Autódromo de Tocancipá - Circuito Mixtos y Curva Motor

Overview

The Autódromo de Tocancipá lies at kilometre 24 of the Vía Central del Norte, near the village of Verganzo, north of Bogotá in the department of Cundinamarca. It is run by Autódromos S.A., a company with several hundred shareholders in which the Club Los Tortugas holds the largest stake. Its operator describes it as the only active professional motorsport venue in Colombia. The calendar mixes national championships with drag racing, driving schools, corporate events and open practice for cars and motorcycles, and early-morning sessions on the circuit are set aside for cyclists and runners.

Technical Specifications and Track Features

The circuit can be run in several configurations. The long circuit measures 2,725 m, the short circuit 2,040 m, and two further versions use the link known as the Curva Motor, combined either with the mixed section of bends (1,655 m) or with the oval extension (2,300 m). The extension, sometimes called the Siberia extension, adds a long oval loop to the flat original layout of short straights and slow, twisting corners. By March 2026 the main circuit had been resurfaced for the first time since it opened. Around 3,800 tonnes of polymer-modified asphalt were laid in a continuous 36-hour operation over a new binder course, after 9 to 11 cm of the old surface had been milled away. The new surface reached a roughness index of 1.15, and the operator reports up to 40 per cent more grip together with enlarged drainage.

Facilities and Specialized Areas

Alongside the circuit the complex includes the Kartódromo Juan Pablo Montoya, a 1,220 m kart track on the north-west side of the site. It opened in December 2002 and is named after the Colombian driver, who took part in the project. There are also a motocross track of about 1,260 m and an 800 m 4x4 course. The paddock, the drag strip, the pit exits and the internal emergency road were repaved together with the main circuit. The annual Motorclásico gathering for historic sports cars, held since 2011, asks for no safety equipment beyond what traffic rules require, while the circuit's own open practice days are for cars fitted with roll cages.

History

The project began in 1980, after the Autódromo Internacional de Bogotá closed. Land was bought in Tocancipá, and the architects' firm of Luis Esguerra Urrea delivered the first plans that March. Largely built by volunteers, the 2,000 m track opened on 7 February 1982. The 1990 extension added the oval section and a new link road with a hairpin. One-make series shaped its early decades: the Club Los Tortugas Chevrolet Sprint and Swift GTI cup from 1988, Formula Renault with Van Diemen single-seaters through the 1990s, and the Renault Twingo cup from 1996. The 6 Horas de Bogotá reached its 30th edition in December 2016 with about 55 cars and more than 150 drivers, and the Campeonato Nacional de Automovilismo has been the backbone of the calendar since 2008. In qualifying for the 2014 Six Hours, Óscar Tunjo lapped in 1:01.26 and broke a lap record Juan Pablo Montoya had held since 1995.