The grandstand is full to capacity. The track is roaring with over 20 race cars. This is the place to be for every petrol head – or so it was. Rockingham Motor Speedway was set to be a crucial British motorsport venue, but after just 17 years it has closed its doors.
“I first visited Rockingham at the turn of the millennium when it was under construction,” remembers Andrew Charman, motorsport journalist and Rockingham regular. “Back then there was a real air of excitement that Britain was finally getting a proper US-style oval, together with a sense of wonder that this was rising from what had previously been a steelworks site in Corby.”
The construction of the 1.5 mile high-speed circuit cost £70million and took 23 months, with a grand opening by the Queen in 2001. Four grandstands were conveniently placed to provide fans with a view of the entire track, holding a capacity of 52,000 people, and it was the first new banked oval track to be built since Brooklands opened in 1907 (closing in 1936).
Motorsport at the Rock kicked off with a UK based CART series which suffered from teething issues such as water on the track causing delays, and slowly declined in popularity due to its rival series IndyCar until the sport moved to Brands Hatch. Rockingham then began its own stock car series, (ASCAR) to pump some life into the venue which turned into ‘Days of Thunder’ and eventually folded in 2007. Amongst other events such as the Pickup Truck Racing Championship, British GT, British Drifting Championship, corporate bookings and track days, the most notable blue-ribbon event for Rockingham was the British Touring Cars Championship (BTCC). The series held races at the track for 11 consecutive seasons, as did the British F3 Championship. Indeed in its glory days the venue was so popular that American rapper 50 cent performed there in 2004, to a crowd of over 40,000.
“Clever marketing, combining the race action with evening music from the rising stars of the time, created family days out which proved a hit,” says Charman. “More than 30,000 people watched the final Days of Thunder meeting in the 2003 season.”
But now, the tarmac has seen its last race, the fans have seen their last event, and the track is closed for good. The owners, holding company Bela Partnership, went into administration in 2016 but a sale was only made this year with a purchase confirmed in August. Peter Hardman, CEO of Rockingham Speedway, thanked attendees for their continued support and told the BBC: “We have known for quite a while that things were going to change. There are a lot of tracks in the UK and it’s a very hard business to sustain. Rockingham is a very expensive venue to keep operating.”
There is a lot of speculation as to why the track closed down despite increasing its turnover from £3.1m to £3.5m, but the question everyone has been asking is what will become of the site. There are currently over 50 automotive logistics businesses operating out of Rockingham and its conference centre, all of which are expected to maintain their trading position at the venue. New owners, Rockingham Automotive LLP, are planning to create the UK’s largest automotive hub which will create over 200 new jobs and process over 20,000 vehicles on location at any one time. The facility is going to de-fleet, service, store, prepare and auction cars using the existing businesses at the Corby site.
“The fact it hasn’t been sold as a motorsport venue is a cruel finale,” says Andrew Charman. “All through its mere 17-year life (far too short for any race circuit) Rockingham has been one big missed opportunity.”
So how did Britain’s most promising motorsport venue which claimed to be Europe’s fastest racing circuit, end up as a vehicle processing operation? Was it marketed incorrectly? Was it a lack of events? Or did the owners fail to utilise the uniqueness of the oval track? It is true that Silverstone has more history and Brands Hatch boasts a challenging varying elevation track but Rockingham makes up for this with modern facilities, a central location, good access and most importantly - unrivalled spectator views. It is said that drivers didn’t like the track and that the designers didn’t quite manage to mirror the traditional US oval which people came to expect. There was at times a lack of atmosphere due to the empty seats, and the American-style scoring tower was often defunct. Indeed, the track may have just ran its natural course but as a morbid reflection of the fall of Rockingham; only 1 grand stand was used this year.
Andrew Charman comments: “Now no-one can watch races from any of them, each deemed unsafe and slowly sinking into the ground. Perhaps it was us that started that, back in the ASCAR days, when the big crowds used to make those stands shake stamping their feet to the track’s theme tune, ‘We will Rock You’.”