Grand Prix Rejects

I have attempted two AVUS-style tracks, both of which go through tunnels under rivers. The first is the Dartford River Crossing, the eastern-most Thames crossing, 3.888 miles long. Tunnel one way, bridge the other. Might be fun if drivers could use either bore when travelling northbound. Other track is even closer to the 4-mile limit and is in north Wales, near the holiday resort of Llandudno (host of the brilliant Great Orme rally stage).

I'm going to select the second as my entry simply because it seems a bit more picturesque and there is a bit of motorsport heritage nearby.

Here is my entry: the Rendsburgring!

It is a 5.983 km long, genrebusting dash through the outskirts of Rendsburg, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. With a mad dash through a tunnel and over four bridges, this is a thrilling race all the way around.

Track in Basingstoke with the pit straight going under the shopping mall.

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com?r=6561701

I know, too many 90 degree corners, but I'm posting this entry anyway

http://www.mappedometer.com/?maproute=401838

A street circuit around the centre of Canberra, which is a 3.3 mile blast through the CBD of the city and the ANU. The "tunnel" is a bit hard to see, but there is an underpass on the straight before the last corner.

I can't honestly say I'm proud of this one...

http://www.mappedometer.com/?maproute=401881

Okay, for this i got the "trump card" (sic) and used a tunnel below the Vicente Calderón main stand, just for guide, here's an old pic of it



And, as you can see, there are actually 2 tunnels, so the boxes will be on the other one, and the paddock inside the stadium

The rest of the track... just see it

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=6561964

EDITED: Right in the centre of Sydney, this incorporates one of the tunnels on the M1 approaching the harbour tunnel from the south, a quick blast along the Cahill Expressway along Circular Quay (where we should be able to get backdrops with the Sydney Opera House or the Sydney Harbour Bridge depending on the camera angle), then turning left to take another tunnel southwards down the Eastern Distributor (replacing the left turn onto a long straight down George Street - where the off-ramp from the Cahill Expressway doesn't actually exist, hence the change) before swinging back around Hyde Park and the Royal Botanical Gardens. http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=6562052

The 4 mile limit is a bit of a pity - the tunnels and roads around Sydney Airport have a bit of potential but 4 miles is a bit tight.

A little twisty track in Estonia's capital Talinn. http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=6562449

Street circuit in Stockholm, Sweden

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=6562569

Espoo, Finland. The tunnel is between the 1 and 2 mile mark.

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=6563748

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=6563783

Track in London

I'll get to reviewing the tracks when the weekend comes, but right now I see some gems and quite a few germs. Leaving you to figure out which one's good or not, and keep those tracks coming in!

WaffleCat wrote:I'll get to reviewing the tracks when the weekend comes, but right now I see some gems and quite a few germs. Leaving you to figure out which one's good or not, and keep those tracks coming in!

Mine's a germ! But will it germinate into a gem?

Nope.

dr-baker wrote:

WaffleCat wrote:I'll get to reviewing the tracks when the weekend comes, but right now I see some gems and quite a few germs. Leaving you to figure out which one's good or not, and keep those tracks coming in!

Mine's a germ! But will it germinate into a gem?

Nope.

I'm starting to wish I'd gone with my original idea: Redesign Monaco.

The Diana Memorial Circuit in Paris, a fast-flowing street circuit going through the (in)famous Tunnel de L'Alma. Couldn't come up with anything better (and above all with a nicer choice), sorry

(I apologise in advance if this offends someone)

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=6563463

novitopoli wrote:The Diana Memorial Circuit in Paris, a fast-flowing street circuit going through the (in)famous Tunnel de L'Alma. Couldn't come up with anything better (and above all with a nicer choice), sorry

(I apologise in advance if this offends someone)

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=6563463

Brilliant. In the unlikely event I win, I am going to dedicate my victory to your effort here.

Tunnel Track Tournament Standings:

14: dr_baker for AVUS II
C'mon, even your EuroDisney effort was better than this.

13: peteroli_34 for Canary Wharf Circuit
Honestly..it's meh. The high speed sector in the first 2km and the kink at Narrow St. seems to be the only good bits of track. The rest feels like filler sections to make up the length.

12: Klon for the Rendsburgring
Love the long, incredible 270's at the highway ends, but the rest of the track looks bland. Additionally, minus a mark for what looks like a terribly narrow pit straight. Could've been higher up, but isn't/

11: Bleu for Lilla Essignen Raceway
This track looks like it was designed with purpose rather than filler, but does not do well in achieving it's purpose. The first high speed sectors are fine, but the final half of the track, trundling at slow speeds around small roundabouts and 90 degrees is not the way to go.

