66 replies to this topic

[olliek88]

After watching the BTCC around Donington today it got me wondering just how different the place would look right now if the plans for it to host F1 from 2010 hadn't fallen through. Then in turn it got me thinking about other circuits that were proposed but never came to fruition.

Proposed layout for the altered Donington circuit. Which isn't as bad as i remembered, good elevation change with the new section and of course the craner curves, redgate etc were pretty decent corners as well.







And i can not for the life of me think of anymore right now! although i'm sure there are a few.

Edited by olliek88, 15 April 2012 - 18:57.

[DinocoBlue]

Wasn't there a street race planned for St. Petersburg (or was it Moscow?) I recall there being a track plan for that. Went over a river.

[ryan86]

There was a plan for a Russian GP on an island in a river in Moscow. I can't remember exactly when this was talked about, but it was in an Autosport when I flew home from a holiday, which makes me think it may have been October 2001.

Edited by ryan86, 15 April 2012 - 19:59.

[Fastcake]

The street circuit around Rome, long speculated and which apparently had an preliminary agreement in place, before being shelved last year.



^ Proposed circuit

[olliek88]

The street circuit around Rome, long speculated and which apparently had an preliminary agreement in place, before being shelved last year.



^ Proposed circuit

Glad that one didn't work out! Looks a touch "mickey mouse".

[BRG]

New home of future French Grand Prix at Flins Les Mureaux near Paris was expected to be ready for 2011 season. Details

[GotYoubyTheBalls]

Cancun Mehico

[olliek88]

Liking the French GP one! Looks a bit more interesting than Paul Ricard to me anyway.

[DinocoBlue]

Talking of France, don't forget that proposed circuit at Disneyland Resort Paris.

[BRG]

A new Grand Prix in the New York City area was announced for the 1983 season, to be held either at the Meadowlands Sports Complex, Meadow Lake in Flushing Meadows, or Mitchel Field in Hempstead, Long Island (on the same site as the 1936 and 1937 Vanderbilt Cups). Came to nothing of course, although CART raced at Meadowlands.

Should we add the Austin and NJ courses, or is that premature?

[One]

Saward talked about twoparisian track, one in Disneyand othe other on scene...

[LittleChris]

EUR in Rome during the mid 80's was another one that never happened. Also Fuengirola in Spain ( in 83 I think ).

[PayasYouRace]

Plenty to consider here http://theracingline.../_proposed.html

Not all of those are F1 but some are interesting.

This 1998 Las Vegas street circuit is one that I hadn't heard of http://theracingline...egasStreet.html

1984 Fuengirola for a Spanish GP http://theracingline...n/Fuengiro.html

Another Spanish one: a revival of Montjuich http://theracingline...86Proposal.html

The confusingly named proposal for a Korean GP http://theracingline...rea/Sepong.html

One for Moscow 1982 http://theracingline...82Proposal.html

[August]

Cape Town circuit:



And there was proposals of Jacarepagua modifications allowing an international level circuit remain in the middle of other sports venues.

[HaydenFan]

http://theracingline...rea/Sepong.html

Looks like they just copied Estoril

[Bartel]

I know it wasn't an F1 track, but Eastern Creek Raceway in NSW in Australia could have been a hugely impressive facility and permanent F1 grade race track if it had the opportunity to extract more money from any given area. That was Australia's best chance at a International permanent race track and they didn't take advantage of it. In saying that though, I'm not really a fan of the layout and the races I have seen there have been somewhat boring, but who's to say the layout would have stayed the same? It looks like a dustbowl these days though

[Bartel]

Cape Town circuit:



And there was proposals of Jacarepagua modifications allowing an international level circuit remain in the middle of other sports venues.

I always loved that track. I also love Interlagos though.

[Bleu]

There was a plan for GP in Korea already in late 1990s



Also this Mexican track in Cancun



Also have to note Zhuhai. The track was built and it was supposed to host F1 but that never happened.

[PayasYouRace]

I'm so glad that the Cancun one wasn't built. The road course part looks so dull.

[Red17]

A new Grand Prix in the New York City area was announced for the 1983 season, to be held either at the Meadowlands Sports Complex, Meadow Lake in Flushing Meadows, or Mitchel Field in Hempstead, Long Island (on the same site as the 1936 and 1937 Vanderbilt Cups). Came to nothing of course, although CART raced at Meadowlands.

I think I still have a guide that included that track. The guide included track layouts but it was poorly researched. I think it also included the new layout of the Nurburgring which had not been completed at the time, in fact I think they had both layouts on that guide.

[king_crud]

I know it wasn't an F1 track, but Eastern Creek Raceway in NSW in Australia could have been a hugely impressive facility and permanent F1 grade race track if it had the opportunity to extract more money from any given area. That was Australia's best chance at a International permanent race track and they didn't take advantage of it. In saying that though, I'm not really a fan of the layout and the races I have seen there have been somewhat boring, but who's to say the layout would have stayed the same? It looks like a dustbowl these days though

from what I remember the NSW government was so desperate to host the motorbikes that they rushed through the circuit. The front straight was meant to be a lot longer and not sweep off to the left but go onwards, but they couldn't arrange to get the land in time, so they shortened it to what we have today. And yes it's a dustbowl, that's what happens when you chop down every tree in a dry area.

I've been to Eastern Creek many many time but it's a poor circuit for drivers and spectators

[DinocoBlue]

That Cape Town one would have been quite something.

Here's the 'Disneyland Paris' track proposal, for anyone who's interested. You can see the resort hotels to the left of the circuit. The parks are further to the west, just off image.


© Respective owners.

[Atreiu]

Cape Town circuit:



And there was proposals of Jacarepagua modifications allowing an international level circuit remain in the middle of other sports venues.

