Greetings from all over the United Kingdom
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From the travels and adventures of the
“World’s #1 Trackchaser”
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My 1999 Trip to the United Kingdom!
Tracks seen during my 1999 visit U.K. Overview I have now made nine separate trackchasing trips to the United Kingdom. I first started going there to see their racing in 1999. I returned in 2000, 2001, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2011, 2013 and most recently in 2016. You will be able to read all about the tracks I visited and the things I’ve seen and experienced all over the United Kingdom. I’ve done my share of driving on the “wrong side of the road”. However, I didn’t begin writing my famous Trackchaser Reports until I had seen about 425 tracks. That means I have no formal notes from my 1999 U.K. trip. Ya, I know. I bummed about that too. As you will read throughout my U.K. Trackchaser Reports I love so many things about the racing in this country. Almost no rainouts, inverted starts, lots of contact and few yellow flags. They know how to handle their racing in the United Kingdom. My complete U.K. track list is published below. As this is written I have seen racing at more than 2,600 tracks in 85 different countries. These many trips have taken me up, down and around the long and dusty trackchasing trail. If you would like to see where I’ve been and experience those adventures here’s the link: If you’ve got a question, comment or whatever please leave it at the bottom of this report. It’s very easy to do. I’ll try my best to respond. Thanks! My travels have taken me to 63 tracks all over the United Kingdom. As you read through my reports you will see…..I love U.K. racing. Below is my current U.K. track list. NORTHAMPTON INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY Back in 1999, I had not gotten into the happen of making formal notes from my racing trips. I do know that I got to meet both the track owner and promoter during our visit. My wife Carol and our two youngest children, Kristy and Jim joined me on this trip. We were there on Saturday, June 26, 1999. Andrew Knight driving his #33 was the feature winner. When the track changes its racing surface I went back to Northhampton in 2013 with Paul Weisel. I grabbed this history from the Spedeworth Motorsports group. I always offer a huge thanks to anyone who gathers the history of a track and shares it with others. This is what Spedeworth had to say. Northampton International Raceway is the UK’s longest-serving short oval with over 50 years of history behind it, and all the greats of the sport’s history have seen action here at one of the spiritual homes of British oval racing. Located in the Northamptonshire countryside near the village of Brafield-on-the-Green, the raceway’s 396 metre now SHALE oval is ideal for Stock Car racing and some of the best BriSCA F1 and F2 meetings seen in recent years have been at Northampton. The track is also excellent for Banger racing, with several of the sport’s biggest teams and drivers making regular appearances throughout its long history. Today the venue is host for the annual BriSCA European Championships and World Masters. The biggest National Banger event is the annual Unlimited National Banger World Series event held every Easter Monday, with a multitude of other events in between. You will find all the facilities to make your day complete including a licensed bar, freshly-cooked food, track shop, ample free parking and great views of the entire circuit. Northampton International Raceway (Northampton) is located off the A428 between the villages of Brafield-on-the-Green and Horton, and is easily accessed from junction 15 of the M1. The raceway offers excellent viewing and catering facilities and other trade stands are available. Whether it’s a Saturday night or a Sunday afternoon, there is always first class action guaranteed at this venue. HENESFORD HILLS RACEWAY My short comment from our visit on Sunday, June 27, 1999, was “Heavy rain, bad food and good racing”. Actually, that statement could apply to most of the tracks I’ve seen in the U.K. They get a LOT of rain over here. Most of the races I’ve seen in the United Kingdom have been in March/April around Easter weekend. The weather is usually cloudy, cold and rainy. I have never been all that impressed with U.K. track food. Their hamburgers don’t taste like any hamburger I’ve had anywhere. I do like their “chips” aka fries. However, I have always loved the racing on the short ovals in the U.K. Lots of action and contact with no delays. If you look elsewhere on my site you see my comparison between the U.K. and U.S.A. racing. Heck, you might as well check out that link right now. Here it is: U.S. vs. U.K. racing. Which is better? Wikipedia came through with some excellent historical information on the Hednesford Hills Raceway. The circuit