Redwood Park

[jab]

2 in 2 days? You must be having a laugh...

Sorry to bombard you with this recent speight of tracks - there won't be any more, I promise - I'm not going to be here for over 2 weeks from tomorrow evening on anyway

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Another of my tracks with a story

Redwood Park is an area of parkland containing a woodland area of redwoods - hence the name. When the park was built in the 1930's, the roads through the park were designed so that occasional racing could take place, but they also wanted to utilise the woods for the track as well, including the hilly section to the west of the park, and created one of the most spectacular tracks in the world, with fast, dipping esses and slower corners to keep the drivers on edge around

The start/finish straight, along with the pits and paddock, were located in the fields at the eastern end of the park near the entrance. This straight was quite long for it's time and in later years allowed much larger facilities to be built to accomodate bigger championships. The first corner, Opener, was a 90 right that opened out into a left sweep onto a straight. After this was the banked right hander (think Shell Hairpin at Oulton Park) which provided the perfect run onto the long back stretch going into the woods for the first time. This was punctuated by a flat-out left-right esses that crested in the middle for the bridge where the cars often got airbourne, providing spectacular photos for the photographers waiting

Following the long stretch uphill was a double-left hander, The Duo, before a double-right climbing up to Summit Corner, the highest point of the track where the apex was right on a crest. After this were The Flickers, 2 bumpy right handers at increasing speed, before the Downward Esses, a flat-out right-left complex heading downhill. This led almost immediately into The Set, a tight 90 right named after the discovery of a badger's set when building the track. After this was Bongo Bend, again downhill, which took the track under the bridge. Almost straight after the bridge were the Spark Bends. Approached at high speed and with added undulations, only the bravest wouldn't lift the throttle or touch the brake. The following right hander, Green Way, was also a daunting corner, and many mistakes were made from drivers going over the limit

The track now exited the woods and was met with the long left hander of Paddock. Following this was another long fast stretch, with the long right Top Gear Bend, followed by a long straight. At the end of the straight there was a slight right kink before a more severe left kink leading into Woodland, a tight right on the edge of the woods. This led into a similar corner, North, before another short straight to Lakeside. This was a right sweep before The U-Bend, a long left hander around the lake. This ended with another right sweep, Stream, so called because the track passed by the small stream that fed the lake. There was then another short straight to The Elbow, the tightest corner on the circuit. This then led to another long right hander, Sunshine, which was a tricky corner due to the changing radius all the way around. Exiting this corner took the track back to towards the pits and the main grandstand. There was just one final 90 right, Home, leading back onto the S/F straight

Over the years the track grew a fearsome reputation, mainly for the trick hilly section through the woods. But it was also dangerous, and it grew the nickname Mount Fearsome. Spanish star Pedro Diaz was killed in an accident in 1962 at the double right after The Duo when his car left the road and hit a tree. After that incident the corners were named after him and armco barriers were installed along the length of the Mount Fearsome section

The racing continued into the 1970's but as the cars got faster the worries grew. Then, in 1974, disaster struck. Coming over the crest of the bridge, Paul Short's Lola sportscar got a bit of air and took off. Somersaulting mid-air it landed next to the crowd of photographers and rolled. Short and 3 by-standers were killed

The track was effectively in hiatus for another 5 years whilst the owners of the park tried to raise funds for the work needed to bring it up to standard, having lost its racing license after the accident, and then to do the work itself. It reopened in 1979 as a vastly different circuit

The first noticeable alterations was the addition of a chicane at turn 2 to slow the cars down coming into The Banking. The banking of The Banking was reduced, again to reduce speeds, before the major change on the track. About halfway up the long back stretch a new route cut across to just after Green Way with a slow right followed by another right just before an altered Paddock. Also, the dangerous kinks on the long straight just before Woodland were altered into a chicane, later named the Fanta Z. It was now a much less daunting track but the drivers still enjoyed it

As for the Mount Fearsome section, it was abandoned for many years before the owners realised how much appeal it had, as the section had grown a cult following from enthusiasts. In 1994, 20 years after it was abandoned, it was largely reopened for the public, who could pay a fee to drive on it (like the Nordschliefe today), and in 1999 it held its first hillclimb event

The original track


The current track


The layouts today


An overlay of both


Like Flumpy Vale I designed the current circuit first, then added the extension on the end. I then saved it as the original circuit, fiddled with that to remove the chicanes and make it look more natural and traditional, and then went back to the current one and deleted the extension. Voila

[ScotsBrutesFan]

To have the detail that you've included the circuit both original and even the current version would have to be huge.

THe section from North to Home, you describe as flowing sweepers, yet it looks a bit stop start.

Even the current version would need to be in the 4 to 5 mile range.

Not a criticism, just an observation.

[jab]

Yeah, it was meant to be quite (!) long. Otherwise Mount Fearsome would just be too stop-start

Which would make the long back straight veeery long