A warm welcome to this New Year and back by demand of some fabulous forum folks making their wishes known both publicly and privately I am at last pleased to announce:
The Autosport Forum's 5th Annual Official Unofficial Formula E Street Circuit Design Competition
Starting a little later than usual but with the new season creeping up very fast, it falls on me as the winner of last years competition to launch this years. Should your design be voted as the winner, you will be able to join our list of winners from previous seasons:
2019 - FredrickB - Stockholm ePrix
2020 - maximilian - Jacksonville ePrix
2021 - Frood - Tokyo ePrix
2022 - Ben1445 - Palma ePrix
2023 - ???? - ????
The Rules
Most of the rules are the Basic Rules set out every year since inauguration, taken from the previous years' threads:
1. The length of your circuit should somewhere in the region of 1.5 to 3.0 miles (2.5 - 5 km) in length preferred, but not essential.
2. The layout should be original - it should not be too similar to any circuit currently or previously in use.
3. The circuit should be temporary and within the official city limits of your chosen location (make of that what you will).
4. Entries should at least specify a route, the direction and start-line/pit-lane locations. Further details (grandstands, etc.) are welcome but not necessary.
5. Entries should take the form of an aerial-view image of your circuit and a short description of the area and how you imagine the event to be held. A few pictures from Google Street View is a nice addition too, but not mandatory.
6. Entries should have some link or relevance to climate change.
As is now tradition, the previous winner has the honour of adding a seventh guideline rule or theme of their choosing which may inspire the participants and voters to follow or indeed have very little impact at all - no one can be sure! Therefore, I will add the following:
7. Recent calendars have seen Formula E visiting more permeant racing facilities, with Portland, Shanghai and Misano all featuring on the upcoming season calendar. I therefore think that we can focus on how Basic Rule 2 and Basic Rule 3 do not explicitly ban the use of permanent facilities, written such that original layouts based around the use of permanent facilities are in fact within the Spirit of the RegulationsTM. You can temporarily re-profile corners, use the car parks and access roads or add small new sections of tarmac to join pieces of track to others, so long as it feels like a suitable FE track (whatever that is). You could take inspiration from the old hybrid 1000km Buenos Aires circuit from the 1950s, or follow the Adelaide/Melbourne routes and have mostly street-based circuit with certain permanent sections added in to tie it all together. I think there's plenty of room to be creative with it, should you wish.
And, of course, be ready to argue the business and environmental merits of your idea as sincerely or insincerely as you like! It's meant to be fun
The Schedule
Entires may be submitted immediately (if you're that quick) and submissions will remain open until the 23:59 GMT on the 15th February 2024. You will be able to watch FE races in Mexico City and Diriyah during this time for inspiration and general enjoyment.
Voting will then commence for a month until the 23:59 GMT on the 15th March 2024, just in time for the São Paulo ePrix and the remainder of the season.
Looking forward to seeing what you all come up with, and in finding our next winner and 6th Edition host.
From my personal experience, Da Lat, an idyllic small city in Central Vietnam and home to 425,000 people, is a chill, gorgeous little escapade with elevation galore and captivating lakeside settings to boot. It is one of the greenest cities in Southeast Asia, surrounded by rolling hills, lush greenery and flush with forests and gardens to boot, and is striving to be a "Green Paradise" in the coming years. However, one foible holding it back is limited promotional and advertising initiatives targeting foreign markets.
Why not address it with a Formula E round then? After all, after the nixing of the Hanoi F1 project, what better way to whet the appetite for motorsport to finally make its international presence in Vietnam, with a scenic location and a track layout that should dazzle drivers and spectators alike?
This circuit strives to be Vietnam's answer for Surfers Paradise, and it makes a convincing case for it with nearly the whole first sector of the lap - basically two quick-flip chicanes, the first being the location of the Attack Mode activation zone and being much slower than the second - with the 440m start-finish straight preceeding it, passing is not impossible, but a challenge for sure. It is then followed by the Southeast Asian version of Baku or Riyadh, with a set of 4 blind, uphill left-hand flicks with no room for error - one misstep and there's a track-blocking pileup in waiting - definitely the hardest section of the layout.
