The Longest Track... Ever?

[Chatters]

Found this little gem out near Bathurst. Each lap is 62.4 miles- That's 100km! Granted it was only used once in the 1920s- but... Have you seen or know of a longer circuit than this one?!

[ensign14]

"Mount Horrible"...lol.

Early Targa Florios were basically a lap around Sicily.

[Rob29]

Longest circuit I know of was the Mille Miglia-1,000 miles,though I think there was once a race round all of Italy-about 2,000 miles! Circuit of Sicily was 671 miles.

[Henry]

the Red-Ex Trials were a longer one-lap race, weren't they?

[Davhut]

How about Paris-Dakar or even "One Lap of America?"

[Steve Wilkinson]

I suspect several nominations would be excluded as they are a 'single lap' event (e.g. Mille Miglia). What was the name of this Aussie circuit? And did they do laps? If they did then probably the Targa would be the nearest to it in length.

[Adam43]

The first GP at Le Mans was held on a circuit that was about 65 miles in length.

[Vitesse]

The Auvergne circuit used for the 1905 Gordon Bennett Trophy race was 85.35 miles long - traversed four times.

The 1904 GBT was run at Homburg in Germany over four laps of a 79.465 mile circuit.

However, the complete Athy circuit used in 1903 measured 91.88 miles. It was made up of two loops which shared a long straight, the 40 mile Circuit A being tackled three times and the 51.88 mile Circuit B four times.

[Darren Galpin]

The Sunny Corner circuit wasn't quite a circuit as such, in that you certainly couldn't have run cars around it. I contacted Terry Walker, who wrote the book "Fast Tracks" about Australian circuits, and he found from a map from 1957 that even then the roads were unsurfaced, and the countryside was very stony and rough. It is likely that the 1920s event was a motorcycle trial rather than any kind of circuit event/race as we would understand it.

[zefarelly]

its definitely not the Stowe circuit at Silverstone !

[graeme]

Originally Posted by zefarelly

its definitely not the Stowe circuit at Silverstone !

I think the new Anglesey Club circuit might be shorter than Stowe! So what's the shortest race circuit - Longridge near Preston was less than half-a-mile (0.43 springs to mind?)??

[ensign14]

Originally Posted by graeme

So what's the shortest race circuit - Longridge near Preston was less than half-a-mile (0.43 springs to mind?)??

Lots of 0.1 mile circuits in the States (probably defunct now) for midget racing. The famous Nutley Velodrome was a sixth of a mile.

[graeme]

Okay - "road racing circuits" - I guess that's with left and right bends

[Davhut]

There are a bunch of one-eighth mile ovals here still in use and they do require a right hand turn.....exiting the pits!

[Slippy Diff]

For a lap or a circuit to be completed, wouldn't the lap have to finish where it started?

[johnny yuma]

I have a 1977 Bathurst Bike Races program with a story on Bathurst racing history.The pre-1931 races were run by the Auto Cycle Union on a circuit "based on the Great Western Highway"--sounds like the track described--albeit Public Road.
From 1931 The Vale circuit was used [also public road,through Perthville,back through the hills to the saleyards a mile south of Bathurst] until Mt. Panorama was built in 1938.The first year of racing there was on gravel.

[duke_toaster]

Originally Posted by Vitesse

However, the complete Athy circuit used in 1903 measured 91.88 miles. It was made up of two loops which shared a long straight, the 40 mile Circuit A being tackled three times and the 51.88 mile Circuit B four times.

Was it done like a super-special but had a common straight (Lap of A, lap of B and so-on) or done as 2 races?

[Vitesse]

All in one:

http://www.silhouet.com/motorsport/tracks/athy.html

[D-Type]

How about the 1940 substitute Mille Miglia. Nine laps of a roughly 103 mile circuit

[Graham Clayton]

The 709 km/440 mile loop used for the 1925 Circuit of Morocco:



Source: http://www.silhouet.com/motorsport/t...uit_maroc.html

[Beetle]

Originally Posted by Graham Clayton

The 709 km/440 mile loop used for the 1925 Circuit of Morocco:



Source: http://www.silhouet.com/motorsport/t...uit_maroc.html

Nice find, Graham!

[D-Type]

Ignoring one lap races, another contender is the 'long Madonie' used for the 1906-11 and 1931 Targa Florios. It was 148km (92 miles long),

Were any of the South American marathons multi lap races?

[Corktree]

On New Year's Day 1913, the "San Diego County Road Race" was held over two laps of a 91.7 mile course. I Have yet to find a circuit map of the course, but have an idea regarding at least a good portion of the course.