Silesia Ring: the airfield that raced before it became a circuit

On the last weekend of August 1994 the Wyścigowe Samochodowe Mistrzostwa Polski came to the military airfield at Kamień Śląski. A loop 5.5 km long was laid out on the runway and the taxiways; the E-1600 class race was won by Ryszard Luciński in an Estonia 25, who covered eight laps at an average of 129.64 km/h. The airfield near Opole hosted races for a decade before anyone thought of a permanent circuit here. Today Silesia Ring lies on its eastern part: 3636 m of asphalt, the second full size circuit in Poland to receive a licence from the Polski Związek Motorowy, and a place where the first real car race was held only in November 2023.

Location	Kamień Śląski, Gogolin commune, Opole Voivodeship; ul. Lotnicza 5-7; about 30 km from Opole and 8 km from the A4 motorway exit
Type	permanent racing circuit built on part of a former military airfield
Full loop	3636 m, 15 corners (9 right, 6 left), start straight over 500 m long and 15 m wide, narrowest point 12 m, longest straight over 700 m
Eastern Loop	shortened variant without the longest straight, used in the eleven hour The Race event (11 November 2024) and in the SIM cup races; the operator publishes its layout only on a map, without a length
Other configurations	the operator gives seven configurations; on the maps: eastern loop, eastern fast, east-west fast, western, western test; "Eastern Loop+" with a second exit, 3.140 km (the 24h race in 2025); karting loop of about 1500 m with seven corners
Direction of travel	right hand, clockwise
Year of opening	2016; first Open Track event on 16 October 2016
Homologation	PZM national licence from 15 July 2019, valid until 31 December 2020 with the option of extension to the end of 2022
Lap record	1:33.319, Klaus Bachler, Porsche GT4 e-Performance prototype, Porsche e-Performance Days, 3 October 2024
Operator	Silesia Ring sp. z o.o. sp.k. (registered on 2 July 2018); the limited partner is Fundacja Rodzinna Józefa i Małgorzaty Pilch
Main events	Silesia Ring Open Track (since 2016), Porsche Driving Experience (since 2017), The Race (since 2023), 24H Silesia Ring (2025), Toyota GR Cup, VTEC Cup Poland, WOŚP finales
Status	active

The Strachwitz field and the fighters of 1939

The airfield was at Kamień earlier than any idea of racing. It was created in the 1930s. On 1 September 1939 a fighter group with 45 Messerschmitt Bf 109s was stationed there. The village chronicle written for the Gogolin commune states that the flying field lay just behind the wall of the Strachwitz palace park; the family lived in the Kamień castle until the end of the Second World War. The Red Army entered Kamień on 22 January 1945; the castle was partly looted and the airfield changed hands.

The Soviets stayed for a quarter of a century. Around 1950 they built the first concrete runway, 1500 m long and 40 m wide; in the 1950s the pre-war airfield was expanded and modernised for military purposes. In the 1970s the airfield and the castle were already administered by the Polish Army. For Polish aviation Kamień Śląski was a reserve airfield: until 1987 for the 39th Fighter Aviation Regiment from Mierzęcice, later for the 2nd Fighter Aviation Squadron. The final runway measured 2300 m by 60 m.

The Polish championship on the runway

Before the military gave the site up, racing drivers had already made it their own. The AutoSport Retro results database of Grzegorz Fronczyk records WSMP rounds at Kamień Śląski in every season from 1994 to 2000, usually two a year, in August. The temporary layout changed from season to season: in 1994 the lap was 5.5 km, in 1996 3.6 km and in 1997 3.8 km.

On the flat, wide airfield the single seaters ruled. In August 1996 Ryszard Luciński of Automobilklub Wielkopolski won in a Reynard 913-VW at an average of 134.91 km/h, in the touring car class Andrzej Dziurka triumphed in an Opel Astra GSi 16V ahead of Krzysztof Federowicz in a Ford Escort RS Cosworth, and the field was filled out by two Fiat Cinquecento cups with a dozen or so cars on the grid. Two weeks later the next round was held in the rain. On 10 August 1997 Rafał Podolski of Automobilklub Kielecki set the fastest lap of the 3.8 kilometre loop in a Reynard 913-Volkswagen at 1:27.677 and won at an average of 145.0 km/h. In August 2000 the group E race was won by Maciej Marcinkiewicz in a Dallara F397-Opel, running in the colours of Hołowczyc Management-Vox.

After 2000 Fronczyk's database falls silent, but the RacingCalendar.net service still records Polish Formula 3 races at the airfield in 2001, 2002 and 2004, and RacingCircuits.info writes about a temporary circuit laid out on the runways and used until 2004. Later the runway still served the amateurs of speed: on 18 May 2008 the Stowarzyszenie Sprintu Samochodowego organised quarter mile races here, with a Street category open to registered road cars.

