2010 South Korean F1 track shown in new pictures on official website

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South Korea's F1 track in Jeonnam (click to enlarge)

We’ve had a glimpse before of South Korea’s F1 track, which is due to hold its first Grand Prix next year.

But now the official home page for the 2010 South Korean Grand Prix is live, complete with new pictures of the Jeonnam track.

The circuit was designed by (all together now…) Hermann Tilke, who is not far off having a total monopoly on F1 track design.

The Jeonnam track is 5.4km long and has the usual Tilke mix of over-taking-friendly sharp hairpins plus a couple of quick corners. It’s not clear from the diagram if it has much in the way of gradient.

Here’s how the race organisers describe the circuit:

The most notable characteristic of the Jeonnam Circuit is the fact that it has been designed as two inter-changable tracks; the F1 track (5.6km) and the permanent track (3.04km).

During ordinary occasions, such as domestic automobile races or motorcycle races, the northern part of the circuit (3.045km, in the shape of a hat) will be used. But during international motor-sport events, such as the F1 Grand Prix, an elongated track (heading towards Yeongam Lake) will also be utilized, extending the total length to 5.6km. In the past, several circuits within the country have made short-courses by temporarily blocking certain track areas.

But the Jeonnam Circuit is the first course to actually be designed as a dual-structure from the beginning. The Motegi Twin Ring Circuit of Japan has also attempted to combine an “oval course” with a different “general course”, but the Jeonnam Circuit is the first track in the world to have combined 2 different F1-standard-sized courses.

Another characteristic of the Jeonnam Circuit is its racing direction: counterclockwise. Only 2 of the 17 circuits listed on the 2007 F1 Calender (Turkey and Brazil), have been designed in this manner. The Jeonnam Circuit would be the only counterclockwise track located in Asia. Since most drivers are used to clockwise-direction tracks, the Jeonnam Circuit will serve as a unique, but challenging, experience for the world’s best racers.

The Jeonnam Circuit also has two separate sets of pits and paddocks (a facility used for storing and inspecting race cars) for the general track and the F1 track, respectively. This is an unprecedented feature in the world. By having 2 different pit facilities, the Jeonnam Circuit is able to offer sufficient space for other “support races”, which are also held during the F1 Grand Prix period. In addition, the 2 pits will allow larger parking room for the F1 race cars.

The Jeonnam Circuit has combined all the strong points of other famous tracks, such as Monaco and Indianapolis. The marina section, which is located in the southern part of the F1 track, offers breathtaking views of the nearby ocean. The Jeonnam Circuit will become the first permanent track in the history of F1, to have the ocean in the background. Within the marina section, a radial-shaped town (closely resembling Monte Carlo of the Monaco Grand Prix) will be constructed. This region will be developed into the greatest motor-sports cluster of the East.

See more pictures of the complex on the official site.

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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93 comments on “2010 South Korean F1 track shown in new pictures on official website”

  1. Robert McKay
    6th April 2009, 18:23

    Ocean view, dual-track style structure, double pit facilities, marina section, radial-shaped town.

    So another track where the facilities are the key point and the actual track layout is of secondary importance, then…

    1. Photo of the building work and a top-down map of the track here:

      http://www.korealifes.com/formula-1-circuit-near-mokpo-south-korea/2009/01/13/

    2. Robert, I totaly agree with you. Lets start building tracks for the tracks, not the locations

    3. Hello Robert!

      Actually, I was the proofreader for the above article and I admit that information is definitely lacking and there is a HUGE focus on facilites (there usually is here, it seems).

      After reading your post, I talked to my boss about the need for information and apparently, the information is forthcoming (which is not entirely helpful when trying to plan such a large trip, I realize).

      I ask all of you that are interested to directly email the KTO (Korean Tourism Organization) at visitkorea.or.kr. The more people voice what kind of information they need, the better chance we have of people listening! Cheers~

      1. Chris Yu Rhee
        11th May 2010, 13:58

        Is this Mimi? Do you ever go to Kim & Johnson’s in Seoul?
        We are going down to Mokpo the weekend of the 21st to check it out. I’d love to be able to get on-site to look at specifics for Keith. Do the organizers have any plans to make the English on the official website work?

