Hometown Grand Prix

[raysox]

Yesterday, I tweeted this.

 

 

 

I love driving that corner because you can lay on the gas and drive up the hill. In the past, I've planned out a grand prix course around Tampa, so I had the idea to incorperate the hill onto a hypothetical grand prix circuit in Tallahassee. But i thought this could a really cool and creative thread for everyone. I'm assuming this would be the correct forum, if not feel free to move.

 

But okay, here is the rules. Take a screenshot of the area you're doing and lay down a course. The length should be about 2-3.5 miles, typical for Formula 1 and Indy car. Count the corners, and make sure you have a start/finish line and a pit road. Other than that, have fun! when you share, talk up the corners and landmarks you'd pass. You could even make your own changes to current street courses if that's what you want to do.

 

 

Tallahassee

 

So I imagine this being a very scenic and racy circuit. It would be in and around Florida State's campus, so during the summer, it would be easy to shut down these streets. Start finish line out on a major street south of Doak. first turn up the big hill, get to the top overlooking the campus, Down a long stretch going down hill, good for DRS and KERS. There's a turn lane going into turn 2, which leads you on a short straight heading to campus. There wouldn't be much room to spare for breaking, but some modifications would give runoff space. Down Chieftian Way which is naturally like an S section. Passing the gym, baseball stadium and circuit complex, then a hard left.Back to turn 4, and another left. A few tight turns in 5 and 6 and short run to 7 with the pits a dead straight past the turn, and finally a big sweeping right hander heading to the start finish line. The campus has tons of oak trees that would line the track, and there would be a lot of space to set up temporary stands. It would be a challenging course with a lot of g-force, i'd compare it to Spa in Belgium.

 

Palm Harbor

 

 

For my hometown, I always drove a few streets when delivering pizzas really fast. I tried my best to limit the residential areas that this would go through, but it's by my ex girlfirend's house, so they'd block that in. There's a big open space across the street from the high school, where a pit lane and garages could be set up. Start finish would be around there. The front straight is massive, good for DRS. two tight turns in 1 and 2 would lead you back around to a winding street going south. A tight right, then to a small little section past the little league fields, and a park. 7 is a left that would take you straight through the downtown area. Downtown is built on a hill, where you can see the gulf from the top near turn 8. Finally, down the long stretch and back to the line. I feel like this would be a lot like the Singapore Grand Prix circuit, but also very fast, almost like a restrictor plate track.

 

 

 

 

So what do you guys think? I'd love for you all to share, and there's no limit to what cities you could do. Both that I mentioned above are roads that I have driven growing up, so I know that it would be really fun to race on.

 

[JamieRose]

This is awesome! I've had ideas like this in the past while driving around, but never did anything with them. I followed your rules and made a GP track for Providence --

I think overall this would be a relatively slow course because after turn 4 the roads become fairly narrow and unevenly paved. Between turns 6 and 10 there are a few elevation changes and 10 to 1 is downhill. The track is in the middle of downcity Providence, and passes the state house heading back to the finish line.

I wish there was some way to import these tracks into Gran Turismo or Forza, I'd love to try actually racing on them.

[TBGKon]

What program do you all use to make these images?

Mike, that Palm Harbor course the stretch from 2-5 is nice....been down that way plenty of times.

[JamieRose]

I just took a screenshot from Google Maps and traced over the route in Illustrator.

[raysox]

What program do you all use to make these images?

Mike, that Palm Harbor course the stretch from 2-5 is nice....been down that way plenty of times.

Thanks! I really like a road through a nearby subdivision that curves like that, but it was probably too big as a whole, so I switched to that stretch on alt-19 because it's wider and just as nice.

