Kirkistown Race Circuit

Kirkistown Race Circuit at a glance

Location

Kircubbin, County Down

Type

road course

Length

2.433 km (1.512 mi)

Turns

9

Direction

clockwise

Surface

asphalt

Opened

1953

Owner

500 Motor Racing Club of Ireland

Address

130 Rubane Road, Kircubbin, County Down, BT22 1AU

Website

kirkistown.com

Track map and layout

Kirkistown sits on the flat, exposed southern tip of County Down's Ards Peninsula, built on the perimeter roads and runway of a Second World War RAF and Royal Navy airfield once known as HMS Corncrake II. Its 1.512-mile, nine-turn lap keeps a simple, fast character built around two long straights and a handful of demanding corners, with the Crosslé Chicane - added in the 1970s and named after Ulster racing car builder John Crosslé - the main concession to modern safety on an otherwise old-school, low run-off track. Kirkistown is unique in Britain and Ireland as the only circuit both owned and operated by the club that built it, the 500 Motor Racing Club of Ireland, rather than a commercial operator.

Named corners and sections

• Debtor's Dip. A blind left-hander with no run-off; even the circuit's own historians are unsure of the origin of its name.
• Colonial One / Colonial Two. A fast right-left corner combination taken as a single flowing sequence.
• Fisherman's Bend. A double-apex corner named for the Portavogie fishermen who once dried their nets on the hedge alongside it.
• Crosslé Chicane. A chicane added in the 1970s to slow cars, named after Ulster racing car constructor John Crosslé.
• Maguire's Hairpin. A tight right-hand hairpin named after William Maguire, one of the club's original members who raced a Mercury Special there in the 1950s.

Configurations

Events and race weekends

Kirkistown's motorsport calendar is anchored by three major motorcycle race meetings a year run by the Belfast & District Motor Club, with the Easter Monday meeting the largest and best-attended date on the circuit's calendar. Car racing includes rounds for Northern Ireland's saloon, single-seater and sports car clubs, karting and rallycross, making Kirkistown one of the busiest grassroots motorsport venues in Northern Ireland.

Getting there and parking

Kirkistown is on the Ards Peninsula near Kircubbin and Portavogie, about 30-35 minutes south-east of Newtownards on the A20/Portaferry Road. George Best Belfast City Airport is the closest airport, about a 45-minute drive, with Belfast International Airport a wider option a little further out. Belfast's ferry terminals, linked to Cairnryan, Liverpool and Heysham, make the circuit a practical stop for visitors arriving from Scotland or England by sea.

• George Best Belfast City Airport (BHD) · about 45 min drive
• Belfast International Airport (BFS) · about 65 min drive

Parking

Free spectator car parking is available on-site for race meetings; arrive early for the Easter Monday motorcycle meeting, the circuit's busiest date of the year.

Check the club's events calendar before travelling, as many midweek dates are closed track days rather than public race meetings; the Stranraer/Cairnryan-Belfast ferry route is a practical option for visitors travelling from Scotland.

Hotels and camping near Kirkistown Race Circuit

Newtownards, about 30 minutes away, has the widest choice of hotels on the Ards Peninsula, with Portaferry and the villages of Kircubbin and Portavogie offering smaller B&B and guesthouse options much closer to the circuit. Belfast, roughly 45 minutes away, adds a much larger pool of city hotels for visitors happy to stay further out. Book ahead for the Easter Monday meeting, the circuit's busiest weekend.

Where to look

Kircubbin and Portavogie (closest villages, limited B&B options), Newtownards (widest hotel choice on the peninsula), and Belfast for a much larger selection further afield.

Track days, driving experiences and lap records

Kirkistown runs its own car and motorcycle track days and driving experiences, including passenger rides and tuition in Formula Ford single-seaters and Radical sports racers with ARDS-qualified instructors, alongside open track days for road and race cars. As Northern Ireland's most active grassroots circuit, it's also used regularly by local car and bike clubs for testing.

Who runs days here

• Kirkistown Trackdaysboth
• Kirkistown Circuit (driving experiences)car

Lap records

Spectator guide

Kirkistown's flat, open airfield setting on the exposed tip of the Ards Peninsula gives spectators clear views across much of the short lap, though there's very little shelter from the wind and rain that regularly blow in off the Irish Sea. The circuit's low-key, club-run character means viewing is informal compared with larger commercial tracks.

Best places to watch

The area around Fisherman's Bend and Maguire's Hairpin gives good views of the circuit's slower, more technical corners.

Weather

• Apr: cool and often breezy for the Easter Monday meeting; pack for coastal Irish Sea weather
• Jun-Aug: mild summer weather typical of the Ards Peninsula, still exposed to wind

History of Kirkistown Race Circuit

From naval airfield to racetrack

Kirkistown began life as part of a Second World War RAF airfield on the southern tip of the Ards Peninsula, later taken over by the Royal Navy and commissioned as HMS Corncrake II. When the airfield closed after the war, its runway and perimeter roads were left largely intact, and in 1953 the Five Hundred Motor Racing Club of Ireland leased the site to create a permanent motor racing venue - one of the first purpose-built circuits in Ireland, north or south.

Early racing and growth

The first meeting was held on 13 June 1953, with R.G. Lovell Butt setting the opening fastest lap in a 1.5-litre Griffin Maserati at just over 71mph. Lap speeds climbed steadily through the following decades as machinery improved, and the circuit became a fixture of Northern Irish club motorsport, hosting car and, from the mid-1950s, motorcycle racing organised by the Belfast & District Motor Club.

Safety changes and club ownership

By the 1970s and 1980s, rising speeds prompted safety-driven changes to the layout, including the addition of the Crosslé Chicane - named for Ulster racing car builder John Crosslé - ahead of Maguire's Hairpin. The 500 Motor Racing Club of Ireland, which had leased the site since 1953, acquired the circuit outright during this period, making Kirkistown the only circuit in the British Isles both owned and run by its founding club rather than a commercial operator.

Present day

Today Kirkistown remains Northern Ireland's busiest grassroots circuit, hosting three major motorcycle race meetings a year - most notably the well-attended Easter Monday fixture - alongside a full season of car club racing, karting, rallycross and track days. Ongoing investment in its clubhouse, pit garages and scrutineering facilities has kept the circuit modern behind an unmistakably old-school, low run-off lap that has changed little in layout since 1987.

Frequently asked questions

Other tracks nearby

• Bishopscourt Racing Circuit · 18 km · road course
• Dundrod Circuit (Ulster Grand Prix) · 42 km · historic circuit (defunct)
• St John's Short Course · 61 km · historic circuit (defunct)
• Billown Circuit · 68 km · public road circuit
• Clypse Course · 71 km · historic circuit (defunct)
• Isle of Man TT Mountain Course · 73 km · public road circuit