[rwl] [cir] Meadowdale Raceways

Gravel, tarmac, snow. Whatever the surface, you'll find it here.
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XYY
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[rwl] [cir] Meadowdale Raceways

Post by XYY »

:wave: Hello everyone!
A lot of my personal GeneRally history lays within this track, because it's the first historic raceway, which I ever intended to make. And it actually dates back to 2010, when I started making it, then I completely started over once from scratch in 2012 (because I had troubles fitting all the stuff in and so on - this shouldn't be the last time doing this, I at least started 4 or 5 times with the Adelaide street circuit... :shy: ). In 2012 I was rather confident to have it finished and already wrote a text for the forums, which I now adjusted a little bit ;) I even bought a book for making this track, the book was released in Aug. 2011...

So here it is - Meadowdale Raceways, a former U.S. track located 70 km to the northwest of Chicago, IL. It was active for a rather short time, only 11 years (1958-1969), but you can still walk around the track today. Meadowdale was famous for the "Monza Wall", a 180° turn with 45° banking, and for its long straightaway (4000 ft). Initially I wanted to make an evo track (back in 2012), but seeing that this was a veery good track and that I would probably never find the motivation to dig so deep into it again, also since the changes over the years weren't so big, I decided to go for an early/mid-60s look (probably around 1962/1963 from what I obtained from all the pictures and videos).
There are two versions included, the 3.3 mile full track and the 2.2 mile short/south track, which was only built in 1962 or 1963.
Meadowdale was a demanding track designed by Leonard Besinger, who was also developing housing districts (but this was started before the raceway). Something about the history:
The work on the track started in June 1958, the first race was held in September, so it was built super-fast, thus there was no time to put the stands next to the start-finish straight and get some catchfencing there :D (you can see this in the 1958 version). This first race was won Chuck Daigh on a Scarab. Also during the first racing event, Robert Walker died in his Ferrari as he flipped his car in Doane's Corner. This directly gave Meadowdale a "killer" reputation, although at the more famous Riverside raceway many more people died. :rip:
Probably even in the first year, the stands and catchfencing were put at the front straight. In 1963 the pit buildings were removed. At about the same time, a shortcut was built. This took off the Little Monza and Whitehouse bend so that the track was shortened by 1.1 miles. Also the grid style on the Start-finish straight was updated. And not to forget about the letters P R A Y on the tarmac before entering the first turn.
Somewhere in the mid-60s there was built another shortcut, forming the other 1.1 mile part of the course. Mainly club races and racing school was held here. This made a footbridge over the straightaway neccessary which was installed in 1966 or 1967. At about the same time there was built a car bridge at Emil's pit (behind the stands on Start-finish straight). It's the only bridge which remains today. In 1968 the Trans-Am Series held one race at Meadowdale. For this event, the Monza wall was flattened and replaced by two new corners. Also some drag races took place in 1968 and 1969. The track was closed in 1969, although there were ambitious plans for a multi-purpose-facility. But the surface simply became un-raceable.
One lap of the track:
The map is not in the correct scale ;)
meadowdale_raceway_5.jpg
You go down the 4000 ft. long front straight. After having passed half the distance, you'll go down a massive dip and then to the end of the straight, climb up the hill again. Then it's Greg's corkscrew (also sometimes called the "Little Monza"), a banked, ca. 180° turn with increasing radius. Now the track makes a fast left hand corner past the Silo (what remained of a farm project by Leo Besinger) to Whitehouse bend, a sharp right hander. Then it's a steep uphill, and after passing a footbridge you'll enter Len's hairpin (by now, you're quite close again to the front straight). Len's hairpin is a over 90° left hand corner. Then you'll have the esses and will come to Steffan's Straight. At the end of Steffan's Straight there's a dangerous 90° right hand curve with opposite banking which leads to the straight with a dogleg. It ends at Doane's corner, an over 180° right hander. Some drivers complained you would have a very bad overview and can't see what's ahead of you.
Then, on the backstraight, which is just 6 ft. away from the other straight and only seperated from it by a small barrier, you enter the Monza wall, the icon of Meadowdale Raceway. Taking inspiration from Monza (38° banking), Besinger wanted to have it better and made a corner with 45° banking. What sounds super fast was very rough and not very fast, because there was no proper machinery to create such a turn. So the Monza wall would have been a really bumpy turn. Drivers complained that driving on it was like a rollercoaster.
Thanks also to Ivo and BBA, they both gave me helpful tips (years back, around 2011/2012) and also motivation to continue with making this track throughout the building process.

I hope that you enjoy driving this track a lot, so some feedback would be very appreciated, especially as I put a lot of work into it. :goodvibes: And for me there's a lot of passion and personal development in this track, hope you didn't get too bored reading this :P

Best regards
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Kikwik
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Re: [rwl] [cir] Meadowdale Raceways

Post by Kikwik »

The history of a track is always interesting, particularly an history like this one !

I love it. It's such a goofy track, best part is it's in real life too. The word PRAY :rofl: , the little silo, the Monza corner, the insane hmap all along (the bottom right corner in a fast car will make you fly and thrill each time! :D ) and the story behind it is incredible.

The scenery is pleasing too, with lot of natural areas and near no buildings.

No limiters to the pits ? There's no way you can shortcut the track using the pit lanes anyway but it surprised me the first time I entered them. I have so much the habit of slowing down, I had some fun going full speed through them. :D

AI is challenging, but I prefer to make solo hotlaps on those tracks, as AI in GR is so punishing (and I'm not enough skilled sadly). But even with AI 100 they make some mistakes from time to time, so races with them are satisfying and again, funny.

Funny. Goofy. Original. Challenging and pretty. I had such a good time on your track. If only more real life tracks would be like this one. They were crazy back in time in the racing department. :P

Thanks XYY, really enjoyed it ! :goal:

(Also added it to the "Real Life Tracks List" on the GR Database :bg: )

The Unofficial Archivist of GR1 - Founder of the GR Database
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Trigger Happy
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Re: [rwl] [cir] Meadowdale Raceways

Post by Trigger Happy »

"Impossible expected with no waiting, miracles within 3 days!" came to my mind. Well, it took a bit longer, but you did! :woohoo:

@kikwik: the length/beginning of pit wall sabotage use of the pit limiters. :shhh:
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