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Active racing circuits that still have an old-school atmosphere


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#1 TimRTC

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Posted 06 July 2015 - 18:31

I decided to go over to York Raceway on Sunday for a day of drag racing. Converted from the old RAF Melbourne and known for a while as New York Raceway, it felt like stepping back into the 1970s. There were no fancy facilities - some armco barriers to keep you away from the runway in use as a race track, while viewing facilities were rickety wooden grandstand. Race control was just an old control tower and all of the roadways in use were either the original runways, or the perimeter roads. Even driving onto the site was along pot-holed concrete roads and parking was on one of the old runways, between the new plantlife.

 

P7050020.JPG

 

I know there are a lot of circuits out there which have still got their original charms, but most have got updated facilities and sneaking appearances of catch fencing etc. Which other active circuits, in Britain or across the world, still feel like they did in the 1970s and give that real retro feel?


Edited by TimRTC, 06 July 2015 - 18:32.


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#2 BRG

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Posted 06 July 2015 - 19:47

You didn't find a Mk1 Escort exhaust system there, did you?  We lost ours when we used Melbourne as a rally stage some (many) years back.



#3 wolf sun

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Posted 06 July 2015 - 20:16

Interesting topic.

 

I visited Enna-Pergusa in 2008 (the circuit might have been inactive at the time, it certainly was on the day), and that had a fairly old-school atmosphere about it. Somewhere in the vault there is photographic evidence of me and the missus doing a whole lap on foot, flu-stricken and in sweltering heat!

 

My father tells me that Salzburgring is fairly 'retro', too.

 

Come to think of it, I saw quite a few places up until the early Nineties, from Lydden (what's that like today?) to Monza, and they all seemed to have preserved some of that Seventies' charm to some degree - or is it the rose tinted spectacles of my memory?



#4 Ray Bell

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Posted 06 July 2015 - 21:44

Bathurst...

#5 GMACKIE

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Posted 06 July 2015 - 22:00

Wakefield Park, Goulburn, NSW.

 

IMG_0073_zps3vezyvbp.jpg



#6 Lee Nicolle

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Posted 06 July 2015 - 22:28

Mallala, an old air force base that still has many of the original buildings and infrastructure.

Well maintained and with adequate roads to the place. Touring Car Rounds though were very busy to get in!



#7 Ray Bell

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Posted 06 July 2015 - 23:32

Have they still got the drains with timber covers, Lee?

3" x 2" timbers on edge with 1" gaps between them...

#8 john aston

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Posted 07 July 2015 - 06:36

I am a regular at the York Raceway - sometimes in Run Wot Yer brung mode and sometimes just spectating. I love it for its total lack of pretension , slick running , very funny and informed commentator and the fact that so many young people attend . High tattoo count but so what . And the sound of a pair of V8s echoing over the strip is still magic.

 

Other venues- Harewood hasn't changed in the many decades since I first went there , apart from course length. Cadwell is still just enchanting  , and far better looked after now than in the past . As is Oulton Park . Donington is rather the reverse sadly; it started life as a beautifully landscaped  , heavily treed parkland track where you could stand  close enough to get a good view . It's now a building site with most of its charm lost for good ; the infield can be like the Somme and the track is miles away from where you watch .Good if you like Nazi hardware ....I don't though 


Edited by john aston, 07 July 2015 - 06:37.


#9 Lee Nicolle

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Posted 07 July 2015 - 06:51

Have they still got the drains with timber covers, Lee?

3" x 2" timbers on edge with 1" gaps between them...

There is a few left. Some have been replaced  with concrete as the timber rotted after about 70 years. 

I told Clem he should make a warranty claim on whoever made them.

 

While the place still has much of its originality all the walls, debris fencing and the like is all current spec.

Some of the old buildings are a bit sad, the clubhouse is one. Lack of use. The after meeting socialising used to be great with a big fire roaring up the chimney.

Sadly road rules and the like has finished that, everyone races off after the event. And anything that does happen is now in the meeting room in the pit area. Some stay after the historics.



#10 Nick Savage

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Posted 07 July 2015 - 07:17

I certainly agree about Cadwell and Oulton Park. Castle Combe still retains Sixties charm, grass covered paddock in some areas and the old converted RAF buildings still doing service. Lydden Hill is almost unchanged, but it really is a fly-blown shed of a place. Charm isn't the word there.

 

Thinking about Europe (or 'Yerp' as Henry Manney transcribed it) : Pau, with the paddock scattered through Le Jardin Botanique; Chimay, though it is 10 years since I raced there, the paddock at which had more wasps per cubic metre (mainly centred on the Belgian candy-twist stalls), where although the track has changed over the decades, it still had that 'racing out to the end of the world' feel; Dijon looks and feels utterly unchanged since the early-Seventies with claustrophobic low-ceilinged pit boxes.

 

Talking about drag-racing  -  have you been to Santa Pod recently ? Time-warp and all the better for it.

Nick



#11 Derwent Motorsport

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Posted 07 July 2015 - 12:05

Prescott and Shelsley Walsh have maintained and built on their historic to good effect.


Edited by Derwent Motorsport, 07 July 2015 - 12:05.


#12 barrykm

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Posted 07 July 2015 - 15:46

In South Africa the Zwartkops circuit near Pretoria is still old school.  :up:



#13 gtsmunro

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Posted 08 July 2015 - 09:05

Lakeside QLD and possibly Point Cook VIC though its use was limited.



#14 Ray Bell

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Posted 08 July 2015 - 11:21

Lakeside... good call...

If only that stupid building in the centre of the circuit wasn't there.

Pt Cook was only used once, so it's definitely not 'active'.

