Abandoned tracks

[GORDON STREETER]

I did know about the banked circuit at Sitges, but have never been there and didn't realise that it is still not in too bad a shape, I don't know if I'd want to get too close to the top at speed though !!!!

[BudLightJaguar]

Here's a few shots from Keilmola Circuit, Finland.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/126204...57656633623001

It took these photos in 2006, the place looks totally different now since they built new, wider freeway exit ramps and dug up the main straight. The tower is still there in the woods.

[rwintle]

Originally Posted by BudLightJaguar

Here's a few shots from Keilmola Circuit, Finland.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/126204...57656633623001

It took these photos in 2006, the place looks totally different now since they built new, wider freeway exit ramps and dug up the main straight. The tower is still there in the woods.

Thanks for posting. Looks like it was an interesting track. I wish they'd build a tower or two like that on the Exhibition grounds so we could use them at the Toronto IndyCar race.

[BudLightJaguar]

Keimola hosted some interesting events in the 70's. Like Interserie





Which was a sprint race series for sports prototypes. Kind of European counterpart for CanAm. Unfortunately number of competitors and spectators started to decline after 1973 oil crisis and the owners didn't have funding for proper maintenance, upgrades or re-paving, so the gates were closed after the 1978 season.

At first it was mostly left there as-is and motorcyclists started to arrange illegal night races in the mid-80's when someone found a way to break in. Those moonlight races ended in 1988, when a cyclist collided with a moose, which led landowners to excavate zig-zag pattern to the track and remove curbs.

[Mekola]

Near home is the abandoned Autódromo of Tigre, with the Kartódromo Internacional Ciudad de Tigre in the same complex. I did run in that kartodrome, and even a rent-a-kart tournament race, and judging about the quality of the track, I miss it...

[fieldodreams79]

Originally Posted by BudLightJaguar

Here's a few shots from Keilmola Circuit, Finland.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/126204...57656633623001

It took these photos in 2006, the place looks totally different now since they built new, wider freeway exit ramps and dug up the main straight. The tower is still there in the woods.

Those pics are excellent and so spooky.

I love this stuff! thanks for sharing.

[fieldodreams79]

VIR (Virginia International Raceway), that is now on the current IMSA series calendar was reopened in 2000 after being abandoned to be used as someone's farm.

A happy story of one these coming back to life, but I've always been curious as to what it looked like when abandoned. Here's the best I could find:

http://www.virhistory.com/vir/modern/interregnum.htm

[BudLightJaguar]

Originally Posted by fieldodreams79

Those pics are excellent and so spooky.

I love this stuff! thanks for sharing.

You're welcome. Yup, it was spooky and there wasn't much left from the original facilities. Grandstands were already gone in the 70's and pitboxes had been demolished. But it was still possible to feel the vibe of 1,000 bhp Porsches when standing on the appoximately one kilometre long and slightly banked main straight.

[Richard C]

Originally Posted by fieldodreams79

VIR (Virginia International Raceway), that is now on the current IMSA series calendar was reopened in 2000 after being abandoned to be used as someone's farm.

A happy story of one these coming back to life, but I've always been curious as to what it looked like when abandoned. Here's the best I could find:

http://www.virhistory.com/vir/modern/interregnum.htm

This is an incredible must watch video that may have been taken from around the same time (who knows, maybe same day!) as those photos...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4kwF5mg1Vg

Richard

(Edit: I just realized that on the page you link there is a link to the video I posted above)

[fieldodreams79]

Originally Posted by Richard Casto

This is an incredible must watch video that may have been taken from around the same time (who knows, maybe same day!) as those photos...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4kwF5mg1Vg

Richard

(Edit: I just realized that on the page you link there is a link to the video I posted above)

That's really cool, Richard. I actually had missed this in my late evening after long Monday posting.

Thanks for posting!

[fieldodreams79]

While not quite as glamorous as the road courses of Europe, the Southeastern US and my home state was once littered with short dirt tracks. One from my hometown:
http://georgiaracinghistory.com/lost...hens-speedway/

Some of my earliest memories is of Athens Speedway.

I went through there about 12 years ago and can't find my photos but I think they're buried on an old computer. It's actually about a mile as the crow flies from my current residence.

http://georgiaracinghistory.com/lost-tracks/

Development and danger shut these all down, with probably the most famous being Lakewood Speedway, which I just realized is right next to the amphitheater (always knew it was close, but didn't know I "tailgated" so close to it decades ago).
http://georgiaracinghistory.com/lost...wood-speedway/

The Peach Bowl looked really cool:
http://georgiaracinghistory.com/lost...he-peach-bowl/
Damn MARTA depot now...

"Skeeters" were really popular back then. Winged Modified is the only way I can describe them...

