HOW many race tracks have you been to?

It’s a simple question and also a fun game to play if you need to kill time or are feeling especially nostalgic for a trip down your own personal motor racing memory lane.

It’s always a good time to run through the list of circuits you’ve been, what you went there for and when you did it.

For the intents of this task, we usually try to abide by a few rules;

In fact, the only one I can think of is that you must have visited the track and actually done something there.

Even if you didn’t see actual cars racing around it, you need to have experienced it.

Walking the track, getting the tour through the venue or driving around it slowly counts. Walking up to the closed gates, peering through and then leaving does not.

There’s no judge or jury to decided whether your visit to any given location is valid or not, but use some common sense if you can.  

Some facilities have more than one circuit within their gates; Calder Park, for instance, has the Thunderdome and the road course together. They count as one visit.

Sydney Motorsport Park and Sydney Dragway, however, are different entities so they rank separately.

What’s more, Initially for this exercise I wasn’t going to include dirt speedways and Hillclimb venues – but then again, leaving them out seemed silly so they’re also on the list. Why should my local speedway miss out when the short track I went to in Florida get included, after all?

For the purposes of this exercise we’re leaving karting facilities on the side because there’s so many of those tracks that topic is worthy of its own story.

According to those brief guidelines, my own personal list stands at 45 venues, including 13 of them overseas (or 15, if you include Tasmania, which you should, because it is).

It’s not a bad list; every major Aussie circuit is on the list except Collie Raceway a couple of hours south of Perth, and McNamara Park, a fantastic hidden gem of a race track located just outside of Mount Gambier. There are plans afoot to tackle both.

Sadly I missed Amaroo before it departed, and not so sadly I didn’t get to freeze at the Canberra 400 so that street track isn’t on the list either.

(On that note, long-dead street tracks – or permanent venues, for that matter – don’t count unless you actually saw racing there. I have driven the Nuriootpa Street circuit 1,986 times but sadly I was a few decades late for the Australian Grand Prix held there in 1950).

I’ve got some big boxes to tick in New Zealand – the South Island has eluded me so far, for example – and then there’s my own personal bucket list of international circuits which I hope to visit if and when the world rights itself from its current detour.

So there you go. It’s pretty simple but I assure you that if you do this with some likeminded mates you’ll end up spending hours telling tall tales from your various visitations to the world’s racing stages.

My list is below, but I’m sure there’s many people with much more impressive list than that.. so why not let us know yours via @theracetorque on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram now.

CRAILLSY’S CIRCUITS

Wanneroo / Barbagallo Raceway
Perth Motorplex
Adelaide Parklands Street Circuit
Adelaide International Raceway
The Bend Motorsport Park
Mallala Motorsport Park
Collingrove Hillclimb
Speedway City
Murray Bridge Speedway
Albert Park Street Circuit
Calder Park Raceway
Winton Motor Raceway
Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit
Sandown International Raceway
Mount Panorama, Bathurst
Oran Park Raceway
Wakefield Park Raceway
Sydney Motorsport Park
Sydney Olympic Park Street Circuit
Sydney / Paramatta Speedway
Sydney Dragway
Newcastle Street Circuit
Pheasant Wood / Marulan
Surfers Paradise Street Circuit
Queensland Raceway
Lakeside Park
Townsville / Reid Park Street Circuit
Carnell Raceway
Morgan Park Raceway
Hidden Valley Raceway
Symmons Plains Raceway
Baskerville Raceway
Pukekohe Park Raceway
Hampton Downs
Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi
Sepang Circuit
Shanghai International Circuit
Brands Hatch
Donnington Park Raceway
Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit
Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Daytona International Speedway
New Symrna Speedway
Sebring International Raceway