The British company Apex Circuit Desing designed the 5410-meter-long Miami track, which develops around the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens. The lap time should be around 1’35 ”with an average speed of just under 217 km / h.
There should be overtaking opportunities at at least three points on the track, which runs through 19 corners. One of the most probable points is that of the hairpin bend of Curva 17, at the end of the 1.2 kilometer long straight which runs at 320 km / h.
“Competitions come first, that’s our company’s design philosophy,” said Apex design engineer Charles Metcalfe, who has been involved with the project since the plan began. “The ethics of our company is to test all the F1 teams, their cars, the engineers and, of course, the drivers.”
“So we focus on the curve sequences, a series of different corners, from the fastest to the slowest. To achieve this we do a great job of simulation and make sure that there are several curve sequences in one lap, in order to make the different setups easier ”.
“From Turn 4 to 8 you go at high speed and with high lateral gs, there the cars could struggle to pass and the performance out of Turn 8 will be crucial for the time. Two slower curves follow, 9 and 10, where we think there may be moments of tussle ”.
Miami GP track
Photo by: Miami GP
Apex wanted the track to really challenge Formula 1 teams in terms of car setup, adding slow speed sections along with high speed corners.
“In the third sector we have Curves 14-16 which pass under the Turnpike overpass. They were intentionally designed slow and with a change of slope to make the sequence more technical, ”added Metcalfe. “We designed ‘error generators’, which are the change in slope and grip at the apex of the curve that can result in a change in position. there a team can choose a setup that optimizes low-speed traction rather than high-speed grip ”.
“We try to test the race engineers and setups of their cars as much as possible. It’s a street circuit with some very demanding corners, so high downforce is expected, but we also have long straights with a sequence of high-speed corners that can favor a setup with less drag ”.
“There will be a trade-off between the downforce levels and it will be interesting to see the differences in top speed between the teams. We want to see a great mix to make the race as exciting as possible ”.
Miami track drone overview
Photo by: Miami GP
In addition to creating the layout of a track that works from a racing point of view, Apex also wanted to make the circuit interesting from the point of view of the spectators. For the inaugural event, in fact, the tickets in the stands were all sold within a few hours when they went on sale last September.
“Right from the initial design stage, we put different concepts on the table that focused on what we wanted from a racing perspective, considering how well it could integrate with the event for the spectators, how it could also work well for the teams and for the Formula 1, ”added Metcalfe.
“It is a great balance that leads to an iterative process where you go back and forth with all the characteristics of the circuit and the place that hosts it, to arrive at an optimal solution and approach”.
#Miami #designed #foremost #thrilling #racing