Athens, Habersham, Jackson, Hollywood and Banks plus the Atlanta tracks were all within about a modern day's hour and a half drive between them all. Now, there's only a handful left across the entire state.

I need to get to a dirttrack soon!

[fieldodreams79]

Not abandoned race tracks, but rather cars that raced at them.

First 2 are the "Skeeters", and the last is a plain old stockcar, best I can tell. They were brought out to a local car show and I must say, all three look like they would be a blast to drive on dirt!!

[fieldodreams79]

Thought about this thread earlier this week. I happened to stop on a trip to "below Macon" Georgia at an exit near Byron, former home of Middle Georgia Speedway; a half mile paved oval that opened in 1966 and closed in 1988, that still stands today.

Hosting NASCAR for multiple races each year from 66 to 71, where at times it was the first race of the season, it was regarded as the fastest 1/2 mile paved oval in the US and it drew large crowds to the small little town.

Speaking of large crowds, the 1970 Atlanta International Pop Festival drew somewhere between 200K and 600K (no one really knows for sure but it was a bunch of folks). It was held at the speedway and the adjoining soybean fields. The Allman Brothers Band were pretty much the headliners but Jimi Hendrix played to what was said to be his largest crowd and certainly one of his last shows in the States (if not his last):



The final NASCAR race was held on November 7, 1971 and Bobby Allison drove from the pole to win the 274-mile race. ASA (lower level stockcar series) raced there through the 70s and early 80s where the likes of Rusty Wallace and Mark Martin drove their fair share of races, but the last noteworthy race was an ARCA race in 1984 that saw Davey Allison take the checkered. Pretty cool father / son connection.

Shortly after it opened, federal agents raided the facility to find a moonshine still in an underground bunker around turn 3. Welcome to Georgia!!! Another interesting note is that they filmed some of the racing scenes from Greased Lighting, movie about Wendell Scott, who was played by Richard Pryor and most recently, a Dodge commercial was filmed there in 2011.

Vacant since 1988, it still stands and is likely to be there for a while as driving around the outskirts, it's nothing but half vacant mobile home communities and generally a sad sight to see...

https://www.google.com/maps/@32.6690.../data=!3m1!1e3

The grass area east of the track and to the north of "Bobby's Food Mart" is a golf driving range.







Current owner is looking to do some more there:
http://www.byronga.com/middle-georgia-raceway.cfm

More sources for this post and more pics:
https://abandonedsoutheast.com/2018/...orgia-raceway/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_Georgia_Raceway

I tend to get lost in history....

edit:
Here's a drone video over the abandoned track:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-SmZGXdZbM

[broadrun96]

Don't let hipsters see that cool antiqued Coca-Cola wall or they will have to steal it for their loft wall to be authentic to the South man

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by fieldodreams79

Thought about this thread earlier this week. I happened to stop on a trip to "below Macon" Georgia at an exit near Byron, former home of Middle Georgia Speedway; a half mile paved oval that opened in 1966 and closed in 1988, that still stands today.

Hosting NASCAR for multiple races each year from 66 to 71, where at times it was the first race of the season, it was regarded as the fastest 1/2 mile paved oval in the US and it drew large crowds to the small little town.

Speaking of large crowds, the 1970 Atlanta International Pop Festival drew somewhere between 200K and 600K (no one really knows for sure but it was a bunch of folks). It was held at the speedway and the adjoining soybean fields. The Allman Brothers Band were pretty much the headliners but Jimi Hendrix played to what was said to be his largest crowd and certainly one of his last shows in the States (if not his last):



The final NASCAR race was held on November 7, 1971 and Bobby Allison drove from the pole to win the 274-mile race. ASA (lower level stockcar series) raced there through the 70s and early 80s where the likes of Rusty Wallace and Mark Martin drove their fair share of races, but the last noteworthy race was an ARCA race in 1984 that saw Davey Allison take the checkered. Pretty cool father / son connection.

Shortly after it opened, federal agents raided the facility to find a moonshine still in an underground bunker around turn 3. Welcome to Georgia!!! Another interesting note is that they filmed some of the racing scenes from Greased Lighting, movie about Wendell Scott, who was played by Richard Pryor and most recently, a Dodge commercial was filmed there in 2011.

Vacant since 1988, it still stands and is likely to be there for a while as driving around the outskirts, it's nothing but half vacant mobile home communities and generally a sad sight to see...

https://www.google.com/maps/@32.6690.../data=!3m1!1e3

The grass area east of the track and to the north of "Bobby's Food Mart" is a golf driving range.







Current owner is looking to do some more there:
http://www.byronga.com/middle-georgia-raceway.cfm

More sources for this post and more pics:
https://abandonedsoutheast.com/2018/...orgia-raceway/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_Georgia_Raceway

I tend to get lost in history....

edit:
Here's a drone video over the abandoned track:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-SmZGXdZbM

Really interesting. Thanks for the pics, story and the links. Love the drone footage as well.

