The Pit lane is weird:
it seems the track can be adjusted for several layouts.
Still not sure if i like or not...
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikvjwBEYk50 [/media]&feature=player_embedded#

 

The pit exit is kinda weird & new. Notice how BS (dont mean it to sound that way ) had to drive downhill and through a tunnel to get onto the front straight. We'll probably have incidents with cars going side by side through there. The circuit is as all the newer ones are, should be fun and a technical challenge for the drivers, may not make for much of a visual spectacle for viewers like us

Just my opinion. Also felt like Bruno was driving the car around a vast empty mall the size of the Tysons Corner mall in DC searching for parking

 

thanks for sharing. i like the circuit, its layout is exciting imo.

 

that's a very long pit exit. will be interesting to see pit strats

 

I want to be diplomatic about it, but screw it. Seems like another modern, six car wide snooze-o-drome. Take a look at the track map. It's boring. Race tracks need to be works of art... dramatic, organic, flowing. This thing looks like it was designed by some engineer that has no clue what racing is other than what he's read from a dictionary. The pit out looks like someone tried to reinvent the wheel and failed. Each turn looks like the last turn. It's a big featureless racetrack in the middle of a big, featureless sandbox.

Give me Suzuka, give me Spa... just no more of this crap.

 

here are a few positive comments and praise to the circuit by the GP2 drivers after their first taste of Abu Dhabi. im very excited to watch the race

http://www.formula1.com/news/headlin.../10/10138.html

and by david coulthard

http://www.formula1.com/news/headlin.../10/10136.html

 

I won't comment on your thoughts about the snooze part, but I will say that you are right about the similarity with the track

Hermann Tilke designed this track.. and he has done a lot of the F1 tracks I thought (I thought Peter Windsor or someone mentioned a while back that Tilke-design was almost a pre-requisite anymore if you wanted a track to host an F1 race)

 

quick wiki search...



1998 Sepang International Circuit, Malaysia
2004 Bahrain International Circuit, Bahrain
2004 Shanghai International Circuit, China
2005 Istanbul Racing Circuit, Turkey
2006 Cancun, Mexico *Undeveloped
2006 Beijing International Streetcircuit, China
2008 Marina Bay Street Circuit, Singapore *concept design
2007 Bucharest Ring, Romania
2008 Swedbank kartodroms, Latvia
2008 Valencia Street Circuit, Spain
2008 Jakarta Street Circuit, Indonesia
2009 Yas Island Circuit, Abu Dhabi-United Arab Emirates
2009 Cape Town Grand Prix, South Africa
2010 Dublin Street Circuit, Ireland[citation needed]
2010 Korean International Circuit, South Korea (under construction)
2010 Moscow Raceway, Russia (Planned MotoGP Venue)
2010 Kazakhstan Motor City, Republic of Kazakhstan
2011 Jaypee Group Circuit, Greater Noida, India (under construction)
201? International Circuit Simón Bolívar, Venezuela
Tilke was also involved in the radical overhauls of the Hockenheimring in Germany and most recently the Fuji Speedway in Japan. The alterations that were carried out to the Hockenheimring have generally not been well received by many fans of F1, who believe he has neutered a once great circuit. Tilke has also revealed plans for the reconstruction of Jacarepaguá in Rio, which will have staged the 2007 Pan American Games.

Tilke Engineering is also due to carry out work on Circuit de Catalunya, Autodromo Nazionale Monza, Nürburgring, Silverstone Circuit and La Ciudad del Motor de Aragon (Spain).

 

great tracks are a lot like great golf courses.
There are courses where the architect bends and forces the earth to his will.
Some of these are even pretty good, but for the most part they are benign and sterile.

but then there are courses where the architect has revealed what always laid just beneath the surface and these my friends are the truly great courses.
Laguna Seca comes to mind, Suzuka for sure.. Spa
these courses have character and a soul.

 

WTF are they going to do to Barcelona, Monza, Nurburgring, and Silverstone? No thanks.

[QUOTE=boltonblue,Oct 26 2009, 09:19 PM]great tracks are a lot like great golf courses.
There are courses where the architect bends and forces the earth to his will.
Some of these are even pretty good, but for the most part they are benign and sterile.

but then there are courses where the architect has revealed what always laid just beneath the surface and these my friends are the truly great courses.
Laguna Seca comes to mind, Suzuka for sure.. Spa