Welsh road circuit

[jab]

Time for some fun

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=216007

I've now done a giant near-26 mile circuit on the public roads of the Rhondda valleys and Aberdare

There's no official starting point, so I'll start where I started, in the small town of Ferndale. The main road through here is narrow and very bumpy, with lots of potholes and dips where the road has been dug up and retarmaced (sp?) over. The track speeds through the main street in Ferndale, before a tight left-right. There is then another fast section through the left at North Road, before blasting along another bumpy section through the small town of Maerdy. At the end of this section, again in the centre of the town, there is a tight 90 right, and a plunge down a hill, like that at the original Long Beach, follows straight after. There is then a short twisty bit, before the blast up the mountain, of which I don't know the name

With plenty of dips and high speed corners, the first mountain section is very challenging, as drivers try to stay commited in places where maybe they should back off. On the mountain itself, there are no crash barriers, and it is another accident blackspot in real life. After the fast section there are a series of tight switchbacks as the track heads downhill to Aberdare. There is a steep hill down towards the town, and a tight turn at the bottom at what is normally a roundabout. The track then twists and turns through Aberdare, although doesn't go into the town centre. Soon, though, it heads out onto a fast, wide section of road, with a roundabout slowing the cars about halfway along. Towards the end of this run, there is a challenging uphill left hander with little run-off on the outside, that tests the mindsets of even the most skilful drivers. At the end of this is another tight roundabout, before another fast section. After this is another roundabout, at the junction with the A465 "Heads of the Valley Road" at Hirwaun. The track then continues north, but still following this road, before a large roundabout. This takes us onto the highlight of the track, the Rhigos Pass

After another roundabout, the track heads uphill again, passing South Wales' last deep coal mine, Tower Colliery. After this straight is a fast left hander, before another straight, and then a tighter right. There is then another climb before a tight left hand hairpin, which is on the rise. Here recently, a piece of the road and cliff fell away, so it had to be partly rebuilt. From this point, there are views over a small man made lake behind. After the hairpin, there is a long right hander before another fast stretch and then another fast right. The following stretch is like that on the first mountain, although longer, with fast corners, dips and all sorts that could throw a driver off the road. After a while the road heads downhill, looking over the village of Tynewydd. There is a tight S-bend, nearby where on the mountain side, a serious of objects made out of...some material...which I partly helped to make back in 2001 (September 2001, actually - a precise date being 11th). Towards the end of the run downhill, 2 tight hairpins, 1 a right, and the other a left, lead into the top of Treherbert

The track then speeds along the next bit of road, the main road for the Rhondda Fawr valley. This is the next valley across from the Rhondda Fach, which is across from the Cynon, where Aberdare is (Fawr = big, Fach = little). There are some fast corners as the road passes through the main streets of Treherbert and Treorchy. There are some very fast corners too, with bumps that can pitch a car into any of the objects on the side of the road - lamp posts, walls, houses, shops, pubs. The track then passes through Pentre, another small town. All the small towns in the valleys flow into each other, sometimes with little villages attached. The track then speeds through a fast right hander, parallel to the local railway line, which will be running the day of the race, especially with the main road being completely closed for the day of the race. This is one of the many obstacles the cars have to avoid and be careful of. 1 mistake could send you into someone's house, or under the wheels of a train, for instance

After this is another fast section before the little chicane at Ystrad (the "y" is pronounced like an "u"), around a small roundabout. This takes you onto the road up the steep hill towards Penrhys. This can be dangerous coming in the opposite direction, but not as such going up. At the top is Penrhys, 1 of the highest villages in Wales, as it is on top of a mountain. It was built about 50 years ago as a giant housing estate, and won prizes for architecture and stuff like that. In the race today, though, the drivers will not want to stop here, because if they do, they'll soon find they'll have no wheels left on the car. The track doesn't go through the village, but round a roundabout (the wrong way) before plunging downhill. This is again very steep and dangerous, and at one point there is a reasonably tight corner, with not much in terms of protection on the outside. Before the race, improvements would of course be made to prevent drivers going through the flimsy barrier, down a huge drop and into someone's back garden

At the bottom of the hill is a roundabout. This then leads round to the main road through the Rhondda Fach again, which we follow round to the start at the "divide" between Ferndale and Tylorstown. However it's not that simple. This road is very bumpy, with a couple of fast corners, including a long uphill left hander, which leads out onto the home straight

Obviously this is completely unrealistic for F1, although for other types....

[V8_TURBO]

Try imagining an F1 round on that circuit. wild. nice track but a wee wee huge bit too long.

[nickyf1]

That would be a great track for Motorcycle Road Racing, It could host an anual event like the Isle of Man TT, it could be called the Rhonnda Valley TT Course.

[Purist]

Yeah, and actually, the Manx TT course is longer, so this track wouldn't be unprecedented in its length.

[Lustigson]

Very cool!. Imagine pre-WW2 Grand Prix racing on it.

[Rockmunky]

Ohh yeah, thats what's great with this Gmaps pedometer, we can now do road courses easily without having to guess it's length. I was working on a very glamorous Enfield to Cambridge circuit earlier, but i accidentally closed my browser.

Nice course though, would be awesome as Lustig said, to see pre WW2 racers on it.

[jab]

Pretty impossible, though, considering some of the gradients