Airport Series

[ScotsBrutesFan]

OK so Not every country has the £/$/€/Y to go out and build a brand new state of the art circuit.

Likewise Not every City want or has the capability to shut down a large part of it's infrastructure for the best part of 2 Week for a street circuit either.

What every country has loads of and Every Major city has at least one of is an airport.

So Presenting the Airport series...

The Civilan or Military airfields
Active or used for another purpose
Only allowed to use existing taxiways and Runways
pitlane Must be on hard standing or wide section - Paddock can be on Grass.

Lots of ways of doing it...
Screen shot from Google Earth/ Google Maps then drawn over in MS Paint.
Screenshot of Google Earth with the distance tool marking out the circuit
Gmap pedometer
or if your a show off like me the Geo-Location tool in Sketchup.

Please indicate approx length and circuit direction.

[ScotsBrutesFan]

So Here is the first attempt at this

Running clockwise 5.867km or 3.66 Miles

As you see I made a slight change at the last moment to slightly larger than the overview

[ECW Dan Selby]

I really like it.

I would bring T7 a little more north to try and create an overtaking op. Apart from that, excellent!

Selby

[ScotsBrutesFan]

Although not in the rules, one of the things I was trying to achieve was to keep part ( the North Runway) of the airport as open as possible, or atleast only be closed for the duration of any race.

[SpeedingTortoise]

OK so this one doesn't follow all the rules that SBF pointed out. It is a lot closer to a perminant facility than Heathrow and in many ways is a similar concept to Anderstorp in Sweden. However, I believe there are a lot more advantages to this than a track at Glasgow or Edinburgh airport.

1. Both of them are too small for a track to be built without the closing of the entire airport. Prestwick is too far from Glasgow or Edinburgh to be considered.
2. It is only 15 miles from Glasgow and roughly 30 from Edinburgh with great transport links to each.
3. Cumbernauld is a private airport, meaning there are no passenger flights so very little disruption. It could also mean that it could be used multiple times a year.

The downside is the layout is only 1.9miles/3.0km so it isn't going to attract F1 or even LMS. I do think it would be ideally suited to WTCC or, depending on safety, DTM as well as national racing (BTCC, BF3/GT etc.).

[ScotsBrutesFan]

Tampere is dual use public and Finnish Airforce, which results in your usual 90 degree corners associated with the runways and taxiways, but also a sweeping run through the trees to the Military side where the aircraft aprons have been used to create chicanes to slow the overall speeds down.

It's nature means that it has a Canada feel about it, in that sections run between concrete walls with Trees overhanging, with other sections with some run off available.

Circuit runs anti-clockwise
Measures 5.55 km or 3.44 miles

Not really that visible, but where the walls open out away from a tighter corner apex I've indicated Red so mean a kerb, likewise on the Military Apron areas the Little boxes (filled with Red) are supposed to indicate speed bumps within the confines of the run off area

[SpeedingTortoise]

I love it. Sort of like Cleveland combined with the old Hochenheim, an excellent combination of features and turns.

[ScotsBrutesFan]

A more conventional Airport Layout

Running Clockwise

Measuring 4.834 km or 3.02 miles

[Beetle]

I like it a lot!

[Viperion101]

Eppley Airfield, Omaha
2.95 miles
Counterclockwise

[Puzzle]

clockwise wellington airport

[Peat]

As posted in my tracks thread, Oxford Airport, UK.

[Duff_44]

Brainard Airport Circuit - Hartford, CT
3.772km / 2.344mi, 17 turns, Clockwise
Pit lane length: 335m / 1100ft (for reference, Le Mans is 400m)
Longest straight: 610m / 2000ft (last straight before pit lane)
The runway runs generally north/south - north is right

[m1fcf]

Originally Posted by Peat

As posted in my tracks thread, Oxford Airport, UK.

Wouldn't the pits be better off on the Eastern side of the circuit, nearer the existing buildings?

To put buildings, all be it temporary structure, along the runway would mean much more interruption to the airfield due to build/takedown periods.

[m1fcf]

Originally Posted by ScotsBrutesFan

pitlane Must be on hard standing or wide section - Paddock can be on Grass.

I would have thought that Pits/Paddock area would/should be located closest to existing structures - meaning they could be permanent and minimise airport closure - rather than forcing an entire pits/paddock build out on a runway somewhere.

This rule as it stands has tended to make the majority of design so far having the pitman on a runway - this means extensive/extended closure to build temporary structure in a 'Monaco-style' pit lane/paddock.

Just a thought - and despite that, some good designs being pulled together.

[CJDJ500]

This is my airport circuit. It is located approx. 3 miles east of Manhattan and consists of 17 turns. This would be good for IndyCar and ALMS, with the possibility of a good NASCAR street course.

[CJDJ500]

Oh, I forgot about the fact that it is run in a clockwise direction. If F1 was to head there the DRS zone would be the pit straight, and after turn 9 would be the junior formulae start/finish straight.

[CJDJ500]

Or here's another one. It is located in Lisbon and is run in a clockwise direction. It has 20 turns and the wide sections provide good overtaking opportunities and would be good for F1 to return to Portugal. This should create very interesting racing for everyone.

[ScotsBrutesFan]

Here we go with another airport.


I'd turned it in Google earth to fit my wide screen monitor better


And correctly oriented

This one looks more of a conventional airport style circuit
Running Anticlockwise (pit straight runs South to North)

Measures 15m wide in all areas
5.452 km or 3.40 miles.

Here are a few Closer up shots...

[Yannick]

From a stylistic perspective as a track designer, the trouble with airfield circuits is that they are usually flat throughout in nature. Since I like seeing different winners at different types of circuits, I would not recommend a series to strive for its calendar to consist only of one single type of track. IndyCar is the series which comes closest to that concept. But a single-type of track series could well work out nicely as well. For all of you at least somewhat familiar with NASCAR, which of the circuits in this airport series are the "restrictor plate" tracks?

[CJDJ500]

Originally Posted by CJDJ500

Or here's another one. It is located in Lisbon and is run in a clockwise direction. It has 20 turns and the wide sections provide good overtaking opportunities and would be good for F1 to return to Portugal. This should create very interesting racing for everyone.

It is 4.1 miles long and has zero elevation, like every other airport.

[CJDJ500]

Ok, you might be getting bored of me posting all these replies and stuff on this thread, but this is my latest idea. It is run at London Gatwick Airport and is 5.0 miles in length, according to gmaps. It has 16 corners and is relatively bumpy in places. Things like Le Mans and British GT racing would be especially great for this circuit, with the possibility of major touring car events visiting, like BTCC, DTM or even V8 supercars. Who knows?

[ScotsBrutesFan]

Here we go with the Irish GP at Dublin Airport.


Running Anticlockwise it's a fairly large 6.143km (3.89 miles)
The Circuit is measures at 20m wide, though there are sections where it could be even wider



The close view of the pits shows a straight on entry that sweeps around the outside of the final corner before joining the pit straight.

The Pit exit run around the inside of Turn 1 exiting on the driver right, off the racing line.

[ScotsBrutesFan]

It's Holiday season so where better than Orlando...



For reference it's 5.754 km or 3.60 miles
Clockwise

[ScotsBrutesFan]

If you like somewhere closer to home in Europe, there is always Palma, Mallorca



5.355 km or 3.35 miles
Clockwise