29 replies to this topic

[DNQ]

I have posted this on a few other forums, but the replies seem a little thin, so I'll try here and see what response I get

This is a bit different to the usual 'what is your favourite track' thread. This time, you must choose your favourite racing circuits, but from these categories:

Road Circuits (eg Hockenheim, Suzuka, Magny Cours)
Street Circuit (eg Surfers, Monaco, Macau)
Open Road Circuit (eg Lobethal, Spa, Bathurst)
Oval (Indianapolis, Michigan, Fontana)
Airfield Circuits (eg Cleveland, Snetterton, St. Petersburg)
Roval (eg Dayonta, Indy F1)
Parkland Circuits (eg Albert Park, Montreal)
Rally (eg Safari, Monte Carlo)
Speedway (eg Williams Grove Speedway, Parramatta)
Hill Climb (eg Mt Cotton, Pikes Peak)

These are my answers:

Road Circuits Österreichring, old Hockenheim, Lakeside, Brands Hatch
Street Circuit Adelaide, Monaco
Open Road Circuit Bathurst, Spa, Solitude, Piccolo Modonie (Targa Florio)
Oval Michigan, Fontana
Airfield Circuits Silverstone
Roval Monza ;)
Parkland Circuits Montreal, Montjuich Park
Rally Swedan, Monte Carlo
Dirt Speedway Archerfield
Hill Climb Pikes Peak

You might also like to post your least favourite for each category as well.

[Falcadore]

Road Circuits Nordschliefe - you kinda have to don't ya? Phillip Island. Morgan Park is pretty cool from a parochial perspective. Queensland Raceway, because they let me commentate there. Have to like that
Street Circuit Adelaide and Macau. And thats F1/ALMS Adelaide, not V8Supercar Adelaide. Honorable mention to the current Surfers Paradise CART as its my local.
Open Road Circuit There away in the mists lies a hill, masquerading as a Mountain, it will eat cars and drivers alike, a spirit commands this small hill and every October the spirit wakens to capture the unwary and the underprepared. Every time a race starts and disappears up the hill it's going to be special. Ahhh Mount Panoram, you are unique. And mispelt. Mount Panorama. But I suppose Spa (both versions) and Le Mans demand mentioning. Actually, more than any other this is where the legends are, Reims, Rouen, Brno, and there's a circuit Ray Bell likes a lot ;)
Oval The One, The Only, Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Airfield Circuits Leyburn. Dunno why but I've walked along some of it and done a practice start on it. Or whats left of it. Maybe thats why. More objectively: Sebring.
Roval Daytona. Are there any others still in serious use? And don't be too pedantic answering that one.
Parkland Circuits Albert Park. Hey, I'm Australian, what can I say. Montreal's not to bad.
Rally The Mineshaft, even though it ain't what it was. Is this Stage or whole Rally? If whole rally then leave Rally of Canberra for Rally Australia.
Dirt Speedway Kwinana and PCR.
Hill Climb Queenstown Gold Rush. Then Pikes Peak, but only when handbuilt Peugeot 405 turbos driven by Ari Vatanen with badly dubbed gearchange soundtracks are on it. Newcastle too, gorgeous.


Least favourite?

Road Circuits Queensland Raceway, because of what it could have been. Hungaroring.
Street Circuit Canberra. Ewww. Looks great in everything other than the circuit. But then again you can't race on the scenery. Although Paul Morris tries.
Open Road Circuit Hrmm. Not that many about that aren't good. Not many around these days. I'll get back to you.
Oval Adelaide International. Never not looked like a dump as an oval. I remember when they took care of you AIR
Airfield Circuits Strathpine. Just seems daft, but it was all they had. I dunno. Can I have a beer?
Roval Any presently in disuse in the US. Calder Park for the same reason.
Parkland Circuits Is Canberra a parklands circuit? Can I nominate it twice?
Rally Not knowledgeable on 'bad' rallies.
Dirt Speedway Archerfield.
Hill Climb Not gonna try this one.;)

[BRG]

OK, here's my 0.02 euros worth:

Road Circuits : Elkhart Lake
Street Circuit : Pau
Open Road Circuit : Spa
Oval : Pocono
Airfield Circuits : Croft
Roval : None, they are all abortions
Parkland Circuits : Phoenix Park
Rally : best stage = Col de Turini : best rally terrain overall = New Zealand
Speedway : pass - insufficient data!
Hill Climb : Pikes Peak

Least favourite? Nah, I'm feeling positive today, so I'll pass...