Once you've negotiated that climb, you've got more to traverse - the backstraight following it goes up and up and up, reminiscent of an equivalent in the form of the old Bern street circuit in FE Season 5. It's also the widest area of the circuit - if you wanna get a pass done, this is the only safe place to pull it off. The braking zone for the Turn 12-13 chicane veers to the right ala Nashville, making it a challenge to modulate the Brembos : at least the entry has a widened track width to get your passes sorted. It is then followed by two medium-speed, one-car-wide left handers and a short straight that plunges downhill with elevation that would give San Francisco's a run for its money, with a slow 90-degree left-hander to cap off the lap.
I think I’m going to loosely take advantage of the “permanent facilities” allowance and revisit one of my previous entries. I think a new layout might be just what’s needed to finally make a success of an event that has been failing since 1909.
Well, unlike shawnybantzy's entry this hardly has any elevation at all and this is exactly the reason for this entry. I present to you the Maldives ePrix.
The Maldives consist of 26 atolls and are officially the lowest country in the world, with an average elevation of just 1.5m above sea level and a maximum natural elevation of just 2.4m above sea level. This makes the country highly vulnerable for climate change and the rise of sea level. The vulnerability was already clearly shown when the islands were hit by a tsunami following the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, which happened at a distance of 2500km away, when all but 9 of the 200 inhibited islands were hit and more than 60% of the capital Malé was flooded. Regardless of such disasters, the projected sea water rise of 60cm means that most of the inhabited islands have to be abandoned by 2100 unless major changes are made. Therefore, the Maldives are a strong advocate of climate change mitigation, in which hosting an ePrix will attract a lot of attention.
The only suitable location of such an event on the Maldives is the capital Malé, which is one of the most densely populated cities in the world, with 100k+ people on just 2 square km. In comparison: this is twice the population density of Manhattan.
The track is 5.2km and will be partially on the island and partially on the Sinamalé Bridge that was completed in 2018 and connects Malé to Hulhulé island, where the airport is located. It is not yet visible on the picture above. As a typical example of Chinese colonialism, the Chinese government has provided loans for the construction of the bridge, with the obligation to have it build by Chinese companies and now the industrial trade on the Maldives has been taken over by Chinese companies, while the government is heavily indebted to China, with more than 70% of the countries total debts resulting from China-funded construction projects. The Maldives president succeeding the president who arranged these deals has called it a debt trap, similar to what many (mineral-rich) African countries are facing now as well.
Start-Finish and the pit boxes will be on the Boduthakurufaanu Magu, or the main road around the island. While it is rather small, it is practically the only suitable location for start and finish. From there, the track goes across the Sinamalé bridge and after a hairpin on Hulhulé island back across the bridge again to Malé. The straight from SF to Hulhulé is 2km and the straight back to Malé 1.5km, so there is plenty of opportunity for overtaking, but watch out for the batteries. Back on Malé, the track goes around the Lonuziyaaraiy park, which is one of the few green areas on the island. After passing (fittingly) the Chinese embassy, there is a 90-degree left onto Majeedhee Madu, which is the main road for crossing the middle of the island. At this bend there is a nice artificial beach. From Majeedhee Magu the track heads into Sosun Magu and Koimala Hingun as a typical example of driving through the narrow streets of an overcrowded city, before finally returning onto Boduthakurufaanu Magu.
Great addition with a new variable never shown in racing before; watch drivers navigate the jet thrust from planes taking off from the haripin corner. The start of the runway is shown on the photo.
Edit: I stand corrected. It seems that this is the taxiway. Still it would be nice to park a 747 there and have it blast the engines at full throttle when drivers are passing by. Just for the fun of it.
Edit: I stand corrected. It seems that this is the taxiway. Still it would be nice to park a 747 there and have it blast the engines at full throttle when drivers are passing by. Just for the fun of it.
This country has had Formula 1 and MotoGP Grand Prix for a long time. However, only Formula E will be able to hold the World Championship on the territory of this state. I am pleased to introduce you the San Marino E-Prix .
