Grand Prix Rejects

Simtek wrote:

dr-baker wrote:The British Grand Prix of Cyprus. Hope I did not take too much of a liberty with my road construction...

More than 50% of the lap uses existing roads, so it is acceptable in that regard. However, the right hander between the 3 and 4 mile markers passes through several buildings, and the last corner seems to pass through the front of another structure, although I'm willing to make an exception for the last corner because it's barely noticeable.

Oooopppps. That'll teach me not to refer to the satellite version. I'll either make alterations in the morning, or look at on in Northern Ireland...

Why is Bernie giving us an Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku, when the one we really want is Nakhchivan???

Circuit is clockwise from the 'start' marker, if that wasn't obvious

dr-baker wrote:

Simtek wrote:

dr-baker wrote:The British Grand Prix of Cyprus. Hope I did not take too much of a liberty with my road construction...

More than 50% of the lap uses existing roads, so it is acceptable in that regard. However, the right hander between the 3 and 4 mile markers passes through several buildings, and the last corner seems to pass through the front of another structure, although I'm willing to make an exception for the last corner because it's barely noticeable.

Oooopppps. That'll teach me not to refer to the satellite version. I'll either make alterations in the morning, or look at on in Northern Ireland...

I was able to make a track in Northern Ireland (near Larne) that I am happier with. Happier than my modified UK GP of Cyprus...

Took the easy way out by opting for Kaliningrad, and I tried to work the famous Bridges of Konigsberg into the track: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=6569718

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=6570431

This is the real Gran Premio di San Marino. Inspired heavily by Macau, the track utilises both the wide streets around the base of the rock on which the Città di San Marino sits, as well as venturing into the tall, winding streets of the city itself - a hybrid of two tracks, much the same as the aforementioned track.

The Lesotho GP http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=6570938

This track would easily be much better for older Grand Prix cars than today's cars, but it's the best I can do in that area.

http://www.mappedometer.com/?maproute=406344

TheFlyingCaterham wrote:This track would easily be much better for older Grand Prix cars than today's cars, but it's the best I can do in that area.

http://www.mappedometer.com/?maproute=406344

I'm sorry to say this, as it looks like a good track (as do almost all of the entries so far), but I can't allow this entry because it doesn't actually appear to be within any enclave/exclave, though there are plenty of nearby examples. An exclave has to be cut off from the main part of a country's landmass, like the many exclaves that are near this circuit. On top of this it must remain within the borders of one enclave/exclave, this passes through international borders four times.

Picking a winner's going to be a little difficult:

AdrianBelmonte_: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=6566934
tommykl: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com?r=6567052
Bleu: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=6567095
UgncreativeUsergname: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=6567121
peteroli34: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=6567122
Benetton: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=6567158
Samster: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=6567172
More_Blue_Flags: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=6567306
tBone: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=6568486
Warren Hughes: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=6568889
dr-baker: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=6569167
watka: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=6569718
Biscione: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=6570431
mrfakeboullier: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=6570938

Expect to see the results by 19:00 GMT tomorrow (or thereabouts).

And here are the results:

14. More_Blue_Flags

Most of it is just 90-degree corners and long straights. I'm sorry to say that this track just doesn't inspire too much.

13. AdrianBelmonte_

This one is very tight and twisty, maybe even too tight and twisty. Apart from the main straight it's just corner after corner with few overtaking opportunities.

12. Warren Hughes

It looks better than Baku and even at that Baku isn't the worst track in the world. But again it's mostly 90-degree corners and long straights. There are some good corners besides though. I've definitely seen worse street circuits in real life.

11. tommykl

I just knew someone was going to do Baarle-Hertog! A nice, relatively quick circuit when taking its length into account.

10. mrfakeboullier

I did warn against doing really long circuits! But I suppose if I really wanted to stop people from designing them I would have set a maximum length. Anyway, this isn't a bad circuit. It's really fast (mostly). My only real gripe would be that the section between 3 and 4 km has too many slow corners that break the flow. Other than that, good effort!

9. Bleu

Using the same location as AdrianBelmonte_ (and in places, the same layout), this one has a bit of old Hockenheim going on, only the technical section takes up much more of the track's layout. This would make a real nightmare for setups.

8. peteroli34

Lots of 90-degree corners, but it's not totally without variety. The long right-hand kink between 4 and 5 km reminds me a little of Long Beach. The entry to the hairpin about halfway between 2 and 3 km also looks very tricky. Good job.

7. Samster

The right-hander between 2 and 3 km looks like a challenge to take flat-out, so the chicane before it seems to be well-placed for this purpose. Very good track overall.

6. watka

I like the long-radius first corner and, well, the track in general looks pretty good!

5. dr-baker

This is one fast circuit. You didn't go full AVUS this time, and with good results.

