7 incredible circuits that no longer exist
Vložit
- čas přidán 3. 07. 2024
- Not all circuits can survive the ravages of time and money. Some struggled on for decades and then collapsed under the weight of modern pressures. Not all of those are really that missed, but some were considered the true greats. In fact some of those incredible circuits are now buried under a modern facsimile, a track that still holds the name of the original, but none of the mystique. These are the seven that we most wish could come back.
Timestamps
00.00 Intro
00.46 Charade
02.24 Silverstone
03.45 Reims
04.55 Targa Florio
06.31 Spa-Francorchamps
08.40 Riverside
10.01 Avus
#gwflatout #Silverstone #Nurburgring
Official Website 👉 www.goodwood.com/grr/
Facebook 👉 / goodwoodrrc
Instagram 👉 / goodwoodrrc
Twitter 👉 / goodwoodrrc
SUBSCRIBE for more racing cars, supercars, new car reviews, historic motorsport and Goodwood event coverage 👉 bit.ly/GoodwoodTV
Buy your Goodwood Event tickets 👉 bit.ly/GWBuyTickets - Auta a dopravní prostředky
Surprised Hockenheimring isn't on there. Watching cars blast through the forest was something to behold.
It is still there, but its like comparing the 1960s 14km layout of spa to the 2022 7km layout
A beautiful and historic track, ruined and maimed. Worst of all was how they made sure the historic layout could not be used again
@@samacw why on earth did they tear up the old track???
@@piffiiiiiiit Probably so nobody would try driving on it. Because people would do that and get killed.
@@piffiiiiiiit they had to cut down lots of trees in order to build the new track layout, and the only way they got permission for that was under the condition that they convert the old track to a forrest area. So they had to tear out all tarmac, guardrails and other kinds infrastructure, and plant thousands of trees where the track used to be.
Hi fellow petrol heads, I raced on the original Kyalami track in South Africa 🇿🇦 1979, very quick track, it is now a shadow of its former self, thanks for your efforts
Would've been on my list as well. I have fond memories of being there as a youngster in the 60's & 70's for both GP & 9hrs, when my father was a time keeper for Ferrari.
Hey.. dont call us EV gen petrol heads 😂
There's a strong push on to bring F1 back to Kyalami, if not 2023 then maybe 2024.
@@stereoroid The "new" Kyalami...which is but a shadow of the old.
The Bremgarten cirquit near Bern that hosted the Swiss F1 Grand Prix until 1955 was great too.
yess
would've been nice to see a side by side of the old an new Silverstone maps. In fact all of these circuts needed to have an above map view shown. It's hard to figure out what a track looked like from side shots.
An also no longer used track is the Nürburgring Südschleife although parts are still visible
Brooklands circuit should be on the list! The grandmother of all racetracks!
I was looking for it. That and old Spa. And I do miss Le Mans without the chicanes.
How Is It the grandmother of all tracks😂
@@alessandromazzini7026 it was the first purpose built
@@billdexhart5179 The chicanes in LM is the stupidest decision ever made...
@@FonikosGazmas from a safety perspective it makes total sense
But it’s far less spectacular and i think there should be a track in the calendar where plain top speed can get you wins 🙂
I remember as a young 13 year old my Dad took me to the LA Times Grand Prix at Riverside Raceway to see the 917 and the Can Am cars race, Looking back, it was an incredible experience.
I don't disagree with the list but I would have to make it 8 circuits and add Rouen-Les-Essarts from the 1960's to the list. I got hooked on that track from the minute it appeared in Grand Prix Legends on the PC many years ago.
What a game and what a track. It was a fantastic circuit.
Graham Hills fave French track...
I like the shorter version more. But for me it is one of the best tracks ever!
Funnily enough, Rouen-Les-Essarts was not even on the calendar in the 1967 season Grand Prix Legends is based on. The developers of GPL chose it because they thought it was much more interesting than the Le Mans-Bugatti circuit that the actual 1967 French Grand Prix was held on. I'm glad they did, Rouen is definitely one of my favourite tracks in GPL as well.
@@SaraSpruce Charade, Rouen and Reims, the French really knew how to do a classic road course.
Honorable mention: old Interlagos. That track was something incredible!
