More On The Grand Prix Of Turkey And The $200 Million Istanbul Park Circuit

More On The Grand Prix Of Turkey And The $200 Million Istanbul Park Circuit

© 2005, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Categories:

THE TRACK OF A THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS ROUND 16 – GP OF TURKEY – PREVIEW The motoGP circus is moving back to Europe and precisely in Istanbul, Turkey for the 16th round of the season. Besides Shangai, this is the second new track this year and both riders and technicians of the Team Movistar Honda are curious and interested to visit this new Turkish track. SETE GIBERNAU: “L’Istanbul Park is a completely new track for all of us. I have seen the circuit and the layout of the track in TV but we can have a clear idea only the first day of testing. We have no data, this a good chance to use positively. It will be important to understand the track in order to interpretate it in the best way. ” MARCO MELANDRI: “I’m very happy to race in Turkey, a completely new track. This year it happened the same in China, Shangahi was a new track for all the riders, i liked it and i did a good race. I hope to do the same next weekend. In TV the track seems very nice. I look forward to go and see it. Moreover, the GP of Turkey is a very important race if we think at the championship. I have the same points of Nicky Hayden. At the beginning of the season the second place in the championship was just a dream, now it is my target. I really would like to gain the title of vice champion, this would be the best way to thank Fausto Gresini, Honda and HRC that have belived in me.” THE TRACK Right in between East and West, the Istanbul track rises in the Oriental part of the Turkish capital of Istanbul. In a city which is football mad, famous around the world for its teams, Besiktas, Galatasaray and Fenerbahce, the best sporting establishment is that of a racing nature. It is Istanbul Park, a circuit which was built 35km from a city which can already boast a record. It is in fact the only track which hosted three international events in its first year: Formula 1 (21st August) DTM (2nd October) and MotoGP (October 23rd). Built in 2004, Istanbul Park is a futuristic establishment. The track, together with the infrastructures, cost the city more than 200 million dollars (the track is owned by the Chamber of Commerce). According to the paper Zaman, it is around two times the initial planned budget. The Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan justifies this investment. The structure does in fact represent a strong incentive for the economy, the power of the media used during events like F1 and MotoGP are priceless. In a city where tourism is already amongst the strongest industries (in 2005 the tourists will spend in Turkey about 18 million dollars), the return of the expectations during these popular events is huge. For their jewel, the organizers of the Turkish GP entrusted themselves to the experience of Hermann Tilke, the brain behind the tracks of Sepang, Bahrain, and Shanghai. The project phase lasted one year, the realization two. The location of the track was chosen due to its closeness to main motorways and airports. The track does in fact rise in the Asiatic area, alongside the motorway which connects Istanbul to Ankara, close to the International Airport of Sabiha Gokcen, one of the two airports of the capital. Plus the chosen area was particularly good due to its undulated conditions. Working on vast areas, the German architect was able to give freedom to his vast imagination. The end result was a track of 5.333 meters with 14 corners. Corners 1 and 2 may remind you of the Esse Senna of San Paolo. Corner 9 the Spoon corner of Suzuka and corner 11 the Eau Rouge of Spa. The track is just a scarily continuous up and down with the first left corner going downhill 250 meters after the start. There are even two uphill areas: long and steep is the first one which begins after the second corner, the second is very concise, half way through the track. It is a quick track, even though the straight is only 720 meters long. Both the garage and paddock areas are enormous. The two VIP towers are overpowering (7 floors each) and the stands: the main one can hold 30.000 spectators, and the others another 50 thousand. The car parks can hold 12.000 cars and, to help move about, there are 4 tunnels and 3 bridges. THE CIRCUIT IN BITS AND PIECES TRACK length: 5.333 mt long WIDTH: from 14 to 12.5 mt. Number of corners: 14; 6 right ones and 8 left one. Straights: 4, the longest of which is 720 mt. (655.5 the finishing straight) Max inclination: 8.145% SPECTATORS: Main strands, 30.000 other stands 50.000 Natural stands: 50.000 parking spaces :12.000 TOTAL area coverage: 2,215.000 square meters THE PROJECT: 120 Specialists work in the studios of Hermann Tilke, 50 of these worked on the Turkish project. Between 3 and 6 specialists followed the physical construction of the site. The project phase lasted a year and the building 2 years. During the final rush to finish 1,500 workers