Sitges-Terramar, a track lost in time

"Fl1ngstam" (Fl1ngstam) 10/14/2014 at 16:16 • Filed to: None

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Last month, I had a 4-day business trip to Spain. Three of those days would be spent in Barcelona, and the fourth was to be at the IDIADA test facility, a large network of tracks used by most of the major European manufacturers in a predominantly sunny and dry part of the continent.

My first plan was to rent a car at the airport and stay in a place roughly half-way between my two workplaces. This would be the seaside town of Sitges. Unfortunately, Sitges was a busy place that week due to a "Bear" festival. I thought I'd check what "Bear Week" was about, as this was an unfamiliar name. It turns out that a "Bear" is a large hairy gay man, and the Bear Festival was where thousands of them would gather to party. Of course, they're not too exclusive, as "Otters" were also most welcome (an Otter, naturally, being a slim hairy gay man). As I am insufficiently gay and not that hairy, I decided I would be best served by staying well outside Sitges. In any case, all the hotels within the area were fully booked, so I couldn't even stay in my usual place in Castelldefels closer to Barcelona along the coast. I ended up booking a hotel in central Barcelona (with a subterranean car park), and picked up a SEAT Ibiza rental car to get around in. Quite an appropriate car, given that it is built in Barcelona and is celebrating it's 30th year of production.

Here it is, 2 levels below the streets of Barcelona:

Before I left the UK, though, I had to think about what I was going to do for the hours that I wasn't in the office/factory/test facility. One particular place that has fascinated me for a few years is the old banked race circuit at Sitges-Terramar (you know, where the Bears are). I did a bit of research online, looked it up on Google Maps and tried to remember how to get there.

Autodromo de Sitges-Terramar was constructed with 3.5 million Kg of locally-sourced concrete in 1922, and held the Spanish Grand Prix in October 1923. Unfortunately, the owners didn't have enough money to pay the German builders, so forfeited the gate receipts for the inaugural meeting. This in turn meant no prize money for the drivers. The organising body was so incensed by this that they banned the track from holding any further international meetings. In the following 30 years, a series of optimistic owners took over, each promising to get the track noticed as a major international motor racing venue (it was, after all, only the third purpose-built track in Europe), but each in turn met with financial failure. The land was taken over by a chicken farmer for three decades, and the circuit crudely barricaded to prevent unwanted visitors from cruising around. It's now in the hands of the second group of modern developers, promising to return the track to historic event use, and building a hotel on the infield. It's all highly optimistic, so who knows if it will actually happen. Spain isn't doing so well, financially-speaking, after all.

Info on the future plans here:

http://www.autodromodeterramar.com/download/Terra…

On the morning of the day I was going to IDIADA, I decided to leave the hotel early and go past Sitges on the way there. I ducked off the Autopista at Castelldefels and drove along the magnificently twisty coastal road that winds along above the Mediterranean. Even in a diesel hire car, it was a fun and memorable experience.

When I arrived in Sitges, it occurred to me that I didn't really know where the old circuit was, so I made a couple of guesses to navigate my way across town in roughly the right direction. Kate the SatNav was with me, but I hadn't programmed it in advance, so it was of limited use. I ended up driving out the other side of Sitges without seeing anything that looked like an old race track, so I found a place to turn around and head back into town. It was while I was driving back along this road that I saw my first glimpse of it.

To my left, rising above the housing estate and the trees, was the distinctive shape of a steeply-banked curve of concrete.

I parked up at the back of the houses and took in my surroundings. At the end of the street, the tarmac dissolved into gravel, and the dirt surface wound around and over a small stream to lead up to a gate with a large "privado" sign on it. Well, I say "over" the stream, but in reality the stream was flowing over the top of the old concrete bridge which led to the circuit. I had already decided it would be rather rude to try to drive onto the track itself without permission, so it looked like I might be getting my feet wet. As I sat there, a minibus drove past me towards the track. It was met at the gate by a Seat Alhambra MPV with large "SEAT" stickers on the sides, and disappeared into the track. Ah, it looked like I wasn't the only one there that day. I got out and walked a little further along parallel to the stream, but it was clear that the stream-covered bridge was the only viable access point. Once I had danced across the bridge in a Bambi-learning-to-walk style to try and avoid getting flooded shoes, I was able to step around the gate and onto the perimeter road.