4. Benetton

This looks like it could be quite a picturesque track, and it does indeed appear to offer a setup dilemma. Good job.

3. tBone

A very nice, fast circuit. Lots of large radius bends that remind me a bit of the old Fuji.

2. UgncreativeUsergname

The fastest part of the track has tight corners to create overtaking opportunities, while the slower part is made up mostly of great sweeping bends. Mostly, it has a great flow to it. Nice job.

1. Biscione

I can see where you're coming from with the Macau comparisons. Lots of elevation changes and a combination of fast and slow sections have made for one epic street circuit. Well done!

UgncreativeUsergname (as a runner-up) should give the next topic as Biscione hasn't appeared in this topic for almost a week.

Bleu wrote:UgncreativeUsergname (as a runner-up) should give the next topic as Biscione hasn't appeared in this topic for almost a week.

ALMOST a week. I'm not willing to break my own rule. If it doesn't happen by tomorrow, I'll put up a challenge. I do actually have something in mind as well.

Well, now it's been a week, so here's the challenge.

*Make a rally stage 20–40 km long.
*Anything at least a car wide marked on your chosen map can be used, even if it apparently goes through buildings, and unmarked paths can be used if there's clear satellite evidence of a path (again, that's a path and wide enough for a car, not an open field or pavement).
*The less suitable the roads would be for F1 cars, the better.

I just searched for the Mana Pass, the world's highest road, and tried to find a rally stage out of that. Just a small amount of elevation change...

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=6580672

Acceptable stage with unexpected finish line

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=6580810

Stage based on some of the country roads between a pair of rather quaint market towns.

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com?r=6581325

Like Rob, I've used every kilometre available to me to create a rally stage around the area I was on holiday about 6 weeks ago. If you fancy a little StreetView safari, I'd recommend the area around km 21-25.

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=6581410

I decided to do a new one, so I edited the first one off.

Here's the second one, same area though:

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=6581468

Main challenges between 2 and 5 and 12 and 14 kms.

I was here last year and thought "wow, these roads feel like you're in a rally!" So I created something here, going over some narrow, twisty gravel paths, as well as wider tarmac. A true challenge with a lot of variation.

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=6580590

Andorra has some pretty awesome roads. I didn't know where to start! But here's what I went with: http://www.mappedometer.com/?maproute=411298

Continuing my tradition of making circuits in my home city where I can, I have decided to go for a route around the Tidbinbilla area. The rally stage is mainly gravel, but includes some tarmac areas as well. It also includes a lot of elevation changes. Also includes Mineshaft.

http://www.mappedometer.com/?maproute=411583

This is a brilliant idea for a challenge. If I ever had won again, this was one of the challenges I had in mind for setting.

This is what I had originally wanted to do. I definitely wanted to include the double hairpin between the 5th and 6th km points, the Ramsey hairpin at around the 20 km point, to run through Laxey and follow the coastal road back towards Douglas and finish at the Mountain Course's start/finish point, alongside the Manx TT pits. The double hairpin is only just be driven round by a vintage bus - it has to pull over to one side and wait for traffic on both sides to stop before it can navigate either of them. From the 5th to 10th km is very much like a hill-climb, with a high speed section before descending again to sea-level in Ramsey. This also crosses the electric tram lines at least half-a-dozen times, as well as having some very unsafe 'run-off' areas over the mountain and along the coast - definitely not safe for F1! But sadly it is well over the maximum distance and I would only wish to cut the first 4500 to 5000 m - not enough to bring it down to the maximum 40 km.

So I did this instead. High-speed, but 16 to 19 km is quite technical with blind bends and crests. Quite a challenge in normal traffic, where keeping momentum going makes the junctions easier...

Could have come up with something better...high cliffs still are a quite tough challenge tho.

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=6582521

The Maliana to Lolotoi stage of the Dili to Suai rally has its moments - especially in the wet season.
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=6582980

Well, accounting for getting distracted by the Bahrain GP (that's not an actual rule, I'm just trying to come up with an excuse for forgetting), it's been two days.

watka: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=6580672
AdrianBelmonte_: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=6580810
roblomas52: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com?r=6581325
Warren Hughes: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=6581410
Bleu: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=6581468
tBone: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=6580590
Simtek: http://www.mappedometer.com/?maproute=411298
TheFlyingCaterham: http://www.mappedometer.com/?maproute=411583
dr-baker: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=6582069
novitopoli: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=6582521
More_Blue_Flags: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=6582980
peteroli34: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=6583299

Judging is underway.

12. dr-baker
Ah, yes, the 6-kilometre straights and square corners of the WRC... seriously, have you watched a rally?

