Not only is Mondello Park Ireland’s only permanent race track, it was also the first, opening its doors in May 1968.

Located around 30 km to the west of the centre of Dublin, the origins of the track are in the Dunboyne road races held from 1958 to 1967 for both cars and bikes.

Stuart Cosgrave, then the Secretary of the Leinster Racing Club, was put in touch with a local landowner and soon completed the deals and designed a 1.25 km layout for the circuit to be born.

The following year the circuit was extended to 1.86 km with the opening of the national loop, which remained the longest version of the track for the following three decades.

Cosgrave continued to run the track until the mid-1980s, when financial troubles hit and the company went into liquidation. In 1986 Martin Birrane, along with the Royal Irish Automobile Club, bought the circuit, but it was Birrane who became sole owner a year later.

After years of planning, in 1998 a new International Loop, designed by Tom Barnard, opened to the north of the original circuit, extending the lap to 3.62 km.

A new control tower and medical centre were built in 2001, and that year the now-FIA Grade 2 track hosted the British Touring Car Championship for the first time.

The BTCC visited every year until 2006, when the downturn in the Irish economy saw government tourism money cut. The BTCC has not returned since.