The tracks that I have produced for this forum,so far, have just been tracks with barely any reasoning for creating them and no backstory behind the history of the tracks whatsoever. This track,however,is different. I present to you all....
...
Seville Speedway:
https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid...04793,0.011662
The Backstory(all fictional,of course):
Way back in 1959,Aerodromo de Tablada was being abandoned after the war and was,simply put,left to rot. The Spanish government,however,decided to sell the land surrounding the runway. Bits and pieces of the land went to housing developments and warehouses,but there were two large plots of land that went,both surrounding the highway. One of them was for a new car manufacturing plant and the second,located right next to it,went to businessman Marco Luis Alfonso, who started up a racetrack :
Autodromo de Tablada.
The 1.53 mile track was open in 1962 and became an instant hit among locals not only driving the track,but also spectating it as well.The unique main straight configuration meant spectators in the main grandstand could see both the main and back straights,with the hairpin connecting the two being a prime action spot. The rest of the track also became well loved,the fast turn 2 kink,the long turns 5,6 and 7 giving drivers and cars a test. A new grandstand and general admission area was formed to allow the World Endurance Championship 750 miles of Spain in 1981. It was a fantastic success among drivers,spectators and event organizers alike,and attracted more championships like the 500cc World Championship from 1986 to 1990 and an array of Sports Cars and Touring Car championships to the little track in Seville.
In 1996,the car maker that opened next to the circuit moved to a new location,leaving the factory abandoned and useless. This,however,opened up a new opportunity for Autodromo de Tablada to expand to potentially create a permanent home for high-level international competitions. Plans were made for an extension. However, disaster struck just a year later when Alfonso was forced to sell his track to European Track Developments, headed by Marlon Locking,known for his boring designs that often had no flavour or ruined flavours of old circuits. Locking,however,promised that he would try his best to maintain the flavour,if not improve the overall experience of the track. However,the redesign was a complete botch. The original track layout proposed by Locking was so horrid,even his sympathizers lashed out at him. Several concepts of redesigns were followed by backlash after backlash,until finally Locking ignored these comments and commenced construction of the new extension in 1999, which caused the 750 miles of Spain to move to Jerez,where it has stayed all the way until 2011,where a one-off return arrived to the new circuit.
The new circuit was finished in 2001 to little fanfare,with local racers just happy that the old layout still existed.The new layout also came with a new name:
Seville Speedway. The layout was,in almost everyone's minds,rubbish. The grandstand at the hairpin was made redundant except for local events,and except for turns 5 6,the layout was criticized turn by turn,straight by straight,even grandstand by grandstand for their views of the circuit. Locking failed to two of his three targets with the new layout: MotoGP and DTM,though the WTCC has consistently hosted their Round of Spain...on the short circuit,and sold the circuit back to the Alfonso family in 2009. Jose's son,Victor,has done better than Locking in attracting series to the circuit,with the aforementioned 750 miles of Spain return and being the latest track to join the World Superbike Championship calendar. The circuit's future is looking bright,and plans are in place to redesign it in the near future.
A Lap of The Track
A long,long straight leads into a tight,ninety-degree turn 1-a staple of Locking's-that leads into a tight,featureless turn 2. Turn 3 is a kink that looks fast,but is so off camber that it almost turns like a chicane.Turn 4 is a long,niggling left turn that is,described by drivers,as simply annoying and cause almost no challenge other than test driver's patience.That is sector 1 done.
Sector two starts off with two of Locking's best additions,though they have appeared in his other tracks quite often,are two fast kinks,a left and a right that lead onto the back straight. Then comes the old circuit,with turn 7 being a 4th gear kink that could be taken very,very fast if you take the right line and get just the right amount of kerb. The next turn is known for being a turn that you can afford to take a very wide line,though this turn presents load of varieties of lines that one can take.Turn 9 is a crazy fast kink,with turns 10 and 11 being long,long lefts that are known to create battles going onto the next long turn,turn 12 that heads onto the main straight.
Comments,criticisms,revisions and other forms of communications are welcome.