  2. I’m hopefully going to be living in Korea next year, so I look forward to checking out this circuit in real life. But it does look very artificial and does have all the hallmarks of a Tilke-fail.

    1. Hopefully? You need to explain this one… I live here. Have for 7 years.

  3. Not optimistic about the track layout in my opinion.

    The marina section does look ok though, but I agree with Robert McKay it does look like they’ve focused on the facilities more than the track.

  4. HounslowBusGarage
    6th April 2009, 18:41

    Looks flat, doesn’t it?
    On the basis that 1 is a ‘nation’ pit complex and 2 is the GP pit complex, I think the zig-zag bit betweent he shoreline crescent and the dedicated track looks fairly naff. Real point and squirt stuff.
    The long straight effectively running between Pis 1 and Pits 2 starts and ends with a tight corner; not sure it will be any good for overtaking whichever way round the course is run.
    Sorry to be jaundiced, but it just looks like another compromise track in a property development.

  5. Why do we still have Tilke tracks coming in…..?

  6. they reseased their logo some weeks ago, for those interested in that sort of things. (maybe already covered here by keith?)
    http://f1bloggen.se/2009/03/26/koreas-grand-prix-visar-logo-infor-2010/

    1. Thankyou Daniel, I am a graphic designer so I was very interested in seeing the logo

  7. Pedro Andrade
    6th April 2009, 19:53

    The penultimate corner, around the marina, looks good, but the rest looks boring.

  8. corners… sure… but what we need is tracks going up and down like spa, istanbul or that new one in portugal…

  9. I actually think Tilke is doing a good job, given the limitations. If you look at why each track is bad, its because of location or some other factor (Valencia, Singapore eg.). This weekend we were shown the potential that Malaysia can have – there are at least 2 excellent overtaking opportunities on that track. Bahrain is also by no means boring (I have actually driven it, it is a lot hillier and exciting than it looks on TV).

    This new circuit also looks decent as well, I just hope it is very wide (it gives drivers more options). I don’t think they should have included a 90 degree bend though, since they are pointless/boring.

  10. Why has every new track got to have a Marina?

    Nothing will ever get close to Monaco (see Valencia). Singapore only works because its a night race, therefore unique. Abu Dhabi and Korea will be poor imitations of a traditional and historic event.

    Out of all the circuits Tilke has designed (and re-designed), he’s produced one good corner – Turn 8, Istanbul. The man produces flat and characterless tracks (Bahrain, China, Malaysia, new Hockenheim, etc etc).

    Get back to the classics. Or at least stop murdering them.

    1. as i mentioned in my comment just above yours, Bahrain is by no means flat – it just looks that way on tv. seriously.

  11. KingHamilton
    6th April 2009, 20:08

    facilities are brilliant.

    The track itself looks alright, better than some like Catalunya and Budapest but nothing spectacular

  12. Of course Singapore is also counter clockwise. And in Asia.

    1. I was about to point that out too, but facts have never gotten in the way of good marketing spiel…

  13. Just looks like yet another drab boring circuit. Looking at the calander for next year there are around 8 circuits that I would quite happily replace for better ones. That’s a lot considering I haven’t included this one, Abu Dhabi or the new Donnington as F1 hasn’t raced on these tracks yet.

  14. I think the point on new tracks is they need to promote a big real state area just to finance F1 installation, keeping in mind how is the unillateral deal of Mr. “I_want_all_for_me” Ecclestone.

    So I imagine all those “grey blocks” arround the circuit will become a big Bussines/Residential areas; technical carachteristics of the circuit remain a secondary priority.

    If one visit the webpage, there is a very interesting promoter’s chart.

  15. how about they just add canada back…?

    1. Yes please.

    2. the promoters in Canada apparently owe FOM three years worth of hosting fees. Chances of it coming back on any time soon are zero, unless it gets picked up by another promoter and some sort of deal is worked out (the chances of that happening in this economy are also close to nil).