But what I (and looks like jimmy) did was crop a screenshot of google maps after we planned it using a route tool and moving it around the roads, then draw the course over the screenshot using our design programs, but paint would work just as well

[sportstar1212]

I'll start off by saying that this is a REALLY cool idea. Here's mine:

I knew exactly what I wanted to do when starting mine. This is in my general neighborhood (my house is just off the map from turn 2). The pit lane is in the parking lot of the Canada Post building, which is also where the start line is. Turns 1, 3, and 4 are really sharp turns, while turn 2 is rather lax. You have two pretty long straightaways on Eastgate and Eglinton, which I personally love driving down really fast. On Tomken (between turns 3 & 4) is one of the local arenas, as well as my old high school next door. Overall, I had a lot of fun doing this.

[LAWeaver]

LOL mine would just be a dirt track/road course hybrid. Nothing but gravel roads and twisting state routes.

[raysox]

One thing I found was there's so many square blocks that really limit a circuit, but I'd love to see some more. I drove on campus today, and I realized some things I didn't take into consideration. The course would need some speed bumps taken out and some repavement of roads. I also realized a better course would probably be to go straight instead of turn 5, then rejoining there. Also someone may think cutting out turns 4-10 would be faster through the pits, so the exit would be better driving through turn 9.

[raysox]

Bump. Lets see some more!

Tampa

I had this planned a long time ago, and was really the first one of these, but I felt like in order to bump I'd make a new one. This one runs through downtown Tampa along the water. It would probaby rival St. Pete. They're renovating a lot of the area soon, mostly in the middle of the circuit, so this would be a race that could legitimately work if put together.

 

The front stretch is down Channelside Drive with the pits in a parking lot between the street and port. Turn 1 would be up onto Kennedy Blvd, a wide street thatwould take you under the Selmon Expressway and into downtown. Turn 3 would be a hard left going back to the water. You'd pass some open parking lots that could host stands. Under the Expressway, then a left at the Arena. You take the course completely around it and onto Old Water Street that would rn by some hotels and to the convention center. A left over a bridge and onto Harbor Island. After a quick stint on the island, you return to the mainland on a winding bridge, past the museum, and a right where USF is building a medical school. You're back on Channelside Drive, racing through that district and by the Aquarium, a quick chicane through a roundabout and back home. This track has a lot of straights where battles and passing would be great. The turns are tight and technical. I'd say this would compare to the Valencia Circuit.

[DelayedPenalty]

Here's my proposal for a grand prix course in Ann Arbor, MI. You can't have a race in Ann Arbor that doesn't include a trip past the famous Michigan Stadium, so I built my course around that and the surrounding athletic campus. It is an 8 turn, 2.4 mile circuit with long straights with good passing areas and the ends, and a couple of tight technical sections. The course starts on Stadium Boulevard, once across the start finish line the cars will go up and over the Stadium Bridge before making 3 hard right turns to come back under the bridge along State Street, past Al Glick Field House, Schembechler Hall, and Yost Ice Arena before making a 90º left turn along the Intramural Sports Building. Another tight left into a narrow sweeping right hander to another hard left on Main Street. The cars will rocket down the hill to the final turn, another 90º left back onto Stadium Blvd and a dash for the stripe. The pit road cuts a large chunk of the track, but at .33 miles long, the 45 mph speed limit won't give any advantages.

[CAB]

This is a great idea for a thread, I have a lot of fun with stuff like this. I decided to do a couple in Omaha and one in my hometown.

The first and obvious choice for me was Elmwood Park in Omaha. Anyone that's ever drove through the park has made the comment that they feel like a street racer because of it's snaking main road. There is plenty of parking throughout the park for officials, media, etc, and one lot would work well for the pits. Public parking would be at both UNO campuses directly to the north and south. Crowds could line the entire main drag and along the finish line. The north side of Pacific St also would be a prime viewing area. This is a great location because it's centrally located in Omaha and the course doesn't interfere with the busy 72nd & Dodge intersection. It would be a good family event, with all the green space and playgrounds in the middle to keep kids entertained. It would take place during the summer when traffic wouldn't be nearly as heavy between UNO campuses.