[Disco Stu]

I think you mean Infield Course instead of Roval. A roval would be the CART circuit in Rio from a few years ago. All left turns, but all the turns were different so it drove somewhat like a road course. A track like the Indy F1 circuit or the Daytona 24 Hour course where you use part of the oval and track set up through the infield would be an infield road course. Falcadore, there are still quite a few of these in use in the U.S., but it's usually club races or low level pro races held on them.

[Rob G]

My favorites:

Road Circuits Road America
Street Circuit Monaco
Open Road Circuit Bathurst, Spa
Oval Darlington, Daytona
Airfield Circuits Cleveland's Burke Lakefront
Roval not a big fan of these, but I'll say Daytona, plus the Loudon New Hampshire one is pretty interesting
Parkland Circuits Montreal, Montjuich Park
Rally Monte Carlo
Dirt Speedway Eldora
Hill Climb Pikes Peak, but I'm not familiar enough with any of the others

Least favorites:

Road Circuits Of the major ones, Hungaroring
Street Circuit Houston, Phoenix
Oval Chicago Motor Speedway
Roval so many to choose from...
Parkland Circuits Monterrey

[Allen Brown]

My 100,000 Turkish lira's worth as well.

Road Circuits Watkins Glen
Street Circuit Birmingham
Open Road Circuit Spa - or should Watkins Glen be here?
Oval Brooklands
Airfield Circuits Croft (thanks to BRG for the nudge)
Roval Brooklands
Parkland Circuits The original Donington Park
Rally Monte Carlo
Dirt Speedway Cradley Heathens' bike track
Hill Climb Shelsley Walsh

Allen

[Rob Semmeling]

Here's my list, I have omitted the catogories I simply dislike (ovals, and even worse: airfield circuits), and those I don't really know much about.

Road Circuits: Nürburgring, Clermont-Ferrand
Street Circuit: Mont Juich
Open Road Circuit: Rouen, Spa
Parkland Circuits: Albert Park
Rally: Corsica

ps. To make it easier on myself, I didn't make a distiction between different "versions" of one track (e.g. old and new Spa or Nürburgring).

[Ray Bell]

Both Warwick Farm and Phillip Island were or are better than Lakeside, Mark, though some parts of Lakeside exceed anything that exists today anywhere else.

And you guessed correctly... I would include...

http://www.atlasf1.c...&threadid=14846

...in my list of open road circuits.

Brno looks great... Spa was magnificent... Pescara was tremendous... Rouen had them rollicking... Dundrod might well be enthralling... even the short Madonie was captivating...

One could spend a whole day thinking of the open road circuits and never get to the others... Savannah, what was that like?

Leyburn was a crock, when it comes to airfields, Lowood wasn't bad, Mt Druitt likewise, Caversham had some good points, Point Cook and Schofields were worth the effort.

Parramatta Park might just exceed the Albert Park circuit in my mind, though when I dust off that 16mm film of Kevin Neal in the A6SSG or whatever it was, drifting through that long sweeper at the back of the lake, I might yet again change my mind.

Hawkesbury Hillclimb gets a vote from me, as does Poatina, but I have to look at Waterfall yet, and some of those others in that area like Robertson, and don't forget that both ends of the upstairs part of Bathurst have been used as hillclimbs... from Mountain Straight to Reid Park in the right direction, from Conrod Straight to the Skyline in the opposite direction. Noosa is quite good too... and Silverdale was good for one of its type.

For streets, how could one go past Monaco... pre pool?

Anyone ever compete in a rally that used 'The Driftway' near Richmond, NSW? That's the name of the road, and very aptly named!

Penrith's mile must have been the dirt speedway of note...

Very Australian flavour in much of this, but that's where my life has mostly been.

[Falcadore]

Not sure what you mean Ray, never mentioned Lakeside, much as I miss it. I pretty much agree with your sentiments. My list was rather parochial and I said why.

[Ray Bell]

Indeed, it was DNQ who mentioned Lakeside... my apologies.

By the way, what's the Queenstown hillclimb... I've never heard of it? And of course, Pikes Peak is a must for any list...

