Race track

With the advent of the automobile in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, race tracks were designed to suit the nature of powered machines.

Racing automobiles in such facilities began in September 1896, at Narragansett Park in Cranston, Rhode Island.

Commonly, running tracks are incorporated within general use or soccer stadiums, either permanently visible or covered by stands or pitches.

Some venues contain smaller tracks inside larger ones, with access tunnels and bridges for spectators.

The Le Mans road race venue is centred on a smaller permanent circuit within its complex.

A famous one is Nardò where high-speed manufacturer testing often takes place, and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

True road circuits are still in use, e.g. the Australian GP has been run in Adelaide and continues to be in Melbourne on regular city streets.

These are not permanent facilities built for racing (although parts of the Circuit de la Sarthe are purpose-built, and closed to the public).

This coincided with a post-war boom in motorsport, and many airfields were converted to race tracks, where the circuit layout usually combined parts of the runways and the surrounding perimeter taxiways.

This type of track also appears on the popular motoring show Top Gear, which is filmed at Dunsfold Aerodrome, in Surrey, United kingdom