The Salzburgring features a relatively simple configuration built around the natural topography of its alpine valley setting. The layout comprises two long straights and 15 corners, with the longest straight — the start-finish straight — running for 750 metres. The circuit's signature features are the fast, sweeping "Fahrerlagerkurve" (paddock turn) at the bottom of the valley, and the tighter "Nockstein-Kehre" hairpin at the top. Maximum incline reaches 3.8% and maximum decline 1.8%, with an overall altitude difference of approximately 25 metres across the lap.
The combination of high approach speeds, narrow track width, and armco barriers close to the racing surface gave the circuit a fearsome character, particularly for motorcycle competition. Five-times 500cc World Champion Michael Doohan described the section between turns 7 and 10 as his all-time favourite piece of racetrack, likening it to "threading a motorcycle through the eye of a needle at 290 km/h whilst banging fairings with your competitors with armco barriers on each side." He considered the Salzburgring the essence of what motorcycle racing was about: simultaneously fast, dangerous, and enormously rewarding for those who mastered it.
The circuit was inaugurated in 1969 with a combined car and motorcycle event, following a groundbreaking ceremony the previous year. Its location in a compact alpine valley meant that it was never a candidate for Formula One, but it rapidly established itself on the motorcycle Grand Prix calendar and as a venue for European touring car racing.
The first FIM Motorcycle World Championship race was held at the Salzburgring in 1971, and the circuit subsequently served as the home of the Austrian motorcycle Grand Prix from 1971 to 1994, with exceptions in 1980 and 1992. Giacomo Agostini and Angel Nieto each claimed six motorcycle Grand Prix victories at the circuit, making them the all-time leaders in wins at Salzburgring. Other notable winners included Hideo Kanaya (1975), Kenny Roberts (1978 and 1983), Wayne Gardner (1987), Kevin Schwantz (1990), and Michael Doohan (1994). Sidecar World Championship races were also held at the venue alongside the solo classes for many of those years.
On four wheels, the circuit hosted rounds of the European Touring Car Championship from 1970 to 1985, the Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft in 1987, and the Super Tourenwagen Cup throughout the 1990s. The European Formula Two Championship held rounds at Salzburgring from 1972 to 1976, and the European Formula 5000 Championship visited in 1970. The World Sportscar Championship made appearances in 1976 and 1977. The Superbike World Championship visited in 1995.
The Salzburgring hosted rounds of the World Touring Car Championship from 2012 to 2014. In 2008, the circuit served as the venue for the inaugural European Touring Car Cup, which Michel Nykjaer won.
In 2013, the circuit added a new dimension to its identity with the first Electric Love Festival, a music event held on the track premises that by 2018 was attracting 180,000 attendees annually. The 50th anniversary of the circuit was celebrated in 2019.
Current regular events include rounds of TCR Eastern Europe, the Formula 4 CEZ Championship, ADAC GT Masters, and the ADAC Tourenwagen Junior Cup. The Oldtimer Grand Prix and the Rupert Hollaus Memorial — organised by former Grand Prix motorcycle and sidecar racer Wolfgang Stropek to honour the Austrian rider who was killed at Monza in 1954 — are also part of the circuit's calendar.
The Salzburgring occupies a specific place in the history of motorcycle Grand Prix racing as one of the most challenging and atmospheric venues of the sport's 1970s and 1980s era. Its combination of natural scenery, close-quarters racing, and genuine danger made it a venue that polarised opinion but commanded respect. The withdrawal of the Austrian motorcycle Grand Prix after 1994 reflected broader changes in FIM safety standards, and the circuit has since focused on national and regional series while developing a secondary identity as an events venue.