- Rockingham Motor Speedway
Motorsport venue
Name = Rockingham Motor Speedway
Location =Northamptonshire ,England
Coordinates = coord|52|30|54|N|0|39|27|W|region:DE-BR_type:landmark|display=inline,titleLayout1 = Oval Circuit
Length_km = 2.38
Length_mi = 1.47
Turns = 4
Banking = 3.5 - 7.9º
Record_time = 0:24.719
Record_driver =Tony Kanaan
Record_class = CCWS
Record_team =Ford
Record_year = 2001
Layout2 = International Super Sportscar Circuit
Length_km2 = 3.12
Length_mi2 = 1.94
Turns2 = 12
Layout3 = National Circuit
Length_km3 = 2.74
Length_mi3 = 1.70
Turns3 = 9
Layout4 = Lake Circuit
Length_km4 = 1.08
Length_mi4 = 0.67
Turns4 = 5
Layout5 = Handling Circuit
Length_km5 = 1.56
Length_mi5 = 0.97
Turns5 = 4
Layout6 = Rally Stage
Length_km6 = 1.00 - 1.98
Length_mi6 = 0.62 - 1.23
Turns6 = 15 (approx)
Surface6 = GravelRockingham Motor Speedway is a
motor racing circuit [http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/256591 near] Rockingham andCorby inNorthamptonshire ,England . There is an unusually shaped oval circuit, and an infield road course. It is close to the A6116 and only one mile north of the A43. Although very close to Corby - virtually adjacent to the industrial estates, it is actually in the district ofEast Northamptonshire .History
It was opened by the Queen on
May 26 ,2001 . Rockingham is Europe’s fastest banked oval racing circuit, with the unbeaten lap record for the convert|1.5|mi|km|1 oval set at 24.719 seconds byTony Kanaan in his Ford/LolaChamp Car on22 September ,2001 ndash an average speed of convert|215.397|mi/h|km/h|3|abbr=on. Rockingham is the first purpose built banked oval in the UK sinceBrooklands in 1907. It has a capacity of 52,000 and has both an oval (US Style) and a road based (Formula 1 Style) track.tructural characteristics
The length of the oval circuit is a total of 1.5 miles (2.41 km) and the length of the main road course is 2.237 miles (3.6 km). In total there are fourteen configurations of track which can be used for anything from touring cars to motorcycles to rally cars.
The site is built on a former
iron ore quarry.Events
* CART races were held at the track in 2001 and 2002 and were won by
Gil de Ferran andDario Franchitti respectively. The races were known as the Rockingham 500.* On
December 12 2004 , the firstStage Rally , the Rockingham Stages, was held at the venue. This was jointly promoted byMiddlesex County Automobile Club &Thame Motorsport Club .* Rockingham plays host to the majority of the races in the
Pickup Truck Racing series.* Until 2008 it held
VSR v8 trophy series (under the banner 'SCSA').* It is also the location where
Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway , 'Beat The Boys' contest is held.Oval lap records
*
Champ Car : 24.719s , Tony Kanaan (2001)
*Pickup Truck Racing : 39.887s, Steve Dance (2006)
* SCSA: 34.475s, Ben Collins (2003)External links
* [http://www.rockingham.co.uk Rockingham Motor Speedway official site]
* [http://worldstadia.com/stadium/england/rockingham_raceway/516.php Rockingham Speedway - Description and Gallery]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/northamptonshire/asop/corby/rockingham_motor_speedway.shtml BBCi: Rockingham Motor Speedway]
* [http://www.pickuptruckracing.com Pickup Truck Racing]
* [http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=Rockingham,+UK&layer=&sll=52.95929,6.525707&sspn=0.023577,0.084028&ie=UTF8&z=15&ll=52.515411,-0.657592&spn=0.011909,0.042014&t=k&om=1 Satellite image by Google Maps]Template group
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