Oran Park in Australia was my favourite circuit on earth, so unfortunate it got destroyed, luckily we still have Laguna Seca. Greetings from the Netherlands
Happy to have driven Riverside International Raceway perhaps a dozen times back in the 1980’s. I believe it was the site of the USGP in 1960. Turns 2, 6, 8 and 9 were each fantastic on their own 😊
It also hosted the first modern era US Grand Prix in 1958.
My last race was in 1980 at the AFM six hour endurance race. We did six hours on an XT 500 Yamaha.
@@keithburns5707 I had a XT 500. Some people called it the Thumper, I guess because at idle the single cylinder made the bike bounce up and down.
@@frankemerson8584 1958? Wow. Thats 64 years back, Frank.
@@Commander_Sonak XT 500. What is that?
Nice to see Charade. I learned to drive there. ( obviously I lived a few minutes away )... I also learned that that straight after the pits is in fact quite short ( thanksfully the Charade corner is a high speed uphill one ) and that in winter if you are not careful the back of the car will want to come in front due to the unseen ice.
Oh and since the old circuit ( before being castrated to what it is now ) was open road, every sunday you had all the motorcycle fans in the area ( and beyond ) gathering there to do laps. ( locals with cars tended to avoid it on sundays and went around through other roads unless they couldn't avoid it. )
The full Spa circuit please!
Or the Targa Florio, I remember hearing a story about locals inviting drivers in for lunch if their car DNFed.
As a Belgian i love how you did old Spa justice, thank you !
My brother went to Charade recently as a photographer for a couple of races held there on the current circuit. The landscape is still so beautiful. It's actually supposed to turn into a circuit reserved for electric cars in the near future.
Rip. Beautiful track but such a shame there will be no more beautiful sounds to accompany it
It's so sad they castrated the orinial track in a dubious effort to try to revive it... They should have gone the Nurburgring way.
@@jackarmstrong7285 I said supposed because apparently it was going to be for 2023 but the calendar for the 208 Cup was unveiled with Charade still on it
@@luscorpio3679 The 208 Cup is going EV next year I believe.
Plus they are trying to court Formula E
They are many race at charade , I live near to this circuit
I liked the old Kyalami circuit.
Another lost circuits: old Hockenheim circuit, Fuji Speedway old layout which included Daiichi Banking first turn, among others.
I was just thinking “it’s no way Riverside is on this list”
Circuit Solitude near by Stuttgart/Germany.
In Stuttgart are the headquators from Mercedes and Porsche.
If only those clips from Avus had had sound. Imagine the Mercedes and Auto Union Silver Arrows absolutely flat out
Other examples that are no more: The Nürburgring Südschleife, yes it had a southern part that now is no more (What a pitty!); the old Hockenheimring with its long straights and a total length of 6,8 km. Old Monza... Those were awesome tracks...
I'd add a few :-
Old Austria - so fast and flowing, with elevation change. Alain Prost even said that it could be made safe for modern F1, if they put in run-offs. The modern version of the circuit is too short, and the corners have too tight an apex.
Old Zandavort - the longer circuit was more of a challenge. There's still the banked first turn there - and that's worthwhile.
Old Adelaide - one of the few street circuits that I actually like. Has a really decent flow to it. The busy first section of medium speed corners, then those tight 90 degree corners in the middle, quickly following by that tricky corner of which you have the long Brabham Straight and the best chance to overtake.
Old Ausria, you mean Salzburgring? It still exists. I like it
the old hockenheim circuit was the best
Great video...I was at Riverside International Raceway many times in 1966, 67, 68 69, 70...all the world class drivers were there and Group 7 Can-Am series was amazing.
So painfully agreed with Silverstone... old Silverstone was jaw dropping to watch for F1 :)
Even with smaller formulae cars: one day sitting at the front of the stand on the outside of Woodcote as the cars charged flat-chat towards me, aged 13/14, not quite believing they could make the corner, was enough to ignite my lifelong love of motorsports.
The old layout(before 1987) - even with the chicane at Woodcote was really great - so fast and flowing. After that, it lost a lot of its magic. These days with the modern layout it's too technical.
I'm surprised Bridgehampton didn't make this list. Such an unbelievable circuit was right in my backyard here on Long Island :(
Green Valley Raceway as well--the stomping grounds of Carroll Shelby and Ken Miles in the 1960s. Simple but effective track, and the only one of its kind (during its day) in Northeast Texas.
@@flyingphoenix113 definitely got to check that out I've never even heard of it.
