Track design competition winners named

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Hermann Tilke's entry was disqualified

If the world’s racing circuits disappeared overnight and we needed a fresh set of blueprints to work from, at least we already have a collection of great ideas thanks to the stack of track concepts sent in for the latest F1 Fanatic competition.

The winners, who each receive £100 courtesy of the Mind Your Own Business Podcast, are named below.

Fantasy design – Alex Odell

Alex Odell's winning entry

Alex Odell’s canyon track was originally designed for a project but it wasn’t just the detailed 3D rendering that impressed. With a jump and a tunnel forming part of the track it looks like something straight out of a computer game. Congratulations to Alex, who is the first of our two £100 winners.

Realistic design – Neil Smith

Neil Smith's winning entry

Neil Smith picked a location for his realistic circuit – Ellis Island in New York. As well as including some ideas popular with modern F1 circuits – like a blast along a waterfront – he included ideas from tracks like Spa-Francorchamps and Elkhart Lake. All he needs now is a few hundred million dollars to turn his vision into a reality. Well, we can help him out with the first hundred…

Honourable mentions

There were a lot of fine entries for the competition and the submissions came in the form of maps, sketches, documents and more. Here’s a small sample of some of the excellent ideas we received.

This detailed concept from Rhys Gardiner (a.k.a. Stealthman) was a front-runner in the realistic category. It included suggestions for alternative configurations and what types of barrier should be used. Grant Bigham’s idea included a recommended racing line and the Pinball Autodrome by Leslie Roche had what every F1 track should have – a cross-over. And the technical sophistication of Eric M’s entry was enormously impressive.

I’m afraid I can’t mention everyone who entered by name, but thanks to everyone who sent in track designs.

And Mr Tilke, if you want to get in touch with the winners you can find my contact details at the bottom of the page.

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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30 comments on “Track design competition winners named”

  1. When was this competetion held??

  2. Keith, I would’ve chosen either Leslie’s Pinball Autodrome or the one of Grant Bigham’s :)

    But all the designs posted here are very much impressive indeed.

  3. aka Alex Odell.

    Aww wow! I had the biggest grin on my face when I read the email from you last night Keith! First thing I’ve ever won! Even more special that it’s F1-related.

    Some of the designs are great though. I’d love to see F1 on Eric M’s track, and even moreso on the Ellis Island track. Imagine that with the New York and New Jersey skylines in the background!

  4. Very impressive, if only I had the spare time.
    Imagine the speed just before turn 11 on the Pinball track!
    Well done guys.

  5. I loved the Pinball Autodrome track, even though turns 8-10 would probably be lethally fast.

  6. Whoa, I won!! Thats fantastic – a little bit of extra spending money for the post-xmas sales! Thanks for putting up some of the other ideas too, Keith, great seeing everyone elses great ideas.

    Congratulations to Alex as well!

  7. Congrats to you too Neil!

    Glad to see you wern’t afraid to design a nice long track either. I think circuits are getting too short these days!

  8. Great designs there, I am a big fan of the New York waterfront idea, having looked at Google Earth, it is in superb location and would make a great addition to the F1 calendar. Would there be a possible Valencia-esque pit complex?

    Good track to boot, I’m a big fan of the fast flowing corners and long straights, the waterfront section looks formidable, its just ashame there wasn’t a better program used to visualise it!

  9. An honourable mention is as good as a win for me! :D Just one thing: Keith, if it isn’t too much to ask, could you please delete the second “i” in my last name? Thanks. :)
    Great designs from all that entered, and thank you Keith and the Mind Your Own Business Podcast for setting this up!

  10. am sorry but i just dont like the Fantasy design. a F1 track with a jump??? come on here wake up.
    Eric Ms is nice however :)

  11. nice designs. I love the pinball autodromo very much. maybe we can sent all the tracks to bernie. than he is picking 1 out of it and let it build. I think that could be great.

  12. @Joe – well as the chap behind this bit of fun, if I’d been allowed to enter I would have had a jump in my Fantasy track! Surely that’s the whole idea of fantasy – something that’ll never happen but would be nice of it did.

