Something I was just thinking about; Mosport has operated since 1961 with virtually the same layout. Turn 5 was slightly squared off, Turn 2 had some of the negative camber flattened, the hump before turn 8 was slightly flattened and the whole track was widened to 40ft, and the crash barriers and sandtraps have been installed/revised a couple times, but the layout itself is still pretty much exactly the same as it was in the 60s, in all of it's glory.

How many other legendary circuits are still operational with essentially the same track as it always was? The Nords is pretty much the only one I can think of, minus the original front straight/pit complex loop at the beginning of the lap.

Spa has received major revisions, Monza was castrated with chicanes, Monaco has chicanes, Watkins Glen has had various revisions, Laguna Seca had a whole new section added, Mont Tremblant received various alterations...

..Can anyone think of any that are still the same (essential) track they were at opening?

Dijon is pretty close to original? I don't know if you can call Zolder a classic track, but it is largely unchanged as well.

Quote from JJ72 :

Dijon is pretty close to original?

Dijon has remained quite the same indeed, although it has seen a rather important layout change in the mid-70s.

Can't name many other tracks anyway. Brands Hatch perhaps?

Brands Hatch unfortunately had Graham Hill bend changed, up until '99 it was a very quick downhill sweeper, now its quite sharp and slow.

There was also pathetic chicane put in a Dingle Dell which was then removed, Westfield has also been moved inwards and made into a 2 apex corner and Paddock hill has shifted about a bit too over the years. Still a great track though.

Can't think of any more major circuits that haven't changed in a while apart from those mentioned... Pau perhaps?

What about my local track Thruxton? The only change I've seen in my lifetime was the addition of the tunnel into the paddock.

The Nordschleife was altered too. A few jumps were flattened a bit iirc. Zandvoort has changed through the years too

Quote from JJ72 :

Dijon is pretty close to original? I don't know if you can call Zolder a classic track, but it is largely unchanged as well.

I'd call it a classic, I love Zolder.

Quote from GreyBull [CHA] :

Dijon has remained quite the same indeed, although it has seen a rather important layout change in the mid-70s.

Can't name many other tracks anyway. Brands Hatch perhaps?

Quote from Wikipedia :

Therefore, in 1975 an extension was added to lengthen the circuit as well as to reprofile many of its corners...

How extensive where the changes to the other corners? I think I'd count the extension as a pretty large change anyways, though.

Quote from MAGGOT :

How extensive where the changes to the other corners? I think I'd count the extension as a pretty large change anyways, though.

The only major change was the addition of that hairpin. The layout didn't see any other change AFAIK.

Virginia International Raceway (VIR). Opened in 1957, closed in 1974, reopened in 2000. Same layout, just wider. Several configurations have been added, too.

Quote from http://www.virhistory.com/vir.html :

VIR was a cow pasture for almost 25 years and was reopened in 2000 - the current track follows the center line and elevation of the old track but has been widened slightly. The new VIR facility is truly spectacular.

Summit Point Raceway (the Main circuit) was opened in 1970 and that circuit has only seen one change.

Quote from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summit_Point_Motorsports_Park :

The original layout did not include the "Carousel", presently denoted Turns 6 and 7. In the original layout, Turn 5 was a ~90 deg. left-hander leading to a 90 deg. right-hander at the entry to what is now denoted Turn 8. Therefore, the original layout had 8 turns (or 9 depending on how you counted them). The "Carousel" wasn't added until sometime after mid-'73.

Road America since 1955 (just a chicane added at the kink for bikes).

Some driver are afraid of Dijon...Another nice french track is charade. Something like the french Nordschleife

Quote from MoMo92i :

Some driver are afraid of Dijon...Another nice french track is charade. Something like the french Nordschleife

Hmm, Charade has been changed quite a lot since it was used by F1 IIRC.

Still, great track, not so much known unfortunately

I guess Aston Historic has been untouched for quite a while.

Quote from Joris :

I guess Aston Historic has been untouched for quite a while.

Don't know, looks very wide for an "historic" track

Mallory Park is pretty much identical (apart from the advert signs) to how it was in the late 50s.

MAGGOT, were you at Mosport for ALMS?

Quote from tristancliffe :

Mallory Park is pretty much identical (apart from the advert signs) to how it was in the late 50s.

This is the kind of thing I was looking for.

Adding a new hairpin to a track modifies it in a substantial way, regardless of what is/isn't done to the rest of it.