The idea refuses to die: an event that is not aimed at achieving top speeds is automatically covered. Our track days are exactly that kind of event, no race, no timing, no classification. And yet the conclusion has long since stopped being true.
A great many insurers now categorically exclude driving on closed race tracks, regardless of whether any racing takes place there. Whether your policy is one of them is decided by its wording alone, not by the character of the event.
Which is why one step is unavoidable: have it checked. If in doubt, ask your insurer or the broker who looks after you directly how your policy treats driving on closed circuits, and do it before you book.
Looking at your policy, there are always two separate questions, and they are worth settling separately:
Pays for damage to your own car. On track this is your biggest financial risk: a spin or a braking point judged too late is enough for an expensive loss, with nobody else involved. This is exactly the cover many policies exclude for race tracks.
Steps in when you cause damage to others, for example to other cars or to the circuit itself. It is compulsory insurance, but on a race track it has a trap of its own: recourse. How that works is covered in the next section.
Because motor third-party insurance is compulsory, it will as a rule pay first for damage you cause to others. The injured party is not left to carry the loss.
The catch comes afterwards: if your insurer has excluded circuit driving in its terms, it can then reclaim the money it paid out from you. That is called recourse, and in the end you pay after all.
Which is why the same rule applies to third-party cover: have it checked. And if in doubt, take out participant liability cover for the day, a liability policy of its own made for taking part in circuit events. You can request a policy like that for example via besafe.sportvers.com (an unpaid recommendation).
Car without road registration? Then it is a must. If you run a car with no road registration, there is no motor third-party insurance that could pay at all. In that case participant liability cover is not a judgement call, it is a requirement.
For damage to your own car there is no injured third party to protect, without valid cover nobody simply pays. Three honest ways to deal with that before you book:
All three routes are legitimate. What matters is knowing which one you have chosen before you are at the start, not afterwards.
If you decide on a single-day policy, these are the points that make the difference. What such a policy costs cannot be put into a blanket figure, depending on car value, excess and cover it can turn out considerably more expensive than expected. Only a real quote is reliable.
Instead of asking generally about a "race track", a specific form of words helps, one that describes exactly what actually happens at our track days:
Suggested wording: "Do my third-party and comprehensive cover apply to a track day on a closed circuit with no timing, no classification and no race character, and does the insurer reserve a right of recourse?"
Get the answer in writing, by email or letter. A verbal answer on the phone will not help you if something happens.
No contact of your own? For the whole insurance topic around track days we have a partner who solves exactly these questions and tells you how your situation can be covered: Fitness & Finance. Just get in touch there: fitnessandfinance.de
Leased or financed car. Check the contract with the bank or leasing company as well as your motor insurance, it often sets its own conditions for use on a race track.
A borrowed car. Agree it with the owner beforehand, it is their insurance that is affected, not yours. The same questions then apply to their car instead of yours.
Additional driver on the same car. The same question applies to both drivers, whoever of you is the registered owner or main policyholder. Best for each of you to sort it out individually before the day starts.
If you would rather sidestep the whole insurance question, the race taxi from 149 € is the way in. You are not in your own car but in the organiser's car, so the financial risk to the vehicle is not yours. Everything on how it works is in the guide The race taxi ride.
And if you just want to watch rather than drive, a passenger and spectator ticket from 49 € gets you into the paddock all day, with no need to answer this question at all.
Important note on this page: This page is guidance from our own experience as an organiser, not legal or insurance advice. The only thing that is binding is the answer from your own insurer or broker.
Next date is Mon 10 Aug 2026 at the Red Bull Ring. All prices are listed openly on the booking page.
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