Former tracks near to you

Yes, I cheated. But if I am driving up the hill I always use the old road.

Simon

It'll mean a lot of stopping and starting, but good for you!

(There's no mention in "Motorsport Explorer" but I reckon Chuch Road out of Holywood leading up to Craigantlet would have made a cracking hillclimb.)

The south coast oval.

"Does anyone know anything about this??  Sounds intriguing, and probably the best thing that never happened to Peacehaven".

Fairly certain I first read about this in David Burgess-Wise's "Automobile Archeology", and my copy is at home, so if someone else has it and can readt the "tracks" section, I'd be grateful, if not, I'll look when I go home.

I thought King Edward Park hillclimb was still operating.

Yes it is,  I listed it second in the 'current' group.

An interesting time for this thread to arrive, from my point of view.

Currently I'm about 10 km from the 1906 French GP circuit and very close ( a 5 minute walk) to the original northern end of the circuit de la Sarthe where it used to extend to the hairpin at Pontlieue.

At home I'm 8 km from the 1908 - 1912 French GP Dieppe - Londinières - Eu - Dieppe circuit.

Then there's Dieppe 1929-35 half an hour away, les Essarts near Rouen, where my wife works, about 45 minutes away and Amiens (two circuits, 1913 GP and another used 1952-?) the same distance away.

There used to be hill climbs done on a stretch of road about 100 yards up the road from where I live in Gibraltar. Actually I saw some pictures recently. The TNFers would probably enjoy those if I can find them.

The nearest International former circuit to me is Caversham, disused since the end of 1968, but still there, where the 1957 and 1962 Australian GPs were held. Also not far away is the short sharp and challenging Lesmurdie Hillclimb, a public road now known as Crystal Brook Road. At the inaugural meeting in I think 1914 FTD was set in a 40-50HP Silver Ghost Rolls Royce which, a contemporary photo shows, had been somewhat lightened for the occasion. No doubt the chauffer had to put all the bits back on again before he drove the family home.

Edited by Terry Walker, 14 June 2014 - 14:43.

The south coast oval.

"Does anyone know anything about this??  Sounds intriguing, and probably the best thing that never happened to Peacehaven".

 

Fairly certain I first read about this in David Burgess-Wise's "Automobile Archeology", and my copy is at home, so if someone else has it and can readt the "tracks" section, I'd be grateful, if not, I'll look when I go home.

I have found some mention in, of all places, Hansard, the Parliamentary record from 1934.  The House of Lords was undertaking the Second Reading of the South Downs Preservation Bill.

"But quite recently a danger of another kind has presented itself. A short time ago application was made to the Portslade Urban District Council, which is the town-planning authority for the particular area concerned, by the Brighton Corporation and by the Brighton Motor Racing Track Syndicate for an interim development order under the Town Planning Act permitting them to develop land as a motor racing track."

"I may say, in passing, that Brighton has always been exceedingly keen on its own amenities, and I am perfectly certain that Brighton would never have authorised or suggested a motor racecourse if they had thought that it was going to spoil the amenities of the district."

"...it has been proposed in the Brighton area, on land leased by Brighton, to create what is called a super-racing track on one spur of the downs. That part of the downs, if this proposal is carried through, will have all its amenities, and advantages from the public point of view, completely destroyed. The proposal is that 1,100 acres of pure downland should be leased by the Brighton Corporation to this company. On this land they will enclose 400 to 500 acres, and within that have a racing track of four and a half miles, fencing it all in. A great part of it will be on the skyline, and the whole of it, with the exception of a few acres, above the 300 ft. contour which comprises the bare downs above it."

"But the real reason why this Bill has been introduced has undoubtedly to do with the proposed motor race track, and there has been an extraordinary amount of misrepresentation and prejudice with reference to it. The noble Earl opposite has stated that the area affected is only 1,100 acres in extent. The noble Marquess in introducing the Bill explained that the area, covered by the measure was thirty miles east and west and about fifteen miles north and south. An area of 1,100 acres cannot really be said seriously to interfere with so large an area of territory.  When a motor race track is talked about everybody imagines a sort of Brooklands. Nothing of the sort is contemplated here. All that is intended is to construct an ordinary road, with no concrete banking, and no unsightly buildings. The area is close to the old fever hospital, which is hardly a thing of beauty. It is close to the Brighton Golf Club, and there are some very unsightly buildings round the area, so that it cannot be said that the area is exactly sacrosanct. Something has been said about the opinions of the people in the area. One thing that has not been mentioned is that the other day there was an election there, for the Portslade Urban District Council, and four of the candidates who opposed the track on the Council were defeated, while the people who were in favour of the track were elected."

