Mondello Park

Mondello Park sits at Donore near Naas in County Kildare and is the only permanent FIA-licensed race circuit in the Republic of Ireland. It was designed by Stuart Cosgrave in 1966 and opened on 12 May 1968 with a lap of 1.28 kilometres; in 1969 the Turn 3 loop was added, taking it to 1.92 kilometres. Since the 1998 extension the International layout measures 3.621 kilometres, and racingcircuits.info lists shorter configurations of 2.816, 1.860 and 1.250 kilometres alongside it. Martin Birrane took the venue out of financial trouble in 1986 and into full ownership in 1987. Its history includes Ayrton Senna's Leinster Trophy win in 1982, a European motorcycle championship round in 1991 and visiting rounds of the British touring car and superbike championships through the 2000s. Today the operator sells car and motorcycle track days, driver training and driving experiences; the office is staffed Monday to Friday, 9:00am to 5:30pm. We have the circuit on file as technical and tight: plenty of direction changes and little road in which to settle the bike between two corners. If your bike will not hold a tight line and pushes past the apex, top of our cause list is too little rear ride height - it makes the steering lazy and runs you wide. Raise the rear, or let the fork slide a little further through the clamps, and turn-in gets sharper.