    Keith – as soon as I have the winners’ details I’ll get their prize money off to them. Thanks for organising and hosting the competition, it’s been fun to be involved.

    Guy

  13. Oh, and by the way, I’d be very interested to see other F1F readers’ ideas about what they liked in the winning designs and features not mentioned that could add to the sport.

    Two innovations I’d like to see are i) 5-car rows on the grid and ii) alternative routes – a risky shortcut versus a longer, slower way round. That’s where my jump would come in on a fantasy track.

    Keith, can people post drawings of their own ideas as links to their comments?

    Guy

  14. Congratulation ajokay and Seedy001 – Great job!

  15. great effort guys – nice ideas

  16. Great entries, great idea Keith, great concept for future expansion on this site.

    Is there an inexpensive CAD program, or web site, that people could use for future design work…next years contest?

  17. ScuderiaToroFerrari4Eva
    12th December 2008, 15:46

    wow good tracks i truly liked the pinball autodrome it looks to be one which could if seen by bernie and co become a reality hopefully it will because turns 8-10 would be superfast and would be nice to actually see f1 cars go through there

  18. Would be good if there was a section of F1Fanatic for us fans to upload our track (and car) designs and ideas for the future, just for a laugh. Unless, of course, the F1 bosses see them and like them!

  19. Ahhh man I didn’t even know this comp was going on.

    I like Grant Bigham’s the best, some really interesting corners and sequences.

  20. Hey,
    Can’t believe i even managed to get a mention, well pleased with that. Just wish i had more time to do it, as you can tell its errrr yer not the best presentation. Great competition though, something i enjoy doing and want try do more of, studying architecture at uni and would be good to get into track design. I wanted to design something that provided interesting turns and sections but also allowing overtaking. Sorry about the picture quality not being good, i did take a few pics of the different sections, but obviously easier to put up the whole track piccy.

  21. An honourable mention is as good as a win for me!

    Yep, me too. :)

    Congrats to the winners! Very impressive designs indeed. I thought Neil Smith’s layout was very well thought out, as was his location. Wasn’t Bernie exploring the idea of a New York race a couple years back?

    The other honourable mentions were impressive too. I particularily liked the Pinball Autodrome. I’m curious to know what program Leslie used to create it. The presentation quality is fantastic.

    Would be good if there was a section of F1Fanatic for us fans to upload our track (and car) designs and ideas for the future, just for a laugh. Unless, of course, the F1 bosses see them and like them!

    I thought about starting a thread in the forum. I’ve got several more designs I’d like to get feedback on.

    Hermann Tilke’s entry was disqualified

    Heh heh.

  22. Stealthman – Oops, sorry – fixed!

    Roswelite & Eric M – Like the idea of having a space where people can upload their own stuff. Any suggestions for how to do it?

  23. Forum would make sense but I’m guessing it doesn’t get as many hits as the blog and so maybe wouldn’t be that great. Dunno maybe a sub page where people could somehow post images at the top and comment at the bottom would be good. People could send in pictures and each month you could put up the submissions, although maybe something more immediate would generate more interest.

  24. Keith, not to sound desparate but have you any idea when the guys at Mind Your Own Business will be likely to contact Alex and I?

    We poor students need all the financial help we can get – I still have all my xmas presents to buy and I don’t want to have to resort to breaking out the guitar in the middle of Glasgow city centre!

  25. I’ll get the cash off to the winners as soon as I get their contact details from Keith.

    Guy

  26. when d competition held?

  27. Great imaginations guys,good work!I really love the Ellis Island track.

  28. It was a fun competition. I think all the entries shown are good. I really like the detail of Eric M’s circuit. You could almost lodge that one for planning approval. Very detailed.

    I like the topography of Alex Odell’s fantasy entry. I personally think all the best racetracks have hills, and sections with climbs, and descents.

  29. Hey guys, just thought I’d let you know that I created a thread in the forum (which seems to be down at the moment?) for posting our track design ideas.

    @ PinballLes

    Thanks for the compliments! Thought your was fantastic as well. What program did you use to create it?

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