Croft Circuit
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| Location | North Yorkshire, England |
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| Major events | British Touring Car Championship, British Rallycross Championship. |
| National Circuit | |
| Length | 3.4 km (2.1 mi) |
| Turns | 12 |
| Lap record | 1:13.656 (Sergio Pérez, T-Sport, 2008, British F3) |
Croft Circuit is a motor racing circuit located near Dalton-on-Tees in North Yorkshire, England. The tarmac circuit is just over 2 miles (3 km) long and is based on the lands of an airfield, but has long since moved on from being a basic airfield circuit. The circuit holds meetings of the British Touring Car Championship, British Rallycross and Pickup Truck Racing race series.
The first records of racing at Croft date back to the 1920s, but it was after the Second World War that Croft circuit became a significant motorsport venue.
At the beginning of the Second World War an airfield named RAF Croft was built on the site now occupied by the circuit. RAF Croft also known as Croft Aerodrome, was mainly used as a bomber airfield. It was home to a number of different aircraft types including Wellington, Lancaster, Whitley, Stirling and Halifax bombers.
There were a number of notorious accidents mainly involving returning bombers missing their runway. One bomber made it all the way back from Germany only to crash into a tree at Atley Hill, about 4 miles (6 km) away; all the crew were killed. The dead stump of the tree survived as a grim memorial on Atley Hill until it was grubbed out by the landowner in the mid 1990s.
Croft Aerodrome was home to a number of squadrons including 419 Squadron from Canada. The platforms at the nearby Eryholme railway station were often crowded with airmen and ground crew during the war years. The verges along the public access road to Croft Aerodrome were used to store racks of bombs and other military equipment, a fascinating attraction to local children at the time.
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Wikipedia