Comments on: Video lap of the Valencia F1 street circuit

By: lifelongfan

lifelongfan — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 18:05:27 +0000

I agree with marathonman, it would look better with armco instead of concrete. The circuit looks okay, although newly laid tarmac which is not used by ordinary traffic and run-off areas sort of defeats the object of a street circuit. Dissapointed but excited, I hope Singapore will be better.

By: stormchaser

stormchaser — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 15:31:47 +0000

I like the track itself it should be very challenging for the drivers and with the championship that close maybe they’ll try harder to overtake. for the track it look likes its build in an industrial park. add more color from the sponsers and a few 100thousand screaming fan and it should live it up a little. we’ll see….

By: Cor Pez

Cor Pez — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 04:40:29 +0000

I’m Happy it’s Not at all Monaco, because Monaco will stay far above any other street circuit (except for the Macau which is Great too).

AMAZINGLY There will be ANOTHER test for Monaco this Same year with Singapore – Amazing we have 2 NEW Street Circuits in 1 year after none for such a long time.

Musically –

Cor Pez

By: Juhhi

Juhhi — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 00:30:00 +0000

For me it looks very boring and nothing but concrete. Sceneries,hmmmm….what sceneries?? But for sure it will be different when it´s not seen from onboard cam. Safety areas looks also very small.
Hoping I´m wrong but I think there will be very dangerous moments on that track. Also crashes are maybe easier to come because it looks that there is more places to try passing comparing to Monaco.
Let see how it works….

By: MarathonMan801

MarathonMan801 — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 10:21:09 +0000

The comparison to Monaco isn’t exact as Monaco has something very valuable that Valencia does not.
Gradient.
Change of view line, alteration of camber through gradient, unexpected apexes becuase of gradient. Monaco has them but Valencia won’t.
The dive downhill from the Casino Square or down to the Portier (spelling) really makes Monaco special. Val is flat, as in flat.
Really hope it’s not a Phoenix-esque bore.

By: chunter

chunter — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 03:55:44 +0000

Check out the contact the competitors make with each other in race 2.

I like the wide runoff zones. I hope the Indy street venues from the design and tries to create them in some of the street venues, where possible. As much as it may seem daring to know that a car will end its race against a concrete barrier if the car accidentally goes wide, I’d much rather see some punishing run-off area to ruin the driver’s day without bringing on the full-course caution and the safety car. It will also ensure fearless speeding.

It’s good that the curves are re-curbed into kink+hairpin complexes, but after the fifth one it gets as old as leaving the right-angles in would have gotten.

Let’s not kid ourselves, however- tall concrete barriers are the only view to be had by this sort of race, so the only hopes lie in the cars and racers themselves to make the venue a winner. I see some potential. If it works out well, I hope they’ll look at Monaco footage to consider installing Armco for these new street courses. Why Armco? Monaco is visible and gorgeous from all corners and all cars precisely because there aren’t those tall concrete barriers and fences ruining the view of a beautiful city. It requires investment and a certain amount of financial bravery to duplicate such an event.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 20:05:45 +0000

Not impressed, I must say. Reminds me of the old US street races at Detroit and Phoenix, and they were hardly great venues.

Still, it’s no worse than a race at the *other* circuit in Valencia would be

By: Keith Collantine

Keith Collantine — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 10:05:35 +0000

(Off topic – I saw Wall-E last night! Really good film.)

To be honest I was a bit worried there weren’t going to be enough walls at Valencia. Without walls it’s not really a street circuit. The point of street tracks is if you make a mistake it’s basically game over and F1′s really been missing that.

For example, have a look at this awesome lap with Juan Pablo Montoya qualifying at Detroit in CART in 1999:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05vLC_zjPpY

He gets so close to the walls in places, even kicking up dust as he nudges one of them. Thrilling stuff. More of that in F1 please!

By: martinb

martinb — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 09:55:39 +0000

Yeah, the circuit looks a bit wall-e

By: aa

aa — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 08:45:36 +0000

It looks dangerous, I wonder how much Valencia paid to get it, and what the pilot association think about the new street circuits.