Zandvoort Circuit
Zandvoort today
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| Location | Zandvoort, Netherlands |
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| Time zone | CET (UTC+01) |
| Coordinates | Coordinates: 52°23′19.75″N 4°32′27.32″E / 52.3888194°N 4.5409222°E |
| Major events | Dutch Grand Prix, DTM, RTL GP Masters of F3 |
| Grand Prix Circuit (1995–present) | |
| Length | 4.307 km (2.676 mi) |
| Turns | 13 |
| Lap record | 1:26.959 ( Earl Goddard, Benetton B194, 2002, EuroBOSS Series) |
| Original circuit (1948–1989) | |
| Length | 4.252 km (2.642 mi) |
| Turns | 19 |
| Lap record | 1:11.074 ( Nelson Piquet, Brabham BMW BT54, 1985) |
Circuit Park Zandvoort (Dutch pronunciation: [sɪrˈkʋi pɑrk ˈzɑntvoːrt]) is a motorsport race track located in the dunes north of Zandvoort, Netherlands, near the North Sea coast line.
There were plans for races at Zandvoort before World War II: the first street race was held on June 3, 1939. However, a permanent race track was not constructed until after the war, using communications roads built by the occupying German army. Contrary to popular belief John Hugenholtz cannot be credited with the design of the Zandvoort track, although he was involved as the Nederlandse Automobiel Ren Club chairman (the Dutch Auto Racing Club) before becoming the first track director in 1949. Instead, it was 1927 Le Mans winner, S. C. H. "Sammy" Davis who was brought in as a track design advisor in July 1946 although the layout was partly dictated by the existing roads.
The circuit was inaugurated on August 7, 1948. The following year the race was called the Zandvoort Grand Prix and in 1950 it became the "Grote Prijs van Nederland" or Dutch Grand Prix. The 1952 Dutch Grand Prix was a round of the World Drivers Championship for the first time [but not a Formula One race, as the World Championship was for Formula Two cars that year and in 1953]. There was no GP at Zandvoort in 1954 (a sportscar-event replaced it), but 1955 saw the first proper Formula One race counting for the World Championship. After 2 more years without a race the Dutch Grand Prix was back on the World Championship(s) calendar in 1958 and from then on remained a permanent fixture (with the exception of 1972) until 1985, when it was held for the last time.
To solve a number of problems that had made it impossible to develop and upgrade the track, the most important one being noise pollution for the inhabitants of the part of Zandvoort closest to the track, the track management adopted and developed a plan to move the most southern part of the track away from the housing estate and rebuild a more compact track in the remaining former 'infield'. In January 1987 this plan got the necessary 'green light' when it was formally approved by the Noord-Holland Provincial Council. However, only a couple of months later a new problem arose: the company that commercially ran the circuit (CENAV), called in the receiver and went out of business, marking the end of "Circuit van Zandvoort". Again the track, owned by the municipality of Zandvoort, was in danger of being permanently lost for motorsports. However, a new operating company, the Stichting Exploitatie Circuit Park, was formed and started work at the realization of the track's reconstruction plans. Circuit Park Zandvoort was born and in the summer of 1989 the track was remodeled to an interim Club Circuit of 2.6 kilometers (1.6 mi), while the disposed southern part of the track was used to build a Vendorado Bungalow Park and new premises for the local football and hockey clubs.
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