Quote:
Originally Posted by Bugeater
Isn't that Texas Motor Speedway?
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Charlotte Motor Speedway, a quad-oval, with its infield road course and legends oval visible. Motorcycle racing?
Rovals
A "Roval," sometimes referred to as a "Combined road course", is an oval track racing facility that features a road course in the infield (or outfield), that may or may not be directly linked to the oval circuit. The name is a portmanteau of road course and oval. A roval allows the facility to be used for road racing (Formula One, sports cars, motorcycles, etc.) Some classes of racing do not allow a full oval, and therefore would not have the ability to otherwise compete at some of the most famous speedways in the world.
Rovals typically consist of the oval portion of the track, utilizing the same start/finish line, and same pit area, but a mid-course diversion to a winding road circuit in the infield. At some point, the circuit leads back to the main oval, and completes the rest of the lap. On some of the faster ovals, a chicane is present on long back-straights, to keep speeds down, and create additional braking/passing zones.
Rovals combine the high speed characteristics of ovals and technical precision of road courses, and allow road racing the unique experience of being held in the "stadium style" atmosphere of an oval superspeedway. Since 1962, the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona has been one of the most notable roval races. However, due to the limitations of infield dimensions, and the common lack of topography, rovals often compromise the road racing experience. While the oval’s sightlines are popular, some fans may feel that the racing itself is lackluster.[5] In many cases, the grandstand seating around the oval offers the least popular view of the road racing, as fans are drawn to observe from the more challenging infield portion.
Source: Wikipedia. They list both U.S. and International Roval tracks - Too much information
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roval#Rovals