Help designing an F1 track...

[Alonso Fan]

40MB? wow, that's a pretty big sketchup file. my terrain is about 300KB, but it's still pretty big, i'd say about half the size of your race track. it's fine with elevation change, my computer doesn't slow down or crash.

here's a tip: once in sketchup, press CTRL (control) and A together on your keyboard to select everything. then click on the scale tool and make everything smaller. that will make your file smaller and you may be able to add elevation.

it shouldn't affect the amount of detail that you can add to your model, because you can zoom in a lot in sketchup.

I was also thinking about that, but I really want to make this as perfect as possible, and by scaling it down I wouldn't have the correct measurements. Thanks for the tip, though.

And I'm going to add apexes to the circuit. What colors should I use? The typical red/white ones? or maybe completely white, like Imola's... or maybe even blue/white, like old Silverstone's?

it's completely up to you, i think white ones will look too plain, so maybe blue and white or red and white ones. How about red and yellow ones, like valencia?

[andylaurence]

an apex is the red and white strip on the inside and outside of the racing line

I've never heard that as a description of an apex. Google defines it differently and in racing terms it's also known as the clipping point or the point where the car touches the inside of the corner. The red/white parts on the inside/outside of the track are simply kerbs. I hate to quote Wikipedia, but it's pretty much there as a description of an apex.

[Alonso Fan]

an apex is the red and white strip on the inside and outside of the racing line

I've never heard that as a description of an apex. {url=https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=defin ... e&ie=UTF-8]Google defines it differently[/url] and in racing terms it's also known as the clipping point or the point where the car touches the inside of the corner. The red/white parts on the inside/outside of the track are simply kerbs. I hate to quote Wikipedia, but it's pretty much there as a description of an apex.

google definition - the top or highest part of something. so it isn't completely wrong, and martin brundle always calls the kerbs apices (plural for apex). also, in bruce jones' books he calls them apex too. quote from your wikipedia article

The apex or clipping point is often used in motorsport,

(top of paragraph 3)

i'm sure the kerb can be called an apex

but for ease, i'll use kerb instead

[andylaurence]

google definition - the top or highest part of something. so it isn't completely wrong, and martin brundle always calls the kerbs apices (plural for apex). also, in bruce jones' books he calls them apex too. quote from your wikipedia article

The apex or clipping point is often used in motorsport,

(top of paragraph 3)

i'm sure the kerb can be called an apex

but for ease, i'll use kerb instead

I've never heard Brundle refer to a kerb as an apex. The confusion may arise because the apex is usually situated on a kerb. The apex is a point, not a line. The kerb lines the track, whilst the apex is a point on the edge of the track that is nearly always a point on the kerb (that's why the kerb is there). I do not believe the terms are interchangable. A kerb is a physical object, whilst an apex is an imaginary point. To illustrate the point, many experience day and trackday companies mark the apex of corners on the track with a cone, despite there being a kerb on the inside. Also, a corner will have an apex, even when there is no kerb.

[Alonso Fan]

google definition - the top or highest part of something. so it isn't completely wrong, and martin brundle always calls the kerbs apices (plural for apex). also, in bruce jones' books he calls them apex too. quote from your wikipedia article

The apex or clipping point is often used in motorsport,

(top of paragraph 3)

i'm sure the kerb can be called an apex

but for ease, i'll use kerb instead

I've never heard Brundle refer to a kerb as an apex. The confusion may arise because the apex is usually situated on a kerb. The apex is a point, not a line. The kerb lines the track, whilst the apex is a point on the edge of the track that is nearly always a point on the kerb (that's why the kerb is there). I do not believe the terms are interchangable. A kerb is a physical object, whilst an apex is an imaginary point. To illustrate the point, many experience day and trackday companies mark the apex of corners on the track with a cone, despite there being a kerb on the inside. Also, a corner will have an apex, even when there is no kerb.

yep, i understand what you mean, and i agree with your comment, but i'm sure i've heard brundle say something like ' he clipped the apex of turn 9 and spun' or something like that, when the driver was nowhere near the apex and spun on the kerb. maybe brundle made an error. but i agree with you, the apex is marked by a bollard (usually) and the kerb is situated around the apices of corners.

thanks for the clarification

[JMGV196]

New pictures showing progress on the main tribune and the second part of the track:



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[Alonso Fan]

New pictures showing progress on the main tribune and the second part of the track:

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/10/39037210.jpg/

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http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/809/75696413.jpg/

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impressive!

just curious, how wide is your track according to the sketchup measuring tool?

[MIKEY_!]

I think the big key to interesting tracks is regular elevation change. Without that, you could spice things up with wide entries to corners and normal width track on the exit (this was tried at the new dehli circuit) and a bit of banking (not too much tho as it will overstress the tires. Any way you can think of that gives a good alternative line through corners will produce more overtaking opportunities and better racing.

[Alonso Fan]

I think the big key to interesting tracks is regular elevation change. Without that, you could spice things up with wide entries to corners and normal width track on the exit (this was tried at the new dehli circuit) and a bit of banking (not too much tho as it will overstress the tires. Any way you can think of that gives a good alternative line through corners will produce more overtaking opportunities and better racing.

haha...overstress the tires! lol, i think that banking shouldn't be restricted because of tires. the track should be of its own nature, no constraints because of other factors. elevation is always good, and wide entries proves to be working better at dheli than 'overtaking zones'.

[JMGV196]

Showing a bit of progress...



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Detail on turn 14:



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[Alonso Fan]

good work!

[MIKEY_!]

haha...overstress the tires! lol, i think that banking shouldn't be restricted because of tires. the track should be of its own nature, no constraints because of other factors. elevation is always good, and wide entries proves to be working better at dheli than 'overtaking zones'.

I'd like no restrictions too lol! think a banked section which is vertical at its outer edge, so you could get to the top and then not have to steer, scary huh! maybe a section of track that splits into two lanes, one lane dives under the other and they join up on opposite sides like this:

Remember that claim by a team that their car had so much downforce it could drive on the ceiling? lets have a tunnel where you'd have to drive up onto the ceiling to get through lol!

[Alonso Fan]

haha...overstress the tires! lol, i think that banking shouldn't be restricted because of tires. the track should be of its own nature, no constraints because of other factors. elevation is always good, and wide entries proves to be working better at dheli than 'overtaking zones'.

I'd like no restrictions too lol! think a banked section which is vertical at its outer edge, so you could get to the top and then not have to steer, scary huh! maybe a section of track that splits into two lanes, one lane dives under the other and they join up on opposite sides like this:
http://www.autoguide.com/auto-news/wp-c ... -china.jpg
Remember that claim by a team that their car had so much downforce it could drive on the ceiling? lets have a tunnel where you'd have to drive up onto the ceiling to get through lol!

yeah, why not? what if the whole track was underground, an oval tunnel? that would be so cool! you'd be able to drive straight past a driver by going underneath them (if they were driving on top) and no turning!

awesome!

that splitting into two idea is good too, like rallying. that way, you could have 11 cars on one track and 11 cars on the other, and then traffic would be less of a problem

[MIKEY_!]

wouldn't want to split the whole track up, then there would be less wheel to wheel action, just split one corner. maybe build a big section of track in a big clear plexiglass tube, then spectators could be just centimeters from the cars as they speed past lol you'd have to have gaps in the top to get crashed cars out though!

[Alonso Fan]

wouldn't want to split the whole track up, then there would be less wheel to wheel action, just split one corner. maybe build a big section of track in a big clear plexiglass tube, then spectators could be just centimeters from the cars as they speed past lol you'd have to have gaps in the top to get crashed cars out though!

that would be cool!