So even 80 years ago, the same sort of debate was taking place that we would expect these days! I take it from this that the whole idea was kicked into touch and went no further unless any of the sages of TNF can find any more about it.  Also given recent Brighton Council attempts to scotch the Speed Trials, it seems that pro and anti motorsport rows are nothing new on the south coast.

Edited by BRG, 13 June 2014 - 20:02.

Interesting, and quite a distance from where I read that a track was to be built, a track that WAS to have banked bends at each end. The plot thickens!

Good find though, thanks.

You'll note in the full Hansard record several less than complimentary remarks abut Peacehaven which I guess was a new development in 1934, and whose appearance was clearly not approved of by their Lordships!   Not without reason as it is a bit of a blot even now.  But maybe that was the connection.  Also there did seem to be an implication of banked bends which Earl Howe refutes, so maybe it was one of those exaggerations that opponents to a scheme tend to employ sometimes.

I went out to Ringwood Airstrip/track yesterday. The site has been locked up by Hunter Water Board and access is no longer available unless you can scale the cyclone fence and run the risk of being caught and fined.

The strip itself is still there though unrecognisable through the long grass from the fence. The only way you could tell it was even there is by the obvious clearing between the trees. 

For those unaware, the MG Car Club ran it's last King Edward Park Hillclimb at Mattara in October this year . Due to councils reworking of the area resulting in wider footpaths, re profiling of the road etc it just wasn't possible for the event to continue.  

My closest motor sport venue used to be the late lamented Aldershot Stadium here on the Surrey/Hampshire border.  We used to hear the exhaust roar from 4 miles away as the crow flies. Twice a week stock car meetings as I recall. Long since obliterated beneath a new dual carriageway linking the M3 and the A31, while a new 350-metre tarmac oval Aldershot Raceway has replaced it at the further-distant Rushmore Arena, whose noise-pollution never reaches us.  I am not - and never have been - a short-track aficionado, but whatever floats your boat...  

DCN

Hmm- obviously the wonderful Motorsport Explorer is essential here but from my home on NYork Moors I am 25 minutes from Croft - which is in rudish health -and about the same to RAF Catterick and Topcliffe- neither of which were used extensively. Rufforth - scene of  many treks from York station out to the circuit(5-6 miles) is about 45minutes away and I still shed  a small tear when I pass . F3 there? Wow.. 

Edited by john aston, 15 December 2015 - 08:10.

Lakeland and Templestowe Hillclimbs were close to home, but both are now defunct.

At least Rob Roy has been given a new lease of life by the MG Car Club,

The closest motor sport related venue for me would be Folkingham airfield which is 7 or 8 miles up the road from here in Bourne.  Although aside from BRM testing I don't believe the runways and perimeter track were ever used for any actual racing.

The south coast oval.

 

 

"Does anyone know anything about this??  Sounds intriguing, and probably the best thing that never happened to Peacehaven".

 

Fairly certain I first read about this in David Burgess-Wise's "Automobile Archeology", and my copy is at home, so if someone else has it and can readt the "tracks" section, I'd be grateful, if not, I'll look when I go home.

I think the course you are thinking of is the one mentioned in the Autocar on 25 August 1906. 

"A proposed motor course in the neighbourhood of Bexhill to offer a complete circuit of 8 miles with a straight run of 3 miles 100 feet wide". In order to provide testing facilities the company proposing the scheme 'The National Motor Course Co.' "proposed to extend the course 12 miles to Beachy Head which will include hills 575 feet above sea level. The LB&SCR skirts the southern boundary of the land." A drawing was included and showed bends with a very large radius, but they appeared to be flat. The straights were parallel on the same piece of wide road (!!!!!). At the time of the article the type of surface had not been settled.     I don't have a note of it, but I believe the initial land for this project was owned by Lord De La Warr who owned much of Bexhill and built De La Warr Parade, the speed trial course along the front.

