Rockingham Motor Speedway

History

Construction of Rockingham started late in 1999, with the opening meeting planned for May 2001.

Rockingham Motor Speedway was constructed on a British Steel works brown field site known as the Deene Iron Ore Quarry which gave the facility its original name of Deene Raceway. The Speedway was built as a banked oval with the intention of bringing the American oval racing, both NASCAR Stock Cars and the CART Indycars, across the Atlantic for the first time. The opportunity was also taken to use the vast infield to build a combination of road circuits (most as Rovals using parts of the Speedway) aimed at both national and international use.

After almost ten years of planning and 23 months of construction work, Rockingham opened for business on Monday 15 January 2001. It was formally opened by Queen Elizabeth II on 26 May 2001.

After the sale of the venue, Rockingham held a "super send-off" to mark its final day as a racing circuit on 24 November 2018. In mid-2021, Constellation Automotive who own brands such as Cinch, and We Buy Any Car purchased the site.

Since then, Constellation Automotive's online car sales brand, Cinch, has used the circuit to film YouTube content, including car reviews and lap time challenges, titled on its channel as 'Fast Laps'. Cinch Motoring Editor, Sam Sheehan, has driven cars ranging from the Hyundai i20N hot hatch to a road-legal track car produced by Spartan Motor Company.

Sheehan used the Spartan to set an overall lap record for Rockingham's National Circuit on 26 May 2023, beating the previous fastest time of 1:14.20, set by a Palmer Jaguar JP1 prototype, by five-hundredths of a second.

The circuit

Rockingham had 13 configurations of track, which could be used for anything from touring cars to motorcycles to rally cars. The circuit was overlooked by the 6280 seat Rockingham Building, a steel-framed, glass-fronted grandstand building containing suites, offices, bars and kitchens, and by four grandstands. Together, the building and grandstands offered a total seating capacity of 52,000. The inner pit and paddock complex was accessed from the Rockingham Building via two pedestrian tunnels and there was a further spectator viewing area on top of the pit garages.

The oval circuit

The 1.479 mi American-style banked oval circuit was 18.3 m wide and had a maximum bank angle of seven degrees and comprised four very distinct corners. Rockingham's oval was unique in the UK and one of only two speedways in Europe (the other being Lausitzring). The oval circuit could also be converted to a road course layout for events by positioning temporary chicanes and curves both on the main area and apron of the circuit.

In early September 2001, the Champ cars came to Germany and England for the first time, to contest oval racing at the German 500 (kilometer, not miles) and the Rockingham 500, rounds of the 2001 CART season (Championship Auto Racing Teams) FedEx Championship Series. After the 11 September terrorist attacks and subsequent closing of airspaces, but with most equipment and personnel already being in continental Europe, the first ever German 500 was held under difficult circumstances. Unreliable weather and a bad crash of Alex Zanardi did not help, either.

The British round at the weekend of 20–22 September was in jeopardy, too. However, the logistics were worked out, with many of the teams stripping off their sponsors' logos ("livery") as a mark of respect for the victims of the attacks. The race distance was also shortened to 300 km. Victory was snatched on the exit of Turn Four of the last lap by Gil de Ferran driving the Marlboro Team Penske Honda–powered Reynard 01I at a race average speed of 153.41 mph from Kenny Bräck at the wheel of the Team Rahal Lola-Ford Cosworth B1/00, and the Newman-Haas Racing Lola-Toyota B1/00 driven by Cristiano da Matta. The fastest lap, and therefore outright lap record, was set by Patrick Carpentier in 25.551secs (210.59 mph) in the Player's Forsythe Racing Reynard-Cosworth. Carpentier became for first Canadian to ever hold the outright lap record at an English circuit.

The US-based series returned in September 2002. This was the last time Champ Cars raced at this facility. The race ran over the full distance of 500 km, Scotland's Dario Franchitti took the chequered flag in his Team KOOL Green Lola-Honda, beating Cristiano da Matta by just 0.986 of a second .

The International Super Sportscar Circuit (ISSC)

The ISSC was 1.940 mi long and between 11 and wide, with a maximum bank angle of seven degrees at turn one. Rockingham's International Super Sportscar Circuit was used by the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship, as well as for most other car race events. The circuit combined long straights, sweeping high-speed bends (including the infamous Turn 1 and Gracelands) with a lower speed, highly technical infield layout. Average lap speeds around the circuit ranged from 1m 24s in the BTCC to 1m 12s in British F3.

