V1 Auto World Tianjin

Circuit History

The complex has been developed jointly by the Waitex Group and the Sino-Ocean Group, who between them have multiple successful development projects across China and beyond.  Strategically located between the major cities of Tianjin and Beijing, the complex has a potential user base of around 35 million people.

Hermann Tilke was employed to design the racing facilities, with a brief to come up with a design for a multi-use circuit which can accommodate large events across a variety of uses. The FIA Grade 3 standard permanent track can be used for driver training but is extendible with the addition of the surrounding roads, creating several longer circuits which are homologated up to FIA Grade 2 standards. The ‘E’ course is  3.72km and the first to be constructed, but when the whole complex is complete the 4.28km ‘International’ course will among the longest in China.

In the centre of the complex is the unique 'Z-shaped' pit building, which is essentially two stand-alone garage buildings connected by a large conference hall in the centre. The North pits have 39 garages and the South pits have 12, while the conference room can hold up 1,000 guests. Compared with traditional pit buildings, the "Z" configuration allows for much larger event spaces and paddock size, providing ample space for large scale race events that require lots of container storage spaces.

All VIP lounges and the conference area are partitioned, but can be connected to create one seamless event space. Each VIP Lounge is also equipped with its own dedicated food prep area, toilet blocks and outdoor spectator stands.

Elsewhere on the site are 18 professional race team workshops. Arranged over three levels with ground floor is the garage and workshop area with two further levels of office and storage space above.

The facility opened late in 2018 with the permanent circuit initially, while work continued on the longer street extensions, variations of which opened successively in 2019, 2020 and 2021

The inaugural event, a round of the FRD LMP3 China Endurance Series, was won by Andrew Waite and Ye Hongli.  The circuit has continued to host the China Endurance Series, alongside China GT, the V1 Speed Festival and an electric touring car series.

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