[D-Type]

Favourites

Road Circuits - Nordschlief
Street Circuit - Porto (tramlines and cobbles)
Open Road Circuit - Short Madonie (definitely open road, not street)
Oval - Daytona (for racing entertainment you can't beat NASCAR)
Airfield Circuits - Sebring (as Silverstone has been developed so much it's no longer an airfield circuit)
Roval - Brooklands Mountain Circuit (the grandaddy of them all)
Parkland Circuits - Crystal Palace (The first track I went to on my own, aged 11)
Rally - Safari (But it must be an early one when it included Tanzania)
Speedway - Crystal Palace ('cos it gave Jenks to the sport)
Hill Climb - Kinkel Braes, St Andrews (As nobody will have heard of it), to be serious it's got to be Pikes Peak

Least Favourites

Road Circuits - Zolder
Street Circuit - Dallas
Open Road Circuit - Love em all
Oval - insufficient knowledge
Airfield Circuits - Zeltweg
Roval - insufficient knowledge
Park Circuits - Las Vegas (I know it's a car park rather than a park park but I had to get Vegas in somewhere)
Rally - insufficient knowledge
Speedway - insufficient knowledge
Hill Climb - insufficient knowledge

[rdrcr]

Road Circuits: Nordschliefe, Le Mans, Watkins Glen, Spa, (original circuits), Elkhart Lake, St Jovite, Riverside, Laguna Seca, Sears Point. (I'm biased on several, as I've raced on them.)
Street Circuit: Monaco, Long Beach (GP), Macau, Adelaide
Open Road Circuit: Targa Florio, Isle of Man, Mille Miglia, Watkins Glen
Oval: Indianapolis, Michigan, Fontana
Airfield Circuits: Sebring, Silverstone
Roval: Rio, Nasareth, My definition of these are, a true oval that have to be downshifted through a corner or two.
Parkland Circuits: Montreal
Rally: Cyprus, Monte Carlo, Corsica, New Zealand, the Paris/Dakar
Dirt Speedway: Fairgrounds at Columbus, Ohio. Eldora Speedway (Rob, you know this place too?)
Hill Climb: Pikes Peak

[MPea3]

Road Circuits: Nurburgring (history all over the place in a track completely unsuited to modern race cars, but i still lust for it)
Street Circuit: Monaco (see Nurburgring)
Open Road Circuit: Spa (see Nurgurgring)
Oval: Indianapolis (i feel compelled to mention that indy is not really an oval, not only from it's shape, but the fact that each of the 4 corners has a somewhat different feel to them, or at least they did when i drove 2 wonderful laps on it in 1978, even if in a lowly datsun 510) Darlington (this is a VERY difficult racetrack.
Airfield Circuits: Silverstone (what an amazing place before it got changed around so much)
Roval:
Parkland Circuits: Monza (see Nurburgring)
Rally: Sweden
Dirt Speedway: Williams Grove, Eldora (total opposites in nature, the Grove being 2 long straights and Eldora being 2 long corners)
Hill Climb: Chinmey Rock, NC (purely personal reasons.... i love that place)

[rdrcr]

MPea,





Gee, I dunno... looks oval to me.

;)

As per Merriam-Webster's Dictionary

Main Entry: 1oval
Pronunciation: 'O-v&l
Function: noun
Date: 1570
1 : an oval figure or object
2 : a racetrack in the shape of an oval or a rectangle having rounded corners

Hmmm, No qualifications for different or like size corners - though I'll concede that all four corners are different.

from your pedantic friend

[DNQ]

Originally posted by Falcadore
Least favourite?
Airfield Circuits Strathpine. Just seems daft, but it was all they had. I dunno. Can I have a beer?

Awwww come on, how can you dislike Strathpine. For the sheer comedy value of a motor racing track at strathpine its worth a laugh. And it's only 4km from my house

Originally posted by Ray Bell
Both Warwick Farm and Phillip Island were or are better than Lakeside, Mark, though some parts of Lakeside exceed anything that exists today anywhere else.

Certainly, but it's a favourite tracks thread, not a best tracks thread ;)

Anyway, here are my least favourites:

Road Circuits Bahrain GP Circuit (not even built yet...)
Street Circuit Denver, Canberra
Open Road Circuit Has there ever been a bad one?
Oval None to be honest, with the exception of a few notable good circuit, they are all on the same level
Airfield Circuits The current Silverstone, as it could be SO much better
Roval Most of them to be honest
Parkland Circuits Unsure
Rally Unsure
Dirt Speedway Unsure
Hill Climb Unsure

[Falcadore]

Ray,

http://www.queenstowngoldrush.co.nz/

Pikes Peak of the Southern Hemisphere. Harder, longer rougher than Pikes Peak, with a lot of the same competitors.

[Ray Bell]

Do they have racing cars there?

Or only rally cars and trucks?