The streets of the ancient town, located on the slopes of Monte Titano, form a 4.354 km long circuit. Large elevation changes and long straights will certainly cause problems with energy consumption, but sufficient braking should help with this. Some turns are quite narrow, but Formula E could cope with such turns) From 6 to 8 there is a small part paved with tiles, but as we know from the example of Baku, this is a solvable problem. Environmental aspect: the problems of San Marino include urbanization, decreasing rural farmlands; water shortage The attack mode is located on the outside of the 3rd turn. Not very realistic from a safety point of view, because many sections are more like rally stage)
What software are people using to generate the track layouts? Some of the visuals above look awesome
Last few years (including last year) I've used an outdated desktop version of Google Earth and used the path and polygon tools to draw out track limits, barriers and grandstands.
Though I have found that either Microsoft Powerpoint or Google Slides (free online) can make some pretty decent visuals, so may do it that way this year.
Not sure what other people have been using though?
I just save a snapshot from Google Earth and hack it about (technical term) with Microsoft Paint.
My entries do often look a bit less professional than others but that has little to do with the software and everything to do with the fact that I can't draw.
Continuing with a Douro River edition after last year's edition.
The 2024 edition of the Douro E-Prix uses a different layout but just a few hundred meters away from last year, and features both cities of the banks of the river: Porto and Gaia. The connnection between both cities is made by 2 of the 6 bridges between the cities (soon to be 7): the upper deck of Ponte Luíz I - designed by the one and only Gustave Eiffel - and Ponte Infante Dom Henrique.
While the lower deck of the bridge is now open to traffic, the upper deck is now dedicated to only tram, so if would take some construction to make it work, but let's dream about this for a second.
Tough competition as usual. I've taken the brief of using the "permanent facilites", or at least, minimising the use of public roads to revisit my first ever entry to this competition and present to you:
The 2nd E-Prix of Gibraltar
featuring
The 4eme Grand Prix du Rock
Yes, racing will once again return to the storied Rock of Gibraltar, for the first time since the first E-Prix of Gibraltar back in 2019, as detailed in my entry to the first FE Circuit competition back in 2019.
The very first Grand Prix du Rock was held back in 1906, at the behest of the then Governor, Sir Reginald Bullard-Cowley. This first race quickly developed into farce after d'Ambrosio ended up crashing his 22 L, 3-cylinder Bolzano voiturette into the harbour. Eventually joined by all but one of the rest of the field, blocking the harbour. It should have been an easy Victory for American Roger Knut in the 1000hp Navajomobile, but he was disqualified for external assistance after he swerved to avoid a monkey. Hulks of racing cars then blocked the harbour until late 1909, though the 100 L Pomeranna, once raised from the sea bed, was to enjoy a long career in the Royal Navy as the sloop HMS Incorrigible. [1]
It was 1960 when the next attempt to host this race finally came to fruition, thanks to the support the Governor, Lord Wepys of Sebring. This event, as alluded to in my last entry, is also poorly documented. After a Soviet spy was found in the paddock, noting down details of the naval base, helicopter operations, atomic cannons and other military installations on the Rock, most documented evidence was destroyed. Only one radio broadcast, recorded by a dedicated fan on magnetic tape, survived after being hidden until the fall of the Soviet Union. There you'll hear the exploits of the Schnorcedes team and their team boss Herr Outbauer with their car that required drivers von Grips and Fling to drive in with their legs in the splits. We also had the only recorded interview with enigmatic Paraguayan champion Jose Julio Fangango, and the fickly nature of Sig Fanfani and his threats to quit racing recorded for posterity. [1]
Not even the steady reliable driving of Brits Girling Foss and Tony Cooks were able to bring their Pinfalls to the finish of this gruelling Grande Epreauve. [1]
Back in 2019, Gibraltar Minister for Sport, Culture, Heritage, Youth, Utilities, Refuse Collection, Fire Service, Civil Contingencies and Postal Services, Steven Linares, was able to bring together sponsorship for a third attempt at a Grand Prix on the Rock. Fitting in with the Chief Minister Fabian Picardo's push for green motoring (the official CM's car, G1, is a Tesla) it was decided to bring Formula E to Gibraltar. Scheduled for March 2020, the event as expected, didn't even get going due to the Covid Pandemic. The course was a promising romp up and down the South District, but the disruption to local transport, with two major roads being blocked, was not popular with local residents.
