F1: When Street Circuits Ruled.
Discussion
Hello fellow PH'ers. If the Ferrari win in Malaysia is anything to go by it looks set to be a great season. Having watched Formula 1 since 1992 when I was taken to Silverstone as a young kid and witnessed Nigel Mansell win, I have enjoyed the top level of motorsport, but there was a few years where I switched allegiance to IndyCar and Champ car series. The reason being that alongside the tedious ovals there were some fantastic street circuits such as Long beach in California, Road America and the overseas round at Surfers paradise Australia. These street circuits are a real test for the drivers and the last truly great F1 street circuit was Adelaide because it mixed fast straights with tight corners, unlike Monaco that is a great spectacle but as a track is relatively bland.
Contrast this with F1 in the 1950s where mainly street circuits were used with Reims, Dundrod (now better known for bikes)and the original daunting Spa amongst others. Now I fully understand that safety is paramount in motorsport today and rightly so, but it's clear that tracks such as Singapore add a extra dimension to F1. So as a thought I thought I would do a alternative F1 calendar including defunct tracks to see peoples thoughts and a new British GP:
Round 1 Detroit Street circuit (82-88)
Round 2 Spa (original layout)
Round 3 Rouen
Round 4 Adelaide
Round 5 Brooklands Britsh GP (1915)
Round 6 Reims
Round 7 Long Beach
Round 8 Autodromo Nationazle Monza (1950's with original Banking)
Round 9 Montjuic Park (Barcelona Street circuit (1970)
Round 10Clemond Ferrand (france 1960)
Round 11Marina Bay (Singapore)
Round 12Phoenix (street circuit 1990)
Round 13Dundrod (road circuit 1950)
Contrast this with F1 in the 1950s where mainly street circuits were used with Reims, Dundrod (now better known for bikes)and the original daunting Spa amongst others. Now I fully understand that safety is paramount in motorsport today and rightly so, but it's clear that tracks such as Singapore add a extra dimension to F1. So as a thought I thought I would do a alternative F1 calendar including defunct tracks to see peoples thoughts and a new British GP:
Round 1 Detroit Street circuit (82-88)
Round 2 Spa (original layout)
Round 3 Rouen
Round 4 Adelaide
Round 5 Brooklands Britsh GP (1915)
Round 6 Reims
Round 7 Long Beach
Round 8 Autodromo Nationazle Monza (1950's with original Banking)
Round 9 Montjuic Park (Barcelona Street circuit (1970)
Round 10Clemond Ferrand (france 1960)
Round 11Marina Bay (Singapore)
Round 12Phoenix (street circuit 1990)
Round 13Dundrod (road circuit 1950)
Monaco bland? 
Singapore is s
te as a spectacle IMHO unless you're there as being a night race you lose all of the visual effect. Watching on tv it's just grey track, grey barriers & grey catch fencing.
Plus classics like spa, nürburgring, Le Mans etc aren't street circuits really are they? Road races yes (like the IOM TT) but not street circuits like Monaco or Pau.
FWIW I think most street circuits are all a bit st. All flat straights with some 90 degree bends.
Singapore is s
te as a spectacle IMHO unless you're there as being a night race you lose all of the visual effect. Watching on tv it's just grey track, grey barriers & grey catch fencing.Plus classics like spa, nürburgring, Le Mans etc aren't street circuits really are they? Road races yes (like the IOM TT) but not street circuits like Monaco or Pau.
FWIW I think most street circuits are all a bit s
t. All flat straights with some 90 degree bends.I was not a great fan of the US street circuits (including Dallas and Las Vegas).
European motor racing has its roots in racing on closed down roads. Initially virtually all motor racing was on closed down roads. The first great motor races were long city to city events (Paris-Bordeaux, for example).
By 1906 these had stopped and the first circuit type proper closed road event (the French Grand Prix at Le Mans) was held.
Right through to the end of the 1960s, road and street circuit racing was an integral part of the European motor racing scene. It was only in the 1970s that the dedicated purpose built circuit began to take over as the main venue for serious motor races.
I think there is a charm and a beauty in seeing fast cars thunder through villages, towns and between hedgerows and it is something that is sorely missed by me.
European motor racing has its roots in racing on closed down roads. Initially virtually all motor racing was on closed down roads. The first great motor races were long city to city events (Paris-Bordeaux, for example).