[Falcadore]

This isn't a bitumen hillclimb. Hillclimb specials certainly.

As I said, a lot of the same competitiors as Pikes Peak.

[Ray Bell]

Glad to hear it... any pics of the genuine hillclimb cars then?

I know there's a very nice bitumen hillclimb in that area too... Historics ran there a couple of years ago.

[Falcadore]

A bitumen hillclimb car wouldn't be much good. Too rough.

[Ray Bell]

Most hillclimbs are bitumen...

The ones you know that are include:

Bathurst
Mt Cotton
Noosa

Am I missing something?

[Falcadore]

I think so. Queenstown (thats Queenstown New Zealand in case your associating it with the famous Targa Tasmania stage), is a Pikes Peak style hillclimb. Dirt hillclimb.

[Ray Bell]

Oh, I certainly didn't miss that...

It's just that you seem to have said that bitumen is too rough. I then pointed out that most of the hillclimbs you've seen are bitumen.

Are they 'too rough'?

[Falcadore]

errrr Ray, I said a 'bitumen hillclimb CAR' wouldn't be much good on Queenstown. The Queenstown course being too rough.

[Ray Bell]

When I asked if you had pics of a genuine hillclimb car, I still meant for the Queenstown (NZ) event. True, I did miss the word 'car' in there, but I still wouldn't mind seeing pics of the cars that operate on dirt. Open wheelers, that is.

And I didn't know the Targa went to Queenstown either... the thought that you might be discussing Tasmania hasn't crossed my mind.

I did, however, mention Poatina...

[Falcadore]

Originally posted by Ray Bell
When I asked if you had pics of a genuine hillclimb car, I still meant for the Queenstown (NZ) event. True, I did miss the word 'car' in there, but I still wouldn't mind seeing pics of the cars that operate on dirt. Open wheelers, that is.

And I didn't know the Targa went to Queenstown either... the thought that you might be discussing Tasmania hasn't crossed my mind.

I did, however, mention Poatina...

Queenstown, Tasmania is the other bitumen hillclimb I've been to. USed each year as a part of the Targa Tasmania, it's the climb from the port of Queenstown up over the surrounding hills, de-vegetated hills (de-vegetated by noxious mining fumes. Brilliant road, I drive it everytime I'm in Tasmania in what ever vaguely shabby rent-a-car I have at the time. Scariest was in drying conditions in a '86 Pintara wagon. Recognised the limits of my ability very quickly that attempt. I can now imagine what a Porsche pendulum might be like. Driving down it at normal speed is genuinely scary. Sheer drop and no fence worth mentioning. MRA once carried a photo from the Queenstown stage which had a Mini Cooper dangling over the drop and the only thing preventing it from falling was the Alfa Bertone it was perched on.

ahhhhh!

[Ray Bell]

Not mining fumes, Mark, smelting fumes combined with other factors...

They cut down the trees and scrub to burn in the smelters, so there's the first reason the hillside is bare... then when the copper was smelted there was an awful lot of sulphur in the mix that went up in smoke. This was then returned by the 180" a year of rainfall as sulphuric acid... that did the rest.

Not to mention that 180" a year washed away a lot of topsoil.

I don't really think that the road is all that interesting otherwise... but different strokes...

[275 GTB-4]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Ray Bell

Penrith's mile must have been the dirt speedway of note...[/QUOTE

Most likely Castlereagh Short Circuit very near the old dragway. Very popular long flat track with the solo motor cyclists......

[jj2728]

i know other tracks will come to me, but i've only had the first cup of coffee:

OPEN ROAD CIRCUITS: spa, lemans, isle of man tt, reims
ROAD CIRCUITS: old nurburgring, clermont ferrand, watkins glen, monza, paul ricard, old hockenheim
STREET CIRCUIT: montjuich park

on second thought, that's it....no other circuits will come to me

[Frank Verplanken]

Some of my favourites, mostly based on my GPL racing experience
Road Circuits : Nürburgring Nordschleife, Zandvoort, Riverside
Street Circuit : Monaco for I spent so many hours watching my heroes there, Nice for sentimental reasons
Open Road Circuit : Brescia - Roma and back
Oval : Brooklands, Dover
Airfield Circuits : Sebring
Roval : none or Montlhéry if you consider it a roval
Parkland Circuits : Mosport Park (not sure its a Parkland one)
Rally : 1000 Lakes, Australia
Speedway : Langhorne
Hill Climb : Le Mont-Ventoux (sadly only used by junkies on two wheels now)