Encyclopedia Hoonatica: Cars Named For Tracks – That Aren't Also Cities.

By Peter Tanshanomi Jul 20, 2015

silverstone-brooklands
Two Mondays ago, when I asked you all to name Cars Named For Cities, some of the comments understandably strayed from cars that were intentionally named after cities to the many cars actually named after racing circuits, but which got in on the technicality of just happening to share the the name of the city they’re in. [“Really? There’s a race track in that happenin’ town of Talladega?” said no Ford marketing man ever.]
Since people seemed so eager to explore the car model/race track naming connection, let’s do that. I’m all about giving the people what they want. However, I am also about making you slackers think, and drawing out the obscure references that result. So, since you’ve already had a chance to mine the deep well of city-based car names just fourteen days ago, I am going to make it interesting by specifying only cars that are named for racing venues that are not named for the city they reside in. In other words, Daytona and Le Mans are verboten today. However, if you’re aware of some car maker introducing the Circuit Paul Ricard SportWagon Brougham, then step right up.
I can already hear somebody say something along the lines of “What about Mulsanne — part of a track named for part of a city; can I post that?” My answer has three parts:

  1. Stop being pedantic; that’s my job here.
  2. You know you’re going to post it anyway, so why are you asking?
  3. This whole series is just clever comment bait. You really need to repeat Hodgson’s Law to yourself a few times.

However, there are a few caveats (there are always caveats):

  • The track name has to be part of the model name, not just a descriptor or a nickname (Yeah, I’m lookin’ at you, ‘Ring Taxi).
  • Concept cars and kit cars are okay, but let’s stay away from homebuilt specials and works racers, which tend to have somewhat indistinct “official” naming.

Difficulty: 1/3 cup sugar per 1/2 gallon of vinegar.
How This Works: Read the comments first and don’t post duplicates. Bonus points for adding photos. Remember, you can simply paste in the raw image URL now, thanks to the magic of Disqus.
Image Source: parkwayspecialistcars.co.uk, rrocwa.com.

By Peter Tanshanomi

Tanshanomi is Japanese [単車のみ] for "motorcycle(s) only." Though primarily tasked with creating two-wheel oriented content for Hooniverse, Pete is a lover of all sorts of motorized vehicles.

66 thoughts on “Encyclopedia Hoonatica: Cars Named For Tracks – That Aren't Also Cities.”
      1. I had to check. The other really famous beach towns in Florida usually have two separate cities. There is Panama City, Florida and Panama City Beach, Florida. Also, Miami, FL and Miami Beach, FL.

      1. Yes, but it’s just a section of the town of Salisbury, not the city itself. We’re being pedantic, remember?

      1. I think part of the issue is that it’s hard to gauge the size of them now that they are rarely seen, even at car shows. My dad still has his black ’76 Laguna similar to the one I posted but with a red stripe and it dwarfs everything else they have. The hotter versions of the Grand Prix and Cutlass look nice but that’s a lot of car to get moving, stopping and handling.

        1. I think there were 4 ’76 -‘ 77 Cutlasses at this year’s Arthritis Foundation Show in Columbus. Put that in perspective, they were featuring Thunderbirds and I think there were only 4 ’58 – ‘ 60 Squarebirds including mine.

        1. Yeah something isn’t quite right about it. I had a source image of a more stock bike but the picture wouldn’t show 🙁

  1. Baws tree-oh-two Laguna Seca.
    Yeah, it’s also a town, but that town’s in Texas, not anywhere near Mazda Raceway.

    1. On a pedantic tangent, could any Mazda built in the past couple years (after the sponsorship took place) count?

        1. And on that basis: Every Targa, everwhere.
          (Named after Porsche’s rudimentary cabin cooling solution on their Targa Florio racecars).

  2. I knew Tanshanomi would like my previous Ford Talladega post, so here is another one….. just to remind the die hard Mopar fans of the car that kicked their butt’s during the aerowars. Talladega: the Superbird killer.

  3. You want pedantic? You got it!

    Castrol Raceway, built in 1991 was formerly known as “Budweiser Motorsports Park”.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castrol_Raceway

    A time-traveling namer was inspired by this, hence the 1979 Budweiser Rocket.

    http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj34/FastFreddy488/cn02357.jpg

    Now you’re going to complain, and say that it’s a homebuilt/works race car.

    To which I’m going to reply that it has an extra booster from a sidewinder missile, the rest of the missile having been used to destroy the caveats.

  4. Might have gone the other way around:
    Dodge Challenger / Challenger Raceway, Indiana, PA.
    Ford Thunderbird / Thunderbird Raceway, Muskegon, MI.
    I was going to go for Dodge Dakota / Dakota State Fair Speedway of Huron, SD, just to be weird; unfortunately there’s a Dakota, MN. Evidently [different state name], [state name] towns are more common than I thought.

      1. …and the Audi ‘Pikes Peak Quattro’
        (not really worthy of the name ‘Pikes Peak’ or ‘quattro’)

    1. Except the Nurgurgring is named for the town of Nurburg.
      /Channeling my inner Tanshanomi.

      1. See Tanshanomis verdict on P161911s post above, this is a similar pedantichrist splitting of folicular growth. The village is called Nürburg, the collection of tracks (including GP Circuit and Nordschleife and combined layouts) is collectively called Nürburgring.

  5. Can we submit “cars named for a corner at a track not named after a city”?
    For example; the Infiniti Q50 Eau Rouge: (no picture added, because however much Jeff and others enthuse I am still convinced that all current Infinitis should win every award for ugly available).

  6. (Disappointed to discover that there is a small city called Fiorano Modenese, so I should have submitted the Ferarri F599 GTB Fiorano last week.)

  7. For another week perhaps we might try “paint colours named for tracks that aren’t also cities”:
    From BMW – Interlagos Blue
    From Ferrari – Grigio Silverstone
    From Audi – Avus Silver, Estoril Blue, Nardo Grey, Nogaro Blue, Misano Red (…yes, yes Audi — we get the idea.)

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