Comments on: F1 circuits history part 1: 1950

By: Arthur954

Arthur954 — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 19:12:36 +0000

Wonderful series ! thanks so much Keith – this is what it´s all about. The sense of drama and speed of F1 racing is a direct result of the track and its environment. I wish that future regulations take this into account so that historical venues are not made obsolete by the cars.
Historic race tracks I guess are based on public roads, and these follow the contours of the terrain. I wish race track design was approached more in the spirit of golf course design in some ways. These modern Tilke tracks seem to be more about a display of infrastructure than anything else.
And by the way, I love cars at high speed. Bernie seems to think that the Tilke tracks with one slow turn after the other are exciting, but I dont think so at all.

By: Robert McKay

Robert McKay — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 20:10:01 +0000

“There use to be famous corners…(the Corkscrew at Laguna)…, now tracks seem to be judged on the pit facilities as much as anything.”

Exactly! How many Tilke corners can you name? (OK, he doesn’t seem to bother naming them, it’s all “turn 4″ nowadays, but how many truly memorable corners can you think of?) Other than the quadruple apex one at Istanbul (his one high point), nothing else springs to mind. Maybe turn one at Shanghai, a bit different but it’s hardly a brilliant one.

By: theRoswellite

theRoswellite — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 17:29:21 +0000

Great, great effort…thanks loads for this series.
Just a comment on the important “emotional component” of a race course. I’ve felt for years that the powers that be in the sport don’t realize that many (most)fans have a strong attachment to not only the cars and the drivers, but to the tracks as well. If you look at the most successful races over decades, the races that have endured, you will find very unusual tracks….tracks that capture some special aspect of the landscape (Monaco for God’s sake), or tracks that allow the cars to perform in a way that “dramatizes” the competition (Spa).
The major problem with the new circuits is they have no uniqueness or personality. You can say all you want to about the unsafe conditions of the Le Mans Mulsanne(sp?) strait…., my imagination as a kid was captured by the thought of the cars going flat-out for 8 miles. I don’t think the people, person (Tilke), building race courses today have much imagination…or,more likely….the tracks are required to meet a standard template….sad really, and dull. There use to be famous corners…(the Corkscrew at Laguna)…, now tracks seem to be judged on the pit facilities as much as anything. Thanks Bernie!

By: Robert McKay

Robert McKay — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 17:15:29 +0000

Wow, I hadn’t quite appreciated what the original Spa layout was like.

It’s the relative simplicity of the tracks that stands out. I don’t really know how those layouts came about, but I guess it was a more natural process, following what roads there were, airfields etc. rather than the more sterile Tilke computer efforts of today. I know aerodynamics requires certain corner “complexes” blah blah but look at the little circuit maps of the 2008 calendar and you’d swear to god Tilke was being paid by the (slow) corner. I’d rather see a car going through 8 great corners 100 times than 16 mediocre corners 50 times.

Somehow Tilke has to get that “classic” spirit of the old tracks into his own designs.

Very interesting article

By: Nathan Jones

Nathan Jones — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 09:50:58 +0000

i dont see many chicanes or autodrome layouts there?
rather depressing to look at these then look at todays tracks!
todays cars could easily overtake on those tracks above!