      Some of the other more historical venues like Monaco and the German Grand Prix also have special deals with FOM where they don’t pay the full fees. FOM is keeping them alive because of their importance – something that wasn’t extended to Montreal.

    3. maybe its something they should extend to others as well….say…Silverstone?

  16. I like the look of it…

  17. Another example of money being wasted on another track that seems to designed by a scalelectric builder – good news north korea launched a ballistic missile – oops sorry sattellite?.
    Perhaps north korea can provide the opening ceremony/ firework display – wasted money – isnt the south being affected by the reccesion?
    When do they have their rainy season? – will it be floolit?

  18. Pretty facilities don’t make the track good.
    Boring.

    1. Amen.

      I thought the purpose of a racing circuit was racing, not an excuse to establish some new housing developments and take advantage of sea views! Someone needs to have a word with Hermann Tilke, I propose the following letter be sent to him…

      “Dear Hermann

      Please stop producing photocopies of your dull, boring and featureless “racetracks” all around the world.

      Just because a racetrack has a pretty hotel next to it or a sea view doesn’t take away from the fact that your circuits are useless. Trying to fool us by having races in the dark hasn’t worked either by the way.

      Love and kisses

      F1 fans”

      Anyone know Hermann’s e-mail address? ;-)

  19. Nik, I have a comment on yours.
    You say you like wide tracks, but think that wide tracks often looks boring and you have no sense for speed, tendentially.
    I mean, it is perfectly logical that a wide track make easier to overtake, but that are tracks like Spa that are narrow but allows overtaking also. For 2009 cars, i think there will be more chances to overtake, on all the tracks, even the most tricky.
    So, why not focussing on technical difficulties, bends, fantasy, up and down, hystorical tracks features, speed?
    I have enough of long wide airport straights followed by slow hairpins. The old Zeltweg tracks had no hairpin but overtaking was so common, as well as Zandvoort, Paul Ricard, Imola original lay out.
    With 2009 limited aerodynamics cars I think we can “dream even better” than before.
    Ciao.

    1. Ye a mix of both is fine – and there are some tracks that manage to be narrow, challenging and provide good overtaking opportunities as well. A circuit doesn’t have to be wide for the whole length of it (there is almost no point in having a wide straight), but by having wide corners you provide multiple ways that drivers can take a corner (as you see in a couple of turns in Malaysia). Also with no walls along the sides of a bend, drivers can throw the car around more without fear of meeting concrete.

    2. Imola has Tosa bend… But I guess it’ not a hairpin in the true sense of the word.

  20. I don’ comment Korean track lay-out, of course. :-D

  21. Robert McKay
    6th April 2009, 21:01

    I had a look at the website. Oddly, one of the things they seem most proud of of the layout is that it will be the second longest track in F1, behind only Monza.

    I was actually more interested to find out that Monza was the longest circuit on the calendar, seeing as Suzuka is longer. And Spa is a good kilometre longer than either of them anyway. :-D

    1. Sepang’s longer too – in fact 5.4km is pretty much the average length for a modern F1 track: https://www.racefans.net/2009/02/17/2009-f1-tracks-compared/

    2. Isn’t it scary, how the track promoters appear to have *no* experience of F1 whatsover? *shudder*

    3. Maybe they’re counting on none of those tracks being in the calender. I wouldn’t be surprised. After all, Canada’s gone, Usa and Farnce as well, yet the calender is still fairly full and space needs to be found for South Korea and India somehwere too.

  22. “it allows the race cars to reach their maximum speed, making the event even more attractive.”

    This line really confused me, seeing as most cars’ gearing is dependent on the circuit and they will therefore touch on their top speed at almost any event with a decent straight. And it claims cars will only go 200 mph, so it’s not as though they’re troubling monza.

  23. As Matt has indicated, hopefully this GP and the Indian one will not come at the expense of two European GPs.

    Maybe the only way forward is to have a F1West and F1East, as two separate series. F1West would be races in Europe and North America, and F1 East in the Middle and Far East.

    Bernie, Mo and Tilke can set up office in Peking and run the series from there. If Lou wants to join them, thats OK with me.