#15 BRG

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Posted 08 July 2015 - 16:06

Running through this thread is a hint that the tracks that retain period atmosphere are the ones that Bernie and his pet rottweiller Tilke haven't savaged.



#16 NPP

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Posted 08 July 2015 - 19:42

Cadwell's great, did a number of trackdays there over the past few years. But the track is very smooth now, with modern-style curbs all round. Smaller venues that are not really race tracks such as Blyton Park retain some of the old-style atmosphere but even they get spruced up. 

 

Drove Donington once last year and it was a great track, even though it may have been better in the past - but then I never saw it 'back then'!



#17 Gary C

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Posted 08 July 2015 - 19:47

I've been to Summit Point Raceway in West Virginia a few times,  that certainly has an 'olde-worlde' atmosphere,  great stuff.


Edited by Gary C, 09 July 2015 - 01:44.


#18 foxyracer

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Posted 08 July 2015 - 20:49

Goodwood isn't massively different from the way it was in the 60s although for me it was better in 1998 when I went to the first Revival than it was last year.  Maybe it's not the circuit that's no longer quite right, more the "entertainment" that has gone way over the top.  An ordinary HSCC or VSCC meeting held there would be very good.

 

Mallory Park retains much of its original charm too, just a shame about the chicanes added for the bikes.



#19 gtsmunro

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Posted 08 July 2015 - 23:24

Lakeside... good call...

If only that stupid building in the centre of the circuit wasn't there.

Pt Cook was only used once, so it's definitely not 'active'.

Pt Cook was used for the occasional lap dash or motorkhana meets up until early 2000's. The later results would get posted up on the Defence DRN from time to time. I can't recall though which club was involved (if there was one) or who organised it but the meets were usually small. 



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#20 raceannouncer2003

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Posted 09 July 2015 - 06:05

Pacific Raceways, Kent, Washington...opened in 1960 and still going:

 

http://pacificracewa...om/road-course/

 

Vince H.



#21 TimRTC

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Posted 09 July 2015 - 19:17

Running through this thread is a hint that the tracks that retain period atmosphere are the ones that Bernie and his pet rottweiller Tilke haven't savaged.

 

Possibly, but many circuits that have not hosted F1 in a generation or more have still been updated - Paul Ricard for example.

 

In Britain the MSV circuits at Oulton, Cadwell and Snetterton all retain their old layouts to a degree, but have modern facilities and barriers.

 

Now of course this is not to say that old-school is better, I'm sure racers would much rather have a waterproof pit-lane roof, but sometimes it is fun to go back in time.



#22 stuartbrs

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Posted 10 July 2015 - 07:13

Baskerville hasn't changed at all, apart from a recent control tower refurbish.



#23 foxyracer

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Posted 10 July 2015 - 09:30

Running through this thread is a hint that the tracks that retain period atmosphere are the ones that Bernie and his pet rottweiller Tilke haven't savaged.

 

Completely agree.  In my view, Silverstone has been ruined by the "needs" of F.1.  It's just a jungle of concrete and fencing both around the track and the paddock.  Noticeable how for a normal "clubbie" the grandstands are padlocked.  What use is that?  It's been developed for the F.1 teams without much thought for spectators other than making sure they are so far away from the track they are more likely to be hit by an aircraft crashing at Turweston than a racing car.



#24 Dick Dastardly

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Posted 10 July 2015 - 09:50

Prescott and Shelsley Walsh have maintained and built on their historic to good effect.

Barbon as well......Harewood apart, are all UK hill climb venues the same as they were back in the day? 



#25 WDH74

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Posted 12 July 2015 - 05:03

This side of the world, I might suggest Road America, partially because it still features it's original layout! But, even though the amenities like the main grandstands and safety barriers are modern, the whole place still has an old school feel. There aren't any marble floored F1-quality pit garages, grandstands miles from the track, enormous gravel traps, and limited access areas where you buy a ticket to watch on the big television in the infield. You can walk around the place and still get close to the action. 

If we're talking drag racing, I'd throw in Byron Dragway in Byron, Illinois. Typical small town strip, with bleachers on each side of the track, a smallish timing tower, basic amenities, no extensive garages (you work on your car in the comfort of your campsite), and a hot dog stand. About the only things that aren't fully retro about the place are the advertising hoardings near the start line and the Christmas tree. Still, they host vintage drags there once in a while (next weekend in fact!) as well as the usual slate of test and tunes. Great place, another one where you can get nice and close to the action and channel your inner Bob McClurg.

9477525466_74ca332ee9_z.jpgA/FX by William, on Flickr


Edited by WDH74, 12 July 2015 - 05:06.


#26 TimRTC

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Posted 28 July 2015 - 08:22

Love the pic there.

 

 

Completely agree.  In my view, Silverstone has been ruined by the "needs" of F.1.  It's just a jungle of concrete and fencing both around the track and the paddock.  Noticeable how for a normal "clubbie" the grandstands are padlocked.  What use is that?  It's been developed for the F.1 teams without much thought for spectators other than making sure they are so far away from the track they are more likely to be hit by an aircraft crashing at Turweston than a racing car.

 

My understanding re: the grandstands at Silverstone is cost factors. They like to have security in the grandstands and obviously have to send cleaners through them after a race meeting, if they opened up all the grandstands for a club event, it would cost a lot to police and clean when only a few people might even use them. I believe it is pretty standard at circuits with lots of large grandstands (Rockingham in the UK for example). The alternative would just be to have temporary grandstands, but they do have quite a few big events at Silverstone, so the cost of taking them up and down would be prohibitive.



#27 proviz

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Posted 28 July 2015 - 11:01

Finland's Ahvenisto, these days more often called by the name of the city, Hämeenlinna, is practically the same as when opened in 1967. It goes up and down with a very nice flow too. Ask Mika Salo about it, if you bump into him.