THE CURITIBA TRACK
The result of an initiative by motorsport enthusiasts and the Paraná State Government, the idea of having a track in Curitiba came about due to the explosion of motorsport after the Second World War, the popularization of cars and due to the street and road races that began to be organized at the time.
Curitiba had already been hosting races on so-called street circuits and road races for a number of years, some of which had become traditional, including the 6 Hours of Curitiba (street circuit) and the Rodovia do Café Grand Prix (road circuit between Curitiba and Apucarana).
With growing interest, an increase in participants, events and spectators, the issue of safety, both for participants and the public, soon became an important point. At the time, the security structure was precarious, limited to tires, hay bales and isolation cords. Often, only the curbs separated the spectators from the drivers and their machines. There were fatal accidents and, as a result, interest in setting aside an area for the sport became latent.
In the mid-1960s, enthusiasts and the state government together with the Automobile Club of Paraná, was laid the foundation stone for the start of construction of a track for motorsport in the Curitiba region, more specifically in the municipality of Piraquara (the area around the race track later became part of the municipality of Pinhais through its dismemberment and emancipation in 1992). The area was donated by a coffee entrepreneur to the Automobile Club of Paraná. Ayrton “Lolô” Cornelsen and contractor Flávio das Chagas Filho were in charge of construction. During a visit to the land that would house the racetrack in the future, an enthusiastic Lolô sketched out the track's design, which, among other novelties for the time, envisioned, in addition to the “mixed” circuit, an “oval”-style outer ring (in vogue at the time) and a straight for drag racing. At the time, Lolô was already working on the construction of the Jacarepaguá racetrack in Rio de Janeiro (which he had designed) and, later, he also designed and took part in the construction of the tracks at Goiânia in Goiás, Estoril in Portugal and Luanda in Africa.
An association was set up, as was common at the time, so that its members could fund the construction of the track by buying perpetual seats, but it was unsuccessful and the work could not be completed.
After the track was completed, it was used for unofficial (clandestine) races by local fans and drivers.
In 1967, after the intervention and funding of the Paraná State Government, the track was inaugurated fully asphalted and with minimal infrastructure for timing, welcoming teams and spectators.
As the second track to host official races in Brazil, it soon became a benchmark and began to host a wide range of events of regional, national and international importance, playing a decisive role in the development of motorsport. In those early years, when the sport was still in its infancy, the track helped shape motorsport as we know it today and was crucial to its consolidation as the second largest national sport. Renowned drivers such as Bird Clemente, the brothers Emerson and Wilson Fitippaldi, José Carlos Pace, Luiz Pereira Bueno, Camilo Christófaro, among others pioneers of motorsport in Brazil, were all present at the races organized there.
The 1980s were marked by the decline and disuse of the track. Disagreements between Flávio and Lolô, who officially owned the area, resulted in its temporary closure, at which time the track was nicknamed “cowtodrome” in a parody of the term “autodrome”, since it had become a pasture for animals instead of hosting motorsport events.
At the end of the 1980s, once again with the intervention and funding of the Paraná State Government, the track was completely renovated and brought up to current standards. The original layout was altered, as proposed by Lolô, and the track was completely resurfaced with new structures for teams, paddocks, timing and spectators. With the new investment, the track was once again able to host events and take part in the national motor racing scene.
In the mid-1990s, a group of businessmen became interested in carrying out an ambitious project to remodel the track and bring it up to international FIA standards. The project called for the destruction of existing structures, reconstruction of the track, paddocks, timing tower, construction of fixed structures for grandstands, a drag strip and a major investment to make the track a benchmark. These were years of euphoria, the apex of Brazil's golden age, which already included Emerson Fittipaldi, Nelson Piquet and Ayrton Senna as Formula 1 world champions, as well as local citizen Raul Boesel's incredible title in the 1987 FIA World Sports Prototype Championship (only below F1 in terms of prestige and importance). Motorsport was on the rise and Brazil once again needed a track in line with international standards, as Interlagos and Jacarepaguá were in poor condition.