The airport that was never built

In 2003 the Agencja Mienia Wojskowego sold the airfield to a private buyer. It was Józef Pilch, an entrepreneur from Wrocław, who on 19 August 2003 registered the company Lotnisko Kamień Śląski. For the following years the site lived on a plan that never came true: a regional airport for the Opole region. On 12 May 2008 the buy back of the land together with the buildings and the Aviator hotel for 24 million zł by the voivodeship authorities and the state enterprise Porty Lotnicze was announced; the cost of adapting the airfield to passenger traffic was estimated at 90 to 100 million zł, and the European Commission promised 7.5 million euro. In the spring of 2009 marshal Józef Sebesta admitted in "Nowa Trybuna Opolska": "The year 2009 is certainly lost". Placha Hetman summed the matter up briefly: the airport programme stalled and the expected EU funds did not come.

The airfield did not disappear, though. It works today as a landing ground with the ICAO code EPKN, with a runway of 900 m by 60 m, hangars and pilot training. The rest of the flying field waited for another idea.

3636 metres of new asphalt

In the spring of 2016 rebuilding started on part of the airfield. The MotoRmania portal wrote in July that the site was initially to be called Tor Kamień Śląski, but the investor chose the name Silesia Ring; a length of more than 3.7 km, a width of 12 to 15 m and 15 corners were announced, and the opening was planned for September. The author recalled that Poland had only one full size circuit at the time, in Poznań.

On 16 October 2016 the inaugural edition of the Silesia Ring Open Track series took place. The 24opole.pl portal saw Porsches, Ferraris and Mustangs in the paddock, and Bożena Słocińska-Lang of Silesia Ring reported: "The competitors are pleased. They say the circuit is fast and the corners technical". The finished ribbon turned out to be a little shorter than announced: 3636 m, 15 corners (nine right and six left), a start straight over 500 m long and 15 m wide, a narrowest point of 12 m and a back straight over 700 m long. The circuit got energy absorbing barriers, gravel traps, MyLaps timing and, as the operator stresses to this day, linear drainage along its whole length. In the autumn of 2016 the facilities consisted of an aircraft hangar, a marquee, two training rooms and a workshop with an inspection pit; a building with a terrace, a tower and the pit boxes were planned, and "Super Express" announced they would be completed by the middle of 2017.

Motorcyclists got their dates in the spring of 2017. MotoRmania organised track days in May and July, warning that on the longest straight motorcycles would reach 250 to 270 km/h, after which the speed would have to be cut by 200 km/h. After the May event the editors wrote that the asphalt was "simply ideal", although the full infrastructure was not there yet. Porsche appeared soon after: the first Porsche Driving Experience was held in 2017, just after the facilities opened, and in 2018 the brand made Silesia Ring its official driving centre in Poland and celebrated its seventieth anniversary here. At the beginning of 2018 the service lane was also extended along the whole length of the start straight, and the entry to the circuit was moved to halfway through the first corner.

Homologation without a championship

On 15 July 2019 the Polski Związek Motorowy issued Silesia Ring a national circuit licence, valid until 31 December 2020 with the option of extension to the end of 2022. After forty years Tor Poznań stopped being the only full size facility in the country on which WSMP rounds may be run. The operator announced that it would apply for European and motorcycle homologation, but explained that an application for an FIA licence cannot be filed straight away: "PZM as the representative of the FIA rejected such an application". The inspection report still required barriers in two places and distance boards.

The Polish championship did not come, however. In the autumn of 2020 Andrzej Drzymulski wrote in "Świat Motocykli" that official races of cup or championship rank cannot be held on this circuit, although amateur events flourish. According to the Rally and Race service the first car race in the history of the site took place only in November 2023: the four hour Prolog of the private league The Race, won by the AutoDusza Motorsport team in a Porsche 944. "The first car race in the history of the Silesia Ring circuit became a fact", Tomasz Kubiak wrote then. A year later, for 11 November 2024, the league planned on the Eastern Loop, shortened and stripped of the longest straight, an eleven hour relay with a Le Mans style start and an entry fee of 3800 zł per team; the organisers advertised it as the longest relay in the history of Polish motorsport.

From 10 to 11 November 2025 the circuit organised a race on its own for the first time: 24H Silesia Ring, the first twenty four hour car race in Poland. The regulations admitted any adult driver with a category B driving licence, regardless of a competition licence, in an FIA homologated suit, gloves and shoes, and the cars had to fit within a limit of 100 dB. The route was the "Eastern Loop+" with a second exit, 3.140 km long. Six teams started; Rennsport won in a Porsche 911 GT3 RS, with eight drivers and 699 laps, ahead of 88Racing Team by Auto Dusza in a Porsche Cayman 987 and the Stoketh crew in a Seat León.

Twenty minutes, twenty cars

The everyday life of Silesia Ring is not racing but track days. The Open Track series, inaugurated in October 2016, works by simple rules: sessions of 20 minutes, at most 20 cars on the circuit, a split into an advanced and a beginner group, a briefing compulsory for passengers as well. Road cars with a valid inspection and third party insurance are let in, and racing cars too; the regulations exclude prototypes and open constructions of the Radical, KTM or Ariel Atom type. The helmet must meet FIA, ECE, DOT or Snell standards, and in an open car a full face one is compulsory; a tow hook or towing eye is needed, and the noise may not exceed 100 dB. In 2022 a session cost 200 zł with earlier registration and 250 zł on site, and hiring a helmet 50 zł a day. From the 2026 season the sign up works in a new system with QR codes for every session and the option of adding a second driver to a booking.

