Rockingham Motor Speedway was a motorsport racing venue in Rockingham, Northamptonshire, England, United Kingdom, near the town of Corby. The venue currently sits unused due to private ownership by Constellation Automotive. It hosted professional and club races, as well as testing, track days, driver training, exhibitions and conferences. The speedway claimed to be Europe's fastest racing circuit, and was the first banked oval constructed in Britain since the closure of Brooklands in 1939.
The venue entered administration in 2017 and hosted its final motor race in November 2018. In 2021, the facility was purchased by Constellation Automotive for £80 million.
History Construction of Rockingham started late in 1999, with the opening meeting planned for May 2001.
Rockingham Motor Speedway was constructed on a British Steel works brown field site known as the Deene Iron Ore Quarry which gave the facility its original name of Deene Raceway.The Brief Racing History of England’s Rockingham Motor Speedway The Speedway was built as a banked oval with the intention of bringing the American oval racing, both NASCAR Stock Cars and the CART Indycars, across the Atlantic for the first time. The opportunity was also taken to use the vast infield to build a combination of road circuits (most as Rovals using parts of the Speedway) aimed at both national and international use.
After almost ten years of planning and 23 months of construction work, Rockingham opened for business on Monday 15 January 2001. It was formally opened by Queen Elizabeth II on 26 May 2001.
After the sale of the venue, Rockingham held a "super send-off" to mark its final day as a racing circuit on 24 November 2018. The circuit was sold to Rockingham Automotive Limited, who used the facility for vehicle storage and logistics. In mid-2021, Constellation Automotive, who own brands such as Cinch and We Buy Any Car, purchased the site.
Since then, Constellation Automotive's online car sales brand, Cinch, has used the circuit to film YouTube content, including car reviews and lap time challenges, titled on its channel as 'Fast Laps'. Cinch Motoring Editor, Sam Sheehan, has driven cars ranging from the Hyundai i20N hot hatch to a road-legal track car produced by Spartan Motor Company.
Sheehan used the Spartan to set an overall lap record for Rockingham's National Circuit on 26 May 2023, beating the previous fastest time of 1:14.20, set by a Palmer Jaguar JP1 prototype, by five-hundredths of a second.
The circuit
Rockingham had 13 configurations of track, which could be used for anything from touring cars to motorcycles to rally cars. The circuit was 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 offered a total seating capacity of 52,000. The inner pit and paddock complex was accessed from the Rockingham Building via two pedestrian tunnels and there was a further spectator viewing area on top of the pit garages.
The oval circuit The American-style banked oval circuit was wide and had a maximum bank angle of seven degrees and comprised four very distinct corners. Rockingham's oval was unique in the UK and one of only two speedways in Europe (the other being Lausitzring). The oval circuit could 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.
In early September 2001, the Champ cars came to Germany and England for the first time, to contest oval racing at the German 500 (kilometer, not miles) and the Rockingham 500, rounds of the 2001 CART season (Championship Auto Racing Teams) FedEx Championship Series. After the 11 September terrorist attacks and subsequent closing of airspaces, but with most equipment and personnel already being in continental Europe, the first ever German 500 was held under difficult circumstances. Unreliable weather and a bad crash of Alex Zanardi did not help, either.
The British round at the weekend of 20–22 September was in jeopardy, too. However, the logistics were worked out, with many of the teams stripping off their sponsors' logos ("livery") as a mark of respect for the victims of the attacks. The race distance was also shortened to 300 km. 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 from Kenny Bräck at the wheel of 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 () in the Player's Forsythe Racing Reynard-Cosworth. Carpentier became the first Canadian to ever hold the outright lap record at an English circuit.Peter Swinger, "Motor Racing Circuits in England : Then & Now" (Ian Allan Publishing, , 2008)
The US-based series returned in September 2002. This was the last time Champ Cars raced at this facility. The race ran over the full distance of 500 km, Scotland's Dario Franchitti took the chequered flag in his Team KOOL Green Lola-Honda, beating Cristiano da Matta by just 0.986 of a second.
The International Super Sportscar Circuit (ISSC) The ISSC was long and between wide, with a maximum bank angle of seven degrees at turn one. Rockingham's International Super Sportscar Circuit was used by the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship, as well as for most other car race events. The circuit combined long straights, sweeping high-speed bends (including the infamous Turn 1 and Gracelands) with a lower speed, highly technical infield layout. Average lap speeds around the circuit ranged from 1m 24s in the BTCC to 1m 12s in British F3.
Wet handling facility The site had a wet handling area with a kick plate which was used to simulate a variety of driving conditions including ice, rain and slippery wet leaves. These different road conditions were simulated at much slower speeds than in normal driving and in a fully controlled environment. The area was designed to give drivers a greater understanding of the latest ABS, traction control and crash mitigating technologies, and the way that they affect vehicle control.
