2012 Rome Grand Prix Circuit Revealed

[Nin13]

* Ecclestone gave his OK and will help Rome to “realise their dream”
* First it was intended to use more of the Cristoforo Colombo street, but after Hermann Tilke’s visit this project was changed and new track was mapped.
* Track: start on Tre Fontane street (where paddock would be build using rugby fields), left turn to Val Fiorita street going uphill to Colosseo Quadrato (Mussolini time monument), turn to the Cività del Lavoro street with a chicane on Agricultura square, right turn to Cristoforo Colombo street and up to Marconi square, U-turn at Marconi square around the obelisk at the widest radius (there is still a possibility that this turn will be further on Colombo around Palalotto building so that cars will pass the bridge over the lake), after turn back in direction of City centre on Colombo, right turn at Industria square, downhill to the left to Luneur park, left turn to the start/finish line.

First turn


Second turn


Hairpin at the monument


Final turn


From- http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2009/05/13/2 ... -revealed/

Your views about the circuit??

[Captain Hammer]

I fit goes ahead - and to be honest, I'm sceptical - it's going to be the shortest on the calendar. I measured it in Google Earth and it clocks in at just 3.20km; Monaco, the current shortest, is 3.78km. I think the FIA would want it to be a little longer than that, so I can see the cars going all the way down across the lake. If that were to happen, I can see a lot of potential for the corners at what is now the hairpin; it done just right, they could be the kind to turn that you can take flat out if you have fresh rubber and are feeling brave (or stupid), but if your rubber is worn and/or you're not up to it, you'll have to lift off or squeeze the brake pedal. A kind of Eau-Rouge-meets-Becketts/Maggotts/Chapel in a street setting (yes, I post as PrisonerMonkeys on F1 Fanatic).

But I think a lot of the circuit will depend upon how wide it is. At the moment, it's looking pretty narrow with just two lanes and the shoulders. While looking on Google Earth, I noticed there's a lot of potential for some more interesting corner types at the wider points, albiet man-made ones across intersections; instad of ninety-degree corners, how about eighty- and hundred-degree ones?

[Jack O Malley]

I think this would be totally crap... Much more boring than Valencia.
Why build such a circuit when Gran Turismo's developers have already realized a much more better one?



This would be funny, with fast and slow corners, and goes around the archeological sites.

The start/finish line would be on the southest straight, and it will be run clockwise. Cars will head for Circo Massimo, then after the fast right turn they will head for Costantino's Arch. Then a turn around the Colosseo, a short straight on Via dei Fori Imperiali and a slow, hilly section around Via Cavour, Nero's Domus Aurea and the Colosseo again. Then a long straight again, with a left sweep and two slow right-handers, before rejoining the start-finish line.

This would be amazing, and it would be 4.6 Km long.

[Captain Hammer]

And it's actually really, really narrow in places.

Why should Fomula One visit all the well-known landmarks if it's in a famous city? We hear people complaining about new circuits where the emphasis is more on the acilities and the circuit design, but to me, a scrapbook of famous landmarks is no better. The EUR district where the proposed circuit exists actually has quite a few lesser-known landmarks, like the "Square Colloseum", the obelisk and a massive sports dome a little further to the south (where the possible extension would run). The whole area was created for an expo by Mussolini in 1942 that never eventuated, and was supposed to celebrate twenty years of fascism in Italy at the time (so you know it's right up Bernie and Max's alley).

[Jack O Malley]

And it's actually really, really narrow in places.

Why should Fomula One visit all the well-known landmarks if it's in a famous city?

I know, you're right. It was a joke, it's almost obvious that a F1 race can't be held on such street (the part between Via Cavour and back to Colosseo is actually a narrow one-way road). I wanted only to emphasize that the EUR circuit seems to me very very boring.

[Captain Hammer]

Actually, I was thinking more of the switchbacks around the Colosseum itself. If you wiped out going through the left-hander, the worst-case scenario would see debris landing on the return journey, the right-hander around the outside.

[Ben Gilbert]

I think the problem with holding a street race in most european cities is the architecture. Very pretty it may be, but most of the older areas have very narrow streets, so can't be used. So that rules out any area of interest in a city, and the only areas that can be used are in the outskirts, where there is more space, but nothing of any real scenic interest. Granted, Singapore is an exception, but both it and Australia grew up as nations with the city (and car), so were able to plan how the streets went to accomodate large amounts of traffic. In most of Europe, the large urban areas grew up several hundred years before the car, so their streets could not be altered. Hence the limited overtaking at Monte Carlo.

[Ross Prawn]

Build an oval on the Circus Maximus. Ok, i know it will be little tight but .....

Max can watch from the old Emperor's palace balcony, and have Ron fed to the lions before the main event.

[Captain Hammer]

Something weird: this video shows a completely different layout.

[Nin13]

Rome Grand Prix track video lap-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoPsUO_wDBI

They’ve an official website has been launched with a video lap of the proposed track.

The 4.8km circuit shown in the video has some differences compared to the tracks seen earlier. Specifically, it features quite a few more slow corner, presumably to reduce the speed of the cars in places where there is insufficient run-off.

The track has 28 corners and a projected race distance of 66 laps.

Situated in the south of Rome, the area is served by a motorway with good links to the nearby Leonardo da Vinci airport.

[Captain Hammer]

Yeah, that's the video I just linked to.