Pescara Circuit

Pescara Circuit
Location Pescara, Abruzzo, Italy
Time zone GMT +1
Major events Formula One
Pescara Grand Prix
Coppa Acerbo
Targa Abruzzo
Temporary road course (1934-61)[1]
Length 25.8 km (16.032 mi)
Race lap record 9:44.6 – 98.726 mph (United Kingdom Stirling Moss, Vanwall, 1957)
Temporary road course (1924-33)
Length 25.578 km (15.894 mi)

The Pescara Circuit was a 16.032 miles (25.8 km) road race course near Pescara, Italy. Pescara is the longest Formula One circuit ever.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7]

The roads were both narrow and bumpy. Like many long circuits (such as the original Nürburgring and Spa-Francorchamps circuits) Pescara was extremely dangerous.

The long track travelled through a number of villages near Pescara, following a roughly triangular shape with its corners at the seaside municipality of Pescara, moving west to the inland municipality of Cappelle sul Tavo, then northeast to the seaside municipality of Montesilvano before returning to Pescara.[2] The Pescara Circuit included two long straights between villages on the southwest-to-north, nicknamed "The Flying Kilometre",[1][2] and north-to-southeast legs, as well as demanding corners along the south leg. It was on "The Flying Kilometre" that Guy Moll was killed in during the 1934 Coppa Acerbo.[1][8] The highest point, at Spoltore, was 185 m above sea level.[5]

The first race took place in 1924 and non-Championship Formula One races followed in the early 1950s, with one official Formula One World Championship event in 1957[2][4][6][7] due to the cancellation of other races.[1] The Pescara Grand Prix drew in excess of 200,000 spectators,[7] and remains the longest circuit in terms of lap distance ever to stage a Formula One Grand Prix. But the circuit was feared even by Enzo Ferrari who did not send his cars to this race out of fear for his drivers' safety.[9]

It was the first F1 circuit with an artificial chicane, built in 1934 on the start-finish straight to reduce speed in the pits.[4][8]

The track's last race was a four-hour World Sportscar Championship race in 1961,[1][6] won by Lorenzo Bandini and Giorgio Scarlatti driving a Ferrari 250 TR for Scuderia Centro Sud.[10] After that race the circuit was permanently retired as a racing venue as it was impossible for the organizers to guarantee the safety of drivers and spectators.[2][4][6][7]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Pescara | Motor Sport Magazine database". Motor Sport Magazine. Retrieved 17 September 2018.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Liesemeijer, Herman. "Pescara Circuit". Circuits of the Past. Retrieved 17 September 2018.
  3. ↑ "Longest Formula One circuit". Guinness World Records. Retrieved 17 September 2018.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Circuito di Pescara". autoyas.com. Retrieved 17 September 2018.
  5. 1 2 Liesemeijer, Herman. "A lap at Pescara". Circuits of the Past. Retrieved 17 September 2018.
  6. 1 2 3 4 "Forgotten circuits of the world". Classic & Sports Car. 3 February 2018. Retrieved 17 September 2018.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Salisbury, Matt (2 October 2013). "Korean GP: Six of the Best: Short-lived Grand Prix circuits". Crash. Retrieved 17 September 2018.
  8. 1 2 The Golden Age of Grand Prix Racing. "1934 Coppa Acerbo". Retrieved 17 September 2018.
  9. ↑ "Six of the Best...F1 circuits". Patronise F1. 16 August 2009. Retrieved 13 July 2013.
  10. ↑ "1961 Pescara 4 Hours | Motor Sport Magazine Database". Motor Sport Magazine. 2017-06-12. Retrieved 2018-09-11.

Coordinates: 42°28′30″N 14°9′3″E / 42.47500°N 14.15083°E / 42.47500; 14.15083

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