Layout configurations
Lap records
Rockingham is Europe's fastest banked oval racing circuit, with the unofficial lap record for the oval set at 0:24.719 by Tony Kanaan in his Lola B01/00 Champ Car on 22 September 2001 – an average speed of . Rockingham was the first purpose-built banked oval in the UK since Brooklands in 1907. It has an all-seating capacity of 52,000 and has both an oval and a racing circuit. The fastest official race lap records at Rockingham Motor Speedway are listed as:
CategoryTimeDriverVehicleEvent Oval (2001–2018): Champ Car 0:25.217 Jimmy Vasser Lola B02/00 2002 Sure for Men Rockingham 500 Stock car racing 0:34.475 Ben Collins Chevrolet Monte Carlo 2003 6th Rockingham ASCAR round Pickup truck racing 0:40.391 Michael Smith PickupSport Pickup 2.0 16v 2009 Rockingham Pickup Truck Racing round International Super Sports Car Circuit (2001–2018): Formula Three 1:12.620 Marko Asmer Dallara F307 2007 Rockingham British F3 round Formula Palmer Audi 1:17.329 Formula Palmer Audi car 2010 Rockingham Formula Palmer Audi round GT3 1:17.769 Marco Sorensen Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 2018 Rockingham British GT round Formula 4 1:18.898 Lando Norris Mygale M14-F4 2015 Rockingham MSA Formula round Formula BMW 1:20.978 Henry Surtees Mygale FB02 2007 Rockingham Formula BMW UK round Formula Ford 1:21.633 Callum MacLeod Mygale SJ07 2007 Rockingham British Formula Ford round GT2 1:22.872 Luke Hines Panoz Esperante GTLM 2006 Rockingham British GT round NGTC 1:23.193 Gordon Shedden Honda Civic Type R (FK2) 2015 Rockingham BTCC round GT4 1:23.642 Patrik Matthiesen Ginetta G55 GT4 2018 Rockingham British GT round Super 2000 1:24.588 Jason Plato Chevrolet Cruze 2011 Rockingham BTCC round BTC Touring 1:24.698 Tom Onslow-Cole BTC-T Vauxhall Vectra 2008 Rockingham BTCC round SEAT León Supercopa 1:48.334 Gavin Smith SEAT León Cupra R 2003 Rockingham SEAT Cupra Championship round International Super Sports Car Long Circuit (2001–2018): Formula Three 1:18.627 Jack Harvey Dallara F312 2012 Rockingham British F3 round LMP675 1:23.803 Mike Millard Rapier SR2 2013 Rockingham Britcar Endurance GT round GT3 1:25.145 Phil Keen Porsche 911 (997) GT3-R 2012 Rockingham British GT round GT4 1:31.164 Philip Glew Lotus Evora GT4 2012 Rockingham British GT round International Short Road Course (2001–2018): Formula Three 1:29.183 Nelson Piquet Jr. Dallara F303 2003 Rockingham British F3 round GT1 1:37.918 Colin Blower Ultima GTR 2003 Rockingham British GT round Formula BMW 1:38.790 Matthew Howson Mygale FB02 2005 Rockingham Formula BMW UK round Formula Ford 1:39.217 Tom Gaymor Van Diemen RF03 2003 Rockingham British Formula Ford round Porsche Carrera Cup 1:40.310 Barry Horne Porsche 911 (996) GT3 Cup 2003 Rockingham Porsche Carrera Cup GB round BTC Touring 1:43.592 Alan Morrison BTC-T Honda Civic Type-R 2003 Rockingham BTCC round International Long Road Course (2001–2018): Formula One 1:32.880 Tony Worswick Jordan 194 2001 Rockingham EuroBOSS round Formula Three 1:33.817 Robbie Kerr Dallara F302 2002 Rockingham British F3 round GT1 (GTS) 1:41.536 Ian McKellar Saleen S7-R 2002 Rockingham British GT round GT2 1:43.211 Tim Sugden Porsche 911 (996) GT3-R 2002 Rockingham British GT round Superbike Course (2001–2018): SBK 1:09.893 Yukio Kagayama Suzuki GSX-R1000 2003 Rockingham BSB round Supersport 1:11.429 Stuart Easton Ducati 748 R 2003 Rockingham BSB round
Major racing results CART Championship
Year Race Driver Constructor 2001 Rockingham 500 + Gil de Ferran Reynard 01I 2002 Sure For Men Rockingham 500 Dario Franchitti Lola B02/00 + Race shortened due to lack of practice.
British Formula Three season