However, a long running project has made a fourth attempt at the race possible. That is the completion of the tunnel under the runway of RAF Gibraltar/Gibraltar International Airport. Named the Queen Elizabeth II Tunnel, this allows traffic to and from Spain to be uninterrupted by usage of the airport runway, and now means that the airport can be closed and converted into a racing circuit. With the new Europa Sports Park stadium open too, the Victoria Stadium can be temporarily converted for FE use, with ready made grandstands and broadcasting facilities. Just look at this for a backdrop for a race:
So without further ado, may I present the new Gibraltar FE circuit.
A clockwise circuit measuring a nice round 3.00 km, it promises to be a fast and open circuit, but with some twists. Only a small bit of actual public road is used. I shall describe a lap of the track in which every turn has been named.
The start line is on Runway 27. The Gibraltar Regiment's Devil's Tower Camp and Gibraltar Cemetery are to the left, but with plenty of space for temporary grandstands. It's a fairly short run to the first complex of corners making use of the taxiways in and out of RAF Gibraltar's South Dispersal. The turns are namedHunter, Jaguar, Shackleton and Hudson, all for significant RAF aircraft types that operated from RAF Gibraltar (or RAF North Front as it was known initially when it was constructed during WW2).
This takes us onto the only public road of the circuit, the dual carriageway Winston Churchill Avenue, which was formerly the only road route into Spain from Gibraltar, and used to provide the unique experience of ordinary traffic being stopped at traffic lights and barriers to allow planes to land and take off. A chicane called Churchill has been installed there to ensure the cars can safely travel down the narrow right hand carriageway.
Next is a tricky right hander named Sundial, representing the Sundial Roundabout that forms the junction of Winston Churchil Ave and Devil's Tower Rd. This right hander takes us into Victoria Stadium. Much like the Foro Sol in Mexico City, the track will be temporarily laid out within the confines of the stadium, in this case within the athletics track. The right hander at the south west end of the stadium is named Casciaro, after the local striker of the Lincoln Red Imps football team, responsible for the goal against Celtic that will forever be remembered as one of the greatest moments of Gibaltarian sport.
The short straight within the stadium will provide the finish line, opposite the VIP box in the main grandstand. A podium will also be constructed in the centre of the football pitch, and as you'd expect, large screens will allow fans to follow all the action. At the other end of the finish straight will be the 90 degree right of Victoria, and then the Red Imps Chicane to keep cars in order as they leave the stadium. As we leave the stradium, we rejoin Winston Churchill Avenue at Vulcan. Named for the V-Bomber that acted as RAF Gibraltar's gate guard here back in the 1980s.
Another short squirt up to Runway, where we rejoin Runway 27 for a blast out into the Bay of Gibraltar, into which the runway extends. Note that I chose a length of runway to bring the overall circuit length to a round 3.00 km. This run could potentially extend further along the 6000 ft runway. Then there is the Marina Bay hairpin, named for the adjacent marina, where Gibraltar's nightlife will provide plenty of entertainment for fans in the evenings. The hairpin is also the Attack Mode detection point.
We now head back along Runway 09 for the longest straight of the circuit. With Western Beach on the left, where the Royal Marines once accidentally invaded Spain. Moving on from such faux pas, we enter a left right dogleg at the taxiway for the Gibraltar International Airport North Dispersal. A left at Rotunda named for the shopping complex next to the road, and a right at Yogi Bair, names after Gibraltar Airways' DC-3 Dakota which had her Gib Air titles unofficially modified, and provided the nickname of the local airline's aircraft for decades to come.
