Abandoned Racetracks

[Johnny1996]

My search didn't return any preexisting threads on this topic. This is the place to post abandoned racetracks, be it dirt or paved, oval or otherwise, nationally known or locally known.

I will share this abandoned dirt oval I found near the area I was in earlier, Latrobe, PA. If you look close, you can still see the remains of the grandstand, the tire wall going around turns 3 and 4, the light posts, and even an old truck off of turn 3. For those that live around the area, or are at least familiar with it, this is less than a mile down the road from the Arnold Palmer airport.



The pickup:



Go ahead and post what you guys find, but man is it sad to see racetracks no longer used, worse yet no longer in usable condition.

 

[NW48]

Here's a track in Australia that I actually didn't know closed until a few months ago, pretty well-known too.
Oran Park Raceway


Sadly I can't find a good aerial view but here is a bit of a description of Oran Park;
Oran Park Raceway was a motor racing circuit at Naarellan in south-western Sydney, New South Wales, Australia which was operational from February 1962 until its closure in January 2010.
From my memory it held such events like the Australian Grand Prix, AUSCAR, V8 Supercars and the Superbike World Championship.

 

[Mike Rotch]

Similar

https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/thre...often-for-stupid-reasons.229866/#post-6113346

 

[Johnny1996]

I read the first few posts of that thread, but I came back here and refreshed the page. I see I can still reply, so I'm guessing that was to give a point of interest, @Mike Rotch?

EDIT: Ten minutes later do I notice the "Similar "

Here's a track in Australia that I actually didn't know closed until a few months ago, pretty well-known too.
Oran Park Raceway


Sadly I can't find a good aerial view but here is a bit of a description of Oran Park;
Oran Park Raceway was a motor racing circuit at Naarellan in south-western Sydney, New South Wales, Australia which was operational from February 1962 until its closure in January 2010.
From my memory it held such events like the Australian Grand Prix, AUSCAR, V8 Supercars and the Superbike World Championship.

That looks like it would be a lot of fun taking to that track with its layout. And for once the pit lane is on the outside of the track. Cool little feature.

 

[Spacegoat]

That looks like it would be a lot of fun taking to that track with its layout. And for once the pit lane is on the outside of the track. Cool little feature.

It was one of the iconic Australian race tracks, sadly it's now a housing estate. However it does live on in the world of iRacing which I wasn't aware of until a few minutes ago.

Edit: How a lap of the track looked. 👍

 

[Johnny1996]

It was one of the iconic Australian race tracks, sadly it's now a housing estate. However it does live on in the world of iRacing which I wasn't aware of until a few minutes ago.

Edit: How a lap of the track looked. 👍

I wish I could've been Lowndes then. That track is amazing.

 

[Bo]

I love Oran Park on ToCA 3.

 

[NW48]

That looks like it would be a lot of fun taking to that track with its layout. And for once the pit lane is on the outside of the track. Cool little feature.

Yeah it was! Alot of great races happened on that very track, I think John Bowe holds the lap record, I think it was a 1:04:something. Can't remember what he did it in though.

 

[Johnny1996]

Yeah it was! Alot of great races happened on that very track, I think John Bowe holds the lap record, I think it was a 1:04:something. Can't remember what he did it in though.

Shame it had to be taken over by development. If anything, IMO at least, if a racetrack is going to be abandoned, don't reuse the land.

 

[NW48]

Yeah, I'll keep digging around for some more tracks in other countries, should be alot of fun if anything

 

[prisonermonkeys]

I wish I could've been Lowndes then. That track is amazing.

Amaroo Park and Warwick Farm Raceway were another two that got swallowed whole by development.

But at least the site of Oran Park remembers its heritage - the roads are all named after touring car legends, like Peter Brock and Mark Skaife.

 

[Johnny1996]

Sounds like Riverside International Raceway. It went from this:

To this:

...with a shopping mall facility and other developments in its place.

 

[NW48]

Well I have found another track, it closed only just recently, November 2012 to be exact. And Nelson Piquet probably wouldn't have been happy to why it was closed.
Autódromo Internacional Nelson Piquet (taken from Wikipedia)


The Autódromo Internacional Nelson Piquet (Nelson Piquet International Autodrome), also known as Jacarepaguá after the neighbourhood in which it was located, was a motorsport circuit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Opened in 1977, it hosted the Formula One Brazilian Grand Prix on ten occasions, and was also used for CART, motorcycle racing and stock car racing. In 2012, it was demolished to make way for facilities to be used in the 2016 Summer Olympics.

What a waste, it would've been an awesome track but it got demolished... for the Olympics!!

 

[Johnny1996]

Piquet, being a racing driver, has every right to be unhappy, of course nothing against the Olympians who are fortunate enough to make it there for the 2016 games.

 

[NW48]

Piquet, being a racing driver, has every right to be unhappy, of course nothing against the Olympians who are fortunate enough to make it there for the 2016 games.

