Valencia gets a lick of paint and turn names

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The promoters of the European Grand Prix at Valencia have reacted to criticism of the track’s appearance by painting parts of it green.

They hope this will make it easier for television viewers to distinguish between the 25 corners on the 5.4km track.

According to promoter Valmor Sports:

Valencia Street Circuit this year has a new colour in its design, this colour is green to simulate the grass and to give more colour to the path. This green colour will be more attraction [sic] to the television cameras that follow the Formula 1.

Two of the corners on the track have now been given names. Turn eight (the right-hander before the bridge) is now called Curva Marca Leyenda and turn 25 (the left-hander which brings cars back onto the start/finish straight (has been named Curva Boluda).

The track certainly needs something to make it appear more distinctive on television. This may help but from reading the comments on this earlier article I suspect most people would prefer the circuit received more drastic treatment.

The organisers have also laid a 2m-wide strip of artificial grass at the exit of turn 20 to discourage drivers from using the run-off there as an extension of the circuit. And exit kerbs at turn five, ten and 14 have been replaced by a 25mm high ‘slant’.

Read more: "Not the most interesting circuit" – what the drivers say about Valencia

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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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55 comments on “Valencia gets a lick of paint and turn names”

  1. Oh dear…somehow I don’t think that is the solution to the track’s problems.

    1. Sush Meerkat
      23rd June 2010, 0:36

      Come on Kate, its green paint like they put on the tyres, it means eco friendly!.

      GO GREEN!.

      I actually have a lovely green tshirt made by Ksubi, and I’ve noticed a definite decrease in consumption of Lucozade when I wear it.

      1. I personally think some grass and grvel would do the trick…or a tyre barrier?

        1. I think pits full of fire and spikes would be just what Valencia needs to “spice up” the show!

          1. Or how about some shortcuts?!

          2. A loop the loop!
            Weeeeeeeeeeeeee!

          3. Or better yet, You know how F1 cars can travel upside down at high speed due to forces the car generates?

    2. They must have misunderstood. We wanted them to put some green in there, i.e. Trees, not paint the tarmac and walls green!

    3. seems odd to me on the street circuits they don’t paint the walls the red green and yellow colours of the three timed sectors.. then you;d know where on the track the cars are and at least it wouldn’t be so bland..

  2. Wow now that will solve ALL problems with the track. Give it some green and it will help overtaking and make exciting racing (maybe if they paint all of it green and cause grip levels to go WAY down.. Now that would make it very interesting)…

    Sigh.. Track needs something more.. Zzznnooor fest.. Let see if I can manage to stay awake THIS year (failed the last two years).. Track got a awesome total of 4 on track overtakes in the two years it been used.. Granted Catalunya had only 2 each the last 2 years and this year had 11. But I will not hold my breath in hope of a exciting race with many overtakes (well unless Ferrari or McLaren decided they want to start towards the rear and fight their way up the grid again)

    1. “Track needs something more”

      Like a bulldozer? Or some TNT? :P

      1. Killing my self laughing. Golden comment.

    2. Well if you wake up, you might have a better chance of finding out what corner they are in. That is a very big improvement :-(

  3. Ah-ha! I knew it could be done!

    Other circuits take note: you can now have tarmac run-off AND the illusion of having grassy verges.

    1. I guess Bernie told Valencia: be more like Abu Dhabi – so they looked, saw they have a lot of buildings around already, and decided they needed the green, as the rest of their race was almost as interesting as the last one of 2009.

  4. Here’s an idea: grow some real grass on it. Then it will be greener in all senses of the word.

    1. have a grass section, like rally cross.

  5. Keith, typo:

    “most people would prefer tge circuit received more drastic treatment.”

    1. Fixed it thanks, and added a paragraph about two of the corners getting names.

  6. how bout a giant statue of adrian newey whose mouth is a tunnel like monaco?

    1. … and the tunnel exit ???

      hmmm, goatse style, I like it.

  7. How will painting green will help improve good racing?
    I don’t think that this is a good solution.

  8. Just pull the barriers in a wee bit… that way its a bit more of a challenge for the drivers and we can make out the car park … uh.. I mean the circuit a lot better.

  9. Lets just raise the amount of overtaking and cut the track in half,tighten the crcuit and put tnt on it………………….!!!!!

  10. Andrew White
    23rd June 2010, 7:57

    Painting the walls blue did absolutely nothing last year, and I expect the same this year. It’s just a gimmick to try and get round the problem that the track is terrible.

  11. The nice patterns at the side of the Bahrain track did nothing for the race, what difference is green paint going to make?

  12. The painting is a good idea. It won’t make a difference to the racing but anything that adds character to a track is worthwhile.
    The way the sport is viewed is VERY important. Very often the actual speed of the cars is lost. That is because the cameras zoom right in and pan with the cars. More static shots are need to show the speed. Then even Valencia will be spectacular as the cars hurtle between the walls.

    1. Except the walls are a bit far away, so that hurtling does not come of so well.

      1. The static shots should not be zoomed in. The walls would be very apparent.

        The idea would be to simulate the sort of views a spectator would have. I’ve been to lots of GPs and you really get a feel for speed and that doesn’t filter through onto the TV screen.

  13. There’s one thing the Valencia track needs: A dozen bulldozers and some track designers that have a brain (Tilke doesn’t)

  14. Just scrap this track and go to the avus ring. I mean, 2 loooooong straights followed by hairpins, how overtake-friendly do you want to have your track :D. And it’s an autobahn, so there will probably be trees around the track to add to the fake impression that f1 is green. And the surface will also be dirty, which is bad for tires but good for spectacle.

  15. painted green……………..is this the next step in F1’s ‘green initiative’ ?

    oh, and may I suggest the use of C4, rather than TNT…it smokes much less, so is therefore much more environmentally friendly

    …lordy, green paint, fake grass and named 2 corners…………yup, that’ll spice up the show, all right….they’ve fixed everything that was wrong with the venue, and still had enough euros left to buy ices for everyone ……….. EGAD!

  16. “Simulated grass”… now I’ve heard everything :D

    1. Which team has the best grass simulator though?

  17. How about they take the bridge away? They could put a ramp on there instead.

  18. Why not a fake forest of trees?

    Money businesses lead to the funniest and most ridicolous solutions.

  19. Ahahahaha.
    LOL

  20. But I like that at least a few corners now have names. In all honesty, with Spain having to worry about not going they way of Greece, I don’t think we could expect them to put a lot of money in a refurbishment.

    It will make it easier to identify where you wake up again after a snooze during the race.

  21. It just gives the drivers an excuse: “The track is green, you can’t overtake or go off line anywhere”.

    Only 23 more corners left to name – everyone in F1 will still refer to them by number though, which is lousy communication with the public – it’s like the Race Control announcements – “drive through for car 12” – why not use the driver’s name?

  22. Move the barriers closer and grow some real grass.

    If they really want to push the boat out put some gravel traps in.

    More challenging circuit = better racing

    It seems they fail to realise this fact.

  23. I’m actually going to say good on Valencia. I hate how sterile some tracks are with turns 1,2 3 etc. It even seems to make Turkey’s turn 8 sound dull. Valencia is at least trying to give it some soul

    It’s a little thing and yes, the corners should actually be changed to improve the racing but they’ve seen a problem/issue and they’re addressing it. Rome wasn’t built in a day :P

  24. I’ve never liked Valencia, and for the past 2 years, all I’ve been thinking is “You know what, this race would be so much better if they painted some of it green, and I really want 2 of the corners to have names…” It’s going to be a brilliant race this year, now that it’s green!

    1. I share your enthusiasm. Hopefully it will create the same kind of effect as the ‘green stripe on the tyre’ move. That gave F1 a massive boost in my humble opinion.

  25. They could always paint white traffic-lines on the circuit in random places to give a bit more authenticity as a ‘street’ venue.
    I have the impression that most of it is left alone by the daily Valencia traffic. Does anybody have any proof that those really are ‘streets’ when its not pretending to be a ‘cicuit’? :-)

    1. Looking at the aerial photographs I don’t think they’re real streets and according to the media kit (emphasis added):

      the asphalt is formed by layers of modifed tarmac with great resistance to horizontal stress, typical of competition track surfaces. It also has the usual systems of drainage and, unlke the rest of the streets in the city, it does not have any sewers.

  26. Are you sure it’s called Curva Boluda?, Boluda is an insult in Argentina and I think in all Latin America.
    But it’s a good description of the circuit as a whole. ( It can be used to say it’s extremely easy or simple )

    1. Boris, you just beat me to that!

    2. Wow, that would be really a great stunt!

      Have the promotor call it an “idiots corner” for the “simplemind circuit”!

      Great spot, let’t take that for COTD.

  27. Promoters should have taking into account the meaning of boludo, boluda for the South American audience…

  28. If they really want to discourage people running wide at turn 20 instead artificial grass I think they’d find an armco barrier would be far more effective

  29. HounslowBusGarage
    23rd June 2010, 20:02

    I think you have all misunderstood.
    They’re going to paint bits of the *track* green! Nice, slippery, Dulux, pea-green Gloss. Great fun in the wet
    Anything to add excitement, eh?

  30. They’re going to need more than a lick of paint to make this circuit produce an interesting race! What will they do next – a jump and a water hazard???!! :-)

  31. Boluda is the name of an enterpreneur (Vicente Boluda) in Spain. Hence the name of the corner.

    And actually, Keith, I would hate to be an a*s, but last year that corner already had that name. Not sure about Turn 8, but 25 was definitely “Boluda”, last year.

    Greetings.

  32. Does ” [sic] ” just get used in articles to notify poor grammer or wording of sentences from quotes?

    Anyway, I somehow don’t think paint is going to do anything, maybe oil would though like last year when Vettels engine blew :D

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