11. roblomas52
Love that distance. The corners that are there look good individually, but seem a bit similar to each other. The fundamental flaw, though, is that the corners are few and far between, especially for rallying. You can't have so many multiple-km straights in a rally stage.

10. Warren Hughes
Narrow, pointy corners are all good, but when that's the entire track it can't not be repetitive. And the stupidly long straights aren't appropriate for a rally. Also, what is with the part at 14 km?

9. Simtek
Hairpin... line compromise sequence... hairpin... line compromise sequence... I can't tell if it's zen or boring. I think the latter, though.

8. AdrianBelmonte_
This road looks like it was made for racing. An extreme example being 5-10 km. The route has a really nice set of corners, flow, variety, whatever you could ask for, but it looks far more suited to open-wheelers than rally cars.

7. Bleu
Nice distance. Lots of angular individual corners and complexes, but they're all a little different, and at least the ridiculous straights here are honest about it without a kink every metre. Looks pretty fun.

6. novitopoli
The first 15 km is forgettable. Square corners and not quite square corners. No flow. After that it's the opposite, a long sequence of mistake-inducing hairpins and chicanes, but each one its own unique challenge. Looks quite fun. Chop off the first 13 km and you've got something really good.

5. tBone
The first three kilometres, with the start that kind of feels like you're exiting a stadium and the hairpins with flowing not-quite-90-degree corners, is beautiful. The rest of the first half of the track, exhausting every subtly different type of corner and complex as long as they have no radius, looks like a real challenge. Then as you cross the Lenne, the second half looks like a desperate attempt to live up to first by someone who's under contract to make a sequel.

4. More_Blue_Flags
That's a lot of hairpins in the first 15 km... looks fun, though. Like sometimes you get the mountain driving fever and that looks great for that. Then the next 15 is corners which are more open, and usually linked together, but they're almost the same and it gets repetitive. I mean, so does the first part, but you'd want to drive that. Then the last part looks great again, like a good version of the previous section; you want to be cautious, but you know you can't be or everyone will beat you, so you end up throwing your car off the ridge and down the mountain.

3. peteroli34
Nearly every corner type imaginable. The beginning is laziness level expert, though. Honestly not much you can briefly say since anything short would be an oversimplification, which is what makes the track so great.

2. TheFlyingCaterham
That road really narrow. And it's something not tarmac, hard to tell exactly what from satellite imagery. Best fulfilment of the "use bad roads" rule. But yep, it's another track with various types of pointed corners.

1. watka
Mountain hairpins, with some slow complexes and quick angular corners in there too. The really testing types of corners. No bad parts and nothing repeated, either. It has the same issue with reviewing it as peteroli34's.

Thanks UU! Really enjoyed doing a rally stage!

This is possibly not the greatest idea, but here is what I propose for the next round. Many tracks, not least Silverstone, came about after aerodromes were disused. Then why can't the same by done to a spaceport? Your task is to design a race track around Cape Canaveral!

The rules are that the track must be based (at least in part) within the confines of the Kennedy Space Center grounds and/or Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (I will inform accordingly if I believe a track is ineligible). Maximum track length is 12km (one word of warning, bear in mind the length of straights). The straight line tool may be used as much as you like; that is to say that the track may be made on existing roads, new roads or a combination.

To infinity and beyond! Or whatever it is they say at NASA.

Here it is! http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=6588800

I think there's some great potential in some of the roads in this location, quite a few sweeping bends. Here's mine, for what it's worth, it's a little longer than I perhaps would have liked: http://www.mappedometer.com/?maproute=414768

EDIT: The track should run in the opposite direction than what is shown on the map, by the way

I try this one: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=6589304

I tried to make something reasonable, but I just can't get away from ridiculous home straights....
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=6589542

I made one around the visitor complex: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=6589718

This should be a somewhat quick track around a couple of launch towers,
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=6592485

http://www.mappedometer.com/?maproute=416374

Here's my attempt at this challenge. I've tried to include part of the runway, as well as some of the paved sections in the Space Center as well. I don't feel like it was the best attempt, though, but I feel like it'll have to do.

The "I Dream of Genii" Cape Kennedy GP

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=6592957

Note that it should be run in the opposite direction to the order the distance markers are in. I think it flows better that way. Especially with the kink in the braking zone of one of the hairpins between markers 3&4 instead of being an acceleration zone. Bit like the hairpin a few turns after the Singapore Sling.

Can I get bonus point for my track name? Pleeeeeease?

Here's my entry: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=6593470

Almost certainly the shortest entry of anybody's, no additional tarmac needs laying or buildings knocked down although some sections might need to be widened a little, and a fence dismantled around the hairpin at turn 10. Not designed as an F1 track because of its length and a couple of tight corners.

OK! It's been a week so hopefully I will get round to posting a result on Tuesday evening!