Balatonring was to be a motor racing circuit, located in Sávoly,

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

, on the western end of the Balaton. The site is located about from

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

, the capital city of Hungary. Spain's Balatonring Zrt was to operate the racing circuit with a 70% share owned by Worldwide Circuit Management S.L. (WCM) and Magyar Turizmus Zrt. (Hungarian Tourism Board) owning 30%. Spanish investment group Sedesa would have been the constructor at a cost of

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists of a stylized letter E (or epsilon), crossed by t ...

.80 million and seating for 110,000 to 140,000 would have been provided. Construction work on the 200 million Euro project had started on 6 November 2008, and the facility was due to host its first

MotoGP Grand Prix motorcycle racing is the highest class of motorcycle road racing events held on Road racing, road circuits sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM). Independent motorcycle racing events have been held sin ...

race on 20 September 2009. However, on 11 March 2009, motogpmatters.com reported that the Hungarian round would be canceled due to problems related to the

2008 financial crisis The 2008 financial crisis, also known as the global financial crisis (GFC), was a major worldwide financial crisis centered in the United States. The causes of the 2008 crisis included excessive speculation on housing values by both homeowners ...

. The circuit would not be completed in time for the 20 September race. The first Hungarian GP was scheduled to take place in September 2010. On 18 March 2010 the

Hungarian motorcycle Grand Prix The Hungarian motorcycle Grand Prix is a motorcycling event that is part of the Grand Prix motorcycle racing World Championship. The event is scheduled to return to the calendar in 2025. History Only two editions were held. The first Hungarian ...

was cancelled as the FIM said the construction work needed would not be done in time for the event. It was replaced by the Aragon motorcycle Grand Prix in

MotorLand Aragón MotorLand Aragón (alternative Spanish name: Circuito de Alcañiz) is a race track used for motorsports located in Alcañiz, Spain. The circuit was designed by German architect Hermann Tilke in conjunction with the British architectural busin ...

, Spain. As of November 2012, the plot was on auction for a month. The project accumulated a total debt of HUF 3.5 bn (USD 16,000,000) and the plot was being sold for HUF 1.5 bn (USD 6,800,000). Nothing can be seen from the track line as weeds have grown over it.{{cite news , url=http://sportgeza.hu/sport/2012/11/20/arverezik_a_meg_sem_epult_savolyi_motorpalyat/ , title=Unfinished racetrack on auction (in Hungarian), publisher=index.hu, date=2012-11-20 , accessdate=2012-11-20

References

External links

Balatonring non-official homepage
(in Hungarian, archived)
German Blog about Balatonring
Motorsport venues in Hungary Unbuilt sports venues Proposed buildings and structures in Hungary