Lost Former Formula 1 Tracks

[Fire99]

With Paul Ricard appearing somewhere between an accident by a thousand Aquafresh toothpaste lorries, and a scene from The Magic Roundabout, I thought I'd dig up some old tracks from the past..

Here's 10..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeNzRnxSASg

[Fire99]

Eric Mc said:

If we widen the thread to "Lost Grand Prix" circuits it would be REALLY interesting -

Le Mans (both the pre World War 1 circuit and the 1967 "Bugatti" Circuit)
Pescara
Imola
Brands Hatch
Nordschleife
Original Hockenheim
Berne
Lisbon
Brussels
Old Spa
Zolder
Donington Park (pre World War 2 and later version)
Osterreichring
Zeltweg
Avus
Zandvoort
Turkey
India
Aida
Fuji
Phoenix
Detroit
Long Beach
Riverside
Watkins Glen
Las Vegas
Dallas
Montjuich
Jarama
Jerez

I don't see why not, but I think we should include some pictures (or links to videos).. Good for those of us less familiar with some of the older tracks to have a nose at them...

[Fire99]

thegreenhell said:

That's a great picture.

[Fire99]

Circuit de Charade..

Can't beat a race track built around a volcano..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3KLqhXyo18

[Fire99]

FourWheelDrift said:

It would also be insanely boring. Just as it always was, follow my leader through miles of narrow twisty track. The TCR were there recently 3 lap race due to the length so 13 miles of boring racing per lap until they got onto the main straight, then more action on the modern section but only 3 times a race.

I don't want to turn this into another 'what's wrong with F1' thread but I'd in part disagree on this point. With F1 the cars performance far outweigh the limits of the track so there would be a significant psychological factor that overtaking would be possible due to bravery of some as opposed to others and cars driving way beyond their limits for much of the lap.

Regarding boring, I can only compare with the IOM TT. There isn't much overtaking on that (notably because it's a time trial) but there is great excitement seeing a supremely fast bike along a very narrow (and potentially punishing) track.
The excitement isn't all about overtaking, it can be a car wrestling with a challenging and 'good looking' track.

[Fire99]

As with just about every subject, we tend to leap from extreme to extreme. As in, if we miss some old 'characterful' tracks, we then have to go all the way back to a dozen blokes in a van, and if that's not possible then we have to say that there is no issue with tracks / cars etc in 2018.. Both of which are nonsense.

But, the spirit of this thread it to show and chat about old loved tracks, not the 'It will never happen again' usual malarkey...

[Fire99]

Polrules said:

These photos always make me sad - must look even more 'lost' now as this was some time ago - Hockenheim....

Me too.... Hockenheim had its own unique challenge and charm. You can't tick a box on a spreadsheet and say why.. It just had its unique character and presented a huge challenge for the teams to cater for the two extremes (two very very long straights and then an infield section)

[Fire99]

wobblyweb said:

This version of Silverstone is lost forever, Standing on the roof of the garages looking down into the pits 1975. On the other side the team could be seen working on the cars. When I say "Team" in this case it was Graham Hill working on his own car!
I asked him how it was going, "ps off" he said, winked smiled and carried on working, probably the nicest rebuff I have ever had.

This is something that got eroded away in F1, to its detriment. The human / regular guy aspect. I'm a big motorcycle road racing fan these days and yes the risks are high (as recent press will highlight) but the racers are regular guys and you can still chat with them, or get the odd amusing rebuff, and that's a regular spectator's perspective, not a VIP ticket holder or any such like.
It really makes the event.
In F1, unless I have had some amazing hospitality deal, in recent years I've had to watch from afar, for a lot of cash, and to be fair it's been pretty dull I'm afraid.