Even more intriguing for me was this (from Motorsport Explorer):

Purley Club Motor Track, Greater London. In 1903 (when Brooklands was not even a gleam in Hugh Locke-King’s eye) a scheme was put forward to build a six-mile long track on the hills between Purley and Warlingham in what was then open country. The Autocar reported that the track was to have started at the Purley Loop close to the main London-Brighton railway line to the north of Purley station. The concrete surfaced road (fifty-feet wide) then climbed 666yards (610m) to provide a hill climbing course, before closing on the Croydon, Oxted and East Grinstead railway passing over the Riddlesdown tunnel and beginning a straight which was seventy feet wide and ran for 1-mile 240yards (1.83km) passing close to Hamsey Green Farm before a long banked curve to the right round the Old Quarry across a meadow from Old Warlingham church. The banking was graded with the outer half super elevated for high-speed cars with the sharpest curve on a radius of 220yards (201m) with “the briskest loop having a radius of 273.6yards” (252.6m). The course would then return down the other half of the wide straight and after plunging down the hill would round the Purley Loop to begin another lap. Nothing more was reported and the scheme withered away. 

More intriguing for me because I passed under it on the train every day when commuting to Lonson

Edited by fuzzi, 15 December 2015 - 11:21.

I live near Kaiserslautern about 40 miles west from Hockenheim. So of course pre-Tilke Hockenheim.

There are a few roads around where I live that were used for hill climbs:

Reichweiler was dropped thanks to some strange bird that doesn't live in our region but was seen there once.

Kreimbach-Kaulbach > Morbach was dropped because the road sinks down on a stretch of 100m and the cars couldn't get over those humps anymore.

The Barbarossa hill climb becama a special stage for the Trifels and/or Vorderpfalz Rallye.

The only defunct circuit closeish from me is the former Opel test track half a mile south from Rüsselsheim.

It was a 1,5km oval that was build in 1919 and allowed speeds up to almost 90 mi/h. About 3/4 of the track still exist.

The nearest active venue to me is Barbon Manor......former venues include Leighton Hall which used to hold hillclimbs up to 1969......they resurrected it for a one-off bike hillclimb / sprint in Sept '14........and Flookburgh which used to have bike and kart race meetings.

Edit: I'd forgotten about Heysham Head, the Kart circuit that used to hold the World Cup....

http://www.kartingma...ic/off-track-5/

http://www.thevisito...-race-1-6389440

Edited by Dick Dastardly, 16 December 2015 - 12:53.

Even more intriguing for me was this (from Motorsport Explorer):

 

Purley Club Motor Track, Greater London. In 1903 (when Brooklands was not even a gleam in Hugh Locke-King’s eye) a scheme was put forward to build a six-mile long track on the hills between Purley and Warlingham in what was then open country. 

Back in those Imperial days, when we was top nation, they really thought big!   I cannot imagine the sh*tstorm if anyone even hinted at such a thing nowadays!

Back in those Imperial days, when we was top nation, they really thought big!   I cannot imagine the sh*tstorm if anyone even hinted at such a thing nowadays!

Heathrow's third runway?

I was near Toulon with time to spare a few years ago and used up that time checking out the old Circuit d'Hyères, a few miles east of the city. A chap who styled himself "Pagnibon" (real name Pierre Boncompagni) won the 12-hour race there in a Talbot-Lago in 1951 and was leading in his Ferrari 340 MM in 1953 when he lost control in the rain and was killed.

The car was sold at auction a few years ago (see below).

The circuit can still be followed easily by car and one can readily see that, although there is very little elevation change (it's next to salt flats beside the seaside), there would have been plenty of opportunities to do oneself a serious mischief if one went off the track. There is a memorial to Monsieur Boncompagni somewhere, though it is alleged that some people who knew of his activities during the war did not consider him good company at all. I searched in vain for it before running out of time. Perhaps I'll have another look one day; outside the holiday season, it's a bit more than an hour from where I live. 

  https://www.google.f...XBjDOUlXsoj4UDA

Edited by P.Dron, 16 December 2015 - 17:29.

Here's the entry for 'Pagnibon' / Boncompagni on the Motorsport Memorial site:

http://www.motorspor...hp?db=ct&n=1259

It contains a photo of the memorial, and gives its location as near the Hippodrome du Var, Route Giens, Hyères. I don't know whether this helps at all.

Thanks. Yes, indeed, that reminds me...I found that some time after I'd had a look around and realized that I'd been looking in the wrong spot. I shall try to find a reason to make another visit.

Blunt force trauma following unplanned contact with street furniture. An expedition is in my imagination.