10: More_Blue_Flags for the 'Watch Out for that Toll Booth!' Grand Prix
Great speed track, but reason why it's so low down? Look at the title of the track I gave it. Even if it comes after a relatively slow speed turn, it breaks my realism criteria by quite a bit. Shame, really, looked like a great track.

9: Adrian_Belmonte for Huawei Azerbaijan Atletico Madrid Raceway
I was honestly going to rank this last on first glance. The two sharp hairpins on the main straight that make my penknife look like an A380's nose, more tight hairpins following that and ghastly 90's that have no place doing there. Then I took a closer look. There's that magnificent bridge around the 1 km mark. Some of the tightness are thanks to gmap-pedometer (hint: Select draw route to 'manual (straight lines)' to avoid this problem next time). A wonderful high speed sweep after the 2km marker. Sure, does not compensate for the hairpins and 90's, but helps elevate this track up in my books

8: roblomas52 for the Basingstoke Danger Circuit
Named it such cause it looks like a bloody death trap when taking the high speeds and fast, fast, fast, fast turns into account. Great S-bends and kinks, but kinda lacks a certain…factor to rate it higher. Can't tell what it is, but just lack something to rate it higher. Could be variety, or uniqueness, but I have no idea why I don't prefer this track over others.

7: TheFlyingCaterham for Hexagon Raceway
I've always loved the hexagon layout of Canberra City centre, but I've always wondered how to make a good track out of it. This track is a seriously good attempt at that, but I couldn't help but rate it lower for the mickey mousey area through the university. Also really scraping the barrel on what is defined as a tunnel, but that's the bare minimum I will allow, given that I never defined how long the tunnel must be or what a tunnel is.

6: tBone for the Tunnelling Temporary Track in Tallinn
A good effort, especially love the hairpin turn to start off the lap, but I couldn't help but feel more could have been done. You gave yourself a field to play with and…I don't think you made the most of it unfortunately. Shame, everything else looked alright.

5: watka for Brussels Sprouts Street Circuit
A really good track, with me absolutely loving the top bit of the circuit, and the rest of the circuit would make it top 3 material. Unfortunately, realism kicks in, and goddamn tramlines relegate this track down to fifth.

4: tommykl for 'Hey, I've seen that city before!' Raceway
In the earlier days of the track designing competition, tommykl chose to hold a round of this in Liege. Hence the title. And dare I say it, his circuit may have been better than any of the other tracks in that round. High speed kinks all around, some impressive technical sectors, and the best tunnel section of the round.

3: Bleu for Espoo Espeedway
Another great, fantastic high speed circuit. Honestly I would have ranked it tied to the other two tracks on the podium, but I needed to find a winner, so this one comes in third.

2: novitopoli for Diana Memorial Circuit
This track is amazing. From the first chicane to the final effort, there is nothing wrong I can see with this track. Chicanes are placed perfectly, kinks are supposed to be where they need to be. This track is technically perfect. Yet not top? You see, this track looks fantastic. But I don't love it as much as the next track, number one on this list, and a bit of a surprise.

1: Simtek for The Knife
I admire this track. I don't know why, but it looks gorgeous. Sweeping turns, tight chicanes, that scary fast high-speed left-right inbetween 2-3 km, perfect tight overtaking zone…goddamnit, I'm in love. It's similar to roblomas52's track, yet this just feels great. This is a simple, high speed circuit done right. I don't care if even Simtek himself does not like the track, I love this track.

So, yep, Simtek wins this round and my heart.

no homo.

Well, that was unexpected! I suppose the reason I didn't like it was mainly down to the length of the straights. I don't usually like to go too far over 1 kilometre, but that's just a personal thing, I suppose. Anyway, next challenge!

Enclaves and Exclaves

An enclave is any portion of a state that is entirely surrounded by the territory of one other state. An exclave is a portion of a state geographically separated from the main part by surrounding alien territory.

This definition was taken from Wikipedia, and shall give you an idea of where your circuit must be located: Within the borders of an enclave or exclave of a country, such as San Marino or Gibraltar. However, I will not accept enclaves or exclaves of sub-national divisions, only sovereign states, so for example the Australian Capital Territory and Brussels will not be acceptable locations.

