Thruxton 500

The first Thruxton endurance event was a 9-hour race and took place in 1955, it was organized by the Southampton and District Motorcycle Club (SDMCC) and took place at the Thruxton Circuit near Andover in Hampshire, 2 more 9 hour races followed in 1956 and 1957.

These earlier 9 hour races resulted in the birth of the famous Thruxton 500 miler, the first taking place in 1958 and the last in 1973.

The Thruxton 500 was an endurance race for production based road machines, covering 500 miles and ridden by a team of two riders per machine.

There were 12 Thruxton 500 events that took place between 1958 and 1973, during that period however were 4 races where the 500 miler had to be run at 2 different circuits because of poor track conditions at Thruxton. The first rearranged 500 miler race was at Castle Combe in 1965 followed by 3 other meetings but this time at Brands Hatch

In the 1960s the Thruxton 500 race was very important to British motorcycle manufacturers as it was a 500-mile (800 km) test of their bikes which provided public-exposure. A win, or second and third places in the Thruxton 500 offered advertising opportunities and boosted sales, resulting in keen competition around Thruxton’s fast, flowing and demanding track.

4 other endurance events were held at Thruxton but not under the Thruxton 500 name, 2 Powerbike Internationals in 1974 and 1975 and 2 Grand Prix D' Endurance events in 1976 and 1977.

7 other endurance events were organized by the SDMMC at different circuits around the UK.

Similar events were the Bemsee-organised Hutchinson 100 at Silverstone and the 'Motor Cycle' 500 at Brands Hatch in 1966 where Mike Hailwood demonstrated a Honda CB450 Black Bomber fitted with a sports fairing. It was unable to compete in the 500cc category, the deeming it was not classified as a production machine as it had two overhead camshafts.

Only one motorcycle race a year is now held at Thruxton - a round of the British Superbike Championship

As with many World War II airfields, RAF Thruxton found a new role in the 1950s as a motorcycle racing circuit. Declared surplus to RAF requirements in 1946, the early track included both the runways and perimeter roads.

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