F1 Fanatic

Magny Cours: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=4425025

A speedier Fuji Speedway: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=4425040

Just one more and then I’ll leave you chaps alone :)
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=4428517
To explain – I’ve always wondered whether modern F1 could get away with a road based course, a la Reims or the old Spa… I mean the Superbikes do at the North West 200, and (albeit time-trials) at the Isle of Man. To this end I devised a ten mile course on roads near where I live that could be used for motorsport with just a resurface and widening in places. As for the Airfield on the west of the circuit, the entire complex is owned by the Moore Racing outfit (I was lucky enough to do a fortnights work experience with them a couple of years back; that’s how I know all this), although whether the chap who owns the place (whom I shan’t say anything about because I worked for him for a fortnight) would want a circuit building through his kart track and driving training course is a moot point.

And if you’re thinking I’ve put too much thought into this, yo’re oh so right. :D

Indianapolis

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=4428786

It’s a little cruder than I’d like, but I always did like the first section at Indy. I gave it a little more flow by erasing some of the sharper bends. For the second half, I imagine the hairpin is like the bottom corner at Tsukuba, going gently left before and almighty swing to the right. It then runs parallel to the oval, before rejoining with a high speed chicane like the one in Melbourne. And then it branches off before the final bend and uses the last section of the old road course in a Tamburello-style turn.

Marina Bay

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=4428795

Only a few changes here. First of all, I extended the back straight out 200m to go around the outside of the War Memorial rather than tuck down inside it. Then I skipped the fiddly and unpopular chicane by destroying a city park (you have to make sacrifices). Finally, I ironed out the last section, removing all the pointless chicanes. I also reprofiled Piquet’s Corner; I love the idea of a long sweeping bend that harshly cuts back in the opposite direction right at the point of the exit.

Valencia

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=4428805

Another crude one, largely because the circuit is not on the road map or the satellite image, so I had to go from memory to for an approximation. The two main points are that the chicane in the first sector is gone, so that the cars go flat out from the final bend to the bridge, and the triple switchback where Webber and Kovalainen came together last year is now a single hairpin bend. The rest is pretty much intact, because the final section is pretty good – as Martin brundle said last year, turns eighteen, nineteen and twenty are proper corners.

Catalunya

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=4428823

Oh, Spain, Spain, Spain … what have you done? You have two of the blandest circuits on the calendar. Never mind, I’ve made both of them better. I’d do the same for Alonso, but, well … I really don’t want to. Here, Catalunya becomes a figure-of-eight circuit that uses most of the original circuit (albeit run backwards) and a new final turn that restores the original sweeper, but makes it longer and tighter to be hell on drivers who can’t handle understeer.

Hungaroring

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=4428840

Another dramatic reprofiling. I used the surrounding public roads to make the circuit much faster, whilst keeping some of the better corners intact. It’s also considerably longer; the calendar needs more circuits that are closer to Spa in length than the standard 5.5km (though I’m quite happy that Buddh International will be one of the fastest laps on the calendar). There’s also plenty of elevation changes to be had at the new Hungaroring.

Yas Marina

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=4428853

Again with the drama. In order for this to work, the circuit is run “backwards”. The cars line up on the grid facing the opposite direction to what they do today. They then go around and take the bottom half of the circuit in the same direction as they do today, then going through a flyover after the hotel and under the grandstand for the long back straight, and take the top half of the circuit in the opposite direction to what they currently do. I reprofiled the bottom half of the circuit so that it’s now a series of tightening and opening bends rather than the sterile angles we currently have. And the top half of the circuit now uses the hillclimb. it looks a little awkward on the diagram, but it’s actually a very steep drop (now a climb on this circuit) in real life; almost as steep as Eau Rouge.

Gotta hand it to you PM, that Catalunya is utter genius. Love the Hungaroring too. Just a shame they’ll never get built :(

Two things I’ve learnt:

1: Indianapolis isn’t in the middle of no-where, and there are in fact houses around!

2: That long straight (that PM wants to be even longer) is actually the Raffles Boulevard!

Possible Pacific GP (Motegi): http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=4429891 Slight modifications to bring it up to F1 standards. A interesting last section is very tight, while the rest is full of fantastically fast sweeping corners, and good overtaking opportunities.

And a very sloppy Mosport Revival: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=4429915

Here’s one I’ve done for Suzuka. http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=4430022

I’ve never really liked the track so I’ve altered the bits that I don’t like to make them more pleasing for me. The Esses have been opened out and made faster, and there’s an interesting spot before the first Degner than requires excellent direction change. I’ve also got rid of Spoon and put in a loop, which inclines and is heavily cambered before going sharply downhill on the exit towards a tight hairpin. I’ve also bypassed the Casio Triangle by creating a wider, faster chicane using part of the west circuit.