Sitges is a couple of hours south of where I live now and the oval still stands there. I grew up around 5km from the Westmead circuit where the Natal Grand Prix was held. As far as I know some of that circuit still exists, with local road names such as Moss Road, Clark Road, Hocking Place, Circuit Road, etc. The old control tower was also still standing the last time I drove past.  

Roskilde Ring:

Victor Harbor . Just a mile up the road from my new abode. Barry Boor and I did a lap in my MG back in March. No remaining evidence (as far as I know) of the track which hosted the 1937 Australian Grand Prix. But I'm informed that there will be some activity leading up to the 80th anniversary on December 26 2017, including a proposed permanent marker of some sort.

Quite a lot of the Victor track is still there as public roads.

It ever was only a temporary circuit that ceased 80+ years ago.

I forgot a couple of speedways in my post last year.

The Camden Speedway which is a Sports ground now near the corner of Anzac hwy and Morphett Rd. Many years ago SACSA had a 'back to Camden' static display. Though I believe it was ever only used for bikes.

Also the most obvious is the Adelaide Showgrounds which very sporadically is used for bike events and has been used for Classic events too.

They do run speedway displays there at the show every year. I hear it from here about 3 miles away.

The track was also used for Trotting which it is better suited for probably. The wall tries to grab you off off both ends and there is a high spot of very hard dirt that comes up through the dolomite surface too on turn 4. Yes,, I have driven it. Very underwhelming!

The Kilburn Speedway which I believe is now part of a housing estate

I believe the Classic motorcycle competitors club has put plaques at both venues as they also did at Rowley Park. A former clay pughole now filled in and a housing estate also.

I am sure too that there is others.

Originally posted by Gary Davies
[b]Victor Harbor. Just a mile up the road from my new abode. Barry Boor and I did a lap in my MG back in March. No remaining evidence (as far as I know) of the track which hosted the 1937 Australian Grand Prix. But I'm informed that there will be some activity leading up to the 80th anniversary on December 26 2017, including a proposed permanent marker of some sort.[/i]

Pontypool Park, home to rounds of the British Hill climb Championship in the 70's. Last used as a stage on the Tour of Britain. A super, twisty, steep track closed due to a vocal but short sighted local minority who could not see further than the end of a chapel pew. Pontypool was only famous for two things, its Rugby club and the hill climb, both have gone.  Tumbleweeds now blow through the town.

Second Creek Raceway, just east of Denver, Colorado, was shut down due to nearby residential development and rising land values due to Denver International Airport

Stapleton, the previous airport, had runways that were used for racing after the airport was replaced by DIA (see above), but again, land values and I-70 construction killed it/

Continental Divide Raceway, near Castle Rock, Colorado, closed in the 1980s for a potential housing development that never happened. Grrr!

Mead, aka Mountain View, about 40 miles north of Denver near Erie, on the east side of I-25, was a fun little road course but died. Efforts to move or expand it were shut down by neighbors afraid of noise.

Street courses in Aspen, Salida, Steamboat Springs, and Avon have not been used for years, or decades in some cases.

Thank goodness for High Plains Raceway, Woody Creek Raceway (Aspen, now private), Pikes Peak, Pueblo, and the old airport circuit at La Junta!

Frank

Near where I was raised, there was Lynndale Farms Raceway, Wisconsin, and Meadowdale International Raceway, Illinois, complete with a splendid Monza Wall turn.

Near where I lived for over 33 years, there was Second Creek Raceway, Colorado, where we raced in a kart once and ran just two seconds slower than Formula Fords.

Near where we're traveling now, Riverside International Raceway, California.

Very sad, RIP to all... :-(

Meadowdale is still there - a preserve with a bike trail making up a good deal of the old circuit.

My girls and I bike there often.

I live in the same area, foxy, so Gamston must also be my nearest former established circuit, although Langar apparently hosted at least two meetings. NSCC ran their first meeting there in 1949, and a TNF thread refers to a second, earlier meeting.  There is no 'circuit' anymore, but most of the airfield perimeter track is still there.

If motor cycle only is included  there was Alton Towers, & Osmaston Manor ( so narrow in one part there was a no passing zone) both used in the early 50's,which are not that far from you  Alton Towers would be a bit "iffy" now

Julian Hunt's excellent Motorsport Explorer tells me that Yorkshire has had 8 race tracks - we are now down to one - Croft. Lost local venues are Rufforth (where I spent many happy days )RAF Linton on Ouse (not used since FJ car killed a marshal in early 60s) and RAF Catterick- too close to A1 road 

There was also a couple  of meetings at Church Fenton in the late 50's

Edited by 46700, 13 January 2016 - 17:48.

