RACING CIRCUITS
RACING CIRCUITS
STREETS AND AIRSTRIPS
The first organized motor races followed smartly on the heels of the invention of the motor car. The question was where to hold these events, since no purpose-built facilities existed, and the motor car was still considered a dangerous and unwelcome interloper by other users of the roads.
The first race to carry the Grand Prix name was held in France in 1906, on a 64-mile triangular circuit just east of the city of Le Mans. As an event, it was vastly different from modern Grands Prix: it was held over two days as a timed endurance run, with competitors starting at 90-second intervals, as in a cycling time trial. Although the roads were theoretically closed to other traffic, the scale of the route made this virtually impossible to police.
Practical considerations quickly drove race organizers to formulate shorter routes, causing less disruption—and, perhaps more importantly, enabling them to marshal spectators more effectively and charge them for the privilege of watching. The time-trial format also gave way to elbows-out racing, where all the cars started together.
Still, apart from a few notable exceptions—such as the banked speedbowl at Brooklands in southwest London, England—few permanent motor racing facilities were built in the first half century of motor racing. Since car ownership was still relatively unusual, it made sense to hold events in or near urban centers, which meant racing on the streets.
This began to change post–World War II as mass car ownership grew, and enterprising individuals found creative new uses for airstrips that had been augmented for wartime use. RAF Silverstone in England opened as a training base for bomber pilots in 1943. By 1947, the base had been vacated by the Royal Air Force and questions were being asked in the House of Commons about its future—and about damage caused by vandals and trespassers. Among these illicit visitors were young men racing self-built cars around the disused runways.
Three years later, Silverstone held the first World Championship Formula 1 race.
RACING CIRCUITS
ETERNAL CLASSICS
One of the most controversial elements of Formula 1’s push into new territories over the past two decades has been the gradual squeezing out of much-loved events and venues. Only the Monaco Grand Prix, considered the crown jewel of F1, is believed to be completely safe.
Other classic venues have come under threat, either because they can’t be adapted to suit ever-faster cars, or because they can’t afford the ever-increasing cost of hosting a Grand Prix. Silverstone, famously, has been treated like a punching bag for many years by Bernie Ecclestone, until recently the sport’s “ringmaster.” He once described it as “a country fair masquerading as a world-class venue.”
The key is adaptation for survival. The Belgian Spa-Francorchamps started life in the prewar era as an ultrafast blast around nine miles of public roads. It’s now a permanent facility, just over four miles long, but many of the elements that drivers loved remain, including unpredictable Ardennes weather, high top speeds, and soaring elevation changes. A key corner is Eau Rouge (literally “red water,” since the track crosses a creek where the iron-rich water runs reddish orange). The track flicks left-right at the bottom of a steep incline before heading upward again, and for many years taking it flat-out was considered a rite of passage. It was incredibly dangerous.
Threat was also the main appeal of the Nürburging in Germany, just over the border from Spa and suffering the same fickle climate. The original circuit was over 17 miles long and dipped and twisted like a roller coaster. At a little over 14 miles in its postwar form, it became the main venue for the German Grand Prix. Drivers loved and feared it in equal measure, and even boycotted the race in 1970. The proximity of the barriers, with dense forest beyond, magnified the effects of any crash. If the worst happened, the sheer length of the circuit meant it would be a long time before help arrived.
RACING CIRCUITS
MODERN CIRCUITS
The shape of the Formula 1 calendar has been transformed by the sport’s expansion into new territories, mostly in the east. Eight of the twenty races on the 2017 schedule are at circuits built since 1999, and two more are “old” venues—in Austria and Mexico—which have been greatly redeveloped.
In our increasingly prosperous but crowded world, building a new circuit demands a great deal of investment, vacant real estate, and political willpower. It’s no surprise, then, that many of these venues are bankrolled by governments keen to put their countries on the international sporting map (see chapter 7: Taking Care of Business).
Malaysia set the template for New Model F1 with Sepang International Circuit, which opened in 1999. Designed by architect Hermann Tilke, who went on to become F1’s preferred circuit wrangler, and located strategically right next to Kuala Lumpur International Airport, it took a blank-slate approach. Where older circuits tended to follow the lines of public roads or exploited happy accidents of topography, Sepang was carefully designed to offer a variety of straights and corners, with large runoff areas in case of accidents. Spectators were held at a safe distance behind barriers and fencing.
Tilke is a keen amateur racer himself, and his modus operandi is to include sections that are deliberately intended to induce drivers to make mistakes, thereby conjuring opportunities for overtaking. Turns 1-2-3 at Sepang are a prime example of this: a hairpin at the end of a long straight, followed quickly by two more bends of changing radius, and with a slightly off-camber surface in places.
The downside of big, open, wide-track circuits with carefully managed top speeds and acres of runoff is a slightly homogenous look, which partially accounts for Tilke being such a polarizing figure among F1 fans. Those who dislike the new tracks complain that they lack character and don’t penalize drivers enough in terms of lap time and track position if they make a mistake and go off.