As for the circuit layout, the only restriction I will place is that the circuit must consist of existing roads for the majority of the lap. Link roads are acceptable so long as they do not pass through any existing buildings. There will be no formal restrictions on length, though I would not recommend designing another Pescara, or God forbid, the 1906 Le Mans circuit

Here's a list of enclaves and exclaves to get you started if you're feeling stuck: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_en ... d_exclaves

Good luck!

Only 9th? #molestamos

Anyway, here's my entry for this one

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=6566934

Can it be partly in an enclave/exclave and cross into another country?

tommykl wrote:Can it be partly in an enclave/exclave and cross into another country?

No, sorry.

Simtek wrote:

tommykl wrote:Can it be partly in an enclave/exclave and cross into another country?

No, sorry.

Right. This has made my job significantly harder, but I'll be making one in Baarle-Hertog nonetheless! I'm left with a very small amount of usable road, but I've made the "most" of it, coming up with a circuit a bit below 3 kilometres. Yes, it's slow and full of chicanes. But it's a miracle that it even exists. Also, it's doubly epic, as not only is the circuit in an enclave, it features two additional enclaves of Dutch territory within its layout!

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com?r=6567052

One in Llivia, Spain.

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=6567095

Normal32 wrote:http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=6567088

Sorry, Normal, but I don't see how this is within an enclave or exclave.

Maseru: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=6567121

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=6567122

A Track in Maseru, Lesotho which of course an enclave being completely surrounded by South Africa

Grand Prix of Kaliningrad. It offers a real set-up compromise.

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=6567158

Ceuta Grand Prix
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=6567172

Pante Macassar, the only town of note in the Oecussi enclave of Timor L'Este (East Timor), has aspirations of becoming the Monaco of South-East Asia...

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=6567306

Does Alaska count as an enclave? It's similar to Gibraltar, according to WIkipedia.

tBone wrote:Does Alaska count as an enclave? It's similar to Gibraltar, according to WIkipedia.

Technically, Alaska isn't a "true" enclave because it has a coastline, but it is an exclave, as it is still separated from the "Lower 48", so yes you can use Alaska

Well here it is, the Alaskan Grand Prix in Fairbanks: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=6568486.

Simtek wrote:

tBone wrote:Does Alaska count as an enclave? It's similar to Gibraltar, according to WIkipedia.

Technically, Alaska isn't a "true" enclave because it has a coastline, but it is an exclave, as it is still separated from the "Lower 48", so yes you can use Alaska

I don't suppose islands like Malta, Cyprus, the Channel Islands or Hawaii count, do they?

dr-baker wrote:

Simtek wrote:

tBone wrote:Does Alaska count as an enclave? It's similar to Gibraltar, according to WIkipedia.

Technically, Alaska isn't a "true" enclave because it has a coastline, but it is an exclave, as it is still separated from the "Lower 48", so yes you can use Alaska

I don't suppose islands like Malta, Cyprus, the Channel Islands or Hawaii count, do they?

Islands don't count under either definition, there needs to be a border with another state. Although now that you mention Cyprus, the sovereign base areas count, as they are British Overseas territories

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

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.

Technically British overseas territories are not part of the United Kingdom so are not actually exclaves. Northern ireland would be as its part of the UK but not connected with the rest of it as well as the Republic Of Ireland. Not like Alaska which is part of the USA or French Territories which are part of metropolitan France

peteroli34 wrote:Technically British overseas territories are not part of the United Kingdom so are not actually exclaves. Northern ireland would be as its part of the UK but not connected with the rest of it as well as the Republic Of Ireland. Not like Alaska which is part of the USA or French Territories which are part of metropolitan France

You have a point there. In the strictest sense such territories are not directly considered a part of the UK, but they are under British sovereignty, hence I allowed for them to be used. International politics is confusing

Simtek wrote:

peteroli34 wrote:Technically British overseas territories are not part of the United Kingdom so are not actually exclaves. Northern ireland would be as its part of the UK but not connected with the rest of it as well as the Republic Of Ireland. Not like Alaska which is part of the USA or French Territories which are part of metropolitan France

You have a point there. In the strictest sense such territories are not directly considered a part of the UK, but they are under British sovereignty, hence I allowed for them to be used. International politics is confusing

And then it all depends on what you're willing to consider exclaves and enclaves. By the definition being used so far, the Malaysian and Indonesian parts of Borneo are enclaves/exclaves...