In the middle of this complex is the pit entrance. The pits are placed in the commercial flightline, and the observation deck and departure lounge of the terminal will provide hospitality viewing for team guests, overlooking the pits and eastern half of the course.
Two corners to go, forming a double right hander back onto Runway 27 and the starting straight. The first, Levanter, is named for the typical cloud brought over the rock via easterly winds. The Rock is rarely seen without her fluffy hat. Lastly, we have Devil's Tower, named for the old watchtower that was demolished during the Second World War and leant it's name to many Gibraltarian locations in the area. Sadly, no photographs exist of the tower.
So that's a lap of the new circuit, which I hope will provide interesting racing and a good challenge to the drivers. And maybe, just maybe, someone will finish this time.
For this year I have taken inspiration from the additional rule clarification regarding permanent circuits and decided to resurrect a relatively recently lost international circuit with an obvious link to Formula E.
The Jacarepagua circuit or Autodromo Nelson Piquet in Rio de Janeiro held the Brazilian Formula One Grand Prix in 1978 and again from 1981 to 1989. It also held MotoGP from 1995 to 2004 and when an oval circuit configuration was added CART from 1996 to 2000.
The circuit was demolished in 2012 and venues/facilities for the 2016 Olympic Games were build on the site. As Piquet's son , Nelson junior was the first ever Formula E champion what former circuit site would be a more appropriate venue for the series? I have designed this circuit on the site with the following objectives.
Produce an interesting circuit.
Pay homage to the original circiut.
Pass each of the Olympic venues on the site.
At 3.3 miles (5.3 kilometres) the track is slightly over the length guide.
Track description.
Start/FInish straight - In tribute to the former circuit I have placed the start/finish straight parallel but to the main back straight but in the opposite direction.
Turn 1 - A 180 degree right hand corner. Another tribute to the old circuit. The first corner was a long right hander (albeit much more open than here). Due to the space available here the attack mode zone will also be placed on the outside of this turn.
Turns 2-5 When looking at the overhead view of the venue there is this wavy path running through the middle of it. That just had to be incorporated into the circuit as a series of esses.
Turn 6 - A tight left hand corner that takes the cars around the back of some of the venues.
Turns 7-8 Following the access roads through the Olympic venue takes us through a fast left and a medium-fast right.
Turn 9 Past the water sport venues and a tight left out of the Olympic Park and onto the adjacent road. This provides an overtaking spot and also echos the former circuit which also had a tight left hand corner leading onto the long back straight. The back straight here is 1.5km long and will give the cars the chance to stretch their legs.
Turn 10 After right and left hand curves at the end of the straight the cars will turn 90 degrees left to re-enter the Olympic Park. After such a long straight this will be a great opportunity to outbreak your rivals.
Turn 11 A fast left. The large expanse of tarmac on the outside of the corner till be the pit and paddock.
Turns 12 and 13 Back to navigating around the site's Olympic venues. Two 90 degree lefts with a right hand kink immediately following turn 12.
Turn 14 Plenty of space to do what I want here. I decided to open the corner up with as open a right hander as possible to maximise speed onto the start/finish straight and create an overtaking opportunity into turn 1.
For this year I have taken inspiration from the additional rule clarification regarding permanent circuits and decided to resurrect a relatively recently lost international circuit with an obvious link to Formula E.
The Jacarepagua circuit or Autodromo Nelson Piquet in Rio de Janeiro held the Brazilian Formula One Grand Prix in 1978 and again from 1981 to 1989. It also held MotoGP from 1995 to 2004 and when an oval circuit configuration was added CART from 1996 to 2000.
The circuit was demolished in 2012 and venues/facilities for the 2016 Olympic Games were build on the site. As Piquet's son , Nelson junior was the first ever Formula E champion what former circuit site would be a more appropriate venue for the series? I have designed this circuit on the site with the following objectives.
Produce an interesting circuit.
Pay homage to the original circiut.
Pass each of the Olympic venues on the site.
At 3.3 miles (5.3 kilometres) the track is slightly over the length guide.
Track description.
Start/FInish straight - In tribute to the former circuit I have placed the start/finish straight parallel but to the main back straight but in the opposite direction.
