World Art Utopia

Impéria Factory Test Track — Impéria, Nessonvaux

The overgrown concrete test track on the roof of the former Impéria car factory in Nessonvaux, Belgium
Artwork FileNessonvaux, Belgium

Impéria Track

SeenJun 2026

Impéria car factory · Rue Gomélevay, Nessonvaux (Trooz), Belgium

Photo: Philippe Dimbourg (PHCDIMB) / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0), as published on Street Art Utopia.

The Impéria car factory in Nessonvaux, in the Vesdre valley between Liège and Verviers, built a test track on the roofs of its assembly halls in the late 1920s. Unlike Lingotto’s, it was not preserved, and only its banked curves remain. Source Source Checked

Seen June 2026: L’Avenir reported that only the two raised curves of the track remain and that the site is now visited by urban explorers. Source Reported

💡 4 things to know

  1. A track on the halls
    Moniteur Automobile says Impéria installed a test track on the roofs of its Nessonvaux assembly halls. Source Source Checked
  2. 1928 or 1929?
    Moniteur Automobile, L’Avenir and Cirkwi date the track to 1928; the Belgian federal site Focus on Belgium says 1929. Source Source Source Source Conflicting
  3. No agreed length
    Sources give 800 m (Moniteur Automobile, Focus on Belgium), 600 m (Cirkwi) and 560 m (L’Avenir). Source Source Source Source Conflicting
  4. The end of Impéria
    L’Avenir says the last Impéria left the line in 1949 and that workers found the factory closed in July 1958. Source Reported

📍 Where it is

On Rue Gomélevay in Nessonvaux (municipality of Trooz), beside the Vesdre; the factory cannot be visited, and Belgique Insolite points to a viewpoint on the road towards Trasenster. Source Source Checked

Open in Maps

🗓️ Sightings

  1. 202022 Apr

    Moniteur Automobile: one curve remains

  2. 202117 Mar

    Focus on Belgium describes the track

  3. 202428 Dec

    Photographed by Philippe Dimbourg · camera date

  4. 202610 Jun

    L’Avenir: two raised curves remain

Green stamps mark dated photographs; amber stamps mark records or reports; red stamps mark loss. Publication dates are not camera dates.

✅ The facts

Builder
Impéria car factory Source Source Source Checked
Track built
1928 (Moniteur Automobile, L’Avenir, Cirkwi) or 1929 (Focus on Belgium) Source Source Source Source Conflicting
Length
800 m, 600 m or 560 m, depending on the source Source Source Source Source Conflicting
Location
Rue Gomélevay, Nessonvaux, Belgium (no. 54 per Belgique Insolite; 305–317 per Cirkwi) Source Source Conflicting
Factory closed
1958 Source Source Source Checked
Remains
Two raised curves (L’Avenir, 2026); Moniteur Automobile wrote in 2020 that one curve remained Source Source Reported

🔗 Related

All sources & image credits

Last checked: 9 November 2026. How we verify art