Pescara Circuit

The Pescara Circuit was a road course near Pescara in Italy, made up entirely of public roads. It was run clockwise and had 24 corners. It is the longest circuit ever to host a Formula One World Championship race. The country and town roads it used were narrow and bumpy.

The layout was roughly triangular and took in several villages on the hills around Pescara. The start and finish lay just outside the centre of the city. From there the route headed west through Rione Partenze and on to Frascone, Valle Carbone, Spoltore and Case Fornace, with a mix of slow and fast bends. The highest point, at Spoltore, stood 185 metres above sea level. After the hills came Cappelle sul Tavo, then a straight of about 5.5 km towards Montesilvano and a second one of similar length back to Pescara. In 1934 an artificial chicane was added on the start-finish straight to cut speed ahead of the pits.

The first race was held in 1924, the Coppa Acerbo. In the early 1950s non-championship Formula One races followed. The one round of the World Championship came in 1957 with the Pescara Grand Prix, after other races had been cancelled in connection with the Suez Crisis. Ferrari did not send cars. More than 200,000 spectators watched Stirling Moss win in a Vanwall.

The last race on the circuit was a four-hour World Sportscar Championship event in 1961, won by Lorenzo Bandini and Giorgio Scarlatti in a Ferrari 250 TR for Scuderia Centro Sud. After that the track was no longer used as a racing venue, as the safety of drivers and spectators could not be guaranteed.