Kirkistown Motor Racing Circuit is a permanent

motorsport Motorsport or motor sport are sporting events, competitions and related activities that primarily involve the use of Car, automobiles, motorcycles, motorboats and Aircraft, powered aircraft. For each of these vehicle types, the more specific term ...

circuit located between the villages of Kirkistown and Portavogie, on the

Ards Peninsula The Ards Peninsula () is a peninsula in County Down, Northern Ireland, on the north-east coast of Ireland. It separates Strangford Lough from the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel of the Irish Sea. Towns and villages on t ...

County Down County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 552,261. It borders County Antrim to the ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

History

The circuit is owned and operated by the 500 Motor Racing Club of Ireland (500 MRCI), who opened the circuit in 1953 on the site of the former RAF Kirkistown Royal Air Force airfield. Kirkistown's main circuit runs clockwise, and was laid out using portions of the aerodrome's major east–west runway and northern perimeter roadways. The layout is relatively simple, with four main corners and a main straight. During the 1970s, a right-left chicane was constructed approximately one third of the way along the main straight, to reduce approach speeds to the Maguires Hairpin turn.

Current use

In its present configuration, Kirkistown's track length is and it is Northern Ireland's only MSA-licensed permanent race track. In addition to the 500 MRCI's own events and other automobile circuit racing series, Kirkistown also hosts races for karting,

rallying Rallying is a wide-ranging form of motorsport with various competitive motoring elements such as speed tests (sometimes called "rally racing" in United States), navigation tests, or the ability to reach waypoints or a destination at a prescribed ...

rallycross Rallycross is a form of sprint style motorsport held on a mixed-surface circuit (racing), racing circuit using modified production touring automobile, cars or prototype racing cars. It began in the 1960s as a cross between rallying and autocross ...

motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike; uni (if one-wheeled); trike (if three-wheeled); quad (if four-wheeled)) is a lightweight private 1-to-2 passenger personal motor vehicle Steering, steered by a Motorcycle handlebar, handlebar from a saddle-style ...

and supermoto classes. Various duathlon, running and cycling events (in aid of Belfast Tandem Cycling Group) have also been held at Kirkistown, including an officially measured series of 5k and 10k races regarded as one of the fastest and flattest courses in the province.

References

External links

Official website
Motorsport venues in Northern Ireland Sports venues in County Down 1953 establishments in Northern Ireland Sports venues completed in 1953 {{Autoracing-venue-stub