My Tracks

[Tye]

Originally posted by mac
Not necessarily. Chicanes can be tremendous corners if done correctly (Imola chicane at Magny-Cours, for example). The ones that suck are the ones that are chucked into the middle of or just before fast corners to make them slower. Chicanes are also a very good way of testing a car's handling and a driver's ability. Tell me you don't enjoy watching JPM, MSchu, or (in the past) Senna attacking a chicane.

I agree that chicanes add quite a challenge to any track,if located at the right part of the track.

Personally,I like the chicane at Suzuka after the very fast 130R left hand corner before the start/fiish straight.

I think it is a real challenge for a driver to successfully pass another car going into that particular chicane because of the 130R corner.It all starts at the Spoon curve,as a driver you exit that corner and are flat out along the straight that leads to the 130R corner and into the chicane.It takes alot of courage to follow a car through the 130R to get close enough to have a chance to pass going into the chicane.A driver would be losing his front end grip due to the bad air from the car in front of him.I think that is a real challenge for any driver.

I think that the circuit revisions to the track at Imola following 1994 are a perfect example of putting chicanes in the wrong place.The chicanes at the very fast Tamburello and Villeneuve corners are completely out of place,I know the FIA had to react,but come on ,lets get over the losses, as sad as they may be, and restore Imola to it's former glory.I can't imagine putting a chicane at a corner named after Gilles Villeneuve.It was once a great track.

Tye

[DNQ]

Bloody hell, it's the Lee Janotta Motor Racing SUPER COMPLEX! How long is that big track?? Must be edging 50km Nice facility in anyone's books.

My cicuit is called "Telstra Motordrome Queensland" in deference to Telstra who have pumped in millions of dollars to build the facility.

The full track is five kilometres in circumference, built to be run under two configurations - Grand Prix and Club layout - the Grand Prix circuit comprises of the entire track, whilst the Club track skips the hairpin.

The circuit is located in South-East Queensland, North of Brisbane, and is a reasonably fast, medium to low downforce drivers circuit, with one notable passing oppurtunity, the hairpin. Elevations changes features notably in the tracks character - the run to the hairpin is particularly angled.

The club layout bypasses the hairpin, and is suitable for smaller state events for which smaller crowds and marshalls are present.

The dog leg after turn one is for go karts.

The track is capable of holding most races, from open wheelers and tin-tops to touring cars.

TRACK DIRECTION - Anit-Clockwise

[mac]

Hey DNQ, that's a pretty cool track. You could probably also pass into the first turn.

Question - have you thought about running it in the other direction? It could work, from what I can see.

[mac]

Here is my latest, and my favourite so far - Hometown Raceway.

[mac]

Hometown raceway is an undulating mix of fast, medium and slow speed corners. And for you chicane-haters, there is not one chicane in sight. The track features 16 turns - 9 left and 7 right. There is one great passing opportunity and 2 half chances for passing.

The main straight is flat. Turn 1 is a sharper than 90 degrees left and represents the best passing chance. From the apex of turn 1, the track begins on an uphill climb towards turn 2.

The track flattens out at the entry to turn 2 - a fast left. From the entry to just after the apex, the track goes slightly downhill. Just after the apex, the track begins going uphill again.

Turn 2 flows immediately into the very fast turn 3. Turn 3 is an uphill right.

Turn 3 flows directly into the blind turn 4 left. On the entry to 4, the track begins to go downhill. Turn 4 is a long, medium speed, downhill left-hander.

Immediately after turn 4, one must negotiate the tight and tricky 90 degree turn 5. One must begin braking for turn 5 before the exit of turn 4. What makes this corner tricky is the fact that at the exit of turn 4, the track goes more steeply downhill. This produces an off-camber corner. From the apex of turn 5, the track is flat.

Midway between 5 & 6 the track goes downhill. Turn 6, a 90 degree right, is shortly after turn 5. Just after the entry point of turn 6, the track begins going uphill. A good exit from 6 is essential, in order to get a good run through 7, 8, 9 and down to 10.

Out of turn 6 sees the start of the roller-coaster ride. This section is one for the fast-corner freaks. The track continues uphill all the way from turn 6 through turn 7. Turn 7 is a fast uphill left.

Halfway between 7 & 8, a there is a crest and the track begins to go downhill. Turn 8 is a FAST, long and open turn. At the end of the apex, the track begins to go uphill again.

At the very exit of turn 8 there is a slight crest and the track begins to go gradually downhill.

The track continues on this same gradient through the turn 9 right kink.

The track continues downhill to turn 10. Turn 10 is a 90 degree opening left-hander and is a possible passing opportunity. The approach is downhill and fron the apex the track becomes more steeply downhill. Just before the exit, the track flattens out.

The track remains flat for the double apex left at turn 11.

Just before the 90 degree right (turn 12) immediately after 11, the track begins going uphill.

Just before the fast turn 13 right-hander the track begins going downhill.

Midway down the next relatively short straight, the track becomes flat.

Turn 14 is a 90 degree left-hander. Here, the track is flat and it is the last possible passing spot.

The track remains flat through turn 15 - another 90 degree left whose entry is the exit of the previous corner.

A good exit from the turn 16 right is essential for a good run down the main straight. 16 is immediately after 15 and is also flat.

[Jordi]

Now, here's my first track.
Turn one is like Paddock Hill at Brands, but longer. After that there's a wide-quick S and the uphill begins. Then there's two slow corners still going up till the highest point. Then the straight leads to a hairpin and then you literally drop down. Dropping like a stone, like the Corkscrew at Laguna or at Bathurst. Then there's the fastest part, first plain and then after another slow corner, a rapid downhill making the braking for the last two corners difficult.

It has no name... I guess I'd call it the Greg Moore circuit.