were used dividing themselves in to two shifts of 10.5 hours each. More, from a press release issued by Camel Honda: This brand new Otodrom International circuit was completed in time to stage the very first Turkish Formula One Grand Prix in August this year. The 5.340 kms track is situated 60 kms east of Istanbul and was designed by Herman Tilke who was also the designer of the Sepang and Shanghai circuits. The track runs in an anticlockwise direction and is spread over four levels containing 13 corners, six right and seven left. The start and finish straight is comparatively short at 720 metres and the MotoGP machines should reach a top speed approaching 300 km/h. The event on Sunday will be the first ever MotoGP race in Turkey. FROM THE SADDLE Alex Barros: “When I woke up on the morning after the Phillip Island race I stayed still for a moment, positive that if I had moved I would have seen stars. However things are going a little better than I expected. I find it hard to move around, and my left side is hurting a lot, but I have to say it’s not as bad as I feared. It’s obviously not the best thing to be going to a new track in less than perfect physical condition, but I hope to make a quick recovery in these rest days.” Chris Vermeulen: “With a race under my belt I hope things will be slightly easier this weekend, even though the track is completely new and there’s a lot to learn. The bonus is that it will be new to everybody. Now I’ve got a bit more knowledge about the bike and the tyres, and my objective is to do better than we managed in Australia. I would like to have a good practice and finish the race in the top ten. We’ll see, I’m very calm about this whole experience and I’m thoroughly enjoying it.” CIRCUIT – TURKEY GRAND PRIX – 23/10/05 ISTANBUL Track data: Length: 5.340 kms Pole Position: Left. Width: 14 – 21 m Right corners: Six Left corners: Eight. Longest straight: 720 m Constructed: 2005. New circuit – no records. TECHNICAL INSIGHT – TURKEY GRAND PRIX – 23/10/05 ISTANBUL The Istanbul circuit is one of the few circuits that is negotiated in an anticlockwise direction. Its layout makes the task of finding the right settings for the bike very complicated because there is a mix of very fast corners taken at full throttle and also very slow corners. In addition the constant changes in elevation will make it even more difficult to find the correct suspension settings in the short space of time available in practice before the race. The track starts with a short start/finish straight and the first corner is a relatively slow left-hander which should make for some spectacular braking at the end of the straight. There then follows an impressively long right-hand corner which will be one of the most important points on the track. This corner will affect the type of tyre used because the right side of the tyre must be made of a hard compound to withstand the excessive tyre wear since the rider accelerates from second to probably fourth gear through the corner with the bike leaning over. Three corners follow in a short distance one after the other, two of which are very slow and taken in first gear. After, comes a downhill straight until the rider arrives at another very slow corner, taken in either first or second gear, which is also the point where the track starts to rise uphill. This will probably be a popular overtaking point. After this climb there are three left-hand corners, very similar to the three successive corners in Qatar which gave so much emotion in the last race. There then follows a downhill section which takes the rider up to another slow corner which leads onto a first straight. This straight is followed by an impressive right hander which will condition the top speeds reached on this track. This will probably be in the region of 320 Km/h because after this corner, taken in fourth gear or maybe fifth, there is still 700 metres more straight to follow to build up speed. After reaching this top speed the rider must brake sharply to take a second-gear corner and then three successive corners with two changes of direction. To sum up, the mechanics will have their work cut out in finding the ideal settings for the bike and also the right tyre compound at this circuit. It might be the case too that oversize brake discs are fitted not only because of the heat, but also due to the heavy braking points which stress the normal size discs.

Latest Posts

WorldSBK: Bulega Undergoes “Arm Pump” Surgery In Italy

Nicolò Bulega underwent surgery for compartment syndrome Nicolò Bulega underwent...

How To Identify Real Vanson Leathers

Vanson has been producing jackets, riding/racing suits, and other...

Kato Named New President Of Yoshimura Japan

Editorial Note: Yohei Kato is the grandson of Yoshimura...

Suzuki Hayabusa Anniversary Celebration Scheduled April 27 In Concord, NC

SUZUKI HAYABUSA ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION COMING TO CONCORD, NC “Hayabusa Homecoming”...

Oxley Bom Podcast: Hanging With Jorge

Roadracing World MotoGP Editor and Isle of Man TT winner...