RACING CIRCUITS
RACING IN THE CITY
The easiest way to bring racing to the people, rather than expecting the people to bring themselves to the racing, is to stage events in urban environments. That was how top-class motorsport (largely) rolled during the prewar era, before the advent of permanent circuits and when safety standards were somewhat lacking.
The shift toward permanent facilities began in the 1950s, but many Grands Prix that became regular fixtures in later years started life on the streets. The Spanish Grand Prix, for instance, has been running at the purpose-built Circuit de Catalunya, north of Barcelona, for over twenty-five years—but it was first held in 1951 in the suburb of Pedralbes, then later in Montjuich Park.
Portugal hosted its national race on the streets of Porto, with a layout that featured the harbor front. The Avus circuit in Berlin, a flat-out blast along what was the first highway in Europe with a huge banked corner at one end, took over the German Grand Prix just once, in 1959. The streets of Buenos Aires accommodated the Argentine Grand Prix before a full-time track was built on the outskirts of the city.
Urban landscapes brought their own hazards. Road furniture—including tram lines, cobblestones, and manhole covers—were a lap-by-lap challenge to the unwary, as were the bumps. (To gain FIA Grade 1 status, tracks today must be almost pool-table smooth.) The denizens of the built environment were among the most unpredictable—spectators and their pets would often choose not to let the passage of racing cars put them off trying to cross the road.
Given all this, along with complaints about noise and inconvenience, street circuits have declined in popularity. There are now three on the F1 calendar, all based in places where political will trumps people power: Monaco, Singapore, and Baku, Azerbaijan. Only a fool would move to Monaco and complain about an event that has been running for almost a century.
RACING CIRCUITS
REBORN IN THE USA
Formula 1’s on-off relationship with the United States began in 1950, when motorsport’s governing body decided to include the Indianapolis 500 as a points-scoring round of the championship. Thus, Johnnie Parsons became the first US Grand Prix winner without ever setting foot in an F1 car.
For a full decade, this optimistic, hands-across-the-ocean scheme proceeded with very few takers on either side. There was no real attempt to harmonize the regulations to allow IndyCars to race in F1 events and vice versa; if you wanted to contest the full World Championship, you needed to have two types of car. In an era before jet aviation, there was little appetite for it.
Ferrari had a crack in 1952 with Alberto Ascari, but the car wasn’t up to the job and the team withdrew to Europe to lick its wounds. Troy Ruttmann, the 1952 Indy winner, crossed the pond a few years later to contest a few Grands Prix in a Maserati, without much success either.
F1 would continue for decades to try entering America, without great success. In 1959, the first “proper” US Grand Prix was held in Sebring, Florida, home of the famous 12-hour sports car race. The US Grand Prix then transferred to Riverside, California, but the race was insufficiently promoted and failed to catch the imagination of the locals.
Since then, US Grands Prix have been held at Watkins Glen, on street circuits in Long Beach, Dallas, Detroit and Phoenix, and even at an unpopular temporary track in the parking area of Caesar’s Palace casino, Las Vegas. The event returned to Indianapolis in 2000, using a newly built loop of asphalt on the infield of the legendary oval, but that stopped in 2007.
The US Grand Prix was revived in 2012 on a new circuit in Austin, Texas, and, despite sometimes shaky finances, it’s been a great success. The sport’s new owners have plans to host at least two more events a year on US soil.
GLOSSARY
BARRIERS
Both purpose-built and street tracks require barriers to prevent the cars—or debris—from crossing the circuit boundaries in the event of an accident. In the modern era, steel fences are the boundary of last resort; in corners or other areas of potential danger, there will be a gravel trap or asphalt runoff zone, followed by a deformable wall (often made from stacks of tires) before the barrier. There will also be a number of strategically located gaps to allow rescue vehicles onto the circuit, as well as “windows” for photographers to shoot through.
FIA GRADE 1
Motorsport’s governing body gives circuits a rating, based on size, facilities, safety features, and the flatness of the surface. This grade determines what level of racing they can host. Grade 1 status is the highest, and it is a prerequisite for hosting F1 events.
INSPECTION
All tracks must pass an inspection by the FIA’s safety director, who will examine not just the quality of the track surface, barriers, and runoff areas, but also the effectiveness of the drainage.
MARSHALS
The first responders to any incident are usually the trackside marshals, mostly volunteer enthusiasts drawn from local motor clubs. Despite being amateurs, they are well trained and highly expert—often new Grands Prix on the calendar will recruit marshals from countries with more established events.
MEDICAL FACILITIES
Circuits hosting Grands Prix must offer a high standard of medical backup, including an on-site medical center capable of stabilizing a patient in case of emergency. A Medevac helicopter must also be present and able to take off at all times during an event.