    1. That will not work..hahaha..but it would be cool though. I was suggesting something along those lines as well. Since Bernie has signed a deal to increase the races from 17 to 20, we might not see some of the European races go, but eventually, with more new circuits popping up, we will.

      Instead of two series, I suggested that races in Europe/America, that have been struggling to keep races form consortiums that would rotate races around a number of circuits. Like a Southern European GP would rotate around the likes of Catalunya, Algarve, Imola etc. So the race would visit each of these circuits once every three years.

  24. ‘The straight section of the circuit continues for 1.25km, making it the longest straight section among all international circuits (a record held until 2006).’

    So in other words, not the longest straight section among all international circuits.

    ‘The longest straight section found in North America and Europe is the Indianapolis Motor Speedway of the USA which continues for about 0.9km. But straight sections that are longer than 1km, like those of Korea International Circuit and Fuji Speedway, barely exist.’

    Yeah but as Keith wrote about, flat-out section is more important than straight section, in which case Korea is fifth.

    ‘But the Jeonnam Circuit is the first course to actually be designed as a dual-structure from the beginning. The Motegi Twin Ring Circuit of Japan has also attempted to combine an “oval course” with a different “general course”, but the Jeonnam Circuit is the first track in the world to have combined 2 different F1-standard-sized courses.’

    I swear almost every modern circuit has several configurations. The shorter configuration of this circuit would not be ‘F1-standard-sized.’ And why did Motegi only attempt two configurations? (In fact, Montegi is two completely seperate courses, so isn’t a real comparison. Although the ‘general course’ at Motegi has three configurations, so it’s still more than Korea).

    The amount of BS and nonsense actually makes me angry.

  25. I’m struggling to summon any enthusiasm for this one. It doesn’t seem to be distinctive in any way – pretty cookie-cutter from the looks of it.

    The short, fast right into the long right-hander looks interesting, and with the water on the inside it should look cool. But taken as a whole it’s got a couple of slow bends and a couple of quick-ish ones but nothing that makes it stand out.

    But let’s see what it looks like in real life. Istanbul didn’t look much on paper but it’s a decent track.

    1. Exactly right, you can’t judge a circuit until it has actually held some races. The guys who design circuits aren’t complete idiots – and I would have a bit more faith in them for now than armchair critics :)

  26. Reserve judgment since some of the Tilke tracks I thought looked rubbish in plans (Istanbul, Hockenheim) have turned out ok and vice-versa (Valencia, Shanghai, Singapore). Hopefully that street circuit bit actually has some scenery or thee can be an Adelaide-like park/street ambience but that’s what I thought would happen in Valencia and we ended up with a soulless concrete and tarmac canyon.

    It’s also strange that we never get to see any of the design process behind these tracks – rough drafts or alternative ideas etc. It’s just ‘Here it is, it’s great isn’t it?’

  27. yawn…

  28. The Jeonnam Circuit will become the first permanent track in the history of F1, to have the ocean in the background.

    I think someone needs to do some homework, East London in South Africa (used in the early 60’s) was situated right next to the coast.

  29. Glad to see the main page photos are from 2006

    AND

    most importantly

    one of the pics is Fisichella’s 2006 Renault. That’s like mirrored…

    like this:

    http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/5145/dibujoefo.jpg

  30. I’m guessing someone more knowledgeable is going to tell me, what about the dual circuits of Brand’s Hatch or Suzuka? Were those divided as afterthoughts?

    I like the design, but why build a town in the midst of a racing circuit -deliberately-? I understand if the town happened to be there first.

    1. I don’t think the Brands oval or Suzuka East tracks are F1-standard – these guys seem to be saying both their tracks are:

      the Jeonnam Circuit is the first track in the world to have combined 2 different F1-standard-sized courses.

  31. Eh. It looks okay. I’m not going crazy about it, though.

    “The Jeonnam Circuit also has two separate sets of pits and paddocks (a facility used for storing and inspecting race cars) for the general track and the F1 track, respectively. This is an unprecedented feature in the world.”

