Tor Biłgoraj: Kubica’s kart track, back after 15 years

On 30 May 2025 the Polish Motor Association issued four homologations at once for the track on Motorowa street in Biłgoraj: karting, motorcycle in the Classic class, Pit Bike and Super Moto. A day earlier Janusz Marnik of the PZM Committee for Tracks and Routes inspected 1201 m of new asphalt and judged that it is a track among the best, “if not the best in Poland”. The town was not starting from scratch. A kart track had stood in this place since 1980, and karting races returned to it after a fifteen-year break, a court dispute over expropriated fields and a rebuild costing over 30 million zloty.

Location	ul. Motorowa 25A, Biłgoraj, Lublin Voivodeship
Type	kart track with PZM homologations for Classic, Pit Bike and Super Moto motorcycle races
Length and width	1201 m, 8–14.5 m (karting loop after the 2023–2025 rebuild); before the rebuild 1150 m, 8–12 m
Opening	1980 (built 1978–1979); reopened on 27 June 2025
Lap record	old configuration: Robert Kubica, Młodzik 1 category, 50.226 s, 1990s, according to a club account
Owner and operator	Biłgoraj County; since 2025 the company Autodrom Biłgoraj sp. z o.o.
Most important events	final of the 2000 Polish Karting Championship; inauguration of the 2008 Polish Supermoto Championship; final of Rotax Max Challenge Poland 2025; rounds 1 and 7 of Rotax Max Challenge Poland 2026
Status	active

Fields on Motorowa

In 1977 the Head of the Town of Biłgoraj issued a decision expropriating, against compensation, farmland on what is today Motorowa street; the land was to serve the educational purposes of the Zespół Szkół Mechaniczno-Elektrycznych. The idea of the track came from that very school, and its main advocate was its headmaster Janusz Ostrowski. The staff base already existed: motorcycle and karting sections operated at Vocational School Complex No. 1 and at ZSME. Construction work went on in 1978–1979, and the official opening took place in 1980. The expropriation decision, a formality at that time, will come back to this story thirty years later.

A big club in a small town

Zenon Łój, an activist of the Biłgoraj automobile club, called the years 1983–1987 “a very successful period for the development of karting in Biłgoraj”, and counted the track itself among “the best in the country”. The town had no club of its own at the time: from 1985 a branch of the Zamość Automobile Club operated here, headed by Jan Żabiński. According to Henryk Tytoń the branch started in February 1985 with seven members, a year later it had 1679, and in 1988 about 2667. The “Simson Enduro” motorcycle section brought together nearly 130 people, and the motoring press of those years wrote about Biłgoraj as “a big club in a small town”.

The independent Automobilklub Biłgorajski was founded on 30 November 1989, and on 19 December the Provincial Court in Zamość entered it in the register of associations. The first board was elected on 10 January 1990: Żabiński became president, Zbigniew Wołny and Zbigniew Kot vice-presidents. The move to independence was supported by the then president of the PZM Main Board, engineer Roman Pijanowski, later an honorary member of the club. In its first year of activity the club ran eight regional qualifying rounds of the Motor Cup of Poland, one district round and the final.

Kubica’s fifty seconds

The most often repeated story about the track concerns a boy from Kraków. Tytoń, speaking at the club’s anniversary in 2016, recalled the recorded record: Robert Kubica of the Kraków Automobile Club raced here and set the track record in the Młodzik 1 category, 50.226 s.

The calendar of those years has survived in fragments in the Motoresults results database. In the 2000 season Biłgoraj hosted three karting events, including the final of the Polish Karting Championship on 23–24 September with 64 competitors. In May 2008 the Polish Supermoto Championship was inaugurated at the track; the report by Ścigacz described a layout resembling “the Greek letter Omega”, made up of very long corners, and listed the injuries: the broken leg of Marcin Rybski after going off in the off-road part and the broken ankle of Robert Żera. In August 2009 rounds 7 and 8 of the Polish Karting Championship were held here, and in 2010 two rounds of the Rotax Max Challenge Cup and two rounds of the Easykart Cup. After that the database is silent for fifteen years.

The track then measured 1150 m with a width of 8 to 12 m and was managed by the Regional Vocational Education Centre, the successor of ZSME. In 2011 a motorcyclist could go out on it after signing a declaration, for 20 zloty an hour or 100 zloty a day. The Time Attack service noted that the direction of travel was changed at the users’ request, and that the surface was uneven and required modernisation. On 8 May 2011 the automobile club organised the Motomajówka here for the first time, motorcycle races opening the season, and on 5 June that year the first classic vehicle rally.

