Circuito de Jerez, Jerez de la Frontera

I strongly hinted on New Years Eve that my blog will have a slightly different focus. I provided a teaser picture last August. I spoke about the project last December and January. It's been well over a year in the making, but it is finally here. My grand project.

This project involves a recreation of every single circuit on the 2014 Formula One calendar, along with several additional circuits. These are not photo-realistic models - these are representations designed to better delineate the differences between track/grass/gravel run-off and that. Each will be textured accordingly.

Included in each post will be a series of images highlighting the key aspects of each circuit, different aspects of the track history, and on some, you'll get to see me drive a lap of the circuit in F1 2013! (Please note: actual lap recorded for purposes of uploading may not be very good). The basis of each of the circuit models comes from the different F1 games, along with GRID and such. These are then feverishly edited to present this.

Enjoy.

Nation: Spain
Locality: Jerez de la Frontera
Track: Circuito de Jerez
Purpose: F1 race host (1986-1990, 1994, 1997), F1 Pre-Season testing circuit (current)
Lap Record: 1:23.135 (1997)
Typical lap-time: 1:19.000 (2013)

Overhead shot. Start-finish straight is in the middle.

Angled shot.

The start-finish straight. Turn 1 is quite steep and the opportunity exists for late braking into the turn, making it an ideal overtaking spot.

Turn 1 as the driver sees it - it is still quite steep from this view.

Turn 2 - Deceptively tight and it's very easy to get eager on the throttle and run wide.

A high-speed change of direction makes it very easy to run wide through this corner.

The hairpin is another of those corners that one finds themselves over-eager on the throttle. Back off and open up the section from here because it's long and near full throttle.

The final turn. Stay clear of the inside of the corner to begin with - it's far more important to clip the apex through the second part of the corner and launch your car down the start-finish straight.

Despite the relatively flat nature of the circuit, the track is surrounded by hilly areas. The track is highly abrasive, making tyre management critical to success at this circuit.

And now - my lap of the circuit showing you pretty much the exact opposite of what I told you before. Enjoy.