[Lee Janotta]

Hmm, I like the layout and elevation changes a lot Jordi, but you're not going to have _any_ passing there, with the way you've set up the approach to the hairpins. Make them constant or increasing radius turns, and then it'll be excellent.

[mac]

Some pretty fast turns there Jordi. Looks like a heap of fun to drive.

However, I agree with Lee - I doubt there would be much passing there.

[Jordi]

Who cares about the passing really? This track would never really be raced in modern F1... In old F1, you'd have passing here and in any track...

But my next one will be more like that. And it'll be FAST.

[Jordi]

OK, this is called Das Supatrak.

It's what I'd like in a racing track. Speed, Speed, Speed, banking and length. It's past 6 km.

The first 3 km are the most part of an oval like Indianapolis. Two corners slightly banked, a short-chute between them and two loooong straights before and after.

After that, turn 3 is a chicane, Indy-F1 style, and so does the corner that follows. Then turn 5 is a second gear corner, with a short straight and a fairly quicker chicane. Then a long straight.

until turn 7, another 2nd gear. Then a looong straight with a kink in the middle, leading to the 3rd chicane, slower, and then a short straight till the 180º, banked Karusell corner.

The last corner is a 90º, vital for a good run till the first corner.

[mac]

That one looks good too. Combination of Monza and Indy road course. I see 3 passing spots at turns 1, 3 and I think it's 9. Very long too.

[DNQ]

Wow, that is a bloody weird looking circuit!

[Jordi]

It's weird, yeah, but this way it doesn't use a ton of space. It's all in a rectangular space, like Montmeló or Magny-Cours.

[Speedworx]

supratrak looks good.

hometown looks weird.

canada doesn't look that good.

[mac]

Here is the latest mac-designed circuit - Paradiso.

[mac]

For anyone who hates chicanes, unlucky. Because Paradiso's got 3 of them. Paradiso is palm tree lined and contains 3 good passing places and 2 half chances to pass.

The main straight is perfectly flat. Turn 1 is a medium speed right hairpin. It is also flat and the 1st good chance to pass on the track.

Immediately out of turn 1 is another long, flat straight down the back of the paddock.

Turn 2 is the first chicane (left-right) and the 2nd passing place on the track. Here the track is flat.

Straight after this chicane is the double-apex, flat-out left-hander. You accelerate right through through this corner. Between apexes, the track begins to go uphill.

Turn 4 is FAST. It is a long, right hander and will be flat-out in most cars (it may require a slight lift in others). Towards the end of the apex, the track changes from going uphill to going slightly downhill. Shortly after the exit of 4, the track begins going slightly uphill. There is a short straight after turn 4 leading to turn 5.

Turn 5 is one of the difficult chances to pass. It is an uphill, 90 degree right-hander. Shortly after turn 5, the track begins going slightly downhill.

Turn 6 is a tricky left-right chicane. The approach goes to the left, making braking tricky. After the chicane the track goes slightly to the left. The track flattens out during the left-veering approach to the chicane.

Turn 7 is a fast left. There is a dip on the apex of the turn.

Immediately after 7, is a tricky double-apex right (turn 8). It is quite fast. The 1st apex is flat and between apexes the track begins to go downhill.

The track continues downhill through turn 9, a fast left-hander straight after turn 8.

Turn 8 leads directly into the carousel (turn 10). The track flattens out before 10, and on the exit, the track begins to go uphill. Turn 10 leads onto the back straight.

About 2/3 of the way down the straight, the track flattens out.

Turn 11 is a flat, 90 degree right. 11 is a great passing place.

Turn 12 is shortly after 11 and is an opening, pretty fast left.

Immediately after turn 12 is the fast turn 13 right. This corner opens up. The track runs slightly uphill through turn 12 and slightly downhill through 13. Turn 13 is also slightly banked, giving good grip.

The track runs slightly uphill to the turn 14 left kink. At the apex of the kink, the track flattens out.

After a short straight is the final turn (15), the left-right chicane onto the main straight. This is a possible, but very difficult place to pass. Perfect chance for a last-lap desperation dive (possibly ending in tears).

[Jordi]

Paradiso looks like one of those tracks where there's always action happening. You don't really get to rest, you are all the time cornering!
It reminds me of Surfers Paradise, with so many chicanes.

[mac]

Thanks Jordi. I'll take that as a compliment! However, there are 3 straights where you could have a bit of a rest. The rest of the track is pretty full of corners though, isn't it?

[Jordi]

Yeah, lots of corners!

I'm working on another two... one will be one around the streets of Vilafranca, my hometown.

At least we have ideas, not like Tilke, he just does straight-hairpin-straight!

[Jordi]

I wonder how does one become a professional track designer...

[mac]

I don't know, but I'd love to find out.

[Speedworx]

Paradiso looks really good. That should be a real race track.

[Tristan]

Reminds me a lot the Hungaroring. Take that as a compliment/insult as you wish!!

[Jordi]

another one

This is the E track, because it's E shaped. (stupid name I know)

After start/finish, turn 1 is the classic hairpin. It is very wide to improve space in the starts.

A straight leads to turn 2, a constant radius and long turn.

Another straight leads to 3a and 3b, intended to decrease the radius each time leading up to turn 4. This should be a technical section.

Turn 5 is banked and leads fast to the right-left-right turn 6. This turn is similar to Suzuka's triangle.

Turn 7 is a radius increasing turn, short, leading to the straight and then the closed turn 8.

A straight with a kink leads to turn 9. Turns 8 and 9 are similar to Remus in A1-Ring, and should provide passing.

Another straight leads to turns 10 and 11, which are very similar to the last two corners of Surfers Paradise. Line is very important to get a good run in the straight.

What do you think?

[mac]

Plenty of passing on that one, Jordi. Should provide plenty of good racing.