F1 1970s: part 2- Tracks

There were very long tracks in use until the mid- 70s with circuit extending almost up to 10 miles in length, hence leading to long races with lesser safety due to parts of the track being inaccessible by medical or safety personnel. With the increased number of deaths in first half of the decade, several circuits were either axed from the calendar or were modified to make them much smaller.                  One such circuit was the circuit de Charade (on the right) which extended to 8 kms in length as its facilities were available at a tough to access mountainside. It was touted as a very good circuit, but now it has been reduced to below 4 kms and is no more availble on the current F1 calendar. 

© http://www.strikeengine.com/technical_information/circuits-de-charade.jpg

 Spa- Francorchamps: This is another circuit which extended to an imposing 14 kms. Originally 15 kms in length it was reduced to 14kms prior to this decade, and was further reduced to 7kms (shown on right side) by 1979 due to the extremem high average speeds which were leading to lot of fatal accidents (in F1 as well as outside F1).

© http://www.espnf1.com/PICTURES/CMS/4500/4567.jpg              
© http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/54/Spa-Francorchamps_of_Belgium.svg/260px-Spa-Francorchamps_of_Belgium.svg.png

Nurburgring: The legendary Nordschleife was softened with the bumps being flattened out after driver complaints in 1970. The circuit was made straighter but still staying at a long 22kms in length, safety was always at risk. After Niki Lauda's near fatal accident in 1976, the circuit was axed in favor of Hockenheimring. Subsequently, the southern nurburgring circuit Sudschleife has been in use and has undergone changes and been quite shorter than the Northern circuit that was in use as is evident on the right side of below diagram. 

© http://home.swipnet.se/~w-32546/nbring/images/Karta2.gif                  © http://ff1gp.com/cache/entity-images/2010-circuits-nurburgring-png-526.png

Replacement Circuits: With concerns being raised about the long, sometimes dangerous and inaccessible circuits, newer shorter circuits were added in as replacements in F1 such as the Paul Ricard (left), Zolder circuit (middle) and the afore mentioned Hockenheimring circuit (right). Among these three, only a shortened version of Hockenheim is in use for F1 races now.

a) © http://www.gdecarli.it/Circuiti/FRA/FRA%20Paul%20Ricard%201986%20A.gif

b) © http://www.juratek.com/UserFiles/Image/Circuit-Zolder-Large.jpg

c) © http://www.espnf1.com/PICTURES/CMS/4500/4555.jpg