Old school track for Hampshire, UK.

[M30TGV]

http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/4443/hirnotes.png

(dunno how to get the pic on the post, but this is full size anyway)

This is an old school track. Not like the Tilke generation of massive run-offs and soul-less clinical design. Yes, I know they're great for spectators, media and teams, but I'm old school too. As inspiration I was looking at the Nordschleife, Imola (the old classic one), Spa, Suzuka and maybe a bit of Elkhart Lake. Being a figure of eight track, it's easy to see the Suzuka influence, but in reality, there are bits of all those tracks in it.
It would be found near Lasham, Hampshire, just off the A339 (multimap will show you) - about half way between Basingstoke and Alton. Nice rolling hills to give good elevation changes and nice scenery.

A quick lap commentary:
From the start line, you go round a gentle left hand curve (not really a corner at all), and hard on the brakes to the right hand hairpin at T1. Good passing opportunity. Then it's flat out through another gentle right hand curve and a short straight to a narrow and fast right-hand kink (think Degner 1 at Suzuka, but the other way round - and faster!). Then round a fast left onto a straight - uphill. The next bit is tricky. In an F1 car, from 7th, you'd flick to 6th, maybe a dab of brakes, and take the L-R chicane at around 140-150mph, then as soon as you're settled from that, hard on the brakes, down to 2nd for the tight 90 right which is the highest part of the track. This would be a good place to pass someone who's got it all crossed up at the chicane, or if you can carry more speed through it. Next it's a long straight over the bridge into a series of mega fast flowing curves - the triple apex left hander series is down-hill (think Turkey turn 8), then a compression like Eau Rouge, into the uphill right-hander, a short uphill straight into a heavy braking zone for the final corner - the left hand hairpin. Then it's a flat out blast for over a mile taking the gentle left and right onto the pit straight. You can also use an optional chicane here to provide another passing opportunity or if top speeds get too high into turn one.

Like I said - old school track.

[bio]

This one is simply awesome! Superb.

Say, would you allow me to put it into driveable fromat with my software and then post some lap videos of it?

bio

[bdwoody]

get it built for real its just up the road from me and it looks awesome . :-)

[LuiggiSpeed]

very good work!

tho' it looks pretty modern for me, awesome track buddy.

[Quintin03]

Beautifull track. would chnge the three corners before the overpass to be a little faster, maybe make the last two turns into one continues turn. Oh, I do see some tilke influence at turn 9-11, it looks a lot like turn 8 at Istanbul. That's a great turn though and probably the best he's designed apart from maybe a turn at the A1-ring.

[M30TGV]

Originally Posted by bio

This one is simply awesome! Superb.

Say, would you allow me to put it into driveable fromat with my software and then post some lap videos of it?

bio

Hi - yeah, of course. I'd like to see that!

[bio]

Great!

I'll need some ainfo about the elevation changes.

bio

[werner]

First of all: thumbs up for the graphics. They give a great insight in how the track works and looks, and is also very nice to look at.

I like the track as well. It would be a blast to drive it in a fast car or on a racingbike.
I have some problems though. I son't see the need for the fist corner to be this way. You already say that is is not nescesary to break for that one. So why do you put it in place anyway? There are several reasons not to:
-The spectators at the s/f-grandstand can't see the first 'real' corner.
-It makes passing more difficult. When you are in front on a straight, and another car wants to pass you, you can block 1 time. But in this case the first driver can block another time with the excuse of taking a new racingline through the corner.
-It makes the pit-exit less safe.

The chicane before the hard righthander before the bridge is I think a very difficult corner, wich is good. But I'm afraid that it will make overtaking more difficult. Unless you make the track a bit wider over there, then your storey would become more likely. Although cars with a lot of downforce will have a difficult time when following another competitor through that chicane.
Last but not least, I think it needs more runoff at the exit.

The part from the bridge until the finisch is great, with or without the optional chicane.

[M30TGV]

Originally Posted by werner

First of all: thumbs up for the graphics. They give a great insight in how the track works and looks, and is also very nice to look at.

I like the track as well. It would be a blast to drive it in a fast car or on a racingbike.
I have some problems though. I son't see the need for the fist corner to be this way. You already say that is is not nescesary to break for that one. So why do you put it in place anyway? There are several reasons not to:
-The spectators at the s/f-grandstand can't see the first 'real' corner.
-It makes passing more difficult. When you are in front on a straight, and another car wants to pass you, you can block 1 time. But in this case the first driver can block another time with the excuse of taking a new racingline through the corner.
-It makes the pit-exit less safe.

The chicane before the hard righthander before the bridge is I think a very difficult corner, wich is good. But I'm afraid that it will make overtaking more difficult. Unless you make the track a bit wider over there, then your storey would become more likely. Although cars with a lot of downforce will have a difficult time when following another competitor through that chicane.
Last but not least, I think it needs more runoff at the exit.

