bio's tracks

[bio]

I'm not a really big fan of street circuits and designed only a handful of them so far. But now I felt like trying to find a venue that's really a street sceene, a city that's not a smalltown and where there's room for the gravel traps, stands, pitlane and the paddock. It's been a while since I was looking for such a venue and finally I was bound to find it.
That's hw i got to Reykjavik, the capital city of Iceland. Downtown Reykjavik was not perfect but a tiny bit further, in one of the less central areas I found the perfect spot:



The track is 4.695 km (2.93 miles) long and runs counterclockwise. The longest (and only longer) straight is 629 meters long.
Sure, it looks a typical street course layout with its right angles and blot shape. All the trackline is existing road, except for one section, the esses-like bottom half of the stadium section, before the straight - but there is, as you can see, undeveloped land there so, I guess, that section could be built.


I figure it's a relatively fast course and because most of its corners are not very tight, it could also host bike events.

[Tathrim]

A temporary bridge is needed for the event, else you have trapped what looks like a residential area (parallel to S/F) . Else it's a nice little piece of track you've designed there, well done.

[bio]

Sure.

And thx

bio

[Lustigson]

That's one great track, bio. Thumbs up! A bridge or two would come in handy, though.

[Alwaysfirst]

What a great street track! I love this one Bio!

[bio]

Thx and thx

I devised a couple of temporary bridges. They sorta really block the view from some of the stands, though

[AU N EGL]

Fine Looking track there Bio. Might Fine

[bio]

Thx.

bio

[Yannick]

Your Reykjavik track has got a wonderful flow - one that's almost unheard of for a street track. My favourite part of it is the infield section from Turn 4 onwards.
But that chicane after Turn 1 looks like it's designed to cause a multiple pile-up after the start.
Thanks for posting this circuit. It's been a pleasure to see a street track design from you as well.

[Lustigson]

Looks like that chicane right after turn 1 is there just because of the roundabout. If they's really build this track, they could easily remove (part of) it to enable the track to go straight on.

[bio]

Thx, Yannick!

Yes, the chicane is there because of the roundabout. And sure, it could be straightened with an elevated ramp but I wanted to stick to the streetplan as strictly as I could

But I agree that the chicane is not really ideal there.

bio

[bio]

OK, enough of the streets and back to normal

My next track is still one that would probably be more praised by the bikers than the car guys. I placed it near the Swiss city of Zurich (no particular place on the real map).



The track is 5.553 km (3.47 miles) long and runs clockwise. There are three "straights" to note, the 679 meter long S/F straight, the 526 meter long southern "straight", the 674 meter long western "straight" and the 490 meter long upper straight. I put the southern and western straights in quotaion marks because they are not straight technically, but practically they work as straights.



I used tunnels instead of bridges because there was only one good way to lead a road to the paddocks from outside via a bridge - to the right above the penultimate short straight, between the last and the last-but-one corners - but I didn't want to place a bridge there, I guess it wouzld be too dangerous.



There are some shorter variants available.

bio

[TilkeWannabe]

Oh, MAN! What a track! Score!

[Lustigson]

Looks nice. It bears a resemblance to Tanaka (Japan), Hockenheim and Valencia.

[bio]

Why is it that every time I upload a track people come with the names of IRL tracks it bears resemblance to?

Thx for the comments, both of you guys!

bio

[bio]

(By the way, Lustigson, if you saw the original layout, now THAT was really close to the Valencia track... Here it is:

[Lustigson]

Neither track I mentioned is an IRL circuit, or is it? Tanaka was the location for the 1994 and '95 Pacific Grands Prix.

[ScotsBrutesFan]

I think Bio uses IRL to mean In-Real-Life, rather than IndyCar Racing League.

[bio]

Yep, SBF is right.

bio

[bio]

Tanaka is a hard-to-find track... It's the Tanaka Circuit of Aida. Well, there is a Tanaka and an Aida in Japan, but the track is nowhere near either of them. Tanaka was the creator and first owner of the track, while Aida... I dunno about that

bio

[werner]

Mmmm, a pretty easy track, good fun for not-so experienced drivers. Also very nice for spectators I guess.
The exeption on the easy corners must be corner number 3. Wow, that must be amazing and breathtaking. And it is an important one as well, given the haiprin that follows. Unfortunately high-downforce cars will heve problems overtaking there because of the inability to run close to their opponents through that corner. Luckily they have the s/f-straight.
I only wonder what all those roads in the infield are for.
And I have 2suggestions: You might make another connection between the 2nd corner and the small straight that goes over the tunnel, so you have the possibility to run on 2 tracks at the same time. But you will also need an entry and an exit at the western circuit.
BTW, you now the Swiss law has to be changed first? Motorracing in Switzerland is only allowed if it goes from point to point, i.e. hillclimbs and rallystages, but not if it goes in laps....

[Alwaysfirst]

I thought that the Swiss had changed that law. I certainly know that there were plans for it to be scrapped. Maybe they never got round to it.
I don't think that the third corner would be anything special unless there was quite a gradient change there. The corner shape is much more open that that of a corner like 130R & the run up to it is much shorter so speeds will be much lower though it. I imagine that it would be like the kink in back straight at Istanbul at best. Very easy flat out. For a more challenging fast turn I'd scrap the turns 5 & 6 infield complex, going straight into the fast right-hander. I would imagine that to be more spectacular & challenging.

[LuiggiSpeed]

I like that Zurich circuit, pretty smooth and flow.My kind of track.I like the way you made it twist into itself,no space was wasted, attended a good variety of situations and direction changes.
Looks very MotoGp'sh to me. If I had some terrain avalible I would gladly ask If I can use that design, it's that good to me.No shame in 500m straights, Bio, they test aceleration/braking abilities,too long a straight only test straight line speed, wich anyone with $$$ will easily gets. Me likes tracks that reward driving skills.

[bio]

Thx for the remarks!

Werner, I thoguht of making two sub-circuits similar to how you said - but then decided I'm not gonna copy Alan Wilson on that
Those roads inside are the support roads - I guess I got a little too many of them

Alwaysrist,

as for eliminating the western infield section. As you can see on the draft, may first idea was that. But then I thought the way it is now there would be a good overtaking opportunity at the entry of the infield section. Leaving it out the right hand sweeper would not be as good an overtaking chance. I could, of course, tighten it, but then I was afraid of ending up with a stop-and-go kind of track that would really be similar - at least in this - to Aida Lustigson mentioned DD

And i didn't know about such stupid Swiss laws (though i guess they had their reasons for them), thx both for pointing it out!

bio

[bio]

Luiggi,
I'm afraid land in Switzerland is not very cheap - but what is???

bio