The track was reopened in 1996 and hosted the BPR Global GT Series (new category that emerged to fill the void created with the extintion of the WSPC and that had become the precursor of the FIA GT and, subsequently, the current GT3 cars Championship and the WEC - World Endurance Championship) as an international event, marking this new phase for the circuit, which came to be recognized as the best track in Brazil and one of the best in the world, both in terms of infrastructure for teams and spectators, and safety for the drivers. The track now had gravel escape areas (a Lolô creation that was adopted worldwide as a standard safety measure by the FIA). In 1997, the concrete straight for drag racing was inaugurated with the great Brazil vs USA Speed Festival. This iconic event featured dragsters from the Top Fuel and Funny Car categories from the United States, something unheard of in Brazil, and attracted hundreds of thousands of enthusiasts to watch their performances on the new timing towers, which displayed the results of the races in real time. Both events were covered by the national and international media and broadcast live on TV.
Since then, the track has regularly hosted events of regional, national and international importance, and has become the home of Stock Car and Formula Truck, as well as hosting national and South American Formula 3 events and various local formula and touring races.
Perhaps the track's peak in international terms was from 2006 to 2012, when it hosted the FIA World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) in Brazil, in events promoted and funded by the Paraná State Government. In 2007, local driver Augusto Farfus won the race in a works BMW team car, a remarkable and unforgettable moment in the history of local motorsport.
Curitiba has also been the stage for iconic national and international long-distance races. Since its foundation, it has hosted races in a variety of formats until 1993 when the 12 Hours of Curitiba was launched, which ran for several years with a night start. At a time when night races didn't have artificial lighting, it was a big challenge for the drivers, who had to navigate the track in the dark, depending only on the car's headlights.
In 1999, the track hosted the Brazilian 1000 Miles, the most prestigious long-distance race in Brazil, dating back to the beginning of the country's motor racing activities.
After these great years, having established itself as a national and international benchmark and with races of its caliber, the track fell victim to the poor financial situation of the group that took it over in the 90s. Rumors of its closure began to emerge and, after years of threats, in 2016 it was announced that it would cease operations in order to build a condominium in the area. Important figures on the national scene, such as F1 commentator Reginaldo Leme, presented a project to continue it's opperations, but it was rejected by the owners. However, after the closure was communicated, it was announced that the costs had been guaranteed and that it would remain in operation indefinitely. However, what we saw in practice was a change in management, which began removing structures from the track, canceling contracts, suspending events and even not renewing the operating license for the stands. Gradually, the track stopped hosting major events, but still kept going with regional races, track days and private events. At the end of 2021, the project for its allotment was announced and what we saw in the aftermath is the portrait of what has been practiced around the world for decades, the interests of real estate speculation represented by greedy business men and corrupt, incompetent and unscrupulous public agents in favor of destroying the practice areas of motorsport, without which it does not exist, stages of historic events that marked generations and helped build motorsport culture and were fundamental to the development of the sport and the automotive industry, as well as the regions in which they were based.
The message that remains is that the closure of a racetrack not only erases the memory of its history and culture, but decrees the end of motorsport and all the benefits that its events bring to the municipality and region that host them, and that, contrary to what fallacious narratives propose, it is not just an area for wealthy sports, and its closure is responsible for losses in all areas, such as tourism, transport, hotels, gastronomy, as well as huge losses in terms of tax collection at the federal, state and municipal levels, because motorsport is not just about the revenue from one event, but an entire industry that revolves around it, from auto parts, clothing, equipment, consumables such as spare parts, tires, fuel and lubricants, etc. and it creates a void that is also reflected in the employment sector, as it results in teams closing down or moving to another region, the dismissal of employees such as engineers and technicians, as well as a whole trade that revolves around events, from poster and banner printers, through the production of licensed products, companies that provide food on site to informal businesses that benefit from the events.
Everyone loses with the closure of a track: the population, the racers, the teams, the organizers, the industry, tourism as a whole, the municipality and the state with the loss of foreign exchange and the visibility that only major motoring events bring.
The 12h Curitiba event was created to pay homage to our track, to keep its history, tradition and culture alive and to celebrate the best in motorsport through the virtual world. It is the inaugural race on the international circuit of endurance events to put Brazil's name on the map of traditional races.