The abandoned factory grounds became a compact little circuit resembling an oval with five corners and long straights. The result was a track that was a combination of a road course and an oval, which encouraged high speeds and racing at close quarters as we see on conventional ovals.
In the beginning there were events for both cars and motorcycles, and some stock car racing, with part of the track a simple rough surface. By 1977 it had been entirely paved with more races for the four-wheeled, and this drew more spectators who would see as many as 150 drivers competing in many different classes including hot rods.
A lap was short and fast and included a long, quick corner at one end of the oval. This produced close, door-to-door racing, and by the late ’70s and into the early ’80s competitors were coming from all around Europe. Gelsenkirchen’s standing and reputation grew as it was one of a very few places readily available for enthusiastic grassroots racers. It was popular too with the fans who were able to get much closer to both the cars and the drivers than at the bigger mainstream circuits. It was a world away from expensive grandstands and corporate hospitality enclosures.
By the early 1980s the circuit was in trouble. Bigger and smarter places were taking spectators away, and with as many as two race meetings every month, local residents were beginning to complain about noise and air pollution. Then Germany’s Green Party got involved and it was only a matter of time before the track could not survive the increasing opposition and distaste for motor racing. The last race was held in 1984 and this popular little circuit was lost to the motor sport community.
Woodland and fields have covered the track though bits have survived as well as a few rusty old barriers. The Almaring oval lives on in the virtual world as it has been recreated digitally for simulator racers. Like so many of our lost circuits this was another victim of environmental pressures and the decline that goes with gravitation towards bigger, more sophisticated places.
Every country, however, has a motor sport history that matters to those who were there at the time.
Visit Motor Sport’s online database to see details on racing circuits past and present.
Motodrom Gelsenkirchen
In use 1969-1984
Maximum capacity 2000 spectators
Meetings 1st and 3rd Sundays