Turkey: Istanbul Track Facts

By BAR Honda
August 17 2005

The site of the Istanbul Otodrom is located on the Asian side of Istanbul, 6km from the junction of Kurtkoy on the north side of TEM Motorway, linking Istanbul to Ankara.

The site is close to the newly constructed Sabiha Gokcen Istanbul Airport. The site is located within a green belt surrounded by forest and cultivated green fields.

The total area of the Otodrom complex is 2,215,000m². The circuit has been designed by Herman Tilke and runs in a counter-clockwise direction. It is 5,333m long with a width of 14-21.5m, excluding runoff areas. The track is composed of 13 curves, of which 6 are right turns and 7 left turns. The sharpest corner has a radius of 15m. The start and finish section is 655.5m in length and the whole track runs over 4 level sections with undulating gradients. The maximum theoretical speed expected to be achieved will be 320.5 Km/h.

The main Grandstand is situated in an area covering 12,700m² and has a seating capacity of 30,000 spectators. In addition, the temporary stands and natural ground stands will provide a total capacity of over 155,000 spectators. The hospitality floor of the Paddock buildings provides additional viewing for 5,000 VIP's and guests. There are two VIP towers at the ends of the paddock buildings, each consisting of 7 floors providing a floor space of 7,392m².

The main parking areas, with the total parking capacity of 20,000 are located along the outer peripheral ring road which is 5,482m in length and will facilitate the movement of traffic on the outer limits of the project area.

In addition, the project consists of 2.3 km of inner service roads and emergency lanes. There are 4 under-passes and 3 pedestrian over passes linking the natural ground stands and temporary moveable stands with the parking areas. The central area is reserved for the construction of a Go-Cart Racing track.