LONDON — North of Olympic Park, an arena looms in the distance, its roof curved in an odd and yet unmistakable slope. The roof reaches its highest point at either end and sags in the middle, until it forms what architects call a truncated hyperbolic paraboloid.

Translated into less technical terms, the arena, the Olympic Velodrome, is shaped like a Pringles potato chip.

Track cycling begins Thursday inside the Pringle, which has become as much a rock star as the athletes who will compete inside it. The velodrome was completed earlier and sold out faster than any other Olympic site. It won architecture design awards before it hosted a competition. It even inspired a song from the Chemical Brothers, who composed “Theme for Velodrome” for the track events.

“We call it our little castle on top of the hill,” said Neil Carney, the arena’s manager.

Construction workers completed the velodrome in 23 months, but the entire process took more than four years. The arena includes pine wood shipped in from Siberia and laid into place by 26 carpenters, 2,500 sections of steelwork and a cable-net roof. Input came from architects, engineers, velodrome designers and Chris Hoy, the British cyclist who won three gold medals at the Beijing Games and is competing again this year.