Buddh International Circuit

India will be hosting the first Formula One event on October 30, 2011. This decision was made almost a year ago, in a meeting of World Motor Sport Council in Paris. Adding another nation (India) to the calendar made the 62nd season of F1 Grand Prix one of the largest events in the history of the Formula One racing. The 2011 F1 Grand Prix is the longest season in the history of this car racing contest. The venue for the Indian circuit was supposed to be located in New Delhi, the capital city of the country.

Since the highly populated capital city doesn�t have enough space for accommodating a racing circuit, the idea of hosting the Indian Grand Prix 2011 in Delhi was dropped. Subsequently, the venue was shifted to Greater Noida, a comparatively less populated location, which is at close proximity of the capital. Located in Gautam Buddha District of Uttar Pradesh, Greater Noida is just 50 km away from Delhi. The Indian Circuit is called the Buddh International Circuit, named after its location - Gautam Buddha Nagar district, Uttar Pradesh.

Buddh International Circuit roughly measures 5.14 km. The track is being built by Noida-based Company Jaypee Sports International and designed by Hermann Tilke, an expert F1 Circuit designer. The German designer has acclaimed of designing F1 Circuits in Malaysia, Bahrain, China, Turkey, UAE and South Korea. The track is spread over an area of around 875 acres of land. The initial seating capacity was considered to be 150,000 spectators. There are plans to increase the capacity to 200,000.

The sprawling Buddh International Circuit is a part of Jaypee Green Sports city. This is a reason why it was originally named as Jaypee International Race Circuit. This circuit needs homologation from FIA to host further events. The large track has 16 medium speed corners. The F1 cars will lap around at the speed of 210 km/hr. There is a back straight which will allow the cars to hit a speed of 320 km/hr raising it to one of the five fastest circuits in the world. The average lap time for the F1 cars is marked as 1 min and 17 sec.

The corners are devised using the drive simulators in such a form that if a driver takes charge during the seventh turn, he can overtake during the tenth turn. This is the primary reason why a grand stand with a state-of-the-art curved roof, with a capacity of 13,000, is located at the turn 10 and turn 11. This in turn gives the F1 fans an opportunity to be a part of the action. The sponsors are also contemplating that, with Karun Chandhok being a part of the event and an Indian F1 team, Force India, contending and doing well on tracks. Hence, attracting the spectators to the circuit and filling up seats won't be a problem.