was originally built inside a disused reservoir and operated by Claude Roe and Les Marshall in 1952 utilizing the site of a former reservoir, before opening for the first time in 1954. Due to failure in business, Roe and Marshall decided to abandon their plans for Hednesford Raceway and close down in 1955. Following the closure of Tamworth Stadium in 1961, would-be promoter Bill Morris acquired the defunct Hednesford circuit and ran a handful of so-called ‘practice meetings’ in 1962. Bill Morris fully re-opened the circuit in April 1963 and from that point onwards the promotion of Stock Car and Hot Rod racing has been uninterrupted at the popular Staffordshire speed-bowl for over half a century. The shale oval was eventually resurfaced with asphalt in 1982, enabling lap times to fall drastically and track records to tumble. It is even said that four times World Hot Rod champion Carl Boardley once got the quarter-mile down to almost 12 seconds in unofficial practice, making Hednesford Europe’s fastest quarter-mile oval. With the circuit built at the base of the reservoir, the circuit has the advantage of being at the bottom of a large “bowl”, with grass banks surrounding the circuit providing excellent views for spectators. For a small fee, spectators can even drive their cars onto the site and watch from their cars at viewing posts the top of the banks. The circuit is of a quarter-mile length, with two banked corners, and a tarmac track surface. In addition to the grass banks surrounding the circuit, spectators can watch from terracing directly next to the track, along with two all-seater grandstands situated on the two corners, with covered seating for 3000 spectators. Other facilities include a permanent race control, licensed bar and cafe. Bill Morris was the original promoter of stock car racing on the site, having been inspired by friend Bill France’s effort in Daytona (USA). In the early 1980s, Bill retired from active promoting and handed over the reins to “Incarace”, owned by his son Martin and Philip Bond. In the late 1990s, Martin retired and Philip Bond took over as sole promoter until retiring in March 2008. William ‘Bill’ Morris founder of the Raceway died 9 October 2008. Events at the circuit are still promoted and run by Midlands-based Incarace Ltd – which has now been taken over by Deane Wood, owner of Southern-based motorsports promotion Spedeworth International. The stadium continues to be a flagship Short Circuit raceway in the UK. The circuit is a major venue for a number of National Hot Rods, BriSCA Formula 1 Stock Cars, BriSCA F2 and Banger racing events in the UK, with many formulas of racing being staged at the circuit. The circuit has also staged short-circuit truck racing events, and annually holds a large firework display. Major events include the “National Championship Weekend”, the “Crash Cavalcade”, “Veterans Day” and the “Civil War” – the oldest head-to-head banger meeting in the country. The circuit has been featured on BBC‘s Top Gear programme in the past, in a feature on banger racing. In addition, a number of satellite TV channels feature both banger and stock car races from the circuit. The Demons race team supplied a Car to Jeremy Clarkson a Ford Cortina for the Top Gear piece The 100th edition of Tiswas was broadcast live from Hednesford Raceway back in the Seventies. The launch of the Sony PlayStation game Destruction Derby Arenas took place at Hednesford Raceway and features a local Banger Racing team ” The Demons Race Team “ Free Radio (network) has recorded a number of drive tests for Vauxhall Motors at Hednesford Raceway and are also an official partner of the venue, advertising each of the events held there. SKEGNESS SHALEWAY When I first went to Skegness on Wednesday, June 30, 1999, I went there by myself. Carol and our kids Kristy and Jim were along on the trip to England. However, they elected to forego the long ride over to Orby on a Wednesday night. In 1999, they raced on a shale (dirt) surface. Skegness would change to a tarmac surface (above) in 2004 when I returned again. I recall during that first trip the flagman used his fingers to count down the laps and show the competitors what position they were running in. U.K. flagmen are the best. They are extremely animated and entertaining. Gary Tomlinson driving his #619 was the feature winner. COVENTRY INTERNATIONAL MOTOR SPEEDWAY Carol, Jim and Kristy were back with me on Saturday, July 3, 1999, for a visit to the Coventry International Motor Speedway. Coventry would end up being one of the best tracks I’ve seen over all of my trips to the United Kingdom. At the time of our visit I called Coventry “state of the art U.K. racing”. They had a bar and restaurant inside the covered grandstand seating area. Jim would have been 22 at the time and Kristy 23. They both had “adult beverages” at the bar. That might have been the first time I had ever seen them drink! The