    Actually, no it isn’t unprecedented. Indianapolis has two sets as well.

    1. Doesn’t Spa have two as well?

    2. Spa does. Suzuka and Sepang have 2nd pit lanes on their shorter tracks, but with no or temporary garages.

      I wouldn’t say Indy does, it just has two different types of pits within the same pit lane

  32. At least its somewhere new to park the Ferrari FXX…..

  33. As a Japanese point of veiw, I’m glad that another GP is going to be hold in east asia.

    but I am worried about if Japanese GP is goint to be held in Suzuka in the future, now Honda the owner of Suzuka pulled out.

    Fuji is not as exciting as Suzuka and In Suzuka,
    we have lots of memories of showdown like Senna and Prost’s1989,1990, Hill and schumy’s 1994, Hakkinen’s1998, Raikonen’s2005 etc…

    I hope Japanese Gp is going to be held at least
    every two years.

  34. HounslowBusGarage
    7th April 2009, 9:10

    Being really picky, I just checked the FIA site and under APPENDIX O TO THE INTERNATIONAL SPORTING CODE, and under SUPPLEMENT 2 – MINIMUM CIRCUIT LENGTH AND MAXIMUM NUMBER OF CARS IN PRACTICE FOR AND AT
    THE START OF AN EVENT, we have
    ‘A – Minimum circuit length for FIA Championship events’ and then there is a table which shows that the minimum length for an F1 course is 3.4 kms.
    On the Korean Jeonnnan F1 site it says that the permanent course is 3.04 kms. It then goes on to say “but the Jeonnam Circuit is the first track in the world to have combined 2 different F1-standard-sized courses”
    In which case I hope that “3.04” is a typo for 3.40, or someone has got some stretching to do.

    1. I wouldn’t be surprised if they screwed up. No one reads the rules here…or obeys them.

  35. Can’t say I am that impressed by anything so far. They claim they have combined strong points from famous circuits such as Monaco, do they mean that it has a marina section?

    For me the strong point of Monaco is that it is a street circuit that allows no room for error and all the circuit’s history, the Monaco scenery is nice but is secondary to the racing. Unless I have missed something the marina section at the new track isn’t on roads and even if it is then it will probably have plenty of run off desgined into it.

    Does anyone know what time of year the first GP is scheduled for?

    1. “Does anyone know what time of year the first GP is scheduled for?”

      Its TBD. When it was added to the Wikipedia page[1] for the 2010 season, it was placed at the end of the draft schedule for no other reason than it being a new circuit. I would guess that it is more likely we would see it take place during the Asian leg – sometime after Australia but before Spain.

      There is also talk of Portugal coming back in 2010, and possibly the USA (to coincide with USF1). That would bring 2010 to 20 races, which was always the FOM target.

      [1] – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Formula_One_season

  36. Andrew White
    7th April 2009, 10:59

    I think this track can be split into three sections. First is three straights followed by tight corners (how imaginative). Then there is a Hungaroring-style part at the top, then at the end is a load of 90-degree, point and squirt corners (like the end of Singapore).

    The only redeeming feature for me is the last crescent at the very end, that looks quite interesting. But overall, it looks like another soulless Tilkedrome.

  37. We are a pedantic bunch. Of course, we wouldn’t have to be if their site had a single fact that was actually true.

  38. rubbish…stop putting asian circuit in calendar..more european circuit…im siad that even im asian!!!!!no korea,no india, no singapore, just japan and malaysia, its enough!!!

    1. Yeah..its too many races popping up in Asia. These Asian countries are looking at F1 purely from an economic standpoint, not for racing, how many Korean and Chinese racers have we seen?

      I think F1 should be a good mix, as it is a true global sport. We need to have more races on the American Continent, Brazil alone is not good enough. We need races in Africa too..this will cover all major continents. We need to maintain the European heritage too. If Bernie keeps this up, we’ll be waving goodbye to the likes of Spa and Monza, Imola already bit the dust.

