Autodrom Słomczyn: from gravel by the market to asphalt near Grójec

On 11 September 2011 the Norwegian Sverre Isachsen won the SuperCars final at Słomczyn and, already at the penultimate round of the season, sealed his third consecutive European rallycross title. It was the last September in which the European elite of the discipline came to the Grójec area: the championship calendars for 2012 and 2013 no longer contained a Polish round. The partly gravel loop that hosted the European championship for twelve seasons disappeared under asphalt a few years later, and the venue began a second life as a karting and racing circuit with go-karts, motorcycles, drifting and student-built cars.

Location	Słomczyn 66, gmina Grójec, Mazowieckie Voivodeship; by the S7 road and national road 50, about 50 km from Warsaw
Type	multi-purpose venue: a car loop, a karting loop and a rallycross loop (asphalt and gravel)
Lengths	car loop 1050 m (12 m wide); karting loop 1208.46 m; rallycross loop 1224.2 m (10–12 m wide)
Direction of travel	the car loop runs clockwise; reversed configurations are also used for motorcycles
Opening	venue built in 1993; first rallycross event in the mid-1990s; new asphalt circuit opened on 15 September 2016
Owner and operator	Automobilklub Rzemieślnik (Warsaw)
Main events	European Rallycross Championship rounds 2000–2011; FIA CEZ Rallycross (since 2011, regularly since 2017); Polish Rallycross and Autocross Championship; Polish Karting Championship, Rotax Max Challenge, ROK Cup; Formula Student Poland; Drift Open finals
Grandstand	roofed, about 600 seats
Status	active; the 2026 season calendar covers events from February to November

Behind the barn in Słomczyn

Słomczyn is a village with its own sołectwo in the gmina of Grójec, with 241 inhabitants in 2021, lying by national road 50 and the small river Molnica; as late as 1991 passenger trains of the narrow gauge Grójec Commuter Railway still stopped here. At the beginning of the 1990s the village became famous for something else: on the fields behind the barns a market grew up, to which thousands of people came along dirt roads between pastures, mostly for cars. In 1994 Polska Kronika Filmowa devoted a piece to it, „Za stodołą w Słomczynie”, and fragments of that report later found their way into a track by the duo PRO8L3M. The market still runs today, every Sunday from early morning, only the cars have given way to clothes, bicycles, antiques and household appliances.

The circuit was built next to the market thanks to a club from Warsaw. In 1975 Autoklub Rzemieślnik was founded at the Guild of Motor Trades in the capital; its creator was Mirosław Krawczyk, an activist of the Democratic Party, and its members were people connected with motorsport, in large part previously with Automobilklub Warszawski. The club obtained legal personality in 1982 and its present name in 1990. In 1993 Automobilklub Rzemieślnik invested in a venue of its own, which was built at Słomczyn. In the mid-1990s the club held the first rallycross event here, on a surface that was gravel throughout. In the following years part of the loop was hardened, but the venue remained reserved for rally cars and gravel racing cars.

September belonged to Europe

On 24 September 2000 Słomczyn hosted a round of the European Rallycross Championship for the first time. Division 1, the top class of that championship, was won by the Frenchman Jean-Luc Pailler in a Peugeot 206 WRC. From then on the Polish qualifier had a fixed place in the calendar: always in September, usually as the ninth or tenth round of the season. In 2001 the win went to the Swede Michael Jernberg (Ford Focus WRC), a year later to his compatriot Kenneth Hansen (Citroën Xsara WRC). Most often, however, it was Lars Larsson, also a Swede, who stood on the top step of the podium: he won at Słomczyn in 2003 in an Audi A4 and in 2004, 2006 and 2007 in a Škoda Fabia T16.

The 2004 round showed that the circuit did not forgive mistakes, not even by the favourites. Kenneth Hansen won the B final, but in the A final he was given the black flag and was classified sixth; the podium went to Larsson, Jernberg and Per Eklund in a Saab 9-3. According to the report by Francuskie.pl, Hansen said after the race that he had come to Słomczyn for a win but had to acknowledge the superiority of his rivals, and that in his opinion he did not deserve the black flag. In the 2006 configuration the rallycross loop measured 1093 m, of which 524.64 m was hard surface and 568.36 m was unpaved surface; the width varied from 12 to 16 m.

The September weekend of 2007 passed, as „Auto Świat” wrote, in a nagging wind but without any need to put up umbrellas. Larsson beat Hansen in a Citroën C4 and Eklund, and after that win he took the lead in the Division 1 standings by one point over Hansen. At the same event the national class raced in Fiat Seicentos, and it was won by Jacek Chojnacki ahead of Jarosław Rosiński and Kamil Komoński.

