Street circuits have been a constant through the history of motor racing and provide a unique challenge in addition to bringing the sport closer to fans.
Although some within the motor racing circuits have been critical of street circuits as the lack of permanent facilities remains a concern after closures within the last 20 years, this story highlights it’s not all one way traffic.
The Repco Garage has arranged five of the best lost street circuits.
Birmingham SuperPrix
Street circuits are few and far between in the motherland due to such a plan requiring a bill to be passed by Parliament. One was passed in April 1985 in England’s second biggest city; Birmingham centred around Formula 3000 and was first run a year later. The circuit itself featured a hairpin around a roundabout, a multi-story car park used as the pit paddock and buildings in close proximity, one of which had a hole punched into its wall by a Formula 3000 with David Hunt at the wheel, younger brother of James. The British Touring Car Championship acted as a support from 1988 until the event’s demise in 1990.
Canberra
Designed by Mark Skaife and running through Canberra’s Parliamentary Triangle at a length of 3.9km, the V8 Supercars trips to Canberra between 2000-2002 provided plenty of action, but was bitterly cold. The Treasury Building, West Block Government Offices, Old Parliament House, East Block Government Offices and New Parliament House were all in the background as the V8 Supercars whizzed around. Three different drivers won each round held in the nation’s capital as Steven Richards, Steven Johnson and Mark Skaife.
Wellington
Lined with tyres and shipping containers, the Wellington Street Circuit was first proposed in 1984. Arriving the next year, the Nissan Mobil 500 was born and rose during the late 1980s into a leading event for Group A competitors when factory BMW driver Emmanuele Pirro became the most successful driver in the events history. Group A’s demise slowly led to the same for the event as Super Touring and production car formulas fell flat, while the grand finale in 1996 hosted 12 invited touring car entries on a shortened layout. The original configuration can’t be used due to the construction of the Queens Wharf Events Centre and Te Papa (Museum of New Zealand).
Old Brno
Brno is now a permanent facility, but originally was a fearsome 29.184km circuit on the streets located on the outskirts of the township of the same name as the start/finish line was located in Bosonohy. As the European Touring Car Championship visited in the 1980s, the circuit was reduced to 10.921km in 1975 as Denny Hulme lamented the modification of the original layout in a Bathurst feature in 1987, a year after the street circuit closed. The permanent track is used for Grand Prix and touring car racing to this day.
AVUS
Perhaps the most simplistic, but fearsome street circuit in the world. The AVUS Ring was shaped like a clothing pin featuring temporary chicanes to slow the racing down, but this proved unsuccessful. Banked corners were also a feature during its early days using a dual carriage outside of it being used for racing. The original layout opened in 1937 was 19.5689km, but the southern most turn has been shortened multiple times from 1967 until it was closed as a circuit in 1998. Big incidents occurred including John Winter’s fiery wreck in DTM and the passing of Kieth O’Dor after being t-boned in an STW race. Signs of its racing past remain such as the north race control tower and wooden grandstands.