  39. Hmm..They either thought noone would notice the blatantly incorrect ‘facts’, or they simply didnt know they were wrong – either way it doesn’t endear me to the project already – if anything it annoys me. How can somewhere who knows either so little about F1, or underestimates the intelligence of it’s fans so badly, be allowed to host a race, and unfortunately probably at the expense of a track with considerable F1 history.

    Oh yes thats it, they have buckets full of money…same old, same old. Frustrating every time it happens.

    Unfortunatly though, because of the specific tracks which are being lost in favour of all these new circuits, places like Abu Dhabi and South Korea etc dont really stand a chance with the fans. I would take Canada/USA/France over any new track, regardless of what it looks/races like. Which is kind of unfortunate for all these new places. I have already judged Abu Dhabi before it has even raced, just as i have South Korea – and I am sure I am not alone. Puts them on the back foot already – even if they produce a great race there will be negative things picked out about them that at places like Canada would have been overlooked.

    Mr E is all about increasing the spectacle – yet he is removing tracks reknowned for providing great races, and replacing them with ones that happen to have the highest bid. He contradicts himself a lot does ol’ Bernie – aiming at a European TV audience, then taking away their races; wanting exciting racing, but removing tracks which provide it – not that I am at all bitter about some of the races removed of late or owt! :P

    As for South Korea – I am sure the facilites will be excellent, and the whole place will be visually stunning, and all three people that go to spectate will have a much better time than those poor unfortunate souls that have to cram themselves into one of those dirty old tracks with about 100,000 other people, and have to suffer the horrible noise that all those 99,999 other fans will be making come race day.

    Rant over! :D

  40. ……………………………………………………………..:That’s what I think of it: forgettable

  41. Tilke’s circuits might actually work this year with the new car designs.

    His circuits have so called “proposed overtaking corners” so with the cars being easier to overtake, then these areas could come into good use.

    Also, as everybody knows from Monaco, street circuits are hard to overtake on.

    So why are they building tracks that are harder to overtake on?

    It totally contradicts the whole point of creating more overtakes.

  42. I hard to tell something about the new racetrack by just watching the drawings. Chosing a track location and layouot is like looking for a place to set an astronomical observatory; the goals are clear but the site is what determines the way you build it.

    I love classic circuits in Europe and some others that not longer are holding F1 races. Each classic has its own set of features, unique ones. there’s no recipe to follow that leads to an exciting racetrack, you can nailed or not. I don’t see much of a success on Tilke’s designs except from Turkey. I don’t know how he develops his work so I am not gonna criticise him.

    The challenge is to come up with something that open your eyes as an espectator -on-site or on TV, which is very hard to achieve- and as a driver. So basically you need a good piece of land with acceptable topography -no flats, please- and exploit them to make a track that it is 3-D, combines easy turns and difficult ones, with blind apexes, and places where you can go flat out -you dont need a 1 km straight-.

    Algarve circuit is gonna be soon in F1 and stay there for long ’cause they found a good combination of those things. Spa will be a classic forever ’cause its magical the way it flows through the topography, Monaco too, ’cause its like racing inside a cathedral, even at lot speeds everything is so fast and you cannot make mistakes..

    You dont need marinas, street circuits, top notch facilities to make a race track a classic, what you really need is a good piece of land and a track for drivers to be challenge

  43. A good piece of land is hard to find. Land is normally used or owned and to just tear up whatever is there for a racing track generallly doesn’t go down well. People never seem to understand that the land is acquired and Tilke is just asked to make the best of it.

    Contrast this to Spa where people decided that holding a race on the public roads between a few towns would bring in some money / tourists and just did it with no real safety concerns. Then they shortened it at great expense but with the track already part of their heritage. A track cannot grow organically like this these days as we think differently about risk and safety. There is more bureaucracy which mainly stops people doing poorly considered things without accountability.

  44. Prisoner Monkeys
    10th April 2009, 7:24

    I fail to see why this circuit is being so oorly received. Just because it isn’t another Spa-Francorchamps doesn’t automatically make it bad. Hell, if Tilke simply created another Eau Rouge, it wouldn’t be very creative and everyone would be all over him for that. Everyone seems to have their own ideas as to what the perfect Formula One circuit invovles, but no-one seems to be able to detail what that vision is; the few who can give only the vaguest suggestions.