By 1906 these had stopped and the first circuit type proper closed road event (the French Grand Prix at Le Mans) was held.
Right through to the end of the 1960s, road and street circuit racing was an integral part of the European motor racing scene. It was only in the 1970s that the dedicated purpose built circuit began to take over as the main venue for serious motor races.
I think there is a charm and a beauty in seeing fast cars thunder through villages, towns and between hedgerows and it is something that is sorely missed by me.
Edited by Eric Mc on Friday 3rd April 11:21
I do think there's something very special about seeing proper racing cars around public roads - and that includes city-based street tracks and broader road racing through towns, villages and countryside.
A couple of years ago I went to the Gold Coast 600 and the spectacle of a full field of V8 Supercars at full chat among the skyscrapers, and with the beach in the background is heroic. Nothing gives the impression of speed like standing three feet from the cars at the exit of a corner, huge bangs from the exhausts on every gear change as the drivers wrestle 670bhp. It is properly magical and I would venture the equal of watching a V8SC around Bathurst (also a public road, let us not forget).
The very best of the city-based circuits, in my opinion, is/was Montjuic. You can still walk the entire course today and it is infinitely faster, more visually stimulating and topographically challenging than Monaco. At several spots you can see Gaudi's great Basilica on the skyline and the last half of the lap is demonically fast. Imagine howling over the yump past the Olympic stadium, 500bhp of DFV firing you into the sky at 175mph on a road lined with trees. Crazy days.
Then of course there's the Targa, the Mille, Macau...
A couple of years ago I went to the Gold Coast 600 and the spectacle of a full field of V8 Supercars at full chat among the skyscrapers, and with the beach in the background is heroic. Nothing gives the impression of speed like standing three feet from the cars at the exit of a corner, huge bangs from the exhausts on every gear change as the drivers wrestle 670bhp. It is properly magical and I would venture the equal of watching a V8SC around Bathurst (also a public road, let us not forget).
The very best of the city-based circuits, in my opinion, is/was Montjuic. You can still walk the entire course today and it is infinitely faster, more visually stimulating and topographically challenging than Monaco. At several spots you can see Gaudi's great Basilica on the skyline and the last half of the lap is demonically fast. Imagine howling over the yump past the Olympic stadium, 500bhp of DFV firing you into the sky at 175mph on a road lined with trees. Crazy days.
Then of course there's the Targa, the Mille, Macau...
chevronb37 said:
I do think there's something very special about seeing proper racing cars around public roads - and that includes city-based street tracks and broader road racing through towns, villages and countryside.
A couple of years ago I went to the Gold Coast 600 and the spectacle of a full field of V8 Supercars at full chat among the skyscrapers, and with the beach in the background is heroic. Nothing gives the impression of speed like standing three feet from the cars at the exit of a corner, huge bangs from the exhausts on every gear change as the drivers wrestle 670bhp. It is properly magical and I would venture the equal of watching a V8SC around Bathurst (also a public road, let us not forget).
The very best of the city-based circuits, in my opinion, is/was Montjuic. You can still walk the entire course today and it is infinitely faster, more visually stimulating and topographically challenging than Monaco. At several spots you can see Gaudi's great Basilica on the skyline and the last half of the lap is demonically fast. Imagine howling over the yump past the Olympic stadium, 500bhp of DFV firing you into the sky at 175mph on a road lined with trees. Crazy days.
Then of course there's the Targa, the Mille, Macau...
Of course Montjuic was falling apart due to lack of maintenance, to an often dangerous state. It's right in the centre of Barcelona though so would be epic it's true.A couple of years ago I went to the Gold Coast 600 and the spectacle of a full field of V8 Supercars at full chat among the skyscrapers, and with the beach in the background is heroic. Nothing gives the impression of speed like standing three feet from the cars at the exit of a corner, huge bangs from the exhausts on every gear change as the drivers wrestle 670bhp. It is properly magical and I would venture the equal of watching a V8SC around Bathurst (also a public road, let us not forget).
The very best of the city-based circuits, in my opinion, is/was Montjuic. You can still walk the entire course today and it is infinitely faster, more visually stimulating and topographically challenging than Monaco. At several spots you can see Gaudi's great Basilica on the skyline and the last half of the lap is demonically fast. Imagine howling over the yump past the Olympic stadium, 500bhp of DFV firing you into the sky at 175mph on a road lined with trees. Crazy days.
Then of course there's the Targa, the Mille, Macau...
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