Wet handling facility

The site had a wet handling area with a kick plate which was used to simulate a variety of driving conditions including ice, rain and slippery wet leaves. These different road conditions were simulated at much slower speeds than in normal driving and in a fully controlled environment. The area was designed to give drivers a greater understanding of the latest ABS, traction control and crash mitigating technologies, and the way that they affect vehicle control.

Layout configurations

File:Rockingham Motor Speedway Oval.svg|Oval Circuit (2001–2018) File:Rockingham Motor Speedway - Road course.svg|International Super Sports Car Circuit (2001–2018) File:Rockingham Motor Speedway International Long.svg|International Long Circuit (2001–2018) File:Rockingham2.svg|International Short Circuit (2001–2018) File:Rockingham Motor Speedway National.svg|National Circuit (2001–2018)

Lap records

Rockingham is Europe's fastest banked oval racing circuit, with the unofficial lap record for the 1.479 mi oval set at 24.719 seconds by Tony Kanaan in his Lola B01/00 Champ Car on 22 September 2001 – an average speed of 215.397 mi/h. Rockingham was the first purpose-built banked oval in the UK since Brooklands in 1907. It has an all-seating capacity of 52,000 and has both an oval and a racing circuit. The fastest official race lap records at Rockingham Motor Speedway are listed as:

Major racing results

CART Championship

• Race shortened due to lack of practice.

British Formula Three season

British Touring Car Championship

British Superbike Championship

• Qualification cancelled due to dangerous track conditions, grid decided by championship positions.

Other events

The Rockingham Stages

On 12 December 2004, the first Stage Rally, the Rockingham Stages, was held at the venue. This was jointly promoted by Middlesex County Automobile Club and Thame Motorsport Club. The two day event rapidly grew to be one of the favourite events on the British stage rally calendar. For several years it was a round of the MSN (Motor Sports News) Circuit Rally Championship. The 2018 Rockingham Stages was the last competitive motorsport event to be held at the Speedway.

Oval racing

From 2001 to the end of 2007, Rockingham organised and funded American-style Stockcar racing on the oval. Originally known as ASCAR, the series changed name to "Days of Thunder", and then to SCSA (Stock Car Speed Association), before re-branding to the MAC Tools V8 Trophy for its final season in 2007. All cars were UK variants of the American "ASA National-Tour" Howe Racing chassis, running with either Ford, Chevrolet or Pontiac bodies. A change of circuit ownership for 2006 saw the end of promotion and funding for the series, and low grids in 2007 led the organising club (BRSCC) to amalgamate it with a road course series, and eventually to the demise of both championships before the end of 2008.

Other activities

The circuit was operational 356 days a year and the majority of events that took place at the venue were not motorsport competitions. Events ranged from manufacturer product launches to dealer training, track days and testing, and corporate and experience days.

The City Auction Group holds an auction weekly at the circuit.

The Learning Grid Rockingham Festival in the first week of July promotes science and engineering to school pupils.

The venue had a sizeable showground area which has hosted the following shows:

• The French Car Show
• The Site Equipment Demonstration (SED) Show
• Greenfleet
• The LCV Show
• Stobart Fest
• Japfest 2

Media appearances

Television

• Fifth Gear
• Wheeler Dealers
• Saturday Night Takeaway
• The Grand Tour
• Top Gear
• Scrapheap Challenge

Magazines and newspapers

The Telegraph and Fiat held a track day at Rockingham in 2012 and published a number of articles featuring the circuit. Autosport Caterham SP300R video review was made on the ISSC , and Car Magazine did a track test on the Nissan GT-R vs Porsche 911 Turbo in 2012 and a McLaren supercar group test in 2010 . Car Dealer magazine reviewed the BMW M5 at Rockingham and compared it with a Mercedes E63 AMG, a Lexus ISF, a Porsche Panamera and an Infiniti M35h . The circuit also features on the Pistonheads website with videos showing the Caterham SP300 R and the new Astra VXR. Chris Harris on Cars showcased the BAC Mono .

References

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