THAT is a circuit I'd like to have on the calendar!

[Atreiu]

Oh my God, Sepoong would have been horible.

[Les]

The Balearic Islands Grand Prix was never likely to happen:

http://www.autoevolu...14-21973-1.html

And this was never going to happen! A plan to bring 'Formula Wan' to Glasgow (incidentally the 'circuit' would have been down the road from my flat).

http://www.dailyreco...86908-21709269/

[olliek88]

The Balearic Islands Grand Prix was never likely to happen:

http://www.autoevolu...14-21973-1.html

And this was never going to happen! A plan to bring 'Formula Wan' to Glasgow (incidentally the 'circuit' would have been down the road from my flat).

http://www.dailyreco...86908-21709269/

The Balearic Islands one, it almost looks like they designed half of it then used tracing paper to mirror it for the other half but tried using a 5 year old to do it.

Quite a few i didn't know about and all interesting, Cape Town has a bit of India in it to me & Disney Land would have been a decent idea i think, $$ wise anyway!

[midgrid]

Cape Town circuit:

Cape Town also proposed this street circuit last year (yes, it does go through a sports stadium):



Here's the forum topic about it.

Edited by midgrid, 16 April 2012 - 16:55.

[Atreiu]

Nah, the first looks better.

[X61]

Austin.

[Afterburner]

Also this Mexican track in Cancun

Wow, I wonder if this inspired Sedona Raceway in Forza Motorsport. Using tunnels under the grandstands to exit the oval was that track's most-unique feature, I thought:



Hopefully it's obvious where the track breaks from the oval.

[PayasYouRace]

But Sedona is actually quite good.

[D.M.N.]

Liking the French GP one! Looks a bit more interesting than Paul Ricard to me anyway.

Just use Buenos Aires, it would be difficult to spot the difference.

[rdrcr]

Here is a project I worked on a several years ago in Palm Springs, CA - Phase one of a two phase plan. The "International Circuit" was slated to be FIA certified.



The stars weren't lining up, so I bailed from the project. Today, I would vastly reconfigure the development. The parcel remains available (640 ac) plus adjacent land (400+ ac) can still be optioned for commercial developments.

Edited by rdrcr, 17 April 2012 - 00:27.

[Risil]

Now that looks like an anorexic Estoril.

[pingu666]

sad how many tracks fold up on themselves now

[wewantourdarbyback]

sad how many tracks fold up on themselves now

None of them have ever been good...

[highdownforce]

I just hope this one will not be the case.

[rdrcr]

Now that looks like an anorexic Estoril.

Yes it does, doesn't it! I was invited to participate later in the development, so I didn't have a hand in the layout/configuration elements. They were penned before I got involved. I suggested several times to bring in a professional designer, but that was rebuffed by the point-man and his architect. What it looked like really didn't matter at the time... For me anyway, it was the concept of developing a motorsports complex and technology center that was at the core of the business plan and financial model, bringing jobs to the area, etc. etc.

Edited by rdrcr, 17 April 2012 - 00:39.

[ClubmanGT]

There was a plan for a Russian GP on an island in a river in Moscow. I can't remember exactly when this was talked about, but it was in an Autosport when I flew home from a holiday, which makes me think it may have been October 2001.

Ngatino was the initial Russian plan in the early 2000s. However nothing seemed to happen. A Lotus/Caterham (from memory) did demonstration laps around Moscow recently around a temporary circuit which would have been amazing to race on, but it would also involve shutting down most of Central Moscow.

Anther circuit which never made the big time:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autopolis

Perhaps too far ahead of its time.

[chdphd]

I remember the Nagatino Island one. Tom Walkinshaw was involve somehow.

http://www.grandprix...ns/ns03197.html
http://www.gpupdate....led-russian-gp/

Here's a couple of maps I found

[DinocoBlue]

I don't think there was ever any track plans released, but didn't Greece at one time consider having an F1 race?

[chdphd]

Google threw this up:



http://www.aaformula...ated-south.html

[DinocoBlue]

Wow thanks.

I'm guessing if it had happened, it'd be off the calendar by now.

[Atreiu]

Certainly not because of riots and the population being unhappy.
LOL

[BackmarkerUK]

This is apparently the layout of a proposed Dublin Street Circuit, to be used in A1GP. Really awful looking.

[Risil]

He meant "fold up" as in "fill all the available space".

There are some ridiculous examples of this. Spa, Assen, Thruxton and even Istanbul Park are glorious examples of not doing it. But essentially it means spending more money than you absolutely have to, which is apparently fine when it comes to designing your massive trackside buildings but not on when it comes to purchasing land.

[Amphicar]

Here are a couple that inexplicably, never came to fruition:

http://richcrib.com/...ee-formula-one/

http://www.mehrnews....?NewsID=1401282

[olliek88]

Anther circuit which never made the big time:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autopolis

Perhaps too far ahead of its time.

Loving the Autopolis circuit, nice layout, looks like it flows quite well.

This onboard makes it look good too, bearing in mind it only a F-BMW car its got some quick, challenging corners in there and does flow well. Would be interested in seeing what a bona fida F1 car could do around there.




EDIT: A bit more footage with some off board stuff -

Edited by olliek88, 17 April 2012 - 18:04.

[Risil]

They had a Group C race at Autopolis in 1991 (Michael Schumacher got his second and last World Sportscar victory there), so not far off bona fide F1 cars.

Edited by Risil, 17 April 2012 - 18:23.

[olliek88]

Just looked up the '91 World Sportscar race that was held there, tediously interesting bit of useless info, Keke Rosberg took part in the race too, pedalling a Pug 905. So thats both father and son he has raced against, like i said, useless info.