@@RetroGamerr1991, it started out a lot like Sears Point (now Sonoma) as a combination of a road course and drag strip. Much like Sonoma, the drag strip was actually part of the road course! The trans am races there in the 80s were crazy. Despite being a semi-permanent street circuit, it had about as many safety precautions as a street circuit (like Long Beach).
Ah, the legend of Bryar Motorsport Park in Loudon, NH. Never heard of it? Truly famous for its Trans-Am racing when in its heyday. Mustang, Javelin, Firebird, 'Cuda, Camaro, Alfa, Porche..... The likes of Revson, Donahue, Folmer, Titus, Posey, Andre, Jones....Tiny but a delight when Trans Am was a diamond.
PS Yes, not in the same league as those past international treasures but.....
I remember watching races at Riverside when I was a kid. I distinctly remember the VW Rabbit support races because I loved watching them picking up their inside rear tires around the turns... Losing that track to a shopping mall was bad enough but to add insult to injury that mall has been a failure since day one and only gotten worse over the years...
The old monza track which included the oval.
Used to live about 10 minutes away from where the Riverside Raceway was, now it's the fledgling Moreno Valley Mall.
Great video. As a big fan of Assetto Corsa I only can recommend it as a source of tracks which do not longer exist. So many commentaries here talk about famous tracks which are simulated in AC. To drive them in contemporary cars in VR and a motion simulator is the nearest to get the joy of these former tracks back 😊
Great vid!
The Original Interlagos mate, that was an absolute monster of a track.
Do not know if anyone has mentioned Kyalami, in South Africa. A great track missed
Crystal Palace
Should have included the Nürburhring Südachleife, what an amazing track to drive on in sim-racing.
And never forget Old Hockenheim 😭
There is a fantastic re-creation of Riverside for the Assetto Corsa simulator (many vids of it on here). That is the closest you will ever get to experiencing it now..
I'm glad that we have games like Assetto Corsa and super talented modders that bring tracks live these into the games regularly, so that even in modern times you can experience these insane historic tracks for yourself.
I drove Rouen les Essarts in grand prix legends and I thought it must have been a great challenge for the drivers back in the day. That's one I'd include. I liked watching the high speed blasts through the forest separated by chicanes at the old Hockenheim curcuit back in the late 1990s when Irish TV were showing live F1 races.
Great video - I recognised the incredible Charade from it being available on Assetto Corsa ; amazing track. My point being - if you want to drive any of these ; Assetto Corsa (and mods via Race Department) are the place to go.
Because of AC, I'm entirely surprised they didn't include the classic Monza circuit with the banked oval. I've driven it in-sim with the '60s Lotus, and it's fun, beautiful, and terrifying all at once.
Laguna Seca used to be a two miler with a high speed section leading from the front straight up to the corkscrew. In the late eighties they remodeled to have the modern 2.25 mile configuration and sequence of turns between the Andretti Hairpin and Rahal Strait. I once saw onboard footage of the legendary Toyota Eagle GTP on the original circuit and when it was heading up to the corkscrew it was scary fast. It was like a brake failure could've sent it off the hill.
The reason for the remodel was so they could keep the motorcycle event.
And seeing what happened in CART in the 90s, the redesign was basically required or else there would've been more fatalties.
@@Dexter037S4 I was just a kid back then, so I don't remember that.
Bridgehampton, NY!
killer video
I was at Silverstone in 1985 and it was so exciting to watch. I stood on Abbey Curve and there wasn't even a fence in the way!
Fuji Superspeedway, with Daiichi banking.
Montjuïc.
This list can be endless...
What a great collection of marvellous tracks. And so many more were already mentioned in the comments.
And you can race them all in Assetto Corsa racing simulation today...I have a great hobby 😉
Sim Racing = Best hobby I've ever taken up, in my opinion lol
@@JReaLBiz86 true...next best thing to the real thing
Charade seems like the Mt Panorama circuit in Bathurst Australia.
I was thinking this but Charade sounds more dangerous with the rocks. No information on animals on the Charade track.
@@LadyAnuB Johnson may argue about the rocks. Hehe
Yellow flag, echidna on track.
Some of the greatest racing I ever saw was at Crystal Palace. Many of the formula 1 drivers would drive in formula 2 cars on bank holiday Monday and it was brilliant to watch, especially the late, great Jochen Rindt who drove every car as if it was a go kart.
This is an incredible list, but I'm somewhat amazed that the classic Monza circuit with it's banked oval wasn't included.
