Google maps http://maps.google.c...r...077162&z=14
To paraphrase Crocodile Dundee... "That's an oval!"
The only oval track to feature an actual village on the infield?
Posted 20 June 2012 - 13:34
Google maps http://maps.google.c...r...077162&z=14
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Posted 20 June 2012 - 13:39
To paraphrase Crocodile Dundee... "That's an oval!"
The only oval track to feature an actual village on the infield?
Posted 20 June 2012 - 14:28
Lots of 1/4 mile dirt oval tracks in Australia & New Zealand
Posted 20 June 2012 - 14:31
Posted 20 June 2012 - 15:13
A bit off my own topic, but what was the longest "oval" ever used for racing?
Posted 20 June 2012 - 15:28
Not exactly racing but in August 1987 AJ Foyt in the March 84C-based Oldsmobile Aerotech set an unofficial closed course record (257.123 mph) on a 7.7 mile oval at Goodyear's Fort Stockton test track in Texas:A bit off my own topic, but what was the longest "oval" ever used for racing?
Posted 20 June 2012 - 15:38
The Indy circuit at Brands Hatch was an oval at Clearways used for Spedeworth racing since about 1968. It should not be confused with the "short" circuit which is, in fact, called "Club Circuit".Incidentally, why is the shorter layout at Brands Hatch called the Indy Circuit? It isn't an oval nor does it (to me) seem to resemble the Brickyard very much. Is it perhaps because it was the layout used when the USAC cars raced at Brands in 1978? Was that layout called something else before Rick Mears and his buddies came-a-calling?
Posted 20 June 2012 - 16:05
Cars raced at Hockenheim as early as 1938. The circuit was described as a shortened version of the course used for motorcycle racing (since 1932), so I don't know if the car circuit would have been oval...
Posted 20 June 2012 - 16:10
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Posted 20 June 2012 - 16:13
Good point. Unfortunately, many of the builders/operators in the U.S. soon discovered the weather wasn't as good as they'd hoped either.There was also the matter of less cheaply-available timber(required in massive quantities) and of course the damper climate in northern Europe is less kind on untreated timber.
Posted 20 June 2012 - 16:13
Edited by alansart, 21 June 2012 - 09:50.
Posted 20 June 2012 - 16:27
Posted 20 June 2012 - 16:35
Good point. Unfortunately, many of the builders/operators in the U.S. soon discovered the weather wasn't as good as they'd hoped either.
Good job on the website. Thanks for compiling the defunct ovals in the UK and Continent. I dub thee "The Allan E. Brown of the UK."
Posted 20 June 2012 - 17:10
The information in Post 39 is correctThe Indy circuit at Brands Hatch was an oval at Clearways used for Spedeworth racing since about 1968. It should not be confused with the "short" circuit which is, in fact, called "Club Circuit".
Posted 20 June 2012 - 18:59
What a load of complete and utter tosh! The only element of truth in this posting is that Speedworth used the short Clearways oval .The Indy circuit at Brands Hatch was an oval at Clearways used for Spedeworth racing since about 1968. It should not be confused with the "short" circuit which is, in fact, called "Club Circuit".
Edited by D-Type, 20 June 2012 - 19:00.
Posted 20 June 2012 - 19:59
Nobody seems to learn. The recent DTM race at Brands used the Indy circuit, for 95 laps I believe, with much the same result.It turned out to be quite a procession, with only one real overtake in the whole race. Far too short & twisty a circuit.
Posted 21 June 2012 - 09:44
Nobody seems to learn. The recent DTM race at Brands used the Indy circuit, for 95 laps I believe, with much the same result.
Posted 21 June 2012 - 09:50
I think that's the later layout, Alan. Check out the link posted by Spaceframe in post 49:
http://www.the-fastl...many/index.html
Click on Hockenheim > 1932-1937.
Posted 21 June 2012 - 11:31
I think that's the later layout, Alan. Check out the link posted by Spaceframe in post 49:
http://www.the-fastl...many/index.html
Click on Hockenheim > 1932-1937.
Posted 21 June 2012 - 11:36
Where they race proper oval track cars.Lots of 1/4 mile dirt oval tracks in Australia & New Zealand
Posted 21 June 2012 - 11:57
It was named the "Indy Circuit" after the USAC Indycars came over in the 70's. Before that I think it was just called the "Short" or "Club" circuit.
