My Tracks

[Fish_Flake]

I have mixed feelings about Imola. It's a beautiful circuit, and the fans there are usually the most passionate of the sport, but I don't know if I want to see it die a slow death from the wounds inflicted on it from 1994. (I mean the chicanes.) They took out Tamburello, put in a useless chicane before Tosa, tightened Acque Minerali, tightened the Alta chicane, tightened Rivazza, and tightened the Bassa chicane. Everybody overreacted to Senna's death; had Ratzenberger been the only victim that weekend, the track today would be the same as it was then.

Out of all the changes they did, I'd take out Villeneuve, take Acque Minerali back to its 1994 location, and bypass the Alta to create a good passing opportunity at Rivazza. Perhaps I'd restore Tamburello if they moved the wall in along the perimeter of the track, and added one of those barriers they use at Indy. The wall in that corner was a death trap, it was too close for the cars to slow down any, but far enough for cars going off to change direction enough to hit it head on, like Senna did. I'd also widen Tamburello, that would give drivers more room to work with.

I'd also push back the Bassa chicane and make it less tight to make room to lengthen the pit lane. The pits at Imola are the most cramped at a permanent track as I can find.

[pirenzo]

You can't push the Tamburello wall back, there's a river behind it.
As for the villeneuve chicane, it was put there because that's where Roland Ratzenburger died. Althought everything else i agree with.

[Speedworx]

Lee Janotta: I do like right hand turns, but I'm still very new to designing tracks.

So I go for street tracks or ovals.

Also I don't have great graphics packages.

[Fish_Flake]

Tamburello: I never said push it back, I said bring it in, and making it like a turn at an oval rather than keep it in its awkward place with insufficient runoff that does more harm than help.

Villeneuve: Speeds were brought down enough by adding the Tamburello chicane to not necessitate Villeneuve. They added runoff when they put the chicane there, anyway, and Ratzenberger's crash was more of a freak accident than anything, so there's really no excuse to keep the chicane there as it is now.

[Lee Janotta]

I'm with Fish_Flake. I've been saying for years that if there's room enough for the chicane, there's room to bring the old Tamburello towards the inside wall.

The Villeneuve chicane serves no purpose. The corner'd be plenty safe if they'd just put a tire barrier where Ratzenburger bought the farm.

Aqua Minerale should be restored, but it won't make much difference.

The Alta and Bassa chicanes are just plain stupid.

[pirenzo]

Alta/Bassa are completely pointless. Another thought on Villeneuve. There's not much run off at Tosa, with no room to expand

[Fish_Flake]

There is a difference between a river and a grandstand; there is room to expand.

It seems rather ironic that someone who is so against chicanes seems to have such support for Villeneuve.

[Lee Janotta]

Well, it's pretty ironic you'd ever name a chicane "Villeneuve", since both Gilles and Jacques hated/hate the things.

[Chaynes321]

Does anyone know when the game comes out on the PS2?

[pirenzo]

i am not supporting it, i am just saying that it has a purpose. There is no Grandstand on the outside Tamburello to the best of my knowledge.

[Speedworx]

This is my latest effort.

Omega Raceway.

Set in the Devonshire countryside. It is a mix of road course and oval. The track would be suitable for F1, F3000, F3, BTCC, DTM and Sportscars.

[Fish_Flake]

Run it clockwise and you've got something.

Reprofile the bottleneck turn you have onto the oval section, too.

[Speedworx]

Could do, but this way there is a slow corner leading to decent straight and passing.

[pirenzo]

Hailwood Park Just a prototype for now. No paddock plans or anything, just the layout. Comments?

[mac]

Hakk, I agree with FF. I think it would work better if you ran it clockwise. And stick the pits and start/finish line on the straight on the other side.

pirenzo, that track (the long one at least) looks a blast to drive. Good luck getting approval from the FIA though. But then, you could say that about plenty of other tracks on here. Probably your best so far pirenzo.

[pirenzo]

I'm working on an F1 "modification" You can see i have the chicane at T1 for that purpose already.

[pirenzo]

The red is now the F1 circuit. Squared off a few corners, but hopefully, should still be a challenge. Sportscars etc would still use the above.

[Lee Janotta]

Ah! It's been Tilkefied! *faints!*

[Fish_Flake]

I was thinking of something to put a little energy into this thread. I want to see how any of you can utilize existing areas to develop a track. So, I came up with a little scenario.

An old horse track has been shut down. You, looking to build a racing facility on the site, have bought the plot. Originally, you were only planning to make an oval out of the existing track, but the owners of the recreational area are willing to sell to you under the circumstances that you don't disrupt the reservoir, which is a popular fishing hole in the area, and do not cut down more trees than are necessary to cut a path to fit a racetrack in.

I want to see what anyone can come up with to construct a road circuit out of the space available. For perspective, the horse track is 1 mile long.

[Fish_Flake]

The map without the topography lines.

[bcobbus]

I'm still working on the road circuit but this is what I have so far.....

[pirenzo]

OOOh fun fun fun!
right, i'll be on this when i get home after school.

"Tilkefied" is what i set out to acheive Lee, for those F1 people.
Note however that the original track is still fully functional, and very much better than the F1 track

[Speedworx]

I will make a few changes to Omega tonight.

[pirenzo]

Attempt One. I wasn't sure whether i was supposed to Do an Oval, so i did one anyway. Surrounding it is a road course of around 2.5miles.
It's very tight in that space, but i tried to keep it as opn and flowing as possible. As for the oval, it's the same 1 miler that was there, tarmaced over.

[Speedworx]

Here is my modified Omega track. I have taken on board the thoughts which have been expressed on it and made the appropriate changes.

The direction has been changed, the pits moved and the corner eased.

Thoughts on the changes are welcome.