I've (technically) driven the circuit in period-correct F1 cars and it's one of the most beautiful, most harrowing experiences I've ever had in racing, even in just a simulator.
To fly into those banked corners at nearly 200 mph in what is essentially a kayak with an engine and wheels is downright scary. Those men were superheroes.
The original Adelaide Grand Prix Circuit layout is now finished. The government conveniently renovated the O-bahn bus exit so buses arrive from underground into the city onto Grenfell Street. This feeds directly onto the path of the exit of the old turn 7/8 chicane (which has also been reprofiled and would have a nice dip in it to break a F1 car in half 😅).
Surfer's Paradise too, I loved the old version as the Indycars got some really quite high speeds up, but it was shortened for the V8 Supercars, and the light rail which went in precludes the original from ever being restored.
@@Gordanovich02 I never knew the old circuit couldn’t be restored because of the light rail system. Thanks for that. At least you got a light rail system. We just had our bus line extended 😂.
@@Gordanovich02 I have a mega circuit redesign for when F1 never comes back to Adelaide though 😁
it is also possible to drive the former Circuit de Charade, it's the D5F just next to the part of the circuit that carried on as such.
a very fun road indeed, full of tyre marks for some reason
Great video. In the USA I would add Bridgehampton NY. I had the fortune to race this in a Lola S2000 and it remains one of my favorite tracks. Terrible facilities but great fun to drive, especially through thunder valley. I can't imagine though how anyone could do this in a Can Am in the day. The downhill drop of nearly 130 feet on a double apex after the front straight would have been terrifying.
the current track at charade is just like a mini Nürburgring, in fact it has one of the tightest and highest gradient hairpins in the world, very fun to drive.
The original 8 km long Interlagos circuit would comfortably fall into this category. It was Ronnie Peterson's favourite track, and I believe Gilles Villeneuve's as well. It was a beautiful track with every type of turn, two respectable straights (the short one os now 'the' straight), among them the legendary Sargento hairpin with its 14⁰ banking whereby viewers could see the cars as if from above from the molehill inside the turn. People like Fittipaldi who raced the original and the current one says the one now doesn't come close to the way it used to be. Also, it had amazing visibility from many points of the track, for it was beautifully laid out in a tight package. For anyone who has never seen its layout, do look it up.
Long track in Baarlo Netherlands! Watched some iconic cars and racing there back in the days. I think it was the only quarter mile track in europe
You forgot “Jacarepagua” in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. One of the most competitive tracks used by Formula 1 in the 80s.
The old Sao Paulo circuit was funny too
Great list. Even greater is I can drive all of these tracks in Assetto corsa and in VR AND in great variety of cars!!😆
I tried Charade in an old sim-racing mod and loved it. I have a thing for those "drive out into the country and back to town" style of tracks.
Perfect way to describe them. Also a great feeling for the drivers to feel the town emerge at the end of the lap
Excelentes imágenes
The old AVUS circuit with the banked North curve is the literally definition of the word 'harrowing'.
Oran Park raceway in Sydney. My all time favourite Supercars track (besides Bathurst)
I can remember the last race on the shortened Avus in the early 90s. The DTM used to race there. You can still see the curves of the revised circuit - they're used to store recycling containers 😐
It was very not safe at that point
Hello,thank you for the video real circuits. Coud I sugest the first Interlagos. Very nice circuit as well. Thank you.
WOW ! ! ! ! ! AWESOME AMAZING SUPERB ! ! ! ! ! ! !
Solitude - Crystal Palace - Old Ostereichring - Old Mexico City - Old Kyalami- Old Proper Zandvoort... Original Watkins Glen... old Brno... in time all these memories will be gone - like tears in rain.
It really is a shame that Riverside is a shopping mall
Thanks to modders, we can drive many of the no longer existing tracks in sims like assettoncorsa
The Südschleife should be on this list.
Another US track that has gone away was a tri-oval in Nazareth, PA. The property is being re-developed by the current owner, so the chance of any future racing there is remote.
