Track
Bishopscourt Circuit, Racing Circuit
Downpatrick, County Down, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
Bishopscourt Circuit, Downpatrick, County Down, BT30 8XE
Upcoming meetings
No upcoming meetings listed at this venue.
Circuit
Bishopscourt Circuit, also known as Bishopscourt Racing Circuit, is a motorsport venue in County Down, Northern Ireland, built on part of the former RAF Bishops Court airfield. The RAF station operated from 1943 as a bomber training and later radar airfield before closing in the early 1990s; part of its runway area became the motorsport circuit, while the rest of the airfield returned to agricultural use. The circuit is run under the Ulster Automobile Club and hosts the Sunflower Trophy, an end-of-season motorcycle showpiece whose past winners include Joey Dunlop, Steve Hislop and Jonathan Rea. It also stages stage rallying and rounds of the Ulster Superbike Championship, run on the circuit's National configuration. In 2026 the venue hosted the opening round of the Northern Ireland Stage Rally Championship and an Ulster Superbike Championship round. The circuit's owners put it up for sale in 2024, with the sale listing describing three possible track layouts; no completed sale had been reported at the time of this review.
Operated by: 500 Motor Racing Club of Ireland
The 2-mile airfield circuit. Flat and fast with long straights.
Bishopscourt Circuit guide
History
Bishopscourt Circuit occupies part of the former RAF Bishops Court airfield in County Down, which opened in 1943 as a bomber training station and later served as a radar site before RAF use ended in the early 1990s. Part of the runway area was converted into a motorsport circuit, run under the Ulster Automobile Club, while the rest of the airfield returned to agricultural use. The circuit's best-known event is the Sunflower Trophy, an annual end-of-season motorcycle race whose past winners include Joey Dunlop, Steve Hislop and Jonathan Rea.
Sources: Wikipedia, Coleraine Chronicle, Road Racing News, Motorcycle News
