Formule De Tracks

An article by Tim Trant.

Here is a description of almost all of the available tracks for Formule De, including both the mounted boards published by Ludodelire and the tracks available direct from the game's authors via ASPIFD, the Formule De club in Paris which sells a "Championship Kit" by mail.

Also, for anyone owning the Hockenheim or Monza tracks, I had great success with a Hockenheim race by simply changing the cost of movement along the four main straights to 2 (instead of 1) per space. I used small cut-up square pieces of Post-It Notes to double all the trackside numbers along those four straights. Any odd movement point remaining could either be used to move a final space or discarded, as the driver wished. Cars might also be allowed to attempt to move through occupied spaces if a doubled straight is completely blocked by other cars, since each car is really occupying two spaces there, or you can assume that the safety margin is bigger for a car flying down such a long straight. I've just received Monza, which had been badly received by others because of its short length, and it looks like the same fix will work on this track as well.

I presume that some other people who owns and enjoys Formule De have wondered about the flyer, enclosed with the game, which advertises ASPIFD and shows a number of other unpublished circuits. Even if I'd be reluctant to write a letter in French I'm certainly able to fill in a coupon, so I sent off for more information about ASPIFD (which translates as The "Formule De" Pilots' Association). I received in return a membership order form, which promised 10 more unpublished tracks, plus extra rules and forms for running a series of races, at a cost of 400 francs (postage included). The following description of the ASPIFD tracks tells about what I received last Friday, a few weeks after mailing off my money order: the only irregularity was that Silverstone had been listed but was not included (I knew that it had just been published by Ludodelire), but the Phoenix track from the old U.S. Grand Prix was added instead. I'm in the process of working out a nice translation of the new rules, which mostly concern running a season of races but also include a few interesting new ideas (e.g. inertia for broken cars) and a couple of idiotic ones (such as a faster less reliable engine which would never make it to the finish line).

Ludodelire Mounted Tracks

These are all in full colour, with beautiful scenery details painted in. The boards for the mounted tracks are 25.5" x 38" (although they could also be 19" x 51"). Dimensions are the widest measurements for the track (and corner information) itself.

Monaco - Monte Carlo
38" x 24", 167 spaces long, 9 corners (one "3", two "2"), straights 28, 23, 18, longest straight starts from "3", use of 6th gear difficult and rare

=> slow, overall OK. This is the baseline track, as it is the one included in the original boxed game.

France - Magny Cours
36" x 21", 208 spaces, 8 corners (one "3", one "2"), straights 47, 25, 17, longest straight ends in "3" corner

=> very long (due to "folded-back" design of the actual course) and varied, overall Excellent

Italy - Monza (a.k.a. The Cavorting Couple Track)
35" x 20", 129 spaces, 6 corners (two "2"), straights 28, 18, 18, 17, "2" corners break up 18-17 and 28-18 straights, lots of unused space on the board (hard to avoid, given the actual shape of the track), compacted straights

=> short and boring, overall Poor

=> but should improve greatly if the four main straights listed above are doubled, increasing length to 210 spaces

Germany - Hockenheim
36" x 23", 149 spaces 7 corners (one long "3", one "2"), straights 26, 19, 17, 11

=> suffers greatly from compacted straights, overall Poor

=> but greatly improved by using doubled straights: total length is then 218

Belgium - Spa
38" x 25", 182 spaces, 8 corners (four "2"), straights 30, 22, 19, "2" corners at end of the two longest straights

=> good mix of fast and slow sections, overall Very Good

Portugal - Estoril
38" x 18", 188 spaces, 8 corners (one "2"), straights 62, 29

=> very fast, overall OK

Great Britain - Silverstone
38" x 25", 157 spaces, 5 corners (one long "3", one shorter "3", one "2"), straights 20, 25, 31 "3" corner at the end of the longest straight

- reportedly suffers from the same compression problem as Hockenheim and Monza, overall Poor

Spain
- reportedly (Casus Belli) due for release in June 1994

The ASPIFD Tracks

These are big black & white photocopies, on either 35" x 40" or 51" x 23.5" paper sheets, folded down into 8.5" X 12" (to fit in a mailing envelope). There is no scenery, but all the information needed for the game (including weather ranges) is included. Most have a 12 car starting grid and six pit areas. Many of the sheets have large blank areas. Ratings are complete guesses, made without having played any of them.

South Africa - Kyalami
20" x 38", no date, 150 spaces, 8 corners (two "2"), straights 21 (immediately after a "2" corner), 19, 18

=> looks slow and not very interesting

Brasil - Interlagos
25" x 38", 1990, 202 spaces, 7 corners (two "2"), straights 66, 43, 24 ("2" corner breaks up the two longest straights)

=> looks good

Hungary - Hungaroring
26" x 28", 1989, 158 spaces, 11 corners (one "2", several very short "1"s), straights 24, 15

=> looks interesting but slow

Spain - Barcelona
41" x 14", 1992, 194 spaces, 10 corners (two "2"), straights 42, 25, one "2" corner at end of longest straight

=> similar to Portugal but a bit more to it

San Marino - Imola
46" x 20", 1989, 152 spaces, 6 corners (three "2"), straights 50, 20

=> looks short and maybe too predictable?

Japan - Suzuka
46" x 20", 1989, 171 spaces, 6 corners (one "3", one "2"), straights 40, 26, 22, 21, "2" corner at end of longest straight

=> looks OK

Canada - Gilles Villeneuve (Montreal)
46" x 16", 1989, 149 spaces, 7 corners (four "2", all in a row), straights 20, 18, 16

=> looks too short, "doubled straights" may help

Australia - Adelaide
46" x 19", 1989, 164 spaces, 8 corners (one "2"), straights 55, 19, 18

=> looks OK

Europe - Donnington
45" x 17", no date, 183 spaces, 7 corners (one "2"), straights 28, 26, 23, 22

=> looks OK

U.S. - Phoenix
44" x 18", 1990, 171 spaces, 8 corners (one "3", two "2"), straights 36, 30, 18, "3" corner at end of 36 straight, "2" corner at end of 30 straight

=> looks good

Article by Tim Trant, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
tim@eecg.utoronto.ca
June 24, 1994

The Game Cabinet - editor@gamecabinet.com - Ken Tidwell