Posted 21 June 2012 - 12:20
The history of the Hockenheimring, today one of Germany's main permanent racing circuits, began in the early 1930s, when local motorsport enthusiast Ernst Christ conceived a course through the thick woods north-east of town. His plan was embraced by the mayor of Hockenheim, Philipp Klein, and the circuit was built in just over two months, from 23 March to 26 May 1932, essentially by expanding existing forest trails and linking these with a section of the main road between Walldorf and Oftersheim. The resulting 12.045 km Hockenheimer Dreieck, as the course was called, consisted of long straights through the woods, two sharp turns and several fast corners. The inaugural meeting, for solo motorcycles, took place three days after the conclusion of the construction works. Tom Bullus (NSU) and Herbert Kirchberg (DKW) both recorded a lap at 129 km/h average speed and thus shared the first lap record.
While the meeting was a great success, several shortcomings were quickly revealed. The circuit's narrow width barely sufficed for solo motorcycles and did not allow auto races, and the course was also rather dusty as it lacked a tarred surface. Both issues were later addressed, as the circuit was paved in 1935 and widened by one metre in 1936. The final meeting on the original layout was subsequently held in September 1937. Otto Ley (BMW) clocked a record-breaking race average of 154.9 km/h on that occasion, while fellow BMW-rider Karl Gall managed a new lap record at 158.8 km/h.
The circuit was then shortened to 7.725 km (sometimes also reported as 7.692 km) and widened to 7.5 metres between March and September 1938, thus bypassing the old section of public road while also making the course suitable for automobile races (there had previously only been a Mercedes-Benz demo run in August 1936). The new and improved layout was named Kurpfalzring and hosted its first race, the Kurpfalz-Rennen for motorcycles and sports cars, the following month. Less than a year later, Germany was at war, and so the meeting scheduled for October 1939 had to be cancelled. Mercedes-Benz did use the circuit for test runs in April of that year, in preparation for the Tripoli Grand Prix. Hans-Hugo Hartmann recorded an unofficial lap record at 196.8 km/h
on that occasion.
The high-speed circuit was renamed to Hockenheimring after the war, hosting races between May 1947 and September 1963. The only noteworthy change during that time came in 1954, when the circuit was widened to nine metres, while its two main curves, the Ostkurve and Stadtkurve, were banked at six degrees. The construction of a new motorway, which would cut off the southern half of the course, then necessitated a substantial rebuild in the years 1964-1965, and when the Hockenheimring reopened it had become a modern, fully permanent facility (...)
Posted 21 June 2012 - 13:04
Sebastien Bourdais won the 2003 "London ChampCar Trophy" which also ran on the Indy circuit.
Posted 22 June 2012 - 11:24
I'm not sure why circuits like the Grenzlandring or Hockenheim are mentioned on this thread, as these have nothing to do with oval racing - in my view, these are road courses which happen to be oval-shaped (or oval-ish), which is something entirely different (but feel free to disagree). And vice versa, an oval doesn't have to be oval-shaped, of course...
Posted 22 June 2012 - 12:31
Posted 23 June 2012 - 21:02
Great point Rob. Without Prince, or someone similar, there was no driving force behind construction of the wooden ovals in Europe. I also believe the stories of the deterioration of the tracks to be greatly exaggerated, down to the likely apocryphal story of heads - alternately either children or workmen hastily repairing the track - popping up between boards as races were being run. Though it's quite true that the tracks did not age well and did deteriorate rapidly after a year or two. While the initial cost was (relatively) cheap, the cost of repair and maintenance was great and was a likely cause of tracks falling into disrepair.The wooden motordromes and board tracks, incidentally, were a strictly US phenomenon (1909-1931), with the exception of a motordrome in Toronto. I don't believe this was due to the European climate, however, but rather, I reckon there was simply no one like Jack Prince in Europe!
Posted 23 June 2012 - 22:47
Posted 23 June 2012 - 23:42
Exactly. His idea came from velodromes. That's precisely what I was getting at with: "without Prince, or someone like him, there was no driving force behind construction of the wooden ovals in Europe." It was his courting and attracting of investors.Prince was a former bicycle racer, and merely "expanded" his version of a racing track - first for motor bikes, then cars as well. There's no reason why a European bike racer couldn't have come up with a similar plan. I believe the board track phenomenon was largely an economic one - Prince was able to interest private investors, which made all the difference. This would not have been possible in European countries; only the liberal US economy was able to offer these opportunities.
And no, the stories of deterioration are not exaggerated! I've seen pictures and have read believable accounts that could make a grown man cry! These board tracks were lethal, EXTREMELY dangerous when time began gnawing on the foundations. They were, for better or worse, the quintessential US business enterprises: built for the quick buck, and not to last...
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Posted 24 June 2012 - 04:33
Posted 24 June 2012 - 05:35
Edited by wenoopy, 24 June 2012 - 05:37.