The rise and fall of Rockingham Motor Speedway

Built on a disused British Steel quarry site in Corby, Rockingham was conceived as an American-style high-speed oval test track, with a bold plan to attract the US-based CART Champ Car World Series for Indy-style machines. It took ten years of planning before the £70 million venue was built in 23 months.

It opened in 2001, with the first CART race held there on 22 September 2001. It was a troubled start: water seeping through the track surface delayed running, and the 500km race was eventually shortened to 300km due to time constraints.

The race itself was largely processional, with the 1.5-mile oval's tight, low-banked turns not conducive to side-by-side racing, although it was enlivened by Gil de Ferran overtaking future McLaren Automotive test driver Kenny Bräck at the final turn to snatch the win (pictured below). The CART World Series returned in 2002, with Brit Dario Franchitti taking victory.

Feature: the Indy 500 winner who helps make McLarens great 

The crowds for both events were decent, but CART was beginning a decline after a long war with the rival IndyCar Series (which had the marquee Indianapolis 500), and selling American single-seater racing to a UK audience proved more difficult than imagined. In 2003, the CART event shifted its UK race to Brands Hatch.

Rockingham tried to grow oval racing with its own stock car series (originally called ASCAR, before bizarrely being rebranded Days of Thunder after the Tom Cruise film), which it ran alongside a series of high-profile concerts. Remember when rapper 50 Cent came to Rockingham?

When that stock car series folded after 2007, only a club-level pick-up truck series raced on the oval. Rockingham’s 1.94-mile infield road course continued to host championships, and after a one-off event there in 2003, the BTCC has visited regularly since 2007.

But despite producing some good racing, the circuit doesn’t hold as much appeal for drivers or spectators as other venues. It doesn't, for example, have the history of Silverstone (located just 40 miles away), the flowing challenge of Oulton Park or the elevation changes of Brands Hatch.

That’s perhaps because it lacks in atmosphere: it’s as flat, featureless and glamorous as you’d expect an old British Steel quarry located next to an industrial estate in Corby to be.

To host a crowd of 55,000-plus, the venue has five big grandstands, although two of them haven’t been open since the last CART race. They probably contain seats that have never been sat in. Due to safety concerns related to subsidence, only the main grandstand has been in use this year. Therefore, even with a decent crowd, as at the BTCC last weekend, the venue can look and feel empty.

Yet Rockingham also has strong selling points. It’s relatively modern, it's centrally located and it has good access and decent facilities. Plus, fans in the main grandstand can see the entire track from their seats. It's also a decent testing and driving venue, hosting events such as Autocar's Britain's Best Driver's Car contest in 2011.

As a long-time fan of American Indy racing, I attended both CART races at Rockingham. Having seen the circuit’s first major event, by a quirk of fate it seems my BTCC trip last weekend means I could also have unwittingly attended one of its last.

BTCC adds second Thruxton date, drops Rockingham for 2019

I can recall sitting in the Turn One grandstand back in 2001, taking in the view of the track and finding it surreal that someone had actually built a US-style oval circuit in Britain. It’s even more surreal to think that Rockingham's days as a racing circuit could be over after just 17 years.

Read more

BTCC 2018: Morgan, Sutton and Smiley share wins at Rockingham