Abandoned tracks

[johnh875]

Ok I have now gone through and uploaded some photos.

Catalina Park, September 2006. I don’t think there is a straight, level piece of track out of the whole lap, it twists and dives all over the place with a lot of camber change through some of the corners. Zero run-off too, surrounded by railway sleeper fences for the most part. Bonus photo of the famous Three Sisters nearby at Katoomba on a crisp spring morning.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7306965...7635189780219/

Lakeside, June 2007. This was an evening visit and falling light levels challenged the camera so the photos I didn’t use were a lot worse than these. This track was in use until the late 90’s from memory so roughly a decade had gone by when I visited. Lakeside actually has a lot in common with Catalina in that it is nearly constantly changing direction bar a downhill straight into the last corner and the start-finish straight.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7306965...7635189602187/

[Mike E]

Good work!

[Craig]

Stopped at Catalina Park one mornign en route to the 2008 Bathurst race. Awesome place. Completely different to Reims where I stopped the year before (slight detour driving back from a work trip to Monaco which also saw us take in Magny Cours, Clermont-Ferrand and the Millau Bridge on the way down!) but memorable nonetheless. I have some photos somewhere but I think most angles have been covered here already. I will watch this topic from now on as it is pretty interesting. I used to love the articles on old tracks in Motorsport magazine a few years back

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by johnh875

Ok I have now gone through and uploaded some photos.

Catalina Park, September 2006. I don’t think there is a straight, level piece of track out of the whole lap, it twists and dives all over the place with a lot of camber change through some of the corners. Zero run-off too, surrounded by railway sleeper fences for the most part. Bonus photo of the famous Three Sisters nearby at Katoomba on a crisp spring morning.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7306965...7635189780219/

Lakeside, June 2007. This was an evening visit and falling light levels challenged the camera so the photos I didn’t use were a lot worse than these. This track was in use until the late 90’s from memory so roughly a decade had gone by when I visited. Lakeside actually has a lot in common with Catalina in that it is nearly constantly changing direction bar a downhill straight into the last corner and the start-finish straight.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7306965...7635189602187/

Wonderful pictures - thank you

[FastDB2s]

Love this thread, sadly its not just confined to racetracks is it.
I went to Henley (in Arden) ice cream parlour yesterday, then the museum next door.
Henley ice creams / Tudor Dairies were pretty famous in the 30s to 70s, however Chase Midlands, a local greedy developer who has since gone bust, bought the 'factory' from Ross Foods & turned it into some yucky terraced yuppie housing.
BTW I went to school in Henley in the late 60s.

We need to look after lots of interesting plots of land that were once historical racetracks, etc. By the time my grandkids are my age there wont be anything left to recognise what went on in the mid 20th century !

[wolfhound]

Did anybody see DC and Lewis driving round the old part of Spa on the BBC today. It must have been a very fast track in its original form no wonder it was so dangerous.

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by wolfhound

Did anybody see DC and Lewis driving round the old part of Spa on the BBC today. It must have been a very fast track in its original form no wonder it was so dangerous.

http://tentenths.com/forum/showthread.php?t=138949

[gtcapri]

Originally Posted by johnh875

Yes quite a few, but I will have to dig them out of an old hard drive. Looking at the flickr link that Alan posted, I initially wondered if they were ones I'd taken (I think I uploaded them to fotopic). Things like the water running across the tarmac appear identical, as does the 'overgrowth'. I took quite a few photos as I wasn't sure at the time which direction the track ran (clockwise or anti).

The race track is shown on google maps in Frank Walford Park in Katoomba NSW, Red Hill St is adjacent to the circuit.

The track ran anti-clockwise.

[Barry Pomfret]

There's a few tracks in the Uk that have disappeared or no longer in use as race circuits, for example Longridge, Rufforth and Aintree. I raced at both Longridge and Aintree when I was much younger and considerably slimmer, (and probably also faster!)

[Aysedasi]

We shouldn't forget this old thread......

http://tentenths.com/forum/showthrea...ight=abandoned

[seniormax]

Regarding the post about the Spanish GP in 1975, I had the pleasure of being there, while working for the Shadow GP team. The paddock was in the old Olympic Stadium, with the transporters placed around the old running track. The temporary pit lane was about 1/4 mile to the left of the Stadium main entrance. I remember we all and this included some of the drivers, had a game of football on the grass in the middle of the stadium. Happy Memories of times never to be repeated.

[Aysedasi]

Welcome to Tenths seniormax

[Mr Pink]

A swedish blog of abandoned places, mostly non-motorsport but pictures of AVUS, Sitges, Reims and an old Latvian circuit named Bikernieki, also an old Studebaker plant among a lot of other interesting places.

http://www.jornmark.se/

[Aysedasi]

Extraordinary! But you seem to have to log in?

[Mr Pink]

Originally Posted by Aysedasi

Extraordinary! But you seem to have to log in?

Yes, you have to register for a few of the albums. The text says it's simply because he want's to be able to notice visitors when his book comes out.
You don't need to log in for the circuit albums though! The Latvian circuit is under "Lettland del 1 Europa", very interesting with old Soviet motorsport history IMO!

[Aysedasi]

It's just astonishing to see so many abandoned places...... As if people just walked away and left them to rot and rust away.