The original grandstand rose up immediately in front of me, it's few doors and windows boarded over. I could only imagine what it would have been like to sit up there and watch vintage racing cars thundering by in 1923. The grandstand was linked to a high wall between my position and the circuit, so I still couldn't see the track itself.

I turned left and started walking parallel to this wall and past some trees which were growing in it's shadow. It was at this point that I realised I was being watched. Up against the wall, under the trees, was a very large black dog. It was so large and so black that my panicked mind could easily have mistaken it for a bear (the kind that isn't a large gay man). I froze for a moment, unsure of whether this was a guard dog, and that was why there was a vehicular chaperone for the other visitors. As I looked more closely, I could see that this bear-dog had a thick rope attached to his collar. He stood up, barked the deepest bass bark that a dog could muster and leapt towards me. My eyes widened further, and then I relaxed when I saw that the rope wasn't actually very long. He would stop advancing any second, and I would be fine. I turned to keep walking, but the sound of the dog moving didn't stop. The full horror of the situation then hit me. The rope wasn't actually attached to anything…

At this point, I have to admit that I let out a very high-pitched shriek. I was too scared to do anything else, and I certainly didn't think of breaking into a run. Fortunately, the bear-dog wasn't of the attack or guard variety, and he suddenly stopped coming towards me and immediately feigned complete disinterest in my presence, having a sniff around. I summoned the courage to say hello, but I didn't extend my hand, lest he change his mind and remove it from me.

I walked up to the end of the wall and peered around. There in front of my was the main straight of the circuit, and along to my right was a small cluster of vehicles. I couldn't see the Alhambra, but there were two large minibuses and two panel vans parked up, with a few people milling around. It looked like they might be setting up for a promotional photoshoot of some kind (an increasingly common event, since Audi persuaded the circuit owners to allow them to film an R8 LMS car thundering around the circuit in 2012). I figured they wouldn't appreciate me poking around, so I backtracked a little to see the circuit from another angle. After a brief scramble through some spiky foliage and up a very muddy slope, I could finally see the ribbon of concrete twisting up and away from me. I could see only the start of one part of the banking, but it looked magnificent (and if I ignored the group of people behind me, spookily deserted).

After taking in this view for a few seconds, I decided that I needed to see it from another angle. I retreated back through the foliage, splash-danced my way across the bridge and jumped back in the car again. I returned the main road and took the next exit, past the school (which was rather busy with people dropping off their kids), and up the hill which held another housing complex. From this vantage point, I could just about make out the shape of the circuit through the trees, and had a pretty reasonable view of the people gathered on the track and the grandstand, which appears to have been covered over with some crude roofing structure.

I looked over my surroundings for a couple more minutes, aware of the funny looks I was getting from people walking their dogs and taking their rubbish out, before returning once more to my car to go to work. My trousers carried the evidence of my escapades through the mud and shrubbery, but I was glad I got to see Sitges-Terramar in it's slightly dilapidated, but authentic state. If and when development takes place here, it will be a very different place. I'd like to visit again and take a closer look, though. I'll just have to make a plan…

More info (and better photos) here:

http://www.speedhunters.com/2013/06/welcom…

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

http://www.sitges.net/daysout/terram…

Will with a W8 races an E30 > Fl1ngstam 10/15/2014 at 12:16

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1. Change title to "What happened when I broke into a 1920's F1 track to take pretty pictures"

2. Clickbaity headline gets FP'd

3. More than 40 people see awesome article

4. Winning????

Fl1ngstam > Will with a W8 races an E30 10/15/2014 at 12:23

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You could be right. My title is a little abstract and poetic.

Let's see...

"How I was not mauled by a dog at Barcelonapolis"

"I avoided the hairy homosexual party, but still met a bear (dog)"

"NASCAR in 1920's Spain!!!!!!!!!"

"Terror in the Terramar"

I'll keep thinking...

Will with a W8 races an E30 > Fl1ngstam 10/15/2014 at 12:34

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Lol @ "I avoided the hairy homosexual party, but still met a bear"

I read this yesterday and thought it was great, but was really disappointed when it popped up again today with only 45 views. Oppo is missing out!

Fl1ngstam > Will with a W8 races an E30 10/15/2014 at 12:36

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Please tell your friends! Anyone!!!

Grant Leavitt > Fl1ngstam 10/16/2014 at 16:50

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I loved that video of the Audi at Sitges when I saw it on Jalopnik a couple of years ago. Those slo-mo tire hops over the margins in the concrete were enough to bring a grown man to sweet, rubber-induced tears.