Motorcyclists have their own dates. The Lithuanian club CR Moto runs track days here with compulsory timing and a limit of 100 dB measured at half the maximum revs, and at the end of every event it holds three Silesia Ring Cup races for amateurs without a licence, in the SSP300, SSP600 and SBK1000 classes. Drzymulski reckoned in 2020 that a track day costs from 500 to 2000 zł, that a place is hard to get during the season and that the California Superbike School comes here at least once a year; at the same time he warned about the slippery drainage grates between the asphalt and the slabs. In July 2018 the eighteen year old Kamil Krzemień of Wójcik Racing Team lapped in 1:41.1 on a standard Yamaha R1 during an unofficial track day; "I will not give it up easily now", he said about his time.

Between a race and a track day sits the time trial. Rounds are held here by VTEC Cup Poland (in March 2022 more than 80 cars, and in the Open class Sławomir Miąsko drove a 1:45.213 in a Porsche 911 GT3 RS), Miata Challenge with six sessions of 15 minutes and Toyota GR Cup, a series of track days for drivers of sporting Toyotas, which in November 2022 ended its first season at Kamień. In 2025 GT Series Polska also opened its season here. Whoever prefers to start at home has a laser scanned version of the circuit for Assetto Corsa, created with Ragnar Simulator; since 2020 the operator has run its own SIM cup on it, in which the races are held on the full ribbon and on the Eastern Loop.

A record without exhaust fumes and a hotel for 2028

The lap record belongs to a prototype without a combustion engine. On 3 October 2024, during Porsche e-Performance Days for 28 journalists, the Porsche works driver Klaus Bachler lapped in an electric Porsche GT4 e-Performance in 1:33.319. "Because of the overnight rain the grip level was not ideal, but we managed to find a good balance", the driver said.

The site remains in the hands of the founder's family: the circuit is run by Silesia Ring sp. z o.o. sp.k., registered on 2 July 2018, in which the limited partner is Fundacja Rodzinna Józefa i Małgorzaty Pilch. The complex includes a conference building with an area of 1200 m², a shooting range, a golf course and the Aviator hotel with 43 beds; in 2019 the site won the main prize in the competition for the best tourist product of the Opole region (the OROT certificate). In July 2026 the construction of a four star hotel with 107 rooms was announced, with an area of about 7952 m², a spa zone and underground parking; the general contractor is the Adamietz company and the opening is planned for the summer of 2028. "The hotel will let us offer our guests a completely new level of comfort and organisation", Interia quoted a representative of the circuit.

Once a year the circuit slows down. On 25 January 2026 Silesia Ring hosted the finale of the Wielka Orkiestra Świątecznej Pomocy for the eighth time, with Open Track runs from eight in the morning and paired drifting for passengers. And next to it, beyond the taxiway marked on the circuit map, the EPKN landing ground still works: 900 m of asphalt concrete, the remnant of the runway on which thirty years ago Estonias and Reynards raced for the Polish championship.

Timeline

• the 1930s: an airfield is created at Kamień Śląski (Groß Stein).
• 1 September 1939: a Luftwaffe fighter group with 45 Messerschmitt Bf 109s is stationed at the airfield.
• 22 January 1945: the Red Army takes Kamień Śląski and the airfield.
• about 1950: the first concrete runway, 1500 m by 40 m.
• the 1970s: the Polish Army takes over the airfield; it serves as a reserve one for the 39th Fighter Aviation Regiment.
• 27 to 28 August 1994: the first WSMP round at the airfield, a lap of 5.5 km.
• 1995 to 2000: two or three WSMP rounds a year at Kamień Śląski.
• 2001 to 2004: Polish Formula 3 races on the temporary circuit.
• August 2003: the Agencja Mienia Wojskowego sells the airfield to Józef Pilch.
• 12 May 2008: announcement of the plan for the local government and PPL to buy the airfield back for 24 million zł for a regional airport.
• 18 May 2008: quarter mile races on the runway.
• July 2016: the circuit under construction receives the name Silesia Ring.
• 16 October 2016: inauguration of the Silesia Ring Open Track series.
• 2017: the first Porsche Driving Experience after the opening of the full infrastructure.
• 2018: extension of the service lane; Silesia Ring becomes the official Porsche driving centre in Poland.
• 15 July 2019: the PZM national circuit licence.
• 18 March 2020: release of the virtual version of the circuit in Assetto Corsa.
• November 2023: the Prolog of The Race, the first car race on the circuit.
• 3 October 2024: Klaus Bachler sets the lap record of 1:33.319.
• 11 November 2024: the eleven hour The Race Independence Race on the Eastern Loop.
• 10 to 11 November 2025: 24H Silesia Ring, the first twenty four hour race in Poland.
• 25 January 2026: the eighth WOŚP finale at the circuit.
• July 2026: start of construction of the hotel with 107 rooms, opening planned for the summer of 2028.