The Perfect F1 Circuit

[Captain Hammer]

Okay, so we've got a thread for the perfect seasn calendar, right? Well, in my usual trawling of the interweb, I found "Lewis Hamilton's Supercircuit", a promotional thing he did with Mobil where he cut-and-paste parts of various circuits together to form what he would consider to be the ultimate in racing venues. Unfortunate, Lewis wasn't too imaginitive about it: every single turn was quick; the only really technical one he added was Tabac from Monaco. So I figure this is the perfect opportunity to out-do Hamilton and create our own variation of the perfect Formula One circuit.

As a rule, please try and limit yourself to Formula One circuits past and present. I know the temptation is there to run the Corscrew into Eau Rouge and then the Dipper, but if everyone does that, it's not going to be very imaginitive.

This is my take, the Hammer-Ring: from the Start/Finish line, the usual drag race takes us down to Maggots-Becketts-Chapel, lifted from Silverstone. Despite my general dislike of airfield circuits because they're usually flat, these five corners rank amng some of my favourite on the calendar, because of the way the cars have to move from one side of the circuit to the other at full speed to take the best line. After that complex, it's through the Dunlop and double-apex Denger Curves from Suzuka, two more great corners, especially because of the slight lateral movement through Denger; it always looks like the cars are going to spin out. The cars build up a bit of speed here, and the drivers are going to need to build up some courage, because then we go into the Masta Kink from the old Spa circuit, and awesomely-fast chicane. Then it's time for another favourite, the Breidscheid/Ex-Muhle combination from the Nordschelife. I know it's only a video game, but these ae two of my favourie corners in Gran Turismo 4, and the scene of some of my most daring overtaking moves. I get these corners; they have a certain rhythm. Next, we're borrowing from Sakhir; it might be a bit odd to take from a Tilke-drome, but the corners in question are Turns 9 and 10. These are unique, because Turn 10 is one of the most critical on the circuit, but to get it right, you have to brake and turn at the same time through the previous corner. After this, it's Turns 10 and 11 from Yas Island; another odd choice, but I can see what the intention is here: the very long left leading into a very tight left is going to be one of the most important parts of the lap. The next corner is Pouhon, which I think has superseded Eau Rouge as the best corner at Spa (Eau Rouge's challenge has been dimished by a resurfacing and technology). However, for the sake of getting back to the Start/Finish Line, the double-apex left-hander - taken as one blind corner - is now a right-hander. And just to make things more challenging, Pouhon Reverse will open onto Turns 12, 13 and 14 from Sepang, one of Tilkes finest corner combinations. The exit from 12 puts you way off-line for 13 and deeply affects 14, and there's no one way to take them all perfectly. Instead, you have to sacrifice two corners and take a less-than-optimal line to take your chosen bend; no two drivers have the same line through here, and it really does make or break a lap. To slow the cars down a bit - and to keep the drivers on their toes, we drop down into Wehrseifen also taken from the Nurburgring, which is normally a right followed by a long, tight left and another right, but run in reverse here. And because it's not over yet, they'll have to negotiate Wippermann-Eschbach-Brunnchen, a very fast, flowing downhill combination from the same circuit as Wehrseifen. Finally, we have another corner from Suzuka: Spoon, the oddly-shaped double left-hander before the flyover and 130R; here, it opens onto the Start/Finish Straight, and getting a good line through here is critical as it will affect your speed all the way down the straight and through the first corners.

Now, normally, I'd draw up a map ... but my skills with graphics programs - combined with the fact that MS Paint is the only thing available to me - means that I'm terrible. But if someone would like to do a quick mock-up, I'd love to see how it would play out (you may need to add some straights and bits and pieces to make it work).

Your turn.

[Salamander]

That's sounds like quite a good track there. I'd try and cut-and-paste a map of it of it together with MS Paint and Google Maps, but, unfortunately, I don't really know Breidscheid/Ex-Muhle are on the 'Ring.

[DonTirri]

I've been playing around with the same "my perfect circuit" idea since that Lewisraceway, and came up with this:


From the Rettifilio Tribune (Monzas start/finish straight) into Turn 15(Last corner) from Sepang, then a slight acceleration into one of my favorite cornercombos of all time, Paddock Hill-Druids-Graham Hill from Brands Hatch.

After blasting through Graham Hill Bend, short acceleration and then to "Faux Rouge" i.e Turn 8 from istanbul, and a hard braking right into mirrored La Source (Lefthander 'stead of a righthander) and a blast uphill into Eau Rouge.

From Eau Rouge, another hard braking into Nurburgrings Dunlop-Kehre-Schumacher-S-combo, and then a flatout blast through halved Mistral from Paul Ricard.

From Mistral comes the quickest and simply most daunting cornercombo a man can think of, when you come full speed into Curva Peraldalta from Circuit Hermanos Rodriquez, followed immediately by Zandvoorts Tarzanbocht and ending in Monzas Curva Parabolica, from which you shoot back into Rettifilio Tribune and a new lap.

IMO the track is an intriguing combination of technique and speed, with the twisty first half and flatout second half creating a need for a very Monza/Paul Ricard/Spa/Old Hocke-like compromise in setup, and tests the drivers guts a lot.

The last three corners (Pera-Tarzan-Para) especially separate the men from the boys, taking them flatout takes a lot of guts and can gain you a lot of time, so in a way that combo is the "Make or break a lap"-part of the circuit.