Forty metres of fence

The expropriation of 1977 came back in 2009. The former owners filed an application with the minister of infrastructure, who declared the expropriation decision invalid; in 2012 the minister of the state treasury confirmed the invalidity of the county’s acquisition of the property. The county had become the owner of the site in 2004, under a decision of the voivode, after the legal status was regulated in 2003–2004. In July 2018 the local government had to hand over a plot of 1.4 ha out of about 5 ha of the whole facility; a strip 40 m wide, running through the entire area of the autodrome, was fenced off. During the years of the dispute the track lost its PZM homologation, which the official website calls “the formal end of its sporting career”.

The end of the dispute was announced in July 2021. The court issued a final decision on acquisitive prescription of the land in favour of the county. “Biłgoraj county is now the owner of the whole site”, said starosta Andrzej Szarlip at a press conference, during which deputy marshal Michał Mulawa said of the facility: “it is the only track in Lublin Voivodeship”. The same day an application for money from the government fund Polski Ład was announced.

Over thirty million

The petition “Support for the modernisation of the Autodrom Biłgoraj track”, signed by residents of the county and members of the automobile club, collected 954 signatures; its authors wrote about a facility that had trained successive generations of drivers for decades and required considerable repairs. In June 2022 the county office announced a tender for the first stage worth 26 million zloty, of which 15 million came from Polski Ład; bids could be submitted until 7 July. The plans included a track 1201 m long and 8 to 14.5 m wide for an international class A licence, grandstands for 500 people, a command centre, a paddock with a service area, an examination ground of the Voivodeship Road Traffic Centre and earth banks damping the noise. Residents supported the investment; the only reservations concerned drifting, because of the smell of exhaust fumes.

On 26 October 2023 the construction site was handed over to the Zakład Budowlano-Transportowy “DROGMOST” of Mokre near Zamość; the cost of the first stage grew to just under 31 million zloty, and the deadline was set for January 2025. Ireneusz Bulicz, the proxy of the county board, said at the time: “For years the residents of Biłgoraj were proud of this facility”. On 19 August 2024 the first test runs took place on the first layer of the surface; Kacper Bielecki in a kart of the DD2 Max category reached 124 km/h. The wearing course was laid from 29 August. On 13 March 2025 the county councillors set up the company Autodrom Biłgoraj sp. z o.o. with share capital of 500,000 zloty; on 9 May Jarosław Bury became its president, until then head of the investment department at the county office, who had supervised the construction of the track.

The facility was opened on 27 June 2025. Karting and motorcycle displays went on from the morning, and at 15:00 dean father Witold Batycki blessed the track. Robert Młodziński, the operations director, described it thus: “The track also has a motorcycle configuration. There is also a gravel section on it”; the start straight is 12 m wide, the basic loops 8 m. At the opening the value of the investment was already given as close to 32 million zloty: 17 million from the county budget and 15 million from Polski Ład. A local branch of the WORD in Zamość also operates on the autodrome grounds, running driving licence examinations for categories A and B.

Tickets to Bahrain

Karting came back in the summer. From 14 to 17 August 2025 the National Holiday Open Karting Training was held here, with free admission for spectators. A month later, on 12–14 September, Biłgoraj was the host of the final of Rotax Max Challenge Poland: nearly 70 drivers of the Rotax series started, and 60 in the accompanying Open Kart Cup. Tickets to the world final Rotax Grand Finals in Bahrain were won by Maximilian Safarzyński (Micro Max), Ignacy Jaroszewicz (Mini Max), Wojciech Kapusta (Junior Max), Piotr Borowczyk (Senior Max), Patryk Donica (DD2 Max) and Sławomir Murański (DD2 Masters). Before the final the PZM wrote that the renovated kart track is “certainly a showcase of eastern Poland and of Lublin Voivodeship”. Motorcyclists got two rounds of Supermoto & Pitbike, on 26–27 July and 20–21 September.

On 11 November 2025 the first car Track Day in the history of the track was held: 350 zloty per car, a helmet, a balaclava, valid third-party insurance and a registration document obligatory; a day of karting training cost 300 zloty. On 7 December the Automobilklub Biłgorajski returned to the track with a club Super Sprint round, the first after the refurbishment. A fire brigade Żuk from 1974 from the volunteer fire service in Bukownica lined up at the start, and the firefighters were collecting money for a new vehicle.

