't mind showing them on here but I've got a problem.

Somehow my Microsoft Paint has disappeared from my PC so I've been drawing my tracks by hand. With one particular track I scanned it into my PC, resized it and saved it onto my hard drive as a BMP image, but the image turned out to be 3.04 MB.

I'm just wondering if there is any way that I can convert this into a Jpeg or Gif image that I can easily post.

Thanks in advance for any advice

[mac]

Originally posted by Shinners
Think you should have a word in Bernie's ear straight away Mac

He wouldn't listen . He has his best mate, Mr Tilke designing rubbish.

Lee - that track looks COMPLEX. Should provide some good racing down the two main straights. How do the ovals mesh with the road course?

DNQ - I get the names of places I know and change them. I'm starting to run out of ideas though!!

emmer - I don't LOVE chicanes - but there is a time and a place for them if done correctly.

Mark - I've got no idea. When I click on "Save As", I just go down and change the file type to JPEG.

Thanks for the kind words all and if you want to share any designs, feel free. I'd love to have a geez.

I like my tracks to consist of many different aspects. I don't like tracks that you can clearly see have been DESIGNED. I like a circuit to appear as if it was just a random piece of road, and someone wanted to have a race on it (ie. Spa).

[Lee Janotta]

Mac: On this new facility map, you can see a pair of tiny purple areas which show a pair of tunnels running under the banking used to enter/exit the ovals at two points... The other two places where the road course and ovals meet are simpy Montlehéry-style blends with a flat section of the oval.

It's hard to see with the image this small, but you can still make out the spectator/camping areas (raised on mounds when _very_ close to the track) in orange, the access roads, paddocks, pits, parking, runoff areas, and the GP, national, and club circuits.