There's a youtuber under the name "Circuits of the Past" who goes on and visits these forgotten tracks and has pretty great footage of him driving around on them, if you guys like that short of thing visit his channel
I live in california, and I have visit Riverside several times, but I have never seen the track but I have seen the remains of it. However, the Riverside racetrack sounds very new to me because I am more of a fan of Laguna Seca, my father had race on the original course from the late 1970s until the mid 1990s, the last time he raced there was in the late 90s ever since the track had a remodel, he prefer the original over the remodel because the remodel made it challenging for him. He loved the original long straightaways of the track while still retaining the corkscrew turn. I find the original Laguna Seca from the 1950s until the 1990s be an interesting type of course. Because it seemed more of a simpler attract to race on instead of what it is today, I like the modern version. But it would be more interesting to hear more information about the original circuit because you rarely do hear about it.
Don't know if it's already been posted but Project CARS 2 features the original Spa track for you to drive on.
And classic monza i think
Jaceparagua is another circuit that should be on the list, no wonder the Brazilian Grand Prix went to Interlagos.
French road tracks were the most stunning and delightful pieces of tarmac for racing. Too bad their safety record wasn't up for the beauty and speed of the scenery
What about the old “TT Circuit van Drenthe”?! Now known as “TT Assen”. That circuit was the best circuit I have ever seen on camera footage. It had multiple lay-outs throughout the years. And all of them where unbelievable beautiful. Until 2006 when they cut the most exciting part for car parking and other projects that never happend. Now on that part, there is a school and a big empty building for vehiclefair and stuff like that.😢😡😤
The last race in avus was in the 90s dtm and a Formula siries did race there before the last race that was held somwhere in the 90s.
Well, I am Brazilian and I live a couple of blocks from it, so I have to remember Interlagos old circuit. The old circuit is there, and you almost could have a go. You just have to tear down some fences.
A nice local curcuit was Westwood. Same fate as Riverside. :(
For years riverside was the opening Nascar race in January
Bremgarten surely worth a shout? Infamously tough and twisty
Old Sebring being 5.2 miles long with the long straights is some of my favorite racing to watch compared to the modern Sebring track being 3.7 miles long n twisty
You forgot about the Southloop of the Nurburgring.
I cannot believe you didn’t include Mosport especially turn # 5.
The old Hockenheimring is missing. The blast through the forest and the twisty stadium section was legendary, especially in the V10 era.
Also Silverstone 1991-2009 was in my opinion the best layout ever, followed by the previous year's version. The modern circuit, just like the new Hockenheimring is just not what it used to be.
It's funny I always enjoyed the German GP from the old Hockenheim, it looked spectacular on TV, but apparently it was very unpopular with drivers throughout the ages, I think they it considered a bit dull, flat out for 95% of it and the stadium section a bit Mickey Mouse. I don't think it was ever really forgiven either, for being where Jim Clark, thought by many to be one of the greatest of them all, was killed in an F2 race.
@@Flipper-hd6cx Yeah old Hockenheim is great, but it was a deathtrap.
I enjoy the new track as much as the old one as it still has some of that character intact, being half fast and flowing, and half tight and technical.
Why build your house next to a race track if you can't stand the noise? Riverside's demise is infuriating.
I'm consistently irritated by the asinine selfishness of those who buy a house near an existing noise source, then have the affront to complain about its presence. I've heard of this with reference to legendary gig venues at pubs and here, like this, about race tracks. I despise the sentiment, I have to say.
Rouen, Kyalami, Montjuic and the proper Zandvoort would be on my list, I'd even suggest that a large element of the challenge was lost when they flattened sections, cut the hedges and installed run off and Armco at the Nurburgring.
What about the full Monza circuit (i.e. the current GP circuit plus the old banked oval)? This was the only circuit where cars crossed the finishing line twice on each lap...
By the thumbnail I assumed Jacarepaguá eould be mentioned. What a track it used to be in the 80s
Nice list. However, Avus still existed until recently, as a DTM Circuit, shorter, but still a monster!
Bridgehampton on Long Island in New York is sadly now a golf course. It was a spectacular track with a long and storied history.
The dangerous/decommissioned Monza banking is definitely on my list. 😂😂😂
Solitude and Rouen-les-Essarts!!
Jacarepaguá in Brazil!
I miss Riverside, for sure, several fond childhood memories of seeing NASCAR races there. And it was seriously uncool of California and the sanctioning bodies to let that track be wiped out for a shopping center.
Kyalami, Hockenheim, Montjuich, Ostereichring
Kyalami, Longford and Riverside
I am surprised how Hockenheimring not in this top 5 list.
If Charade and Silverstone qualify despite there still being a circuit at their location, then Kyalami should too. The old circuit had amazing flow; the new circuit is laughably terrible from start to finish.