[Mike E]

That looks like an amazing set of albums. As Ayse says, it just seems so strange that something that is useful at one time is just abandoned and left to decay. What I find spooky and grimly fascinating about these things is the absence of people in an environment created by people.
Drifting further off topic, there are a number of accidental nature reserves around the world which have resulted from forced exclusions of people. The ones that spring to mind are the buffer zone between north and south Korea, the similar zone between north and south Cyprus, and the area around Chernobyl. Nature has reclaimed these very happily.

[The Fat Clerk]

Originally Posted by Barry Pomfret

There's a few tracks in the Uk that have disappeared or no longer in use as race circuits, for example Longridge, Rufforth and Aintree. I raced at both Longridge and Aintree when I was much younger and considerably slimmer, (and probably also faster!)

Aintree albeit not in it's entirity is still used as a Sprint Track and is still magnificant.

[saddelbags]

Two tracks I remember Preese Heath and Redermuwen in North Wales I have no chance of spelling that right both used for bikes.

[Mr Pink]

I really like this video too, sorry if it's been posted and I've missed it.
Solitude Revival: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiVgAlPtfNk

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by Mr Pink

I really like this video too, sorry if it's been posted and I've missed it.
Solitude Revival: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiVgAlPtfNk

Yes, I've watched that before - it's a must-see!

[bauble]

Originally Posted by wolfhound

Did anybody see DC and Lewis driving round the old part of Spa on the BBC today. It must have been a very fast track in its original form no wonder it was so dangerous.

It was not especially dangerous measured by the standards of the day, British drivers who grew up on airfield circuits were often quite taken aback by continental tracks where trees, ditches, brick walls and street furniture was the norm. Probably a daunting prospect knowing that 'chucking at the scenery' took on a whole different meaning at somewhere like Spa, Albi, etc.

Mike Hawthorn in his book 'Challenge Me The Race', tells of Ken Wharton in his Cooper Bristol spinning into a field at Spa, and having to duck into the cockpit as he passed through a barb wire fence to avoid losing his head. Imagine any of today's drivers faced with such a prospect.

The modern Spa is not even a shadow of it's 1950's self, and while one can understand why, it is easy to miss the sheer drama of the old circuit.

[pigs fly]

Originally Posted by johnh875

Ok I have now gone through and uploaded some photos.

Catalina Park, September 2006. I don’t think there is a straight, level piece of track out of the whole lap, it twists and dives all over the place with a lot of camber change through some of the corners. Zero run-off too, surrounded by railway sleeper fences for the most part. Bonus photo of the famous Three Sisters nearby at Katoomba on a crisp spring morning.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7306965...7635189780219/

Lakeside, June 2007. This was an evening visit and falling light levels challenged the camera so the photos I didn’t use were a lot worse than these. This track was in use until the late 90’s from memory so roughly a decade had gone by when I visited. Lakeside actually has a lot in common with Catalina in that it is nearly constantly changing direction bar a downhill straight into the last corner and the start-finish straight.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7306965...7635189602187/

Lakeside is currently in use holds a lot of club races these days and has the most wicked corner I ever seen called HUNGRY CORNER in all the years of going there.

[JohnD]

Only just spotted this thread! Yes, old circuits are fascinating and I'm hoping to visit some more. Went to Reims-Gueux and Rouen-Les Essarts a couple of years ago, and made videos of driving them

Gueux:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kc3Iu4yHb_w

Apologies for the poor quality.
If a surveyor was looking at the old buildings, he must have been contracted by Les Amis du Circuit de Gueux, a band of fans who have done all the work up until now to preserve the buildings. The pits and the old scoreboard are secure, but the grandstand has concrete spalling off the steel reinforcements and is cordoned off as it is deemed unsafe. If Les Amis hope to prop it up, that would be great, because it will fall down otherwise.
Les Amis have their own website at http://www.amis-du-circuit-de-gueux.fr/-Welcome-
and you can become a member for 25 Euros, that will go towards the restoration! If you do visit, please join Les Amis!

Les Essarts
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eB5QV...eature=related

Video starts from the entrance of the old pits, which is now a timber yard, but where you can see the outlines of the old pit and race control buildings. The "new course" runs to the left of the Chemin de L'Etoile that we took, between that and the elevated N138 motorway that destroyed the old course, the original north straight. The 'new course' is protected by earth berms, but is negotiable in a 4x4!

As for UK circuits of old, a book "Motor Racing Circuits in England" by Peter Swinger, Pub. Ian Allen, is comprehensive, if in some cases with little detail of the more obscure venues.

Solitude was mentioned above. The Solitude revival includes drives on the old circuit, which sounds fun with plnty of classic and vintage motors, but a German friend says that it is very sedate. Anyone been to the Revival?

John

[JohnD]

Forgot to mention:

I've competed at the "MotorSport at the Palace" event, organised by the Sevenoaks MC at Crystal Palace. It's a sprint as the old course alonside the National Sports Centre now is commandeered for car parking (!). It starts on the pathway past the Concert Platform (Square to the left of The Glade corner, on the map on page 1), goes north and turns sharp left, then sharp right and again onto the end of the old Terrace Straight, around a chicane where the start path joins the Straight and on around North Tower and the Glade, to finish just before Park Curve. Around the Curve, sharp right again and back to the lovely wooded area next to the star which was used as the Sprint Paddock. The old Paddock was classic clubs' displays and parking.

It's a worthwhile event! This year's has gone by, but look out for 2014! See: http://www.motorsportatthepalace.co.uk/

And see: http://www.solitude-revival.org/
for Solitude (in German)

John