The Pescara Circuit was a race course made up entirely of public roads near

Pescara Pescara (; nap, label= Abruzzese, Pescàrë; nap, label= Pescarese, Piscàrë) is the capital city of the Province of Pescara, in the Abruzzo region of Italy. It is the most populated city in Abruzzo, with 119,217 (2018) residents (and approxim ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

that hosted the

Coppa Acerbo The Coppa Acerbo was an automobile race held in Italy, named after Tito Acerbo, the brother of Giacomo Acerbo, a prominent fascist politician. Following Italy's defeat in World War II, and the consequent demise of fascism, the race was renamed the ...

auto race. Pescara is the longest circuit to ever host a

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

Grand Prix. The country and town roads used were both narrow and bumpy. Like many long circuits (such as the original

Nürburgring The is a 150,000 person capacity motorsports complex located in the town of Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It features a Formula One, Grand Prix race track built in 1984, and a long "North loop" track, built in the 1920s, around t ...

and

Spa-Francorchamps The Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps (), frequently referred to as ''Spa'', is a motor-racing circuit located in Stavelot, Belgium. It is the current venue of the Formula One Belgian Grand Prix, hosting its first Grand Prix in 1925, and has he ...

circuits), Pescara was revered as a fantastic driver's circuit, but also like Spa and the Nürburgring, it was extremely dangerous and unforgiving. The long track travelled through a number of villages situated on hills surrounding Pescara, following a roughly triangular shape with its corners at the seaside municipality of Pescara. It included two long straights (only slightly shorter than the Mulsanne Straight at Le Mans) between the seaside municipality of

Montesilvano Montesilvano () is a city and ''comune'' of the province of Pescara in the Abruzzo region of Italy. Abruzzo often called Mare-Monti (Sea-Mountain) region. The name Montesilvano is apparently derived from the Latin which means "woody hill" ("woo ...

, nicknamed "The Flying Kilometre". It was on "The Flying Kilometre" that

Guy Moll Guillaume Laurent "Guy" Moll (28 May 1910 – 15 August 1934) was a French racing driver. Moll was the son of a French father and Spanish mother who had emigrated to Algeria, then a French colony. He had only started racing in 1930, running a ...

was killed during the 1934 Coppa Acerbo. The highest point, at

Spoltore Spoltore (locally ''Spuldórë'') is a ''comune'' and town in the province of Pescara in the Abruzzo region of Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is lo ...

, was above sea level. The track started just outside the middle of Pescara, moving west through the suburb of Rione Partenze, and then into the hilly villages of Frascone, Valle Carbone, Spoltore, and Case Fornace, going through a mixture of slow and fast bends before dropping out of the hills into the inland municipality of

Cappelle sul Tavo Cappelle sul Tavo ( Abruzzese: ') is a ''comune'' and town in the Province of Pescara in the Abruzzo region of Italy. History Cappelle sul Tavo has been an independent municipality since 1906. Previously, it was part of the municipality of Mont ...

, then down the first straight northeast to Montesilvano before going down another straight and returning to Pescara. The first race took place in 1924 and non-Championship

races followed in the early 1950s, with one official Formula One World Championship event in due to the cancellation of other races. The

Pescara Grand Prix Pescara (; nap, label= Abruzzese, Pescàrë; nap, label= Pescarese, Piscàrë) is the capital city of the Province of Pescara, in the Abruzzo region of Italy. It is the most populated city in Abruzzo, with 119,217 (2018) residents (and approxi ...

drew in excess of 200,000 spectators, 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 Enzo Anselmo Giuseppe Maria Ferrari (; 20 February 1898 – 14 August 1988) was an Italians, Italian motor racing driver and entrepreneur, the founder of the Scuderia Ferrari Grand Prix motor racing team, and subsequently of the Ferrari ...

who did not send his cars to this race out of fear for his drivers' safety. It was the first F1 circuit with an artificial chicane, built in 1934 on the start-finish straight to reduce speed in the pits after of flat out. The track's last race was a four-hour

World Sportscar Championship The World Sportscar Championship was the world series run for sports car racing by the FIA from 1953 to 1992. The championship evolved from a small collection of the most important sportscar, endurance, and road racing events in Europe and No ...

race in 1961, won by

Lorenzo Bandini Lorenzo Bandini (21 December 193510 May 1967) was an Italian motor racing driver who raced in Formula One for the Scuderia Centro Sud and Ferrari teams. Career Bandini was born in Barce in Cyrenaica, Libya,"Hulme Takes Monaco Race; Bandini S ...

and

Giorgio Scarlatti Giorgio Scarlatti (2 October 1921 – 26 July 1990) was a racing driver from Italy. He participated in 15 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 13 May 1956. Scarlatti's best season in Formula One was as a works Maserati driver ...

driving a

Ferrari 250 TR The Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa, or 250 TR, is a racing sports car built by Ferrari from 1957 to 1961. It was introduced at the end of the 1957 racing season in response to rule changes that enforced a maximum engine displacement of 3 litres for ...

for

Scuderia Centro Sud Scuderia Centro Sud was a privateer racing team founded in Modena by Guglielmo "Mimmo" Dei and active in Formula One and sports car racing between 1956 and 1965. Dei had been an amateur driver in the 1930s. In the early 1950s he opened a Maserat ...

. 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.

References

External links

Etracksonline page on Pescara circuit

Approximate circuit layout on Google Maps

Approximate circuit layout on Motopaner
{{World Sportscar Championship circuits

Formula One circuits Motorsport venues in Italy Defunct motorsport venues in Italy Pescara