Olivk's 2012 project : Circuit de la Broye, Switzerland

[olivk]

Long time ago I posted my 1st track on this site, now i started my 2nd - and quite more ambitious - track project.

Like my 1st track, this one is a proposal for a first real race track in Switzerland, a country where so far we have NO decent track, only 1 tiny one (that's certainly funny in an old mini cooper).

The track is called Circuit de la Broye, named after the region that hosts it, located next to the city of Payerne. The track will be right next to a military airport, so the roar of F/A-18s will nicely cover any nuisance the race track could create
The exact location is not determined so far.

My aim is to build the whole complex on sketchup, including buildings, landscaping etc, pictures will be posted once it's finished. Might take a few weeks. So until then i'll post the shape already today, so all critics are welcome

The track should be able to host all kind of car racing events except F1, which would raise the complexity and costs of the facility to a point i don't want to go. I want the track to be fully equipped but still "human scaled".

Some data about the track :

Runs counter-clockwise
Lenght : ~5 km (~3.1 mi)
Lenght of s/f straight : 800 m (~0.5 mi)
Standard width : 12 m
Width of s/f straight : 16 m

The track design is a succession of 5 different "events".
1: At the end of s/f straight, a right-hand corner with closing radius, immediately followed by a left with closing and opening again radius, leading in the 2nd straight. (T1-R, T2-L, T3-L)

2: A hard braking followed by a quick right-left "pif-paf" corner. (T4-R, T5-L)

3: A "curved straight" leading to a 90° right, that will be quite a fast corner for cars with lots of downforce. It's a blind corner as the inner wall is very close to the track. (T6-L, T7-R)

4: At the end of a new straight between close walls on both sides, the real hard braking followed by a left hairpin. (T8-L)

5: A high-speed left bend leading into a serie of esses of different radiuses, leading into the s/f straight again. (T9-L, T10-L, T11-R, T12-L, T13-R)

All in all it should be a track mixing fast parts and technical corners.

More to be seen anytime soon

[ScotsBrutesFan]

Turns 2 and 3 have traffic Jam written all over it for any series where the cars/bikes are bunched together either at the start of the race or at any other point.

A pair of 90 degree corners that make up the chicane don't make for good racing, open out the second part so that it's a 90 right arc left. The exit can still be parallel to the approach.

Not sure if it's just how you have drawn it, or intend it to be this way, but you currently have the Hairpin as a gentle trail braking left into a tight apex left. If you want overtaking, then straight line all the way to the apex, then open out if you wish on exit.

Going back to Purist's track descriptions of late, the final section could be categorised as Mickey Mouse.
It just looks unnecessary and overly complicated for what should be a fairly straight forward circuit. Perhaps it's the scale, but from the drawing the final corner would require a "Scandinavian Flick" to get around it with any sort of momentum onto the S/F

Sorry if this sounds like a big criticism, but hopefully you'll be able to see what I mean and take positives from it. You have the basis for a good circuit, there, now its a case of refining it into a great circuit.

Would I be right in saying this first draft, was done in MS Paint or similar?
If so I'd like to see the same plan in Sketchup before you add too much detail

[olivk]

Thanks a lot for your inputm i really appreciate it when people don't just say "its nice" when it's not. I'll take some time to rethink these details.

The drawing is actually made with sketchup already, it's just colored on a bit abstract way but the scale is correct.

[Purist]

I think you have a good overall shape there as well, but the final corners, and the hairpin in the lower right, both look like handbrake turns to me.

Part of me would like that chicane made into a fast esse, though I think that would also then require realignment of the right-hander at the end of that stretch to avoid run-off issues with the return leg of the circuit.

[olivk]

Thank you a lot guys for all the input, i really appreciate! Some critics are just saying out loud what i felt inside without knowing what it had to do with (fast esses before s/f straight, hairpin a bit tooooo tight). I reworked the shape a bit, with the aim of gaining in fluidity.

Lenght is still 5km (5013m exactly, i just realised it's easy to measure the track precisely with sketchup), s/f straight still 800m.

Runoffs are 100m at least at the end of the fast sections.

Radius of the esses : 80 - 90 m.
Radius of the hairpin : 25 m.

1 question : would that track be suitable for bike races , maybe with a wider-radius bypass of the hairpin ? Or would it just be too less curvy to make it interesting at all for bikes ?

SBF : I totally agree with the Mickeymouse comment But can you explain what a "Scandinavian Flick" is ?

(Skp file attached)

[Himlar]

"The Scandinavian Flick" is an old rally move, unsettling the car by turning "away" from the corner and then quickly jolting it back into the turn. If you do it right, you force the car to oversteer and you're able to get through turns tighter than your actual turning radius. This video probably tells it better than me: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8gPY...eature=related

Regarding the track: nice work! I just wonder what would happen if you make the chicane on the back straight more of a combination of turns (I'm no fan of chicanes, I think they're somewhat of a last resort when modifying tracks or doing street circuits) slowing the cars down a bit?

[olivk]

Himlar thanks for the explanation Called "appel / contre-appel" in french, this site even teaches me new english vocabulary yay!

About the chicane : it's supposed to be a rather quick chicane. The entry turn is very sharp but then it opens imediately back to the left, + on both inner sides of the corners, rather wide and not-too-hard kerbs. I want it to be a quick-yet-sharp episode in the fast back-straight. It might need some fine-tuning though. I'm not a fan of slow chicanes too.

[Himlar]

Actually being Swedish, and having seen the Swedish rally on site a few times, I felt obligated to answer that one

Ok, it might work then, what bothers me is the 90 degree angle between the turns, if that would be just a bit less I would complain a lot less. But after all, it's not my design either, so ... :P

[SpeedingTortoise]

The last section look really flowing now you've got rid of that tight hairpin. The first 2 turns look easier to overtake in and getting rid of the curve before the turn 9 hairpin has also helped this . You've improved it greatly over the original, well done.