Decibels from the river

The complaints appeared a few months after the opening. On 25 September 2025 councillor Tomasz Bednarz filed an interpellation: noise on Saturdays and Sundays from 8:00 “disturbs the rest of the residents”; he called for limiting the hours of events, for measurements and for building acoustic screens. According to Rally and Race, banks and screens were built on the side of Motorowa and Tarnogrodzka streets, while the northern part of the track, on the river side, was left without a shield and the sound carries from there towards the houses.

In April 2026 the residents met the authorities. Nowa Gazeta Biłgorajska reported that the permissible limits are 55 dB, and in places 50 dB, and that the residents are announcing a blockade of the entrance and a class action if they do not get concrete solutions.

We do not want to close the track. We want to live normally. That is all.

In the meantime the company’s board changed. On 21 January 2026 Jarosław Bury was replaced by Dawid Będziuch, a teacher at RCEZ and a doctoral student at the Lublin University of Technology; the company announced a focus on safety and on dialogue with the residents.

Karting Tuesdays, car Wednesdays

The 2026 season of Rotax Max Challenge Poland started and ends in Biłgoraj: round 1 on 20–22 March, round 7 on 25–27 September; the Motoresults database recorded 112 competitors in March. The organiser of the series describes the layout as “a short and twisting facility that puts the reflexes and concentration of drivers to the test”. Round 5 of Rok Cup Poland is planned for 15–16 August, and round 4 of the Polish Karting Championship for 18–20 September. The Lublin Moto-Sekcja added the autodrome to its motorcycle training courses, setting the first date for 31 May.

For an amateur the rhythm of the week matters most. In the operator’s calendar Mondays belong to motorcycles, Tuesdays to karting, Wednesdays to cars, all between 8:00 and 15:00; in the afternoons Pit Bike and MiniGP train. The operator gives the length of the main loop as 1201 to 1525 m, and two variants of the karting loop, the longer of which is 1320 m; a technical inspection hall, a first aid room, a campsite and training rooms are available, with prices agreed individually. The Biłgokart rental operates from Tuesday to Sunday between 15:00 and 21:00 and requires a driver to be at least 135 cm tall.

For September 2026 a four-day karting training session, a Karting Grand Prix, the fourth round of the Polish championship and the final of Rotax Max Challenge Poland are entered in the calendar. The previous final of the national championship was held in the same place on 23–24 September 2000, with 64 competitors and on a track 51 m shorter.

Timeline

• 1977: the Head of the Town of Biłgoraj expropriates, against compensation, farmland on ul. Motorowa for the educational purposes of ZSME.
• 1978–1979: construction of the track on the initiative of ZSME and of headmaster Janusz Ostrowski.
• 1980: official opening of the kart track.
• 1985: the Biłgoraj branch of the Zamość Automobile Club is created under Jan Żabiński.
• 1989: on 30 November the Automobilklub Biłgorajski is founded, on 19 December it is entered in the register of associations.
• 1990s: Robert Kubica sets the track record in the Młodzik 1 category, 50.226 s.
• 2000: final of the Polish Karting Championship, 23–24 September.
• 2004: the property becomes the assets of Biłgoraj county.
• 2008: inauguration of the Polish Supermoto Championship.
• 2009: application by the former owners to the minister of infrastructure; rounds 7 and 8 of the Polish Karting Championship.
• 2010: rounds of the Rotax Max Challenge Cup and of the Easykart Cup, the last karting races before the break.
• 2011: the first Motomajówka (8 May) and the first classic vehicle rally (5 June).
• 2018: the county hands over 1.4 ha; a strip of 40 m across the track is fenced off.
• 2021: final decision on acquisitive prescription; the whole site returns to the county.
• 2022: tender for the rebuild worth 26 million zloty, including 15 million from Polski Ład.
• 2023: on 26 October the construction site is handed over to the DROGMOST company; the cost of the stage is just under 31 million zloty.
• 2024: on 19 August the first test runs.
• 2025: on 13 March the company Autodrom Biłgoraj is set up; on 30 May four PZM homologations; on 27 June the opening; on 12–14 September the final of Rotax Max Challenge Poland; on 11 November the first car Track Day.
• 2026: on 21 January a change of the company’s president; on 20–22 March the inauguration of Rotax Max Challenge Poland; April: protest of the residents against noise.