Autódromo Zilmar Beux, Racing Circuit

The Autódromo Internacional Zilmar Beux is a permanent racing circuit on the south-eastern outskirts of Cascavel in Paraná state, Brazil, set directly alongside Highway BR-277. Its origins trace to 1964, when a group of amateur drivers led by Zilmar Beux organised street test events and formed a corporation to build a permanent track, which opened on land carved from the local clay soil in 1970. When Paraná banned dirt-track racing in 1973, Beux and his supporters paved the course in just 38 days, making it the first sealed-asphalt circuit in the state. The track became one of Brazil's four main circuits and helped pioneer truck racing, hosting an exhibition event in 1987 and becoming a founding venue of Formula Truck from 1996. Stock Car Brasil first visited in 2001, for which a chicane was added ahead of the plunging downhill Bacião corner. After years of underinvestment the Automobile Club of Cascavel donated the facility to the city in 2011, and an extensive 2012 remodelling widened and resurfaced the circuit, improved run-off and added FIA-standard kerbing, a larger paddock and modern spectator facilities. The reopened circuit was renamed in honour of its founding architect and welcomed back Formula Truck and Stock Car Brasil that year. The nickname 'Rattlesnake Raceway' reflects the meaning of Cascavel in Portuguese; the circuit today hosts mainly local and national championship racing.

Operated by: Município de Cascavel (City of Cascavel)