Next I designed one for my hometown of Ponca, NE. There's not a whole lot of space to work with, so I tried to make the most interesting course I could that follows the most newly paved streets. I wanted to put the finish line downtown where bleachers could be set up to accommodate the crowd and drive them towards local businesses. The pits would be located in the school parking lot on the west end of the track. Turn 6 is where things get tricky, as drivers would turn down a hill with an extremely steep incline, and a lot of potholes. After Turn 8, it's then downhill again, back into town. The pink line near the start line is where the cars would start, and they could all set up "garages" in the nearby fire hall. Parking would definitely be an issue with this course, but hey, that's why it's fictional.

And here's my other Omaha course. The first thing I wanted to do was have something that went by the Leahy Mall, which would make for some great photos around turns 4 and 5. I think the best choice for the finish line is directly in front of the CenturyLink Center, which has a spacious front plaza that could hold some temporary grandstands. The adjacent parking lot would be a good location for the pits as well. The course winds around almost every major landmark downtown, including the CenturyLink Center, TD Ameritrade Park, the First National Bank Building, and the Pedestrian Bridge / riverfront area. The red areas on the map indicate parking, and there are countless other garages and lots that could be used, too. The only major traffic issue I can see is all the airport traffic that comes from Abbot Dr/Cuming St. Traffic from Iowa can easily avoid the course by going on the overpass.

[TBGKon]

The Omaha one is good, but putting public parkign in the infield might not be a smart move. Also, I'd look to relocate the pits to the inside of the course too...maybe in that big red infield lot.

[Needschat]

In the great days of CART, a few local state legislators, from both parties, floated the idea of having a Grand Prix at the Stratton Air National Guard Base and Airport in Glenville NY, across the river from Schenectady. I can't find the track layout some of the local dirt and asphalt drivers came up with.

[bosrs1]

I'd love to do one of these, I just can't for the life of me figure where to hold it in San Diego. San Diego has had races previously at the Del Mar fairgrounds which I suppose might still be doable as they do have a large parking lot. And the Coronado Speed Festival is still held today out on North Island NAS. But as for city streets in SD itself there's either rail lines in the way, or the streets themselves are far too crowned, narrow and too potholed to be used. I can't bring myself to suggest any of them because they'd be the San Jose Grand Prix all over again, or worse. Only alternatives I can think of that might work would be a repaved track laid out on Qualcomm Stadium's parking lot or Montgomery Field airport. The latter offers a host of track layout possibilities.

[pcgd]

I don't know much about this kind of racing but its a cool exercise. So here's one for Indianapolis:

Not the best in reality, but in fantasy world would be pretty cool. Highlights include cars driving around Monument Circle (round-a-bout in the middle of the city), passing Lucus Oil, Bankers Life and Victory Field and a few bridge crossings. It'd be 4 miles total.

[raysox]

I really like the last Omaha one and the Indy one. I feel like most cities have one really good district with space and enough streets to make a good course and these two particularly found them. I tossed around the ideas of making a USF and UCF course, which I planned out and both would be really cool. I maymake them if this thread dies down

[Drew22]

This is awesome. Gonna work on an Athens one. Any rules on hills? Seems like the whole town is a hill. Could do some downtown racing along with campus.

[raysox]

Absolutely no rules! Hills lead to tougher courses, and they exist in the first two i posted, it's just hard to show on a 2D image.

[raysox]

I was reading up on possible Indycar races and one in Calgary caught my attention. They said it would be a temporary circuit at Stampede Park. Upon further look, they have sooo much space and could make a damn cool track. So it was an obvious way to revive this thread.

 

 

Down the front stretch, then a bend and short shoot around the Saddledome into a hairpin and run down the Elbow River
 

Down the river and a quick left right towards the Stampede

 

Over a pedestrian bridge and two rights onto a wide bending road for the back stretch. Finally a right on the last turn, under the sign and to the start finish