Turn 1 - A 180 degree right hand corner. Another tribute to the old circuit. The first corner was a long right hander (albeit much more open than here). Due to the space available here the attack mode zone will also be placed on the outside of this turn.
Turns 2-5 When looking at the overhead view of the venue there is this wavy path running through the middle of it. That just had to be incorporated into the circuit as a series of esses.
Turn 6 - A tight left hand corner that takes the cars around the back of some of the venues.
Turns 7-8 Following the access roads through the Olympic venue takes us through a fast left and a medium-fast right.
Turn 9 Past the water sport venues and a tight left out of the Olympic Park and onto the adjacent road. This provides an overtaking spot and also echos the former circuit which also had a tight left hand corner leading onto the long back straight. The back straight here is 1.5km long and will give the cars the chance to stretch their legs.
Turn 10 After right and left hand curves at the end of the straight the cars will turn 90 degrees left to re-enter the Olympic Park. After such a long straight this will be a great opportunity to outbreak your rivals.
Turn 11 A fast left. The large expanse of tarmac on the outside of the corner till be the pit and paddock.
Turns 12 and 13 Back to navigating around the site's Olympic venues. Two 90 degree lefts with a right hand kink immediately following turn 12.
Turn 14 Plenty of space to do what I want here. I decided to open the corner up with as open a right hander as possible to maximise speed onto the start/finish straight and create an overtaking opportunity into turn 1.
This is really close to what I would have proposed, but I would rather keep a little more closer to the original circuit length.
Specially east side of the former circuit:
Before the Olympic Games, the track was already butchered for the Pan-American Games of 2007.
About the west side of your proposal, there is an area that was never part of the circuit land: it's the former place of Vila do Autodromo, a small slum that was evacuated (under the use of police brutality, tear gas and bulldozers) for the Olympic Games:
But please, do not understand this post as an attack or criticism: I would love too see Jacarepagua back in some form (I live really close to it) and a FE race is by far the better fit for it.
The original 2006 plan was for the track to outlive the Olympic Games, in similar manner that what was done in Soichi. But now the Olympic Park is underused as the host of the Rock'n'Rio and sazonal sport events.
I also have an idea for another place in Rio for a FE track, maybe I post it latter.
Reigniting this thread a little bit with my own entry now, hereby presenting you to...
The Madrid ePrix at the Circuito Villaverde-Barreiros
I scoped this out before the F1 news about the exhibition centre semi-street circuit thingy was announced, and had also kind of forgotten it was ever in the pipeline. Even so, I have not gone for an exhibition centre in an industrial park near Barajas Airport. What I have chosen a different kind of industrial setting altogether on the other side of the city… the Stellantis factory site at Villaverde!
Part of my thinking was that Stellantis has some strong heritage in FE, with the DS brand being one of the first registered manufacturers in Season 2 and then taking two team and drivers titles via DS Techeetah in 2019 and 2020. The group has been additionally represented by the Maserati brand since 2023, sharing hardware with the DS Penske team. More accurately though, my main motivation was a rough scan around aerial imagery from the Madrid area revealing an irresistibly intriguing feature at the factory site now seemingly used as completed production-line vehicle parking… an old, banked test-oval.
The Villaverde factory has something of an interesting history, starting out as a facility for Barreiros - a Spanish manufacturer of diesel engines founded in 1954, which they then fitted into a range of license built vehicles. An. expansion of the business into passenger cars through a deal with Chrysler in 1963 to build the Dodge Dart in Europe (also the Simca 1000 from 1966) brought with it the high speed test oval which forms the basis of this layout.
Barreiros was eventually bought out entirely by Chrysler in 1969 to become Chrysler Europe, which was in turn sold to the PSA Group in 1978 (who apparently subsequently continued to build Chrysler/Simca models under the Talbot brand). Since then the factory has built a range of Peugeot and Citroën models for PSA and continues to do so after merging into FIAT Chrysler in 2021 to form Stellantis - bringing things back in a somewhat circuitous route.
