Wellington Street Circuit - First Draft

[Antrodemus]

A 'draft' proposal of a possible new 3.5km Wellington street circuit for the V8s was displayed prominently in the Dom-Post on Saturday.



A link to the story (minus map) is here.

The run down the waterfront looks extremely fast, but there are issues around the fact that the Central Police Station will be isolated inside the circuit.

So what do you guys reckon? Any good?

[jjd]

The good part is the retailers association dont mind.Why dont the police park there cars in a designated spot,enclosed and a walk bridge to the station.

[racer69]

How does this track compare (location wise) to the original Wellington street circuit used between 1985-1996?

[nicko]

I remember the old truck made wellington look like a dump. Antrodemus, u must know this area quite well, so do u think this planned layout will show off wellington in a good way.

That track layout would be great as long as they dont put many chicanes in. I have a funny feeling they would have to put one on that long main straight (which i could probally live with) but any more (like the 96 layout) will make it boring.

[Evomike]

I always felt the old track in Wellington was too tight, hopefully any new track would be better than that.

[Raglanparade]

The old track used Cable Street and Jervis Quay as the back part of the circuit.

The front part of the circuit (start/finish) area seems to be completely changed from the old 1985-1996 circuit.

attached is the old circuit layout sourced from e-tracks.com

and a modern map sourced from MultiMap.com

[Antrodemus]

I'll try to answer everyone's questions in one fell swoop!

Here's a better map, with the new circuit in red and the old in blue:



I think most 90° corners are planned to have grandstands on them, with significant viewing areas also around Frank Kitts Park and Queens Wharf. The Stadium Concourse would be good too, being elevated, but I think it was set aside for corporates. It also has easy access from the greater Wellington area from the Railway Station too!
The whole waterfront area where the old track used to run is nicely done up now, and the Queens Wharf Event Centre (and associated bars ) was certainly the logical centre of activity for the event. As far as aesthetics go, the area up by the container terminal could be a bit of a problem, but if they ring it with grandstands whose going to mind?
The only chicaney-type structures I can see on the track would be coming off Victoria St back onto Jervios Quay, but that's mainly a function of the layout of the roads anyway, or possibly on Jervois Quay to get around the pit entry. If it goes ahead it's definately going to be fast!

[Just Do It!]

Originally Posted by Evomike

I always felt the old track in Wellington was too tight, hopefully any new track would be better than that.

There's a classic quote....an accountant finds something too tight

[flyingduck]

Looks real good has anyone heard of the planned manukau track and where it would go. Hope a street race comes of one of the plans because I think Manfield would have as many problems as Puke

[nicko]

The manukau street race will be a flop, they would race up wiri station rd (where rainbows end is) this new wellington street race looks good, thou ive been told that the streets in the CBD where the race is planned are really narrow, and it looks like the only passing opportunities are going to be at either end of the long straight.

[Antrodemus]

Only if you call 2 lanes + parking on either side narrow nicko. Once they clear everything out it should be ok (hopefully!).

[Raglanparade]

Well considering the canberra layout was only 9 Metres wide in some parts, im pretty sure that Wellington would be wider then it !

[woodbine]

Looking at the map my first instinct would be to run it the other way round. Going clockwise the kink before the railway station hairpin would ruin that as an overtaking spot, leaving just the end of the main straight as the only place to pass.

Apart from that it looks good as street circuits go

[Armco Bender]

Put the money and effort into a permanent facility,all the money wasted on pie in the sky street races already could have built some nice new facilities at one of the permanent tracks,lets pick a track and get everyone in behind it and focused on one location.Better to have one race somewhere that **** around with half baked street race plans that will fall down the next time the concil gets voted out.

[nicko]

If you want a NZ round pleadge your support for the wellington street race at http://wellingtonstreetrace.co.nz/