A year later Marcus Grönholm came to Słomczyn. In 2008 the two-time world rally champion contested three rounds of the European Rallycross Championship in a 560 hp Ford Fiesta ST prepared by Andréas Eriksson's Ford Team RS Europe: in Sweden, the Netherlands and Poland. More than seventy drivers in five classes entered the Polish round, held on 13–14 September as the tenth qualifier. „Auto Świat” described the circuit as demanding, one on which the bravest win:

A driver who is not afraid to take a risk and attacks has a chance of a good result.

Division 1 was won that year by Sverre Isachsen in a Ford Focus ST T16. In 2009 fifty-three drivers lined up for the start of the ninth round, and Division 1 was won by Eriksson, a year earlier Grönholm's boss. That round was also the best international appearance of Marcin Wicik, the 2007 Polish rallycross champion, who in a Ford Fiesta reached the A final and took fifth place. In 2010 Division 1 was won by the Briton Liam Doran in a Citroën C4 T16, and Division 2 by the Norwegian Lars Øivind Enerberg in a Ford Fiesta ST.

The last European round at Słomczyn, on 10–11 September 2011, gathered more than sixty drivers. In the SuperCars class the Poles Marcin Wicik, Bohdan Ludwiczak and Łukasz Zoll took part, and among the guests the American Tanner Foust and the standings leader Isachsen; in Super1600 the field was reinforced by Krzysztof Skorupski in a Volkswagen Polo and the Norwegian Andreas Bakkerud in a Renault Clio. Previewing the event, Jazdamiejska.pl wrote that „torn off bumpers, bent panels and mud covered windows are an everyday matter here”, and that the first corner after the start, leading onto the gravel section of the circuit, would be the arena of a fierce fight. The finals went the hosts' way in only one class: Skorupski won Super1600 on his own circuit, SuperCars fell to Isachsen and TouringCars to Enerberg. All three titles of the season were settled at Słomczyn at the same time: Isachsen took his third in a row, Bakkerud became Super1600 champion and Enerberg TouringCars champion. Three years later Skorupski started in the first four rounds of the newly created World Rallycross Championship.

The excavators arrive in January

The last opportunity to drive the old configuration was the event of 11 October 2015. At the end of January 2016 construction equipment moved onto the circuit; the owners from Automobilklub Rzemieślnik announced a new asphalt loop. The loop was asphalted in its entirety, which Świat Motocykli called the first stage of a serious investment. The design was drawn up after consultations with the circuits team of the Polish Motor Association, with CIK-FIA, that is the karting commission of the federation, and with the club drivers Karol Dąbski and Artur Janosz.

On 15 September 2016 the ribbon was cut by the president of the PZM Andrzej Witkowski, the chairman of the Main Karting Sport Commission Mirosław Czub and the president of Automobilklub Rzemieślnik Sebastian Kołakowski. Among the guests were the member of parliament Mirosław Maliszewski, the mayor of Grójec Jacek Stolarski and Karol Basz, who a year earlier had become the first Pole in history to win the karting world championship title. Kołakowski said at the time:

Three years of hard work went into this new karting circuit, which is the best in Poland.

The sporting inauguration was the season closing karting event of the Rotax series; on 17–18 September rounds XI and XII of Rotax Max Challenge Poland were held here, and the youngest participants in the demonstration classes were four years old. Development of the venue towards a driving technique training centre was also announced at that time. A month later rallycross returned to the rebuilt circuit: on 15–16 October 2016 the final of the Oponeo Rallycross Polish Cup, the seventh and eighth rounds of the Polish Championship and a round of the Lithuanian championship were held, with free entry and 49 entries in the Polish Cup alone; among those racing in the SuperCars class was Tomasz Kuchar. FIA CEZ events, that is the championship of the Central European Zone, appeared at Słomczyn as early as June 2011 as the FIA CEZ Rallycross Trophy, and according to Go-Racing.pl the circuit has hosted their rounds regularly since 2017.

The asphalt opened the circuit to motorcyclists. The first organised motorcycle events were planned for the 2017 season. In 2018 the Motocaina.pl service described a loop 1208 m long, with a start straight of about 150 m and a longest straight of 170 m, high grandstands with a view of the whole circuit, container sanitary facilities, but without showers and without permanent catering; the training was run by JC Group, the company of Janusz Czaja. Two years later Andrzej „Simpson” Drzymulski of Świat Motocykli listed five configurations: a fast one with long curves, two chicanes and one tight corner, the same one in the opposite direction, the karting one (used for Tuesday supermoto training), the karting one reversed and a supermoto one with a gravel section and a jump. He called the surface superb, judged the safety zones the best among the smaller Polish circuits, noted the absence of pit garages and a large tent for rain, and gave the price of a training session in the range of 150–300 zł, with the option of renting a Yamaha R3 or a Suzuki GSX-R 600 for 800 zł. He also mentioned plans to extend the circuit to about 4 km.