And talking of circuitous routes - it’s that old banked oval but after the 60’s Chrysler deal which form the setting for this entry. I’ve formed something of a frankesntein hybrid of a roval* with banked turns, an infield section and a bit using public streets (linked by currently non-existent patches of tarmac). It’s got a bit of Berlin Tempelhof, a bit of temporary street track, a bit of industrial complex and a bit of ‘use-that-really-old-and-unsuitable-piece-of-60’s-banked-oval-because-I’m-sure-that-will-be-perfectly-fine’ to it. What’s not to like?!
The first section is the infield section, with two hard braking zones linked by sweeping turns. This leads onto the old oval for the first time, running back parallel with the start line. A quick Daytona-esque bus-top of sorts is there to limit speeds onto the old North banked turn, which is followed by a right-left section out onto a wide street. This follows a sweeping set go turns with a mild uphill/downhill flow, leading towards other hairpin to complete the lap.
So! There we go. I had some fun.
*Last minute pre-posting side-thought - where is/was the world’s oldest ‘roval’? Off the top of my head I’m thinking of the Brooklands Campbell circuit, but I’m guessing it was unlikely to have been referred to as one?
*Last minute pre-posting side-thought - where is/was the world’s oldest ‘roval’? Off the top of my head I’m thinking of the Brooklands Campbell circuit, but I’m guessing it was unlikely to have been referred to as one?
Must be Monza or Montlhery or similar. The Campbell circuit was built in 1937.
*Last minute pre-posting side-thought - where is/was the world’s oldest ‘roval’? Off the top of my head I’m thinking of the Brooklands Campbell circuit, but I’m guessing it was unlikely to have been referred to as one?
Original Brooklands was 1907, Indianapolis 1909, although Brooklands was more kidney shaped.
If talking un-banked ovals, then Roman chariot races....
Your question sent me down a rabbit-hole, so you might want to check out a vid I posted in 'Random Youtube Finds'
Must be Monza or Montlhery or similar. The Campbell circuit was built in 1937.
Yes that would make more sense. For some reason in the brief amount of time I considered it I was limiting myself to ‘rovals’ where the road section was contained within the confines of the constituent oval - which is weird as my entry’s layout does not do this.
Yes that would make more sense. For some reason in the brief amount of time I considered it I was limiting myself to ‘rovals’ where the road section was contained within the confines of the constituent oval - which is weird as my entry’s layout does not do this.
Which I love by the way. I guess I’d be correct in saying FE has never raced on any banking.
Genuinely would love to see them try out a race on a short oval. Recent rumours have said Phoenix might be interested in hosting an ePrix, but I imagine of that came to pass it would be a 1990-esque affair rather than a visit to the now completely roadcourse-less Raceway.
Interesting piece of racing history in the hunt for historical rovals is the short-lived infrastructure built for the 1915 San Francisco Panama-Pacific Exhibition, where the 1915 Vanderbilt Cup and American Grand Prize races took place.
In a centennial piece looking back on the event, this from the Los Angeles Times says that "work crews carted in sand, mud and silt to cover marsh and dunes for a dry, even surface for racing. The area included an 18,000-seat grandstand, an oval for car- and horse-racing and a running track and athletic field inside the oval." The aforementioned big-ticket car racing events were held on a hybrid of the kidney-shaped oval and a temporary road/street course through the exhibition grounds (see the spoiler below):
Spoiler
A big, big caveat here is that I yet to see evidence that the oval-only part of the course was actually used for any car racing (it seemingly was for horses - but then the Milwaukee Mile hosted both horse and car events for quite a while until it was paved). The window of operation wasn't particuarly long either, with the oval site cleared away after 1915 to became a military airfield.
After the tropical delights of last year's trip to the Seychelles, 2024's entry brings us back home (about five miles from where I'm typing this, in fact) and the distinctly non-tropical Northumberland countryside.
