F1 Fanatic

After reading the recent article about Bernie’s views regarding a potential Mexican Grand Prix in 2014, I took the liberty of firing up rFactor and taking a Renault R26 around the Hermanos Rodriguez circuit. I put this under F1, but I’m not quite sure which group this belongs in.

My choice of car was simply because CTDP F1 2006 is regarded as the best F1 mod for rFactor in terms of physics, to get the best possible impression of an F1 car that I can with the equipment available. And that Renault is a beauty.
My opinion? Peraltada is still REALLY scary. I feel like I could do it flat-out but there have been instances in practice laps where I took a slightly wrong line through there and flew into the tyre barrier on the exit. Having said that, a chicane beforehand would ruin the circuit. F1 needs scary corners IMO.
And the esses will be a challenge as ever – reminds me of Suzuka, but slower.

Of course, this won’t be a 100% accurate representation of a modern Formula 1 car at Hermanos but I think we are looking at laptimes that are faster than those at Monaco, and speeds in excess of 190mph.

Opinions?

Considering the speeds that are done at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and other big ovals, I have a hard time understanding why the lack of space for run-off is a problem at Peraltada. Especially considering that the catch fencing used for F1 tracks is of a higher caliber than that used at some of the United States oval tracks (According to Dario Franchitti’s tweet after the big accident at Daytona last weekend).

I am aware that FIA has calculations that severly limit various aspects of track design that keep features like Peraltada from existing, but if anyone has the money and the knowledge to find a way to make banked turns safer than they are today it would be F1.

Until then, replace the wall with a SaferBarrier, update the catch fencing, and let’s go racing.

Here is a potential solution to the problem. I just did it very quickly, so it looks quite crude:

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=5831635

Yes, it’s a chicane, but it’s styled as an extension of the Esses. It’s designed to slow the cars down enough to make the Peraltada safe, but without completely robbing them of their speed.

Of course, they could knock everything down between the circuit and the road, and use the road as run-off

I’m afraid that’s not really an option. For one, there is virtually nothing between the corner and the road. And secondly, the road itself is a major arterial route that connects many of the southern suburbs to the airport.

@prisoner-monkeys Your solution is much better than the actual layout that the CART Series used.

I used to play this track in the game F1GP (yes I’m getting old)… Back then, I thought it was just a boring circuit, only going left right, left right, left right and left again… But now understanding more of the physics of a F1 car, I think this will be an awesome circuit for modern F1.

The other alternative that I can think of would protect the Peraltada, but would be extremely expensive: demolish it, and make the corner compeltely flat.

Then, rebuild it somewhere in the infield – you’d have to demolish some of those football fields to make it work – and reconfigure the circuit to include it. It might have to be a bit smaller, but the banking could probably be tweaked that the smaller size wouldn’t affect the corner that much.

Yep, I can see that too. It needs a couple of really sharp corners at the end of the straight like Monza.

Okay, here is an attempt to address the issues with the circuit:

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=5831757

Firstly, I tightened up the first corner ever-so-slightly – and smoothed out the next two – to try and encourage overtaking.

Secondly, I reprofiled the southern end of the circuit. Where it was a sweeper into a sharp corner, now it’s a sharp corner into a sweeper n the hopes of offering a secondary overtaking point. As a result, I’m not happy with the next corner, but it was a sacrifice that had to be made. I straight-lined two of the Esses to let the cars build up a bit of speed in the hopes of remedying it.

Next is the msot radical departure. I didn’t want to do it, but I had to turn the circuit into a figure-of-eight. Without natural elevation – like at Suzuka – I’m not sure how the fly-over could be done. But it was necessary to create the “Nueve Peraltada”, that 180-degree bend in the middle of the infield. It’s smaller and tighter than the original, but I imagine that you could play around with the banking to minimise the impact. There’s also some space to make it larger; i just drew this up quickly.

Finally, I wanted to create another major overtaking point. I had to throw in a pair of extra Esses, which I modelled on the fast chicane in Melbourne (I call them Ricardo and Pedro, after the Rodriguez brothers). Not only does this offer a challenging pair of bends, but it lines up perfectly for the gap in the old baseball stadium grandstand. The gives a sharp right onto the old Peraltada, which is now flattened given the presence of the new corner.

There are a few issues with the circuit, though. There isn’t enough run-off on the outside of the right-hander before the new Peraltada. It might need to be redone as a slower, double-apex bend. The circuit also cuts out a fairly large slice of the paddock area, but I imagine that this would need to be enlarged to accomodate the modern Formula 1, anyway. For novelty value, the paddock could cover both sides of the circuit; I think it would be pretty neat to see the cars tearing along between the team transporters and motorhomes.

How much run off area realistically would you need at Peraltada?

Would it not be possible to create a slightly tighter version of Peraltada before the current 1st corner and then double back and go in-between the esses and your new Peraltada and rejoin before what was the 4th and 5th corners, carry on along the esses and then do some arrangement of going through the baseball stadium?

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=5831838

Looking at the plan I made I don’t think I have left enough run off near the exit of my new Peraltada.