racing was excellent. Gary Lenton took the main event win in his car #264. U.K. drivers commonly raced with three-digit car numbers. They don’t race at Coventry anymore. That’s too bad. Coventry was one of my favorite U.K. tracks. Wikipedia provides this interesting historical perspective on this famous track. Brandon Stadium also known as Coventry Stadium, is located 6 miles east of Coventry in Brandon, Warwickshire, England. It was the home of the Coventry Bees motorcycle speedway team. Coventry also hosted BriSCA F1 Stock Car Racing on the 1st Saturday of the month from April through to November. From 1978 until early 2016 it intermittently hosted greyhound racing. As of recently, it has been closed down and dilapidated. Brandon Stadium’s first speedway meeting took place on 29 September 1928. The track was owned by Midland Sports Stadiums (who also owned Leicester Speedway) and Charles Ochiltree promoted the Speedway and Stock Car Racing until his death in 1998. His son Martin then carried on promoting duties until the stadium was sold to Avtar Sandhu in 2003. The stadium’s capacity is approximately 12,500. The record attendance for Brandon stands at 24,000, and was set during a speedway meeting, the Brandonapolis of 1954 on a Thursday night, where they locked the gates are were turning away buses. The shale speedway track, which is inside the dog track is 301 metres (329 yards) in length while the greyhound track is 409 metres (447 yards) in length. Brandon Stadium has been a popular stop for many high-profile speedway events in its lifetime. Under the old format of the Speedway World Championship events including the British Speedway Championship, the Commonwealth and Overseas Finals as well as hosting the 1998, 1999 and 2000 Speedway Grand Prix of Great Britain. The ‘Brandonapolis’ is an annual event at Brandon which features some of the world’s best speedway riders. It was postponed in 2011 due to the BSPA dispute of the 2011 Elite League Season. In 1991, Brandon Stadium staged the Under-21 World Championship Final which was won by Denmark’s Brian Andersen who defeated fellow Dane Morten Andersen in a runoff after both finished on 14 points. Australia’s Jason Lyons finished third, while the leading British rider Joe Screen finished in 5th place with 10 points. The speedway also hosted the last ever Speedway World Team Cup Final in 2000 (won by Sweden) after having previously held the Final in 1993 won by the United States. The speedway track was also used for BriSCA F1 Stock Cars, having raced here continuously since 1954. The first meeting was held on 30 June, the first heat being won by Percy ‘Hellcat’ Brine, he also won the meeting Final. The BriSCA Formula 1 Stock Cars World Championship has been held here many times since 1960. The track was also used for BriSCA Formula 2 Stock Cars, V8 Hotstox, and various other forms of oval Motorsport including Bangers, Saloon Stock Cars, Ministox and Sprint Cars. The venue was set to host the BriSCA F2 World Championship for the first time in 2017, but this event had to be moved to The Adrian Flux Arena in King’s Lynn due to Coventry Stadium’s closure, which was poorly handled by the stadium owners. BriSCA F1 racing (above) was the highest level of stock car racing to compete at Coventry.
TRACK
CITY
COUNTRY
DATE
TRACK TYPE
Northampton International Raceway
Northampton
England
United Kingdom
June 26, 1999
PO
Hednesford Hills Raceway
Hednesford
England
United Kingdom
June 27, 1999
PO
Skegness Shaleway
Orby
England
United Kingdom
June 30, 1999
DO
Coventry International Motor Speedway
Coventry
England
United Kingdom
July 3, 1999
DO
#
TRACK
CITY
COUNTRY
DATE
TRACK TYPE
1
Onchan Raceway
Onchan
Isle of Mann
United Kingdom
July 31, 2000
PO
#
TRACK
CITY
COUNTRY
DATE
TRACK TYPE
1
Ballymena Raceway
Ballymena
Northern Ireland
United Kingdom
April 14, 2006
PO
2
Tullyroan Oval
Dungannon
Northern Ireland
United Kingdom
March 26, 2016
PO
3
Nutt’s Corner Raceway
Crumlin
Northern Ireland
United Kingdom
March 27, 2016
PO
4
Aghadowey Oval
Coleraine
Northern Ireland
United Kingdom
March 28, 2016
PO
#
TRACK
CITY
COUNTRY
DATE
TRACK TYPE
1
Cowdenbeath Racewall
Cowdenbeath
Scotland
United Kingdom
August 5, 2000
PO
#
TRACK
CITY
COUNTRY
DATE
TRACK TYPE
1
Anglesey Circuit
Ty Croes
Wales
United Kingdom
April 22, 2011
PRC
TRACK
CITY
COUNTRY
DATE
TRACK TYPE
Northampton International Raceway
Northampton
England
United Kingdom
June 26, 1999
PO
THE NEWS FROM NORTHHAMPTON
TRACK
CITY
COUNTRY
DATE
TRACK TYPE
Hednesford Hills Raceway
Hednesford
England
United Kingdom
June 27, 1999
PO
THIS HAPPENED AT HEDNESFORD
About the circuit
Events staged at the circuit
Trivia
TRACK
CITY
COUNTRY
DATE
TRACK TYPE
Skegness Shaleway
Orby
England
United Kingdom
June 30, 1999
DO
THE TRIP TO SKEGNESS
TRACK
CITY
COUNTRY
DATE
TRACK TYPE
Coventry International Motor Speedway
Coventry
England
United Kingdom
July 3, 1999
DO
THE CALL FROM COVENTRY
History
Stock car racing
