I don’t know what is so attractive to me in old, abandoned racetracks (so attractive indeed, that with this one, Terramar, I can check the 3 oldest racetracks in Europe on my list) that I keep trying to find new ones and visit them. Someone told me that when I visit Barcelona, I should give a visit to Sitges, because I will like it. And he said it with that look, when they know something but you don’t. Then he revealed that there is an old track there with a banking. SIGN ME UP! I thought immediately.

So this is how I heard about this one – and while you can visit the track through guided tours, given that I was by myself and it was not really vacation high season, I contacted them if it was possible to visit them individually as I was hoping to write an article (this one) and look around. After some difficulties, we managed to figure out a possibility and once again, I did my crazy “take a bus then walk” approach (which once again led me through some roads where you really are NOT supposed to walk), but I made it.

There I met Sebastian, who I assumed spoke English, but he didn’t. My basic Spanish helped us out (as well as Google Translate), but I think our shared love of old race tracks was the real common language, because the first thing we did was go around with his car. I cannot tell you what it was like, as I was in such an ecstatic state that I shot the video and tried to enjoy it, but my brain kept telling me “omg, omg, we are going on the banking, omg, omg, we are going on a track, where 100 years ago people raced, omg”, so there’s that.

But here is the video of it anyway:

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After that, Sebastian said that I am free to walk around and explore, and explore, I did! I walked around the track one more time, and took a million pictures of the banking – this one was built in 1923, making it the 4th racetrack in the world (3 in Europe + Indianapolis), and it also hosted the first Spanish GP. 

I also explored some of the buildings – unfortunately all were closed, but I especially liked the garages, they gave me such a retro feel.

There is also a church (it looks so beautifully Mediterran from the outside!), which is called Friars Cloisters and most likely has been there since the 13th century!!! It used to belong to the Jesuit order, but it was sold, when the racetrack was built.

I climbed the grandstands as well, and what a spectacular view it was! I could visualize cars racing there in the 1920s. 

I also knew that the track even became a farm at some point (and contrary to popular belief, there weren’t any farm animals there at the time of my visit), as there wasn’t any racing on the track after 1956. It was a poultry farm, and there are still some signs of that. Even though the trucks bringing food to the chicken somewhat destroyed the straights, it also had a quite funny (and useful) benefit! Because the trucks couldn’t drive on the bankings, that was where they dumped the manure, which basically made a protective layer on the truck, making it possible to have it in such good condition now. (I guess there is a life lesson somewhere here as well – maybe sometimes giving a shit can have unexpectedly good results? Or something like that.)

After I finished my exploration, I started to walk back to the car and while doing that I was thinking that I will ask Sebastian to take another lap, where I can be fully present – and as I said our shared love of race tracks obviously transcended our means of communication, because when he saw me, he was the one who asked if I want to do another lap. So we went around one more time, this time my mind was more quiet.

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I think this visit was my all time favorite (even though I loved all the other places as well), and I would love to return for a guided tour at some point. In the meanwhile, there is a project to brush up the site a little bit for it to be able to host some equestrian and motoring events (not races). 

If you are more interested in Terramar, I recommend:

• This YT video, where Carlos Sainz Sr and Miguel Molina take a few laps around it (The track is beautiful, but it is even more so, when there are cars on it. And just a side note, they both talk about F1 racing on the circuit – this is false information, F1 never raced on it, they held Grands Prix on it, but that was before F1 was born.)
• Their website, which is full of pictures and even more history and stories.

Have you ever heard about Terramar before?