    Yes, this circuit looks like Tilke raided his ideas drawer and stitched together two separate circuits … but that could be the thing that saves this circuit. If the top and bottom halves are different enough – and they certainly look that way – the race could prove very interesting indeed. I think it’s a lot like Valencia in that I’m going to give it the benefit of the doubt: it might have been bland before 2009, but the new regulations could very well make it much more interesting. I think a lot of the dislike for this circuit is stemming from the dislike of Hermann Tilke, but you have to admit that this is a hell of a lot better tha the proposed circuit for the French Grand Prix.

  45. Actually, Clive Bowen’s design for the new French GP circuit looks much more organic than this layout.

    This circuit doesn’t all fit together to flow as a cohesive whole, which is a rather different matter than different parts of a circuit having different characteristics from one another. There are just too many slow to medium speed corners on the Korea circuit.

    Also, Tilke has dropped in too many of these niggly little bends and kinks in the wrong places. A lot of the curves and corners that I liked at first glance I realized would NOT be nearly as good as I thought because I was just looking at about half the circuit. So even that arcing corner before the pit straight at the bottom probably will not be nearly as quick or exciting as I initially hoped. The left-hand bend immediately before those lower pits adds an extra change in direction in setting up for the straight. On top of that, it’s decidedly more difficult to set up an overtaking maneuver without a more obvious line down the straight. That is to say that if the well-defined corners at the beginning and end of a straight both go in the same direction, you naturally stay to one side and have a much more clearly set racing line, but if this is not the case, you have to cross the straight as you go down it, and this is relatively detrimental to setting up an overtaking manuever as compared with the first scenario. Then there is the matter of that bend after the lower pits, which I suspect could be rather like the setup for the hairpin leading onto the internal pit straight at Bahrain. That extra curve before the hairpin means that you have another apex, and therefore the guy in front takes an inside line and cuts off the run the guy behind had going.

    I don’t expect every new track to be Spa. Then again, Dubai Autodrome is decent, and Algarve is excellent; both are FIA Grade 1 circuits. Also, though only an FIA Grade 2 circuit, Potrero de los Funes in Argentina is new and is incredible. There are very good circuits out there that bend back on themselves: like Sears Point or Road America (so this is NOT a new concept). And I’d say that Riverside proved you could have quite a good road course in the desert. With all these examples, and plenty more I’m sure, I cannot hold Tilke to be innocent when it comes to being a relatively poor circuit designer on the whole.

    BTW, if leaving them alone meant F1 leaving circuits, I would rather that Hockenheim, Nurburgring, Fuji, Osterreichring, etc have been left alone and just said good riddance to F1. It’s not like they were making money off of F1 either anyway, and the circuits would have been better for it.

  46. NowImScared
    4th June 2009, 0:26

    I can’t even get the English version of the official Korean site to work. I have serious doubts about this one. Jun nam is not a very popular spot, and is WAAAAAYYYY off the beaten track. I’ve lived in Korea for 6 years now. We’ll see what happens.

  47. Uh-oh. Below is a link to a site that haas a picture of the area as of January, 2009. There is nothing. Just some grading. You won’t see any of those wonderful buildings either. They’re not there. They do this all the time (stretch the truth) in promotional materials for construction sites and new buildings in Korea. That’s what had me worried when I saw the artist’s drawings instead of actual pictures.
    They build things fast here, but not that fast.
    http://www.korealifes.com/formula-1-circuit-near-mokpo-south-korea/2009/01/13/

  48. After so many years of people talking about how great the classic tracks and classic turns are one would think that they would start to build tracks that resembled older tracks and turns that made this sport so fun to watch.