Roskilde Ring:

 

Traveled from the UK to mechanic for F3 500 racer Philip Robinson in 58 or  59 He finished 2nd

Bradbury writ: "Frank, what was CDR like as a circuit? I have a couple of paddock shots of my Lotus 20 there in the mid 60s. Was it tricky, fast/slow, well frequented, what sort of catchment area did it serve"

CDR had a great long and level straight (where the pits were) also used as a drag strip, running north-south. You could really get some speed up there, which made the diving, off-camber right-hander (almost blind) at the end of the straight a challenge. In an old 911, if I hit the apex just right, the car would jump sideways then catch itself. If I did it wrong, I'd be in the large, weed-infested runoff area, whereby you could almost skip a turn and get back on the track. From there, the track was slower, more technical, eventually climbing up to part of a short oval just east of the pits. Then it dove down through a narrowish, winding section before climbing up to a right-hander back onto the straight. Runoff areas were very generous, and from the huge concrete grandstand built into the hillside across from the pits, you could see almost the entire track. The track was used mostly for SCCA Regional races, but about once a year it hosted a National, and of course it even hosted USAC and USRRC races. There's an old 16mm film that shows the Meister-Brauser team there, with Augie Pabst and Harry Heuer. The track was very well liked by drivers and spectators, and since it was located right between Denver and Colorado Springs, local attendance was good, but being so far from larger cities and the coasts hurt.

Frank

Anyone want to own a former Oz GP track. See here - https://winecoast.ha...2134-Olson-Road

Not the most attractive piece of land you might find, perhaps. But still.... here, Black Jack won!

I understand the current bid is AUS $5,000.

You might also like to see this article in the local Murdoch - https://www.adelaide...71e96ca2f72d78f

Does Haringey count?

It's now a shopping centre.

Does Haringey count?

It's now a shopping centre.

Hope so, spectated there in the sixties.

My nearest is Crystal Palace, which is mostly intact although they've spent vast sums to bury the main straight under earth, the railway sleeper barriers have gone, and they've narrowed some sections of road. There's a sprint held there each May, using some of the pre-war infield. Meanwhile the athletics stadium which caused the circuit to close in the seventies is itself unused and crumbling. With some work the venue could be transformed into one of the best Formula E circuits in the world.

Anyone want to own a former Oz GP track. See here - https://winecoast.ha...2134-Olson-Road

 

Not the most attractive piece of land you might find, perhaps. But still.... here, Black Jack won!

 

I understand the current bid is AUS $5,000.

 

You might also like to see this article in the local Murdoch - https://www.adelaide...71e96ca2f72d78f

Well...it's just half of the track.

I seem to remember a circuit at Silloth [NW Cumbria] maybe used just for arts and/or bikes....

I seem to remember a circuit at Silloth [NW Cumbria] maybe used just for arts and/or bikes....

Yes, there is a Facebook group - https://www.facebook...78989250/about/

"From the 1960's to the late 70's Solway Motorcycle Racing Club held regular Race Meetings at Silloth Aifield. This page is dedicated to the SMCRC."

There is a track map among the many photos. https://www.facebook...?type=3

Near where I live...Funabashi. Which is now a shopping centre and no trace of the race track exists.

The other is Tamagawa Speedway, which is where Soichiro Honda had his famous career ending crash. If you get any train out of Tokyo towards Yokohama, you will see the old grandstands on the bank of (what I guess must be) the Tama river.

https://www.japantim...g/#.XTiPMuj7SUk

Edited by Paul Taylor, 24 July 2019 - 17:05.

Five race tracks, and five hillclimbs (in NSW) that I have raced on, now no longer exist ! 

Hope it wasn't my fault...

There is a former circuit available for sale here in South Oz. The Pt Wakefield circuit is available for around $60k

And has held an AGP. Though a little imagination is required as it has been a cropped paddock. You can see it on Google Earth however as it shows darker. It is fairly much due east of the Shell servo. You cannot see anything from the road, and my only visit was a decade ago.

This was in the local news complete with Glen Dix and his chequered flag

Edited by Lee Nicolle, 25 July 2019 - 00:06.