Demolished racing circuits

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Scorpion
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Demolished racing circuits

Post by Scorpion »

Oran Park - lap around demolished circuit
Oran Park after destroy :weep:
Why people destroying parts of history? :(

Maybe you don't know but south turn of AVUS is demolished too :(
Allan Simonsen, Sean Edwards, Andrea de Cesaris, Renzo Zorzi, Jules Bianchi... God please save my buddies... hope that more won't ever go away too fast
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Crowella
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Re: Demolished racing circuits

Post by Crowella »

Oran Park is really sad. That video reminds me of the last corner being the best place to watch (even though the guy in the video was going the wrong way at first). Great racing there and if I was able to drive then from my old house, it would have only been 15 minutes away. There's a lot of houses going there now. Apparently enough for 10,000 people. Nearest circuit for open track days is now about 3 hours away. :worried:

There's a few other places that have been destroyed. I can't think of all of them right now but Riverside International Raceway in the USA would probably be another sad one that was destroyed. Held many NASCAR races, IndyCar and even the US Formula 1 event in 1960.
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Re: Demolished racing circuits

Post by Scorpion »

Allan Simonsen, Sean Edwards, Andrea de Cesaris, Renzo Zorzi, Jules Bianchi... God please save my buddies... hope that more won't ever go away too fast
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1nsane
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Re: Demolished racing circuits

Post by 1nsane »

Well, Keimola was closed down because the motor racing scene got less active so they couldn't afford pumping money in it anymore. And then it had to be torn apart because some people kept on driving there illegally and there was an accident during one of these races. So yeah, part of the blame on that one must be put on us normal people too. :P

But yeah, it's too bad they have to these days destroy the tracks simply to get some more space for new houses.
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Paw
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Re: Demolished racing circuits

Post by Paw »

1nsane wrote:But yeah, it's too bad they have to these days destroy the tracks simply to get some more space for new houses.
Yeah, especially in Australia, which is far from being "cramped" I believe :P But I don't know what was the situation there, if there wasn't really other place for houses :shrug:
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DuklaLiberec
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Re: Demolished racing circuits

Post by DuklaLiberec »

Jacarepagua is also in my mind when I think about demolished circuits. Indeed, it's a big pity that many defunct tracks are more or less forgotten nowadays, however nobody can forget Oran Park, Keimola, Jacarepagua and so on.

BTW, does anybody remember that one?

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Lukeno94
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Re: Demolished racing circuits

Post by Lukeno94 »

I drove Montlhery on either GTR2 or RACE 07/GTR Evo.
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Crowella
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Re: Demolished racing circuits

Post by Crowella »

Paw wrote:
1nsane wrote:But yeah, it's too bad they have to these days destroy the tracks simply to get some more space for new houses.
Yeah, especially in Australia, which is far from being "cramped" I believe :P But I don't know what was the situation there, if there wasn't really other place for houses :shrug:
Australia has unusual politics. Oran Park was around an area where the state government wants to build the most houses right now. There is plenty of room in Sydney but sadly that area is where the highest growth is happening due to easy access to Sydney by road and lots of land which is very cheap. Even if they built around Oran Park, it would be likely to close anyway due to noise complaints and people saying it encourages people to drive fast/wreckless on public roads.

A similar thing happened to Lakeside for a while where it closed due to people near by complaining but now that runs under very tighe restrictions since people managed to argue that racing circuits allows people to drive fast so they don't in public. Similar cases in the UK for a lot of circuits.

Amaroo Park also went in 1998-99 to the same thing in Sydney. I think they weren't allowed to split the land up so the circuit has only a few houses on it while the other huge amount of land has a lot of factories. To put it into perspective, Amaroo Park was on much more land than the circuit owned since the owners originally wanted to put a 5-6km circuit there. :shock:

Eastern Creek is going to be safe though. It's basically in an industrial area, next to a water reservoir which is next to a controlled "green strip" but that's about it. Bathurst and Wakefield Park are about 3 hours out of the city so they don't have any chance of being affected but both are too far for people like me to go for track days or events, which is a shame because the 12hr at Bathurst was on last weekend.
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Re: Demolished racing circuits

Post by Trigger Happy »

I thought Linas-Montlhery is still open at some club level, even some of the short circuit loops made by those bypasses in the road section. :kickcan: The fast right-hander just leaving the oval is really scaring place. :shock:
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Re: Demolished racing circuits

Post by 1nsane »

Crowella wrote: Even if they built around Oran Park, it would be likely to close anyway due to noise complaints and people saying it encourages people to drive fast/wreckless on public roads.
I've actually been waiting for the dark day to happen when Ahvenisto will be closed because of the noise complaints. It's funny how the track was there first, some of the complainers propably weren't even born when the track was built and now they get to complain about the noise. Last time in 2011 they already got some restrictions on noise level and limiting the time the track can be used.
The track is also built on a ground water area. In Hyvinkää pretty much every gas station was shut down from the central area because of the ground water issue. At least 5-6 of them were closed and now the closest ones are actually pretty far away.
I guess the only thing saving the track for now is the fact that it is a profitable business. But I wouldn't be surprised if in the next 5-10 years the track was demolished.
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Crowella
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Re: Demolished racing circuits

Post by Crowella »

I thought I might add to this thread again. I discovered something very unusual today. I actually have twice lived only two minutes away from a circuit and a hillclimb track. Not only that, my girlfriend's place is about 10 minutes away from ANOTHER circuit which is in private operation. Maybe I do have to go racing some day. :LOL:

The first place I used to live was only one turn away from an old oval circuit in a town Penrith. Technically, it was more of a dirt speedway but it was in operation from 1924 to 1941 where it was sold off for the Army then in 2000 as a car park for the Olympics.
http://www.vintagespeedway.com/penrith.html

Next place gets weird since it only closed down a few years ago. Silverdale hill climb. Again, only one road away from my father's place now. Used to be a very popular hill climb around Sydney, especially in the 60's. Apparently quite challenging in some bits. If I can find out where it is next time I'm up there I might take the pushbike out and see how it looks now. I think it's been closed off to cars now.
http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4024/4689 ... 593c_o.jpg

The other circuit to mention (probably best for ideas) is a private circuit owned by a former Coca Cola boss. Apparently it's an invite only circuit. There is no runoffs or anything. It was made solely because the family didn't want to drive fast on the roads and hurt themselves or others. Also a few top drivers and motorcyclists claim it's the best circuit in the country. I'll let you decide. It looks fun. 5.1km, 22 turns :)
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Re: Demolished racing circuits

Post by bgcatfan »

For me, the time I've spent researching the history of American motorsports, led me to a really sad find: Ontario Motor Speedway, located in Ontario, California. It was built similar to Indianapolis (only that it was slightly wider), and was known as the 'Indianapolis of the West.' The first race was in 1970 and it seems like an amazing facility, only that they spent so much money to build it that it went into financial ruin quickly. The last race was in 1980.

Amazingly, it was visited by all of NASCAR, USAC/CART, NHRA, and Formula 1. In 1971 they held an event that pitted Formula 1 drivers against American Formula drivers as a prelude to adding a second U.S. Grand Prix the following year. Unfortunately it never materialized. It was included in USAC's trip crown of 500 mile races (with Indianapolis and Pocono) and was replaced by the Michigan 500 after the track closed.

Auto Club Speedway (Fontana) is located within two miles of the old OMS site. Riverside was also nearby.
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Re: Demolished racing circuits

Post by Scorpion »

Linas-Montlhery isn't demolished :P
Allan Simonsen, Sean Edwards, Andrea de Cesaris, Renzo Zorzi, Jules Bianchi... God please save my buddies... hope that more won't ever go away too fast
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Re: Demolished racing circuits

Post by Scorpion »

Guys, it's too much, somebody must kill Tilke with me! :mad:
https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/ ... 1083_n.jpg
:weep:
Jarcarepagua died :coffin:
Allan Simonsen, Sean Edwards, Andrea de Cesaris, Renzo Zorzi, Jules Bianchi... God please save my buddies... hope that more won't ever go away too fast
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Lukeno94
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Re: Demolished racing circuits

Post by Lukeno94 »

Scorpion, it's nothing to do with Tilke, it's due to the 2016 Olympics. ;)
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Re: Demolished racing circuits

Post by Scorpion »

In shortcut:
Tilke suggested that he can design a new circuit so this can be demolished. Stupid people agree with him.
Allan Simonsen, Sean Edwards, Andrea de Cesaris, Renzo Zorzi, Jules Bianchi... God please save my buddies... hope that more won't ever go away too fast
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Lukeno94
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Re: Demolished racing circuits

Post by Lukeno94 »

Not true. The track was originally, partially, demolished for the Pan American Games of 2007. Tilke's proposal would actually have saved the track in international terms. Besides, they're building a new track nearby, although whether that's a Tilkedrome or not I don't know.
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Re: Demolished racing circuits

Post by Otto Wilson »

They are not building a new track anymore, the government fooled us... they said Jacarepaguá would only be demolished when the new track starts to be constructed, well, you can see that it's not what happened, and even the new track will not happen anymore...
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Re: Demolished racing circuits

Post by Scorpion »

@up: In conclusion Tilke didn't gave a project, no strat of building, circuit Jarcarepagua destroyed. Tilke's fault :P like everywhere for me, never forgive.
Allan Simonsen, Sean Edwards, Andrea de Cesaris, Renzo Zorzi, Jules Bianchi... God please save my buddies... hope that more won't ever go away too fast
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Lukeno94
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Re: Demolished racing circuits

Post by Lukeno94 »

Come on Scorpion, be fair. It's not remotely Tilke's fault, it's the governments, and to do with the 2007 Pan-American Games and 2016 Summer Olympics. Now I'm not Tilke's biggest fan, but are you going to argue that ALL his tracks suck when some, such as Sepang, are utterly brilliant?
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Re: Demolished racing circuits

Post by Trigger Happy »

Scorpion wrote:@up: In conclusion Tilke didn't gave a project, no strat of building, circuit Jarcarepagua destroyed. Tilke's fault :P like everywhere for me, never forgive.
If you want to blame somebody, then same like in Poland for most similar troubles, it's fault of local politicians, who both decided about demolition and didn't respect their promises to open new track before start of any demolitions too. For details ask Otto Wilson, he's from the town and already posted some details about the trouble (or search his posts).
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Re: Demolished racing circuits

Post by Otto Wilson »

Scorpion: forget Tilke for god's sake! agreeing with Luke in this point, Tilke did some great tracks, A1 Ring is awesome (even if Osterreichring was demolished), Sepang as Luke said before, and Istanbul, the 4-apex turn is great...

BTW, we saw two proposals for the track on Deodoro (Jacarepaguá substiture), none were from Tilke...
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Re: Demolished racing circuits

Post by Marco »

I know, I know it's a big bump, but...
The old Osterreichring is returning...(Possibly)
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