Three loops on one asphalt

Today's Autodrom Słomczyn is in fact three loops on a shared site. The car loop is 1050 m long and 12 m wide and is driven clockwise; the karting loop measures 1208.46 m; the rallycross loop in its 2019 version is 1224.2 m long and 10 to 12 m wide. In rallycross use the surface remains mixed, gravel and asphalt. The venue is designed so that the car loop and the karting loop form a single whole, on which, depending on the need, go-kart events, rallycross or supermoto are held.

The infrastructure comprises a roofed grandstand of about 600 seats, an observation tower, a race office, a lecture room, a wash bay, a canopy with a lift and a VIP building for 40 people, as well as a restaurant building, sanitary facilities and a hardened paddock with access to electricity. The operator itself describes Słomczyn as a universal training and sporting venue by the S7 road at the level of Grójec. Access: about 45–50 km from Warsaw, 70 km from Radom.

From February to November

The season at Słomczyn begins in February. In 2025 the first round of the Słomczyn Circuit Asphalt Cup took place on 22 February, and the last one, held as the Krzysztof Szaya Szaykowski Memorial, on 15 November; the Circuit Gravel Cup ran in parallel and ended on 8 November with the Krzysztof Gawroński Memorial. Between them came three rounds of the Polish Rallycross and Autocross Championship and karting events: ROK Cup Poland, Rotax Max Challenge and the Polish Karting Championship. The April round of 2025 had FIA CEZ status; a day ticket cost 50 zł, children up to 12 entered free, and the entry list ran from Fiat Seicentos through BMWs to crosskarts with motorcycle engines. In May 2025 competitors from the joint Lithuanian and Latvian championship joined the Polish Championship field, and a year later those from Slovakia as well, which gave more than 80 entered drivers for the opening of the season on 23–24 May 2026. In July 2023, 66 drivers entered the fourth round of the Polish Championship.

In karting Słomczyn has become a reference venue. During the round of the Polish Karting Championship in July 2022 Paweł Pęcak called it the best karting venue in Poland, and the Rally and Race reporter noted categories of twenty drivers each. In 2016 a similar assessment was voiced by the club president Kołakowski; these are the opinions of people involved in organising events, not a measurement. On the operator's site the FIA Karting European Championship appears among the announced events, with no date given.

Student-built cars also come to the Grójec area. Formula Student Poland 2025, held on 26–30 August, was the third edition of this event at the site: 20 teams came, among them eight from Poland as well as squads from Germany, the Czech Republic, Spain, Croatia, Hungary and Lithuania, more than 560 students and 85 volunteers from eight countries; on 29 August the minister of science Marcin Kulasek visited the event. The 2026 edition took place on 25–29 August with a pool of 30 places for teams. In the autumn the drifters take over the circuit: the final of the 2025 Drift Open season was held on 20–21 September with more than a hundred entries and tickets at 30, 60 and 80 zł for the successive days, and the 2026 final, marked as the 85th round of the series, was scheduled for 2–4 October.

In June 2025 Automobilklub Rzemieślnik celebrated its 50th anniversary at Słomczyn: on 7 June there was a jubilee „pojeżdżawka”, a competition for the Board Cup with three tests (the circuit, simulators and a test for marshals) for 75 participants, and in the evening a gala with concerts by the bands Bajkonur and Elektryczne Gitary; buses ran from the club headquarters on Żytnia street in Warsaw, the last one leaving at 2:30. In the 2026 calendar, after Formula Student and the August course for the NDJ-C and ND-C licences, there remained the September FIA CEZ round preceded by two days of practice, the October Drift Open and the asphalt and gravel Circuit Cups.

Sunday remains market day at Słomczyn. In the guide to the 2025 FIA CEZ round the operator warned spectators that the parking fee applies only on Sunday, according to the rules of the local market.

Timeline

• 1975: Autoklub Rzemieślnik is founded at the Guild of Motor Trades in Warsaw.
• 1993: Automobilklub Rzemieślnik invests in a venue of its own at Słomczyn.
• mid-1990s: first rallycross event on the gravel circuit; in 1994 Polska Kronika Filmowa films a piece about the market at Słomczyn.
• 2000: first round of the European Rallycross Championship (24 September), won by Jean-Luc Pailler.
• 2003–2007: four wins for Lars Larsson in Division 1.
• 2008: Marcus Grönholm starts; more than 70 drivers; win for Isachsen.
• 2009: 53 drivers; Marcin Wicik fifth in the A final.
• 2011: last European Championship round (10–11 September); titles for Isachsen, Bakkerud and Enerberg; Skorupski wins Super1600.
• 2015: last event on the old configuration (11 October).
• 2016: rebuild from January; asphalt circuit opened on 15 September; return of rallycross 15–16 October.
• 2017: first motorcycle events; from that year on regular FIA CEZ Rallycross rounds.
• 2025: 50th anniversary of Automobilklub Rzemieślnik (6–8 June); third edition of Formula Student Poland (26–30 August); Drift Open final (20–21 September).