Parking Spot for the Starship Enterprise?

January 15, 2013 10:33 AM

What is this long squiggly line in the parking lot of Candlestick Park?

This link should work, but if not: search on google maps for Candlestick Park, then zoom in until the imagery shows the field to be brown. Look to the right, in the parking lot: there's a long, squiggly line! I can't figure out what it might be/have been used for! Please help.

posted by troika to grab bag (10 answers total)

Parking lots are also used for things like Sports Car Club of America rallies. That's a layout for a slalom/time trial course, one that can be set up the same each time for repeatability.

Edit: Here's a link to pictures of such an event, but no aerial shot showing the course in use from above.
posted by mosk at 10:36 AM on January 15 [6 favorites]

Car Control Clinic?
posted by These Premises Are Alarmed at 10:37 AM on January 15

Could also be used for motorcycle training courses.
posted by seanmpuckett at 10:43 AM on January 15

Yeah, some kind of course. Racing, training, testing, something.

It's a big parking lot. It really only gets used for parking at its assigned facility once or twice a week. Seems a shame to let it go to waste all of the rest of the time.
posted by valkyryn at 10:48 AM on January 15

Autocross or gymkhana.
posted by Thorzdad at 11:08 AM on January 15

It's a chalked-in autocross course.
jinx thorzdad
posted by artdrectr at 11:10 AM on January 15

Yeah, if you zoom in you can see tire marks on the pavement , esp. closest to the stadium.
posted by Keith Talent at 1:25 PM on January 15

Definitely autocross. Same thing at Miller Park in Milwaukee, where my husband has raced.
posted by desjardins at 4:06 PM on January 15

Here's an aerial shot with more info.
posted by TedW at 5:32 AM on January 16

Wow! This is all really cool. I had no idea this was a thing.

Thanks, everyone.
posted by troika at 8:46 AM on January 16