Vancouver Street Circuit

[Beetle]

TRACK FACTS :::
Location: Vancouver, BC, Canada
Turns: 12
Length: 1.8 miles, 2.9 kilometers
Series: IZOD IndyCar Series, Firestone Indy Lights, Pirelli World Challenge

I was privileged to be able to visit the wonderful city of Vancouver, BC for five days recently. I've already had several stabs at an Indy race track here, but I thought I'd have one final crack at it. So here it is, Vancouver Street Circuit 2.0. It's clockwise, 1.8 miles, and super fast. Turn 1, Turn 3, Turn 8, Turn 11, Turn 12 are all fantastic overtaking spots. There are two main parking areas - North Parking, the larger of the two, on the temporary Vancouver Fairgrounds, and South Parking, by the Athlete's Village built for the 2010 Olympics. If parking in the North Parking area, the best way to get into the track with General Admission (assuming you don't have a paddock pass) is through the gates on National Ave, by Hotel Ivanhoe. This will bring you to the TELUS Fan Village, which would be lined with vendor stands, memorabilia, and general fan gear. Also, the TELUS World of Science would have an IndyCar physics exhibit. To the North of the TELUS Fan Village is the paddock, which requires a VIP pass to get into. There is a narrow walkway connecting the TELUS Fan Village to the Molson Canadian Party Zone, which includes the Edgewater Casino and a concert. If you have general admission, you can essentially access every part of the track except the tunnel section (camera crews only), VIP Patio Area (the grandstand sandwiched in between the two BC Place bridges), and paddock area. Noise complaints would be minimal... the track only passes by two apartment buildings (near the west side of the track), both of which have most of the rooms facing Coopers Park and the Marinaside Crescent area. Originally, the track was going to go past the apartments of Quebec St., but the route was altered out of courtesy for the residents.

A LAP OF THE VANCOUVER STREET CIRCUIT IN AN INDYCAR

You hit the start/finish line at about 140 MPH and breath off the throttle so that you are 70% throttle for about half a second, and then power on the gas. You will go flying past BC Place, which is the best place to activate your push-to-pass, and into a very fast and wide turn 2, which can be taken at full throttle. Then you will have to apply heavy braking going into turn 3, the tightest turn on the track and the first real overtaking spot. Out of the hairpin you go, throttle almost immediately flat to the floor, and then a slight lift going into turn 4, and then back on the gas for a short stretch into turn 5, the entry of which you can take nearly full throttle. You will now be going into the tunnel section, partially underneath BC Place, and around turn 6. Finally, you emerge from the tunnel with the fast right-then-left series of corners that are the end of 6 and 7. Then, yet another semi-fast corner, turn 8, the northernmost part of the racetrack, also with the closest entry/exit gates to Vancouver's famous CBD and Coal Harbour. Then it's full throttle into the sweeper of turn 9, and then immediately you start setting up for turn 10. At about the center of turn 10, you need to start braking heavily to make the double-apex turn 11. After two tight consecutive apexes, you hit the gas and accelerate through turn 12 and you've completed a lap of the Vancouver Street Circuit.


An explanation of an error...

Those "grandstands" in the paddock area are actually the private pit suites, like they have in Long Beach, Houston, Baltimore, etc.


This may go in a personal portfolio for track designs for future work, so please... don't steal. It'll just make it more difficult on me and you. This work is 100% my own and does not reflect the works of any organization or company with potential interest in a Vancouver street circuit and/or sportscar event.


Feedback, as always, is welcome and appreciated! I thought this one through very carefully so I'd appreciate highly detailed feedback over anything else.

BTW, here are the pictures of a few parts of the track I took while in Vancouver...

Straight from Turn 1 to Turn 2: http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2889/9...a22768ae_b.jpg
Turn 3: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7340/9...45ab9565_b.jpg
Paddock Area: http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3828/9...ef4974dc_b.jpg
Downtown Vancouver Panorama, near circuit: http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5441/9...2c53ea99_b.jpg

[bio]

Guys, can you see the image? I can't

bio

[ScotsBrutesFan]

Beetle can you repost either using the on-site attachment facility or use another image host. Thx

[Beetle]

Sorry, guys... I linked it as a Gmail attachment. Here's the Flickr version... this should work...



Thx for the notice.

[bio]

Yep, this works.

bio

[bio]

This one's a great oldschool, fast track. since you seem to know the venue well, i presume the whole track would be great, not just look great.

bio