Ujazdów Castle (Polish: Zamek Ujazdowski) is a castle in Warsaw's historic Ujazdów district, between the Ujazdów Park (Park Ujazdowski) and the Łazienki Park.

The first castle was erected on the spot by the Dukes of Masovia as early as in 13th century. However, the following century their court was moved to the future Royal Castle in Warsaw and the Ujazdów castle was neglected. In 15th century a wooden manor was built there for Bona Sforza, a queen of Poland. The ruins of the castle of the Mazovian princes were then incorporated into a new fortified manor built by King Sigismund III Vasa for his son, future King Vladislaus IV of Poland. However, there is little proof that the residence was ever used by the young prince who spent much of his youth either at his father's court or in Moscow. Between 1659 and 1665 the building housed a minting factory of Tytus Liwiusz Boratini, who minted his famous boratynka, a type of solidus.

Pałac pod Blachą palace near Royal Castle in Warsaw, Poland. Built in 1720-1730 by Jakub Fontana.

Send by: Gh0st

Królikarnia palace in Warsaw built in 1782-1786, Poland.

Send by: Gh0st

The first races on Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit took place in 1926 with the first Australian Grand Prix, known as the 100 Mile Race. It used, as was traditional at the time, a high speed rectangle of local closed-off public roads with four incidental right hand corners. The course length varied, with the car course approximately 6 miles per lap, to motorcycle racing of appx. 10 miles.

As speeds grew, there was a need for a safe circuit. The original Phillip Island road circuit, based around the airfield, was a dusty trek up and down hills and through tough tight corners. It survived from the late 1920's to 1935.

In 1951, a group of six local businessmen decided to build a new track. About 2 km away from the original circuit, it still bears the corner name signs of the original circuit. As the piece of available land was on the edge of the coast, the track is known for its step grades - the highest 57metres, which caused cost overruns and delays in track opening. The new track hosted its first race in 1956, but after extensive damage from the 1962 Armstrong 500, the circuit could not afford repairs and the race moved to Bathurst.

The Paul Ricard Circuit is a motorsport race track built at Le Castellet, near Marseille, France, in 1969 with finance from the eccentric drinks magnate Paul Ricard, who created what essentially became Pernod Ricard.

With innovative facilities it was considered by some to be the safest motor racing in the world at the time. The circuit had three possible layouts, a large area of industrial park and also an airstrip. In combination with the usual good weather conditions in Southern France, the airfield made the track popular for testing purposes in winter.

The original track was dominated by the mile-long Mistral Straight that was followed by the high-speed Signes corner.

It opened in 1970 with a 2-liter sports car race. During the 1970s and the 1980s the track developed some of the best French drivers of the time, and hosted the Formula One French Grand Prix on many occasions, the first of which being the 1971 French Grand Prix.

The Autódromo do Estoril (officially: Autódromo Fernanda Pires da Silva) is a 4.36 km (2.709 miles) race course in Portugal, and the home of the Formula One Portuguese Grand Prix from 1984 to 1996.

The Estoril circuit was built in 1972 on a rocky plateau not far from Estoril, Portugal, the beach resort lending its name to the circuit. The course has two hairpin turns, noticeable elevation changes, and a long start/finish straight. Its first years saw many club races, as well as an occasional Formula 2 race. However, the course soon fell into disrepair, and a significant redevelopment effort was needed before international motorsport returned in 1984.

Estoril became a popular event on the F1 calendar, the setting for many well-known moments including Jacques Villeneuve overtaking Michael Schumacher around the outside in 1996, and Riccardo Patrese being momentarily launched onto two wheels after colliding with Gerhard Berger on the main straight in 1992.

The Circuit de Valencia (officially named "Circuit de la Comunitat Valenciana Ricardo Tormo") is a motorsport race track located in Cheste (Valencia, Spain) and built in 2000. It has a capacity of 120,000 spectators and seating for 60,000. It is often used as a test track by the Formula One teams, because of the mild temperatures in winter. Kimi Räikkönen holds the unofficial lap record, set while testing a McLaren-Mercedes, with a time of 1m 09.005sec.

The track hosts the MotoGP Valencian Community Grand Prix.

The track is named after Spanish Grand Prix motorcycle racer Ricardo Tormo (7 September 1952 - 27 December 1998).

[Source: Wikipedia]

Send by: Waldemar Oleksa