Yeah but surely there would have been a few other places to build a stadium or whatever it was replaced with. But I guess there has to be some reasonable sacrifices but that is pretty borderline in my opnion.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

What a waste, it would've been an awesome track but it got demolished

It really wasn't.

 

[NW48]

It really wasn't.

Well from a perspective of someone who races themselves, it is. BUT from a perspective of an everyday person it was reasonable. The Olympics will surely provide a better use of that land but it is sad to see a great track go.
EDIT 1- Just found another track, a test course in Japan called "Yatabe Test Course", more info to come...
EDIT 2- Here is a before and after comparison
BEFORE

AFTER

More info to come, if i can find it, seems to be a bit of an "eh it happened" thing.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

Well from a perspective of someone who races themselves, it is. BUT from a perspective of an everyday person it was reasonable.

I find it incredible that you can offer an expert opinion on the circuit despite having never driven on it, and without establishing the experience of those you are discussing it with.

Jacarepagua was largely seen as inferior to Interlagos; it was to Interlagos what Zolder is to Spa. It was a circuit that predominantly favoured the turbo-charges cars of the era, completely flat, and entirely too narrow in places. It was a case of trying to fit the longest possible circuit in the smallest available area. Most of the drivers hated it, knowing that Interlagos was out there.

 

[NW48]

I find it incredible that you can offer an expert opinion on the circuit despite having never driven on it, and without establishing the experience of those you are discussing it with.

Jacarepagua was largely seen as inferior to Interlagos; it was to Interlagos what Zolder is to Spa. It was a circuit that predominantly favoured the turbo-charges cars of the era, completely flat, and entirely too narrow in places. It was a case of trying to fit the longest possible circuit in the smallest available area. Most of the drivers hated it, knowing that Interlagos was out there.

It wasn't an expert opinion, just a perspective from 2 sides... in my view anyway, everyone views something differently to others and I respect that.
From what I was reading I couldn't find anything about that, so thanks @prisonermonkeys on the inside story, I actually just learnt something

 

[magic_town]

I love those creepy photos of run down old tracks, like the one of the banking a few posts up. I've seen some pics of what the Calder Park Thunderdome looks like now, the only proper speedway ever built in Australia. It still gets used for some stuff like drift events but there is no racing there anymore. Really a shame. Can't put up any pics as I'm on my phone.

 

[commodoreben]

Here is a link to a track near where I used to live on the Gold Coast, Australia. Its the old Surfers Paradise Raceway. It was only used as a small airport for small planes and it held Police Vs the Public drag racing once a month. But as the article in the link tells property prices on the Gold Coast meant it was eventually demolished for a housing development. It also has a list of active and inactive tracks on the site.

http://cfm.globalf1.net/?page_id=222

 

[INEEDNAWZZZ]

EDIT 1- Just found another track, a test course in Japan called "Yatabe Test Course", more info to come...
EDIT 2- Here is a before and after comparison
BEFORE

AFTER

More info to come, if i can find it, seems to be a bit of an "eh it happened" thing.

IIRC, the death of Masa Saito (co-editor of the famous Option Magazine) caused the track to be left unused out of respect, and eventually was demolished. This is where the magazine would do high speed tests of various modified cars, sometimes getting them well over 300 kmh.

 

[daan]

It was a case of trying to fit the longest possible circuit in the smallest available area.

You make it sound like that's a bad thing, yet that's exactly what interlagos was.

 

[NW48]

IIRC, the death of Masa Saito (co-editor of the famous Option Magazine) caused the track to be left unused out of respect, and eventually was demolished. This is where the magazine would do high speed tests of various modified cars, sometimes getting them well over 300 kmh.

View attachment 184689

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Thanks for that! Couldn't find too much about it just the simple stuff. Very interesting find @INEEDNAWZZZ!

 

[NFSCARBON1]

Here's a track in Australia that I actually didn't know closed until a few months ago, pretty well-known too.
Oran Park Raceway


Sadly I can't find a good aerial view but here is a bit of a description of Oran Park;
Oran Park Raceway was a motor racing circuit at Naarellan in south-western Sydney, New South Wales, Australia which was operational from February 1962 until its closure in January 2010.
From my memory it held such events like the Australian Grand Prix, AUSCAR, V8 Supercars and the Superbike World Championship.

If it uploads this should be the image from Google Maps showing not only the track but the new street plan

 

[vasiliflame]

Brooklands is worth a mention

 

[PeterJB]

Opel-Rennbahn:

 

[Liquid]

Google Earth is a great way to see old racetracks. You can look up the previous configurations of Donington, Fuji, Monza et al.

 

[Carbonox]

Nazareth Speedway is a pretty sad case of a racetrack falling apart due to lack of support.

 

[RVDNuT374]

North Wilkesboro Speedway:

Thank the other anti-Christ of NASCAR, Bruton Smith for this.