The part from the bridge until the finisch is great, with or without the optional chicane.

Thanks for the feedback. Glad you like it.

To respond to your points - I had thought of most of those but here are the reasons in detail:

1 - The first corner has the curve before it to make it flow nicely - the influence for this was the Villeneuve to Tosa section of Imola, but in reverse. And I mean the OLD Imola, before the chicane was put in. That section saw plenty of good passing and I think the curve added something aesthetic to the track and was so gentle that it didn't slow the cars (or bikes) down. In fact the idea of multiple racing lines makes it interesting - you can defend the inside fine, but be out of position for the hairpin. Spectators in the grandstands to the South of the pit straight can't see turn one, but that's the case even if it was straight. I've sat across from the pits at Silverstone and you can't see Copse even though it's straight to your left. However the curve benefits the grandstands above the pits and garages - and that curve allows those spectators to see.

Your point about the pit exit may be valid, however as the track will be as wide as the likes of Barcelona, I don't see it being an issue as long as drivers stay behind the line!

2 -Ahh that chicane - yeah, it's tricky - but that's the idea. I'm aware that it will compromise a simple pass into the right hander, but I like the combination and was the first section I drew. And I think the fact that a tricky chicane precedes it might actually create passes when people inevitable screw it up! As for run off - you are exactly right. There's not a lot - motor racing can be dangerous! If you make a mistake and get it wrong on the way into the chicane, you'll end up in the wall or gravel trap. Like Kimi said about Suzuka - it punishes mistakes. The track is wide all the way round - plenty of space

Glad you like the second half - it's designed to be fast and flowing, but still offer a passing place. Then the flat out section from the last turn to the first is an engine breaking blast. I wanted a track that would give the driver, engine, chassis and aero a good workout.

[M30TGV]

Originally Posted by bio

Great!

I'll need some ainfo about the elevation changes.

bio

You need elevations in ft or m or just an idea of relative changes? To give you an idea:

Start-line through left hand curve and round hairpin is flat. Then it's gradually uphill round the right hand curve and kink. The track continues to climb all the way up the straight and levels out just after the chicane. It is briefly level between the chicane and right hander before the bridge. After the bridge the straight is downhill and continues down all the way through the fast triple left handers. The point just after the 3rd left hander is the lowest point of the track - about 30m below the start-line for reference. Just after the 3rd left hand fast curve and immediately before the right hander there's a compression dip, like Eau Rouge, and the right hander is steeply uphill as is the straight after it. The left-hand hairpin at the top right is the highest part of the track - approx 20m above the start-line. The final straight and curves (which are taken absolutely flat out in any car or bike) is downhill all the way to the start line.

I imagined an F1 lap being around 1m25s or thereabouts. Lap length is around 3.6 miles.

[bio]

Thx, that'll do just fine.

bio

[M30TGV]

No problem. I'm interested to find out what you're gonna do... and how!

To respond to an earlier comment about the pit lane exit being dangerous. I've had a look and I can't see how. It releases the cars to the right hand side of the track, when the natural racing line at that point is the left hand side, so that combined with the white line they're not to cross, makes it as safe as can be I think. Unless I'm missing something?!

[Tathrim]

The problem lies on that very fact, because the line then veers quickly to the right. an extension of the exit to midway along the straight leading to the hairpin would solve this problem.

[Yannick]

The graphics are looking really good and the track has a nice flow to it.
But there is also a runoff problem in the 130R styled corner just before the underpass.
There simply is not enough space for even the slighest amount of safety measures at that corner in your design because of the underpass.
It would probably be a good idea to look at 130R for the amount of room that is needed and then widen the underpass accordingly.

[nickyf1]

Awsome stuff! The section after you go over the bridge has echos of the Nordschleife just after you come out of Bergwerk and blast towards the Karousell section. And the amount of slipstreaming going on all the way towards that first hairpin would be brillaint

[M30TGV]

Thank you nickyf1 - that's what I was thinking!

[MKTurismo]

Nice design, and the first couple turns remind me a lot of Nurburgring.

[bio]

Hi,

I was kinda very busy these weeks, but today I managed to finished creating the circuit for Racer so I could start practicing driving around. When I'm "good" enough, I'll make the lap videos. Hopefully they'll be up this week.

The track is just as awesome to drive as it was to just watch, I can tell you this much

bio

[bio]

OK, I'm about to record the laps, they're hopefully be ready in a couple of days.

The track's awesome! Here's a screenshot of the "Eau Rouge" type part at the lowest section of the track:



As you can see, I didn't waste time on doing the landscape part of the track

bio

[bio]

One more thing: you estimated ta lap would take about 1:25. Well, with the BMW F1-car I'm training with my best at the moment is 1:47 - I guess I'll take it down to about 1:35 - means a real lap on this track wiuth a skilled driver would, indeed take about 1:20-1:25 - great guess on your part!

bio