Embracing this year's "permanent circuit" rule produces a track centred on the former RAF Ouston, one of the many airfield circuits that sprang up in the years after the Second World War, but which hosted its last car meeting six decades ago. Ouston, about twelve miles west of Newcastle upon Tyne, was an operational airfield from 1941 until 1974 (including throughout its motorsporting years), before being handed to the Army and becoming the Albemarle Barracks. Today it is the home of the 3rd Regiment of the Royal Horse Artillery (which, entirely coincidentally, has a personal resonance for me; my maternal grandfather, after whom I am named, was killed in the Netherlands during the Second World War whilst serving with the 4th Regiment of the RHA).
Wikipedia suggests racing at Ouston began in the early sixties, as does Larry Carter's excellent little book North East Motorsport: A Century of Memories (which is probably where Wikipedia got it from), but racingsportscars.com has details of a meeting on August 8th 1959, which includes a circuit map of the original layout:
The 1963 Ouston meeting included a young Jackie Stewart winning in a Jaguar E-Type, whilst Jim Clark attended the 1964 event and presented the prizes. By then, the circuit at Croft, near Darlington, was operational and it soon became the North East's premier venue (as it remains today, of course, with its BTCC round). Car racing at Ouston seems to have petered out by the late sixties, though motorcycle events continued to the turn of the seventies and then, after a break of a decade, were briefly revived at the beginning of the 1980s. But for many decades now, the runways and perimeter roads have echoed only to the rumble of military vehicles, and the squad cars of the Northumbria Constabulary, who train there.
(Of course, racing wheeled vehicles goes a lot further back than that in these parts; this is Hadrian's Wall country and just south of Ouston are the B6318 Military Road, built by General George Wade during the Jacobite Rebellion, and the Roman Stanegate which serviced the Wall. 2022 was the 1,900th anniversary of the Wall's construction and during the festivities archaeologists found conclusive proof that legendary IndyCar deity Toh'nee Kah'Nan once set a Chariot Land Speed Record along that very stretch between Milecastles 16 and 17. Seriously).
Which all brings us to...
The Ouston ePrix Circuit measures 2.89 miles (4.65 km)...which is against my usual preference for a longer lap length, and nor does it have my other usual practice of significant gradient, though there is about a 20 metre difference between the north and west sections of the circuit and the lowest point in the south eastern corner. I did consider taking the track out of the airfield to the Military Road, through the village of Harlow Hill and past the Whittle Dene Reservoirs to the west, but even my generally cavalier approach to the rules couldn't quite make that work. Hey ho.
The lap starts (the black line and arrow on the map) on what in 1959 was the second straight between Crossways and Hillhead, but the modern circuit runs in the opposite direction and instead of turning left to the old start line, it now heads right towards the barracks before a sharp left (which will be named Barracks) onto the eastern perimeter road. A sinuous run leads up to a ninety degree right at Albemarle and then the hairpin left of Runway which leads the field onto the wide expanse of what was, for the 1959 spectators, Car Park A.
From here, the new circuit rejoins the old at Cheeseburn, now a quick right rather than the tight left it used to be, and runs through the Esses and down the western perimeter road to the left at Hillhead that leads back onto the start straight. By continuing on the perimeter road at Hillhead and then turning left onto the main runway, the drivers will enter the pit lane (Car Park D in 1959, and marked in red on the map), and will rejoin the circuit at Crossways. The wide runways at this part of the track allow for competitors entering and exiting the pits to easily blend in and out of the racing line.
Being an active Ministry of Defence facility, Ouston is not, of course, a friend to Google Street View when it comes to getting pictures of the track, but instead here is a look back to how it used to be. At the 21st June 1964 meeting, well-known British club racer Chris Meek in his Ginetta (number 83) chases the under 1150cc class Marcos GT of T.D. Simpson (number 41) and the Turner-Ford GT of M.A. Peel (number 79) during the GT race, which began at 18:00 - a good four hours before sunset up here at that time of year, Meek led the first four of the twelve laps but had to give best to Malcolm Wayne's Lotus Elan.
I just save a snapshot from Google Earth and hack it about (technical term) with Microsoft Paint.
My entries do often look a bit less professional than others but that has little to do with the software and everything to do with the fact that I can't draw.
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