[joeb]

Originally Posted by fieldodreams79

Thought about this thread earlier this week. I happened to stop on a trip to "below Macon" Georgia at an exit near Byron, former home of Middle Georgia Speedway; a half mile paved oval that opened in 1966 and closed in 1988, that still stands today.

Hosting NASCAR for multiple races each year from 66 to 71, where at times it was the first race of the season, it was regarded as the fastest 1/2 mile paved oval in the US and it drew large crowds to the small little town.

Speaking of large crowds, the 1970 Atlanta International Pop Festival drew somewhere between 200K and 600K (no one really knows for sure but it was a bunch of folks). It was held at the speedway and the adjoining soybean fields. The Allman Brothers Band were pretty much the headliners but Jimi Hendrix played to what was said to be his largest crowd and certainly one of his last shows in the States (if not his last):



The final NASCAR race was held on November 7, 1971 and Bobby Allison drove from the pole to win the 274-mile race. ASA (lower level stockcar series) raced there through the 70s and early 80s where the likes of Rusty Wallace and Mark Martin drove their fair share of races, but the last noteworthy race was an ARCA race in 1984 that saw Davey Allison take the checkered. Pretty cool father / son connection.

Shortly after it opened, federal agents raided the facility to find a moonshine still in an underground bunker around turn 3. Welcome to Georgia!!! Another interesting note is that they filmed some of the racing scenes from Greased Lighting, movie about Wendell Scott, who was played by Richard Pryor and most recently, a Dodge commercial was filmed there in 2011.

Vacant since 1988, it still stands and is likely to be there for a while as driving around the outskirts, it's nothing but half vacant mobile home communities and generally a sad sight to see...

https://www.google.com/maps/@32.6690.../data=!3m1!1e3

The grass area east of the track and to the north of "Bobby's Food Mart" is a golf driving range.







Current owner is looking to do some more there:
http://www.byronga.com/middle-georgia-raceway.cfm

More sources for this post and more pics:
https://abandonedsoutheast.com/2018/...orgia-raceway/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_Georgia_Raceway

I tend to get lost in history....

edit:
Here's a drone video over the abandoned track:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-SmZGXdZbM

I had never heard of the place, sounds like it had a pretty cool history.

[S griffin]

Browsing Google Earth last night, I noticed Keimola has had flats built on it, but the control tower is still there.

[BudLightJaguar]

Originally Posted by S griffin

Browsing Google Earth last night, I noticed Keimola has had flats built on it, but the control tower is still there.

Yup, that's correct. The control tower is protected by local government as a memorial, so developers can't tear it totally down.

[fieldodreams79]

I just read about how they had moonlight racers at Keimola until they tore up enough to keep people from doing that. That's apparently been a problem at the Augusta Speedway I wrote about earlier, too until they tore it up as well.

And nice to save the tower from the wrecking ball (left center).

[BudLightJaguar]

Originally Posted by fieldodreams79

I just read about how they had moonlight racers at Keimola until they tore up enough to keep people from doing that. That's apparently been a problem at the Augusta Speedway I wrote about earlier, too until they tore it up as well.

If you haven't seen these, here's a little gallery of those moonlight races (In Finnish but the pictures do the talking)

http://personal.inet.fi/urheilu/keimola/10a.htm

http://personal.inet.fi/urheilu/keimola/10b.htm

The peak of the moonlight period was between 1986 and 1989. At first, the land owner tore five ditches to the surface after a motorcyclist had a crash with a moose in 1988. After that, moonlight racers just used their network and filled those ditches with some leftover gravel from gas station construction site.

Finally, in 1989 the circuit was torn up again, this time with zig-zag pattern http://personal.inet.fi/urheilu/keimola/20b.htm

And that was the end.

[fieldodreams79]

Can you imagine racing a sport bike on a closed circuit that has had ditches filled in with sand?! Crazy stuff!

Nice links, budlightjag!!

[Aysedasi]

It would be nice then to see the control tower restored to it's former glory (on the outside at least), not just a graffiti covered mess....

[Mike E]

Originally Posted by Mike E

I would love to visit Reims some time.

I visited Reims last year. Hooray.

[fieldodreams79]

Originally Posted by Aysedasi

It would be nice then to see the control tower restored to it's former glory (on the outside at least), not just a graffiti covered mess....

Agreed!

Originally Posted by Mike E

I visited Reims last year. Hooray.

Awesome!!

[Mike E]

And I would love to visit Clermont-Ferrand. A beastly mini-Nurburgring in a volcano.


http://www.speedhunters.com/2013/08/...rmont-ferrand/