  49. Just looked at those new photo’s, its SOOOOO FLAT!!!!!!
    I just hope there is going to be some cambre in the corners and not much run off in the ‘street’ section, as the layout itself looks OK.
    However, I fully expect another Tilke bore-fest.
    :(

  50. The Jeonnam Circuit will become the first permanent track in the history of F1, to have the ocean in the background.

    what kind of a claim is this? who gives a flying f**k?! and what is this recent love between Tilke and building a ‘marina’ by the circuit? you can’t just copy monaco. I give up…

  51. I wouldn’t be so harsh…
    in SPA or Monaco, the scenery adds a lot to the track.
    Besides, the layout diesn’t seem so terrible I think. I am rather optimistic.

    Of course I don’t think it is sane to have ALL new tracks created by a single man.

  52. Its so weird every new track now has a marina.
    Its not about how it looks like on the outside its about the track isnt it?
    And I dont think FIA should be adding more tracks in countries who hasnt have much experience with F1. Just my opinion…

  53. Its so weird every new track now has a marina.
    Its not about how it looks like on the outside its about the track isnt it?
    And I dont think FIA should be adding more tracks in countries who hasnt have much experience with F1. Just my opinion…

  54. Prisoner Monkeys
    23rd September 2009, 13:25

    I dont think FIA should be adding more tracks in countries who hasnt have much experience with F1.

    So what are you saying? That they shouldn’t e allowed to develop a following simply because they don’t already have one? What if the next Ayrton Senna is some kid from Korea who turns on his television one rainy Sunday afternoon and is enamoured with the South Korean Grand Prix?

    1. You’ve never seen Koreans drive, have you? LOL

  55. gwenouille-There is no scenery around the track! Check out the photos posted by Chris Yu Rhee on the first page of this thread. There is NOTHING there. I live in Korea and know this place. The buildings shown in the artist’s conceptual drawings don’t exist now, and probably won’t for a long time. The economy is FLAT here, and no one is going to build a business park like that in an area that is solely devoted to farming. At this time, they only have HALF the funding required to complete the track. I am just worried that they’ll do everything half-ass (the norm here, unfortunately) and F1 either drops the race from the calendar in 2010, or worse yet, have the race here in 2010 and tell Korea “never again.” Then all Korea will have is a $100M+ loop of asphalt surrounded by rice paddies.

  56. when will these guys translate their site at least into english language?

    1. Probably never. There’s been very little in Korean about this event. As Maxwell Smart would say; “Missed it by that much…” This seems to be the norm in Korea. They almost get it right, but miss the finer, yet important, bits.
      Example – new four-lane highway to Incheon Airport, yet there are only two speed cameras and sensors. It makes me wonder what they are thinking, or if they are thinking…

  57. Please help me! I want to attend this race whether the circuit is bad or not. I want to know where the best will be around the circuit in ranking order since I don’t have any box invites. If you have some for me,(
    3) please name your price. Syd

    1. Please read my posts above yours. There is nothing but grading and some paving (maybe). They have on 50% funding to-date, so don’t hold your breath. I have not been able to find any info on obtaining tickets in English OR Korean! I don’t know if they can pull this one off in time…

  58. I think the track looks good but a little flat!

  59. They just reported that they had a successful ‘test’ at the track in Korea. Couldn’t find any info anywhere other than what I saw on the ‘ticker’ at the bottom of the tv screen while I was watching racing on a Korean channel.
    The official website has some more current pictures showing a lot more has been completed, but still nothing in English or Japanese.
    I’m hopeful but….

  60. Here’s the first rreal “info” I’ve found in English about the race. It’s on a blog here called “Korea LIFE’s”

    http://www.korealifes.com/

    It has some good info. I’m just amazed that the local government hasn’t done ANYTHING yet in English. The only mention I’ve seen of the race is on a new (lousy) racing channel on Skylife satellite t.v. (ch. 516).

    Did I see somewhere recently that the Korean Grand Prix wasn’t on a list of 2010 races on a preliminary calendar?

    1. No it’s definitely still on the calendar.

      1. Do you have ANY info in English on the race? I live in Korea, and I haven’t seen or heard anything.
        The Korean F1 site can be used if you have google toolbar and use their “translate page” button. It’s not 100% accurate, but you’ll get the jist of what they have…

  61. very nice structure. I think its very clean and effective. Dubai have also very good structures. I still salute them on that.

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