Autódromo de Benguela
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 Benguela , Angola
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| Route type: | permanent race track | ||
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| Opening: | May 21, 1972 | ||
| Decommissioned: | 1976 | ||
| Time zone: | WAT (UTC + 1) | ||
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| Route data | |||
| Route length: | 3.958 km (2.46 mi ) | ||
Coordinates: 12 ° 36 ′ 3.7 ″ S , 13 ° 23 ′ 2.9 ″ E
The Autódromo de Benguela is a former racing circuit in the Angolan coastal city of Benguela .
history
Autódromo de Benguela is located west of Benguela Airport, 800 meters from the Atlantic Ocean . The course was designed to replace the Circuito da Praia Morena , a street course in downtown Benguela that had been used for sports car races since the 1960s. The Autódromo de Benguela was after half-year construction on May 21, 1972 - and a week before in Angola's capital located Autódromo de Luanda opened -. At that time only the racetrack itself was completed; Unlike in Luanda, there was no pit lane or grandstands.
In the following two years, the Autódromo de Benguela was mainly used for some endurance races as part of the Angolan sports car series . These were the Benguela 500 km races in 1973 and 1974 . The first winners were Mário de Araújo Cabral and Antonío Peixinho .
After the Carnation Revolution in Angola's mother country Portugal in 1974, the resulting independence of the African country and the civil war that broke out at the same time , motorsport in Angola initially came to a standstill at the end of 1974. In contrast to Luanda, however, a few races took place in Benguela in the following years; At least one sports car race is recorded for 1976.
In the period that followed, the facility fell into disrepair, and over the years there were only a few privately organized motorsport events. In 1996, on the occasion of the 379th anniversary of the city of Benguela, a privately organized race took place in which several Porsche 911s , a Peugeot 205 and a VW Corrado competed against each other.
Apart from a single note about a motorcycle race that is said to have taken place on the track in 2001, there is no evidence that the track was still in normal use in the 21st century. The Autódromo de Benguela has been in a dilapidated state since at least 2005.
Routing
The course was 3,958 meters long. It consisted of a long straight and a three-part, uniform combination of curves. A short version of the route could also be used, its length was 2,774 meters.
Web links
- Autódromo de Benguela on the website www.silhouet.com (accessed November 28, 2012).
- Brief description of the history of the circuit ( Memento from March 6, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
Individual evidence
- ↑ Pictures of the construction work from 1972 on the website www.motorsportinangola.blogspot.de
- ↑ Pictures from the opening of the Autodrom on the website www.motorsportinangola.blogspot.de .
- ↑ Images from 1976 on the website www.motorsportinangola.blogspot.de .
- ↑ Images on the website www.motorsportinangola.blogspot.de .
- ^ Note on the "Motorcycle Grand Prix of Benguela 2001" on the website www.formula1archive.blogspot.de ( Memento from March 6, 2014 in the Internet Archive ). There is no evidence that this race was carried out.
- ↑ Illustration of the Autodrómo de Benguela (2005)
- ^ Angola Blog with several photos from 2007 ( Memento from March 13, 2014 in the Internet Archive ), accessed November 30, 2012.
