Rockingham Motor Speedway
 The "oval" speedway  The road courses |
|
| Location | Northamptonshire, England |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 52°30′54″N 0°39′27″W / 52.51500°N 0.65750°WCoordinates: 52°30′54″N 0°39′27″W / 52.51500°N 0.65750°W |
| Opened | 2001 |
| Major events |
CART BTCC British Superbikes British F3 Pickup Truck Racing British GT Championship |
| Oval Circuit | |
| Length | 1.479 mi (2.38 km) |
| Turns | 4 |
| Banking | 3.5 – 7.9º |
| Lap record | 0:24.719 ( Tony Kanaan, Lola–Ford, 2001, CART) |
| International Super Sports Car Long Circuit | |
| Surface | Tarmac |
| Length | 2.05 mi (3.299 km) |
| Turns | 13 |
| Banking | 7.0º (turn 1) |
| International Super Sports Car Circuit | |
| Surface | Tarmac |
| Length | 1.94 mi (3.12 km) |
| Turns | 12 |
| Banking | 7.0º (turn 1) |
| National Circuit | |
| Surface | Tarmac |
| Length | 1.70 mi (2.74 km) |
| Turns | 9 |
| Lake Circuit | |
| Surface | Tarmac |
| Length | 0.67 mi (1.08 km) |
| Turns | 5 |
| Handling Circuit | |
| Surface | Tarmac |
| Length | 0.97 mi (1.56 km) |
| Turns | 4 |
| Rally Stage | |
| Surface | Gravel |
| Length | 0.62 – 1.23 mi (1.00 – 1.98 km) |
| Turns | 15 (approx) |
Rockingham Motor Speedway is a modern motorsport venue in the United Kingdom, that hosts corporate driving days, driver training, conferencing and exhibitions, vehicle manufacturing events, track days, testing, driving experiences and motor racing. It claims to be Europe's fastest racing circuit, and was the first banked oval constructed in Britain since the closure of Brooklands in 1939.
Located in Northamptonshire, Rockingham falls under the control of two local authorities.
Rockingham is easily accessible from the A1, M1, A14, A43 and A6116, and is located 30 minutes from Leicester, Peterborough and Northampton.
The nearest railway station is Corby, which is two miles from the circuit and runs an hourly direct service to London St Pancras International.
Rockingham has 13 configurations of track, which can be used for anything from touring cars to motorcycles to rally cars. The circuit is 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 offer a total seating capacity of 52,000. The inner pit and paddock complex is accessed from the Rockingham Building via two pedestrian tunnels and there is a further spectator viewing area on top of the pit garages.
The 1.48 mile American-style banked oval circuit is 18.3 metres wide and has a maximum bank angle of 7 degrees and comprises four very distinct corners. Rockingham's oval is unique in the UK and one of only two speedways in Europe. The oval circuit can 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.
Over the weekend of 20–22 September 2001, the Champ cars came to England for the first time to contest the Rockingham 500, a round of the CART (Championship Auto Racing Teams) Fedex Championship Series. For various reasons the race distance was shortened to 300 km and 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 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.
...
Wikipedia