Paul Ricard High Tech Test Track

It appears that Delhi could be preparing itself to build a dedicated F1 facility in the near future (see our News section for more). It, therefore, may be a good idea to look at some state-of-the-art racing circuits around the world for inspiration.

One such circuit, which is widely regarded as being the safest in the world, is the Paul Ricard High Tech Test Track in the South of France. I had the opportunity of visiting the circuit last month, and was awestruck by what is an incredible facility in a beautiful setting. The facility has excellent infrastructure, which even includes a private airport and luxury hotel.

The Paul Ricard track, which was once the home of the French Grand Prix, is now uniquely positioned and marketed as a high technology test track, hence the rather long name. There are no professional races held here – it's a test track for a wide variety of cars ranging from Formula 1 to Le Mans prototypes.

The greatest advantage of testing here, especially for Formula 1 teams, where time equates to bags of money, is the fact that they don't loose a great deal of time if and when a car has an off track excursion.

Most tracks have gravel beds that slow a car when it leaves the track. At Paul Ricard, they have patches of especially developed high-friction tarmac (the 'pop art' style blue stripes you see in the images), which essentially serve the same purpose of gravel traps. This highly abrasive surface works brilliantly at slowing a car that's spinning off the track, eventually bringing it to a stop – preferably without crashing into anything.

On a regular track, if a car gets stuck in the gravel trap, it has to be pulled out and towed back to the pits where the crew work furiously to get all the bits of gravel out before it can get back on track. When a car spins off onto the tarmac run-off areas at Paul Ricard, all the driver needs to do is select first gear, point the car in the right direction and continue on his way – this saves a great deal of time, effort, and, therefore, money.

Another reason why teams like to test here is because the track has 180 different track configurations, many of which can be watered down to conduct wet weather testing as well. The track also allegedly has the longest straight in Europe, which is why you see a lot of Le Mans cars doing high speed tests in order to prepare for the legendary Mulsane straight.

It truly is a great facility, and one that we should emulate if and when plans to build an F1 track materialize.