Mexico’s Peraltada corner renamed after Nigel Mansell

19 comments on “Mexico’s Peraltada corner renamed after Nigel Mansell”

1. 

   Optimaximal (@optimaximal)
   15th September 2015, 16:03

   Wow, some good F1 news at last!

   It was a shame to lose Peraltada, but you only have to look at the circuit map to see why it happened. I can’t imagine the stories the media would run with if Bernie personally turned up at houses in order to serve FOM Eviction notices and rocked up to fell trees in the name of all that is CVC.
   1. 

      BasCB (@bascb)
      15th September 2015, 16:07

      Actually its a highway running right behind the corner @optimaximal. Unless they would pay up to get that one UNDER the track (tunneled over highway), its highly unlikely the city would even consider moving that for the race tracks benefit!
      1. 

         Mijail (@mijail)
         15th September 2015, 18:46

         Oh that will be just simply amazing keeping the Peraltada and having the runoff over a tunnel. But all things considered the turn was just too dangerous plus getting the track inside the Foro Sol adds 20,000 seats which are already soldout.
         1. 

            BasCB (@bascb)
            16th September 2015, 7:10

            good point about the seat capacity use there @mijail
2. 

   BasCB (@bascb)
   15th September 2015, 16:05

   I like it, always good to have a named corner. Calling it Peraltada would be strange, because of how much it has changed. So now we can forever remember that great corner and a move that superbly shows its grandeur by Mansell when we hear the name.
   1. 

      beneboy (@beneboy)
      15th September 2015, 18:13

      @bascb
      I agree, I much prefer corners having names rather than numbers. Turn 8 at Istanbul being the exception.
      It’d be nice if some of the newer circuits named some of theirs, although maybe they’d need to wait for some of the current drivers to retire first.
3. 

   Jack (@jackisthestig)
   15th September 2015, 16:21

   Very good news, it’s nice to see the most underrated of the all time greats getting some recognition. I was surprised that none of the new infield section at Silverstone was named after Nigel or Murray Walker.
4. 

   Atticus (@atticus-2)
   15th September 2015, 16:47

   I don’t know, I’m not that enthused – I mean that move by Mansell represented blind faith and courage and none of these two characteristics are required for any of the corners in that Mickey Mouse complex at the end of the new layout. (As opposed to, say, Pouhon.) So I don’t think it’s fitting to name the turn after Nigel.

   It’ll probably be just Turn X or Turn Y for me during the weekend.
   1. 

      John Doe (@watertank)
      15th September 2015, 18:00

      1+
   2. 

      Duncan Snowden
      15th September 2015, 18:15

      I tend to agree. The thing about the old circuit (as far as I could tell from watching on TV and driving it in videogames) was that it was a bit like a smaller Hockenheim: part very high speed, part tight and twisty. That makes for a compromised setup and interesting racing. Not to mention, as you say, bravery. Taking out Peraltalda neutralizes the high-speed section – where once there was a single entity from turn 13 (arguably 12) to turn 1, there are now simply two unrelated straights – and turns the whole into just another medium downforce track. And, with the exception of a tightened 4-5-6 complex, they’ve actually made the twisty bit less twisty, thus compounding, not mitigating, the problem.

      I mentioned Hockenheim, but in plan view the old layout was almost half-Monza, half-Hungaroring. Which is interesting. The new one could be anywhere.

      Not that I blame the circuit owners; there wasn’t much else they could do given the current requirements for Grade 1 status and the shape of the site. Sad, though.

      But hey, it’s a nice gesture that at least recognises the corner’s illustrious past.
      1. 

         Atticus (@atticus-2)
         15th September 2015, 21:55

         The ‘old’ old track – not the one that was on the calendar in 1986-1992 but the one that was used in the Sixties – was, I think admittedly, indeed inspired by Monza – hence its gun-like shape and parkland location. In fact, if you travel onboard between the new Turn 3 and Turn 4, on the second straight, you’ll still get a narrow ribbon-like section with dense trees on either side of it, much like Monza.

         Despite the original intentions, I never thought of the Hermanos Rodriguez as a Monza-esque layout as it always had much more corners, most of them slower than those of the pre-chicane Italian circuit. The Mexican track was always, as you pointed out, tight and twisty, at least in part, around the upper section where there was an extremely tight hairpin back in the day. The hairpin, the old Esses and the Peraltada (the high-speed section) and a tricky decreasing radius Turn 1 were what gave it character in the first place – the first and the last of these were gone even by 1986.

         As for the new layout, I think it’ll be just another circuit with mostly low- and medium-speed corners. High downforce.
5. 

   John H (@john-h)
   15th September 2015, 18:26

   There really is no reason why they have made that corner so tight other than laziness. You could easily get the run off you need without turning it into a right angled disgrace.

   If I were Mansell, I’d be appalled to be associated with such a Tilke butchering. Ok, I think I’ve made my view clear on this whole episode.
   1. 

      John H (@john-h)
      15th September 2015, 18:36

      And look at all those constant radii corners everywhere on the track. An absolute disgrace by everyone’s favourite track designer. I feel like posting the office a French curve so they can try to work out what it could be used for.
   2. 

      GT Racer (@gt-racer)
      15th September 2015, 20:17

      @john-h At a guess i’d say its to keep the cars in the stadium area for a bit longer & to create a section where there’s a chance for a bit of racing for the fans in the grandstand.

      When champcar raced through the stadium 2002-2005 it was a pretty simple left hand corner & the cars were through there really quickly & it was an area where nothing at all happened & thats a big part of why they stopped running through there from 2006.
6. 

   JackySteeg (@jackysteeg)
   15th September 2015, 18:59

   Nice gesture. It’s not like the corner is still the Peraltada as we know it. Always nice to see a corner with a proper name too, although I suspect when it comes to the Mexican Grand Prix itself, it will be known as T17.
7. 

   mantresx (@mantresx)
   15th September 2015, 19:18

   Never been a fan of corners named after people, I much prefer to see names coming from physical features in or around them: Eau Rouge, Parabolica, 130R, etc

   Although with this in mind the new name would’ve been “Cortada” or “chopped off”. I guess Mansell is better then :)
8. 

   DK (@seijakessen)
   16th September 2015, 3:08

   Too bad the circuit has nothing left that remotely evokes why Mansell’s pass was so great.

   Another silly circuit layout.

   I feel bad for the kids today who watch these terrible circuits. They will never know the enjoyment that was to be gotten from circuit layouts before everything was deemed “unsafe”.
9. 

   Malc
   16th September 2015, 8:43

   I think Nigel’s moustache is what swung it – it is very South American :-)
10. 

    dex
    16th September 2015, 10:03

    Congratulations to our ‘Nige’ he is still in my top three most exiting drivers of all time!

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