Mondello Park
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
|
| Location | Naas, County Kildare, Ireland |
|---|---|
| Time zone | GMT |
| Major Events | British Superbike Championship; British F3; Pickup Truck Racing |
| Circuit Length | 3.503 km (2.268 mi) |
| Turns | 13 |
| Lap Record | 1:28.708 (Johnny Laursen, Ascari-Judd V10, 2006) |
Mondello Park is Ireland's only international motorsport venue located in County Kildare. It is owned by Martin Birrane, and is home to the Irish round of the British Superbike Championship, Pickup Truck Racing and International Formula 3, GT and Rallycross events. Irish Championship Car, Kart and Motorcycle races also take place as well as car and motorcycle track days. The circuit used to host an Irish round of the British Touring Car Championship.
The main circuit at the facility is the 3,035 metre International Circuit, which has received race approval from the FIA. The circuit is extremely twisty to fit this length into a small site.
The International Circuit has public track days, where any road-legal vehicles may be driven by the public; and part of it is also used for the circuits Motor Racing School.
A museum containing a number of rally and track cars from the past 30 or so years is also on-site.
[edit] Circuit History
Mondello Park is the only Motor Racing circuit in the Republic of Ireland and was opened in 1968. Prior to the opening of the circuit all racing in Ireland had taken place on closed public roads but with safety becoming a big issue the days of the street circuit were numbered and with the demise of the last track at Dunboyne a permanent circuit was badly required.
The original 0.8 mile layout lasted for just one year before the track was extended to 1.2 miles for the start of the 1969 season. The circuit hosted European F5000 events in its early years and attracted massive crowds for its international events but took a few years to build a local competitor base. With the arrival of the budget Formula Ford class in the seventies local interest began to grow and the track produced some of Irelands best ever talents with the likes of Derek Daly, David Kennedy, Bernard Devaney & Martin Donnelly going on to make a name for themselves Internationally. The first three now have corners named after them at the circuit.
The circuit ran into financial difficulties in the eighties and was rescued from closure when sold by the original owners to a consortium of Motor Clubs and the Royal Irish Automobile Club. UK based Irish businessman and Motor Sport enthusiast Martin Birrane later stepped in to purchase the circuit from the consortium and the track was then run by a number of different franchise holders. Through the eighties and nineties Mondello hosted the EFDA Euroseries for FF2000 and then Formula Opel cars as well as being visited by many of the top British club championships, such as Donington GT’s, Thundersaloons and TVR Tuscans. The track also hosted British and European championship motorcycle races. Notably, the running for a number of years of "Le vingt-quatre heures du Mondello", a 24-hour race specifically for racing Citroen 2CVs, saw this small Irish circuit hold the British Isles only 24-hour car races at the time. With coverage on the cult TV show 'Top Gear', the racing at Mondello was legendary. Often held the same weekend as the 24 hours of Le Mans, many of the 2CVs would actually cover more ground than retirements of their faster brethren in France, notably the factory Peugeot team in the early 90s. The races attracted many celebrities, such as Paddy Hopkirk, Davy Crockett and a number of BTCC and sportscar drivers.
With the venue now well established the aim for Mondello was to attract more International events and as the first step towards this the circuit was extended to 2.2 miles in 1998. The new International track was opened with a round of the EuroBOSS series for recent Formula One cars. To facilitate further development of the circuit Martin Birrane took over day to day control of the management of the circuit from the last franchise holder in 2000. A programme of improvements was put in place, designed to attract the likes of the British Touring Car Championship and more importantly, due to the growing popularity of motorcycle racing in Ireland, the British Superbike championship.
The circuit development was completed in 2001 with the arrival of a pit garage and hospitality suite complex, a larger, all tarmac, paddock and a state of the art control tower and medical centre. Re-surfacing work in 2005 and the on-going upgrading of spectator banks, track, circuit drainage and facilities have transformed the circuit from a popular club racing venue to an internationally recognised motor sport facility. Since 2000 Mondello Park has staged a round of the FIA Sports Car Championship, run a European championship historic racing event, become a regular on the BTCC, British GT and Formula 3 